Hey Y'all!!
I'm back! I've never been gone from home this long - it's just crazy playing catch-up! I don't know how some people do it; I was only gone from Friday afternoon till Wed. night, but it still feels like an eternity to me. Especially since the 3 1/2 days of it were spent away from Mark and the kids! It was really hard to leave them, but I had a blessed time with my mom and sisters.
Last weekend we had the annual Engelke campout (which I'll save for another blog), and on the heels of that came my first-ever trip to Kentucky. We drove 9+ hours south to see Mom's brother, Uncle Jupe. (Clarice Myers, Junior) Jupe and Mom are the last remaining Myers siblings from a family of twelve. Do you see any resemblance?
My cousin Janet (pictured above on the right) and her husband Jerry were the perfect hosts. They have a beautiful old home (a former boarding house) which they've refurbished and decorated with love and care.
Every room is full of authentic pieces of furniture and yet, it's cozy and live-able. I took oodles of pictures, but what I'll share in this post are a few of the highlights.
We were in the homes of 3 cousins and my uncle, and each one of them was charming in its own way. One thing they all had in common was the high value placed on old family pictures. Everywhere you turned, there were photographs and mementoes of years gone by--childhood pictures, parents, grandparents, and more. I am inspired to do the same, to be able to point out to our children and guests just how important family is to us.
When you hear about Southern hospitality, you wonder if it is just cliche. I can tell you from our experience that it's not! Every bit of our stay was filled with good times, meaningful conversations, and delicious food. The pace was relaxed and everyone made us feel right at home. Without being too "in your face", if you know what I mean! Everybody has a front porch, and they use it.
Here's our cousin Janet with Jerry and their kids Jennifer, Jason, and granddaughter Maddie.
Monday night was our first night in Kentucky. Everybody took time out of their work week to drive over and join us for supper at my cousin Rick and Libby's house. Check out this renovated one-story tavern. Not too shabby, eh?
Rick and Libby have a beautiful family and a gorgeous home, as you can see...
A lot of folks have a pond. Rick's is full of bass and catfish. He threw out dog food and the catfish literally leapt up to the surface of the water to eat it. The heads on some of them were bigger around than my fist! It was awesome, and I cursed my low camera battery for not getting a picture of it! My kids would have loved seeing that.
Rick & Libby are expecting their first grandchild in a few months! Here they are with their daughter Natalie, her husband Jason, and their sons Chase and Chad.
Kentuckians like to eat a lot, but they were all so healthy and full of energy. I think it has something to do with the wonderful garden fare they serve at every meal. We had our fill of delicious vegetables! The one thing they can't seem to grow, Jerry tells us, is rhubarb. We'll have to send some down their way next spring;) Anyway, they love their iced tea and vegetables. (Oh, and fried chicken and biscuits...Mmmmm, mmmm, gooood!!) One thing that made every meal special was that, even though we were eating buffet style, the head of the house would gather everyone to stand and give thanks to the Lord. What better way to start your meal?
Cousin Joe and Kim's house was also a showplace. Joe runs a ready-mix concrete company, so the signs of his business are everywhere, from the beautiful sidewalks to the aggregate porch floor.
I tried taking pictures of pictures on their walls, including one of my personal favorites, this one of my Uncle Jupe #71 and Uncle Donny #82 on the local university football team. (Uncle Jupe graduated from the mining school and had a very successful concrete company near Battletown, KY for years.) As a football fan, I can especially appreciate the physiques on these guys. The Myers family is thick stock, don't you think? And this was back in the days before weight lifting and huge shoulder and thigh pads. These guys got their muscles through good genes and hard work. Heck, Uncle Jupe is 85 years old and still in pretty darn good shape. When I hugged him and felt his firm arms/shoulders, I said, "You've got really good deltoids!" To which he softly replied, "Thank you. In my day, I could chin myself with one hand." Amazing.
I have to include this picture of Joe with his grandson Ty. Ty's middle name is Clarice, named after his great-grandfather (my Uncle Jupe), and great-great grandfather Clarice Myers, Sr.
Joe and Kim are pictured here with their daughter Natalie (her son Ty was taking a nap at the time). Son Curt and his wife Erica were at work when we visited on Tuesday. Erica is a kindergarten teacher for Meade County, and they started school on August 5th!! Considering we don't start till September 1st, it was weird to drive by the schools getting ready for their new year already.
