We Slept in a Grain Bin!

I probably never dreamed I'd one day sleep in a grain bin near Sioux City, Iowa, but last week, on our way to my nieces wedding, after medical appointments in Sioux Falls, that is exactly what Jonathan and I did. And today, while I am trying to get through a very bad day of illness, I will blog about it.

This was probably one of the most charming air BnBs I have ever enjoyed.

A bicycle mailbox with a dog chasing a rabbit above it marked the driveway. 

Indoors there was no end of antiques creatively turned into useful items.

Since our diet is restricted, we took our own food along to cook, thankful to know ahead of time that there is no stove, only a microwave. So I had brought along an electric skillet.

Jonathan had discovered shrimp on sale for just a few dollars, so he made shrimp for himself 

while I cooked a couple of our own homegrown eggs and leftover sliced steak and mushrooms in butter. 

The owners of the place had turned antique gasoline nozzle handles into shelf holders!

And also toilet paper holder! I guess there's no end of uses for gasoline nozzles!

The old laundry buckets were stuffed with clean towels, one of which I used to cover up a not-so-good antique picture on the bathroom wall while we were there--the only downside to the place. There are more uses than one for white towels!

One of my favorite spots was the staircase with rails made from scythe handles... 

 

and old barnwood reclaimed from an old barn nearby, and an old hand pump--like the one my family used every day when we lived in an Amish farmhouse near Port Trevorton, PA, when I was twelve years old. 

Upstairs there were three big beds.

Jonathan got the photo of the wagon on top of the big ceiling fan while I was looking at an old reader.

The arithmetic book looked just like one I used when I was young. 

I was intrigued with the tables of measurements with so many equivalents that I was unfamiliar with, such as barrels and cubic feet of ice and sea miles and how many pounds was one ton of soft coal versus hard coal. 

And how many sheets of paper make a quire or a ream.

Embroidered quilt blocks brought back a lot of memories, 

as did the pillow case.

I am not even in my seventies or eighties yet, but I still sense the nostalgia about simple (though difficult) tools we used to use. We had to prime that water pump all the time in Port Trevorton, and the water tasted like sulphur and it was a pain, but once it was primed, it never failed to give us water even though we had no electricity.

This old sugar bag shows that a sugar company was also named after our daughter! Yess! And of all things, it came from Rocky Ford, CO!

We were delighted to see that some of the antiques, such as this coffee grinder (which for real grinds real coffee) was named after our firstborn daughter Crystal as well! :)

Loved this plaque above the door.  

And this spider plant with all its baby spiders. My family had a spider plant somewhere that we lived when I was growing up. 

I liked this Ten Commandments surrounding the Lord's Prayer. 

And if you want to know more about this charming Grain Bin Lodge and Retreat, you'll have to just go there and stay a night yourself like we did.

https://www.traveliowa.com/places/grain-bin-lodge-and-retreat/4704/

Wedding Behind-the-Scenes

Let's face it. Every one of us have different gifts. Some of us just don't have the beautiful voices or the musical talent to play instruments splendidly (if at all) or the speaking ability or the close relationship to the bride that finds you in the spotlight or walking down aisles or singing on the platform.

Some of us end up being the cooks, servers, cleaners, and helpers that sweat it out in aprons  by stoves or shiver it out in sweaters inside walk-in refrigerators before weddings. (Not to say the singers and musicians and ministers don't spend hours sweating or shivering as well! The church was so chilly even my husband was cold, and that is saying something!

And then some of us are just part of the "stay-out-of-the-way" people who remind ourselves that in a clan as big as ours and with as many friends as we all have, not everyone can be included in the wedding party, prep, or prelude. Some of us have to be gracious about being the "stay out of the way" people, because it is only kind of us to stay out of the way and not squawk about it. I was trying very, very hard to do this very sweetly, not even sneaking into the church for pictures, by going to visit my mother while my heart was at the church with my sisters and nieces doing the wedding preparations.

Until a desperate plea went out from the mother of the bride that more help was needed in the kitchen. So, saggy sweater and all, I jumped into the van with sheer delight, and Jonathan took me to the church kitchen where I learned how to spin lettuce in a salad spinner and had one of Kezia's girls help me. 

I don't have to be on the wedding platform singing with Krissy's beautiful contralto voice, or whatever it is, to be happy.

Just give me some lettuce to spin in the kitchen with the gals, and I am swooning.

 

One of the girls was helping make hundreds of rolls.

