My mind is filled with many thoughts this morning. Writing my thoughts is soothing to me, so maybe I can find some peace. First and foremost on my mind is Wayne’s mom. In April she was a very sick woman. She pulled through with flying colors, although she had a colostomy. Now four months later she had reversal surgery. The surgery and recovery at the hospital went well. She was released, but two days later she was miserable, admitted to the hospital very sick again. They did surgery again at midnight, as the reversal was failing—filling her with poison. She needed a colostomy again. About an hour after surgery, she had a cardiac arrest. Heroic measures from the staff overcame that.
It has been a trying time since, as she battled a severe infection and her incision didn’t heal. She’s at the hospital with family members taking turns staying with her and Wayne’s dad.
This is also the same time of year my mom got sick, and that’s bringing back a lot of memories. It’s now four years since she passed away.
This time of year is filled with silage chopping, hay making, and fall gardening. It’s corn harvest time too. Indeed this is always a stressful, busy time of year. Wayne wants to fill our silage bunker this week. They want to open the fields on Thursday evening after work and then really push it on Friday evening and Saturday. That will mean late nights, no routine, and fixing a lot of food for the men who help us. The biggest stress for me is the fear of equipment breakdowns, which means money for repairs, plus taking so much longer to get the job done. I tell myself to be more optimistic, but the pessimistic side of me battles for steady ground.
I really should make out menus and plan on what to bake and when it needs to be baked, so I can keep the cookie jar filled for the men. It’s always easier for me to cook and bake once I’ve decided what I want to make.
In July we wondered if we would even have a harvest; now we feel abundantly blessed. Those rains were a saving grace for the crops. It is, of course, not like a normal year with moisture at all the right times, but it’s some corn and hay nonetheless.
My garden is looking abandoned and forlorn. Popcorn, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, and some late beans and lettuce are all that remains. I didn’t get much of anything to can except peppers. Those produced by the gobs once the rains came. I really need more tomato juice, and I’m beginning to panic that more tomatoes won’t ripen before the frost. I have enough salsa and marinara sauce, but I haven’t canned any ketchup or taco sauce. We eat a lot of chili and tomato gravy during the winter, so I really need more juice yet.
Tomato Gravy
Talking about tomato gravy… My favorite way of eating tomato gravy is on fried potatoes. I thinly slice potatoes, like potato chips, and fry them. For some reason I think it is better this way than on hash browns. My family also uses saltine crackers crushed on their plates and then covered with gravy. I grew up using bread instead of crackers. This is a tummy-warming meal in the wintertime.
We haven’t seen the sun on this chilly fall day, but it’s been a pretty day anyway. A busy day, as any Saturday usually is here on our farm. I got up with Colleen at 2:00 this morning to throw things in her lunch pail as she had to go to work early today—her eighteenth birthday of all days. It didn’t take me long to find my way under those warm covers again. I couldn’t sleep right away though. I felt guilty knowing how hard Colleen would work before I would even start my day. I prayed for her until sleep overcame me. The snooze button then got hit way too often before I finally heeded the alarm’s call.
We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of sausage links, tomato gravy, and huge mugs of homemade cappuccino. We were a bit too leisurely to begin with because then we had a hard time getting into the right gear for the rest of the day.
It was Jolisa’s turn to go to town with Ida, so she had the privilege of skipping the weekly cleaning chores. Karah and Emily helped really well with the cleaning, and we were done before noon. While I made a light lunch, Karah baked a chocolate cake. She baked it in two round cake pans with intentions to decorate it for Colleen’s birthday. Emily whipped up some Rich’s topping and Whip’n Ice to use for various dishes in the next few days. They blew up balloons and put those, along with birthday cards and a sign, up in Colleen’s room to surprise her. To top it off, the flower lady brought a bouquet of flowers we could add to Colleen’s collection of surprises.
When Colleen came home from work we hurriedly put the cake in the pantry so she wouldn’t see it yet. She put her things away and went upstairs with the girls following close behind. When she came downstairs, she wanted to retrieve an item from the pantry. Karah and Emily’s anxiety levels skyrocketed! I quickly volunteered to get her what she wanted, and at the same time Karah and Emily both said, “Don’t go in there!” Their giggles exploded. Colleen guessed we were hiding a cake in there, but mum was the word.
After a quick lunch, I layered the cake with Whip’n Ice, and then frosted it with a thick layer of chocolate frosting. Karah then decorated it. She had a lot of fun. The girls helped me clean up the kitchen, and then I told them the afternoon was theirs but they had to keep the noise level down so Colleen could take a long nap. They promised they would.
After five-and-a-half weeks at the hospital, Wayne’s mom is now at home. She takes a lot of care with the incision not healed. I wish we lived a short bike ride away so I could go help every day, but the 10 miles is an hour’s drive with the horse and buggy. I try to go at least once a week. Hospice and the county nurse also help. We continue to pray for her healing.
Let the snow fly! I have in my possession the new Northern Indiana Amish Directory to keep me occupied for quite a while. The cover is a pretty brown color with gold script… very tastefully done. Now the inside is clean white paper—940 pages chock-full of interesting information. For some it was probably very hurtful to see their family in print with a loved one listed as deceased. I know it affected me in a way I cannot describe. So many changes occurred in the five years since the last edition was printed.
One of the main interests to me is names… and the combination of names a family chooses. Many choose names from a common ground—Bible names, for instance. Some have no rhyme or rhythm. Several years ago I printed a small book with names used by the Amish. Now I am upgrading that again. I’ve added a lot of new names.
When we were trying to decide on a name for Karah, we decided to add the “h” because Wayne has a niece Kara. This way we could maybe avoid confusion. I also liked the uniqueness it gave the name.
When naming Jesse, Wayne wanted to name him after the men he farmed for at one time. Their names were Jesse, Mark Alan, and Lee Alan. So we chose Jesse Alan. Jesse’s initials spell JAY, the name of my youngest brother.