These were shelved in the kitchen storage unit. 

Other girls peeled cucumbers. 

My sister Iva, who has multiple gifts, beauties, and talents, especially the talent of cooking yummy food, browned many dozen pork chops. 

Others peeled, cooked, and mashed potatoes, and sliced carrots. 

These are just four of the eight crockpots full of mashed potatoes. 

 

Here are borrowed crockpots lined up!

After the wedding, about half of the potatoes were left over, but at least the error was on the side of abundance! 

I couldn't help getting a picture of all these jars of home canned green beans. They were my favorite dish of the wedding meal--from my sisters' garden(s).

What fun to watch everything!

My niece Bethany, who was extremely happy to travel to the wedding with sisters and her boyfriend Lyndon, helped in the kitchen with him. (By the way, I really, really like Lyndon, and I think Bethany is really blessed.)

Regina and I chopped lettuce.  

When I heard that my son Tim had mentioned that he was so bored he could do dishes, I welcomed him to the kitchen sink where his cousins Evan and Brynn helped dry the dishes Tim washed. Don't tell this lady you are bored.
You will never be bored again.

 Another sister-in-love, Elizabeth (Gabriel's wife) in my mother's cabin made un-pretty hair a little more pretty--

or at least so it would stay in place better and look nicer when I went to hug the bride and congratulate her and the groom.

Holding the mirror to check on her hair arrangement was actually her idea, not mine, as I was quite sure she would do fine.

(As you can see, I was wearing a coat during the wedding, trying to keep from shaking with cold.)

Other behind the scene activities were arranging gift baskets. At the Jadwin house, a hub for a lot of us, Crystal and two brothers did a Pizza Theme gift basket with a rolling pin, pizza cutter, pepperoni, pizza sauce, pineapple, mushrooms, etc.  Rose and Carrie had a Baking gift basket, and mine was a Doing Dishes gift basket. It was so fun doing those!

A small choir practicing for the wedding, including a number of young people from a New York church that Daniel used to attend before moving to Missouri, and several cousins.

It was a pleasure to be a quiet person behind the scenes and not have to stress out about anything.

Well, until Jonathan and I decided to accept the bride and groom's challenge during the reception to show them how to kiss.

But that is for the next post.

Wedding Reception of Susanna and Daniel--and the Fly-Away

Congratulations, Daniel and Susanna!

 

Hugs!

 

  

Parfaits for dessert

The next bride-to-be talking to the new bride. 

Rose wanted to wait until after this wedding to make some final decisions about her own--although I don't know how many similarities there will be between a formal church wedding in Missouri and an outdoor, western-style one in Colorado!

 Everyone in our clan helped with the teardown

Our Tim getting what was up high while Rose and Tommy manage to find a job to do together--

collecting disposable dishes and ware. 

Jonathan came into the kitchen to help me with scrubbing up innumberable pots and pans and crockpots and baking sheets. People kept telling me not to wear myself out, but at least I was finally warm while washing in the hot water. 

 

A bunch of cousins had a surprise for Susanna and Daniel. It was Elon's idea. He contacted me a few weeks before the wedding to ask me to come up with new words to "O Susanna, don't you cry for me..." but I couldn't get any inspiration until I found out that after the wedding, Daniel was going to be taking Susanna to the local airport, and the two of them were going to be flying away on their honeymoon in a little airplane!

All of a sudden I had the inspiration!

The cousins, with David on guitar to accompany them, sang:

 

"Oh Susanna, won't you fly with me?

We'll board my little Cessna  all Missouri for to see. 

Now all the way from New York state, where I lived all alone

To Missouri where my love resides, my heart has always flown.

It rained all day in New York State, but here the sun does shine,

Because my love is near to me, Susanna you are mine. 

O Susanna, won't you fly with me?

Your hand in mine, our hearts entwined, Susanna you are mine!                             

                                   Susanna you are mine.

After the reception, we who were left behind at the church got word that the newlyweds were soon going to be flying over the church. A Mrs. Puffer came up with the idea for us all to stand in a heart-shaped formation in the church parking lot.

Finally we saw it coming! They flew over and circled around and came around again a little lower by the church.  

 

Despite my camera not being the greatest, I was tickled to accidentally get a picture with hands waving as well!

A most unique sendoff!

Inside the gym where the reception had taken place, the young people had it completely cleared and a volleyball net set up. There were so many young people that they had to take turns with four teams to play.

Those not playing watched from the sidelines.