After our visit, Janet drove us into town to see Rick's trucking business next to Joe's ready-mix plant.
We had to hurry back to Janet's house because Louisville (an hour east of us) had just received six inches of rain, and the storm was headed our way! We spent about half an hour in Janet's storm cellar. My sister Julie took a little snooze.
You can't go to Kentucky without seeing stables upon stables of horses! Here's Kim's beauty. (her name escapes me at the time)
And while I'm at it, I can't forget Roscoe! Uncle Jupe lives by himself in a double-wide trailer on a 300-acre farm with 200 acres of timber and 100 acres of pasture land for a few heifers and this miniature donkey.
Despite significant hearing and vision loss, Jupe spends up to 6 hours a day working on his farm, working with neighbors to clear timber or tinkering in his machine shed.
Janet takes really good care of Uncle Jupe, and it was such a blessing for us all to meet his family in their beautiful state. Kentucky was green and gorgeous. Not too many dairy barns or tilled crop land there. Miles upon miles of green pastures and trees. The green theme carried out into our t-shirts (a gift from Joe: "Myers Concrete Products"!)
With so much to do and see within an hour's radius of Brandenburg, and with a loving invitation to visit anytime, I definitely want to take Mark and the kids there to meet our family in Kentucky.
Last weekend we had the annual Engelke campout (which I'll save for another blog), and on the heels of that came my first-ever trip to Kentucky. We drove 9+ hours south to see Mom's brother, Uncle Jupe. (Clarice Myers, Junior) Jupe and Mom are the last remaining Myers siblings from a family of twelve. Do you see any resemblance?
My cousin Janet (pictured above on the right) and her husband Jerry were the perfect hosts. They have a beautiful old home (a former boarding house) which they've refurbished and decorated with love and care.
Every room is full of authentic pieces of furniture and yet, it's cozy and live-able. I took oodles of pictures, but what I'll share in this post are a few of the highlights.
We were in the homes of 3 cousins and my uncle, and each one of them was charming in its own way. One thing they all had in common was the high value placed on old family pictures. Everywhere you turned, there were photographs and mementoes of years gone by--childhood pictures, parents, grandparents, and more. I am inspired to do the same, to be able to point out to our children and guests just how important family is to us.
When you hear about Southern hospitality, you wonder if it is just cliche. I can tell you from our experience that it's not! Every bit of our stay was filled with good times, meaningful conversations, and delicious food. The pace was relaxed and everyone made us feel right at home. Without being too "in your face", if you know what I mean! Everybody has a front porch, and they use it.
Here's our cousin Janet with Jerry and their kids Jennifer, Jason, and granddaughter Maddie.
Monday night was our first night in Kentucky. Everybody took time out of their work week to drive over and join us for supper at my cousin Rick and Libby's house. Check out this renovated one-story tavern. Not too shabby, eh?
Rick and Libby have a beautiful family and a gorgeous home, as you can see...
A lot of folks have a pond. Rick's is full of bass and catfish. He threw out dog food and the catfish literally leapt up to the surface of the water to eat it. The heads on some of them were bigger around than my fist! It was awesome, and I cursed my low camera battery for not getting a picture of it! My kids would have loved seeing that.
Rick & Libby are expecting their first grandchild in a few months! Here they are with their daughter Natalie, her husband Jason, and their sons Chase and Chad.
Kentuckians like to eat a lot, but they were all so healthy and full of energy. I think it has something to do with the wonderful garden fare they serve at every meal. We had our fill of delicious vegetables! The one thing they can't seem to grow, Jerry tells us, is rhubarb. We'll have to send some down their way next spring;) Anyway, they love their iced tea and vegetables. (Oh, and fried chicken and biscuits...Mmmmm, mmmm, gooood!!) One thing that made every meal special was that, even though we were eating buffet style, the head of the house would gather everyone to stand and give thanks to the Lord. What better way to start your meal?
Cousin Joe and Kim's house was also a showplace. Joe runs a ready-mix concrete company, so the signs of his business are everywhere, from the beautiful sidewalks to the aggregate porch floor.
I tried taking pictures of pictures on their walls, including one of my personal favorites, this one of my Uncle Jupe #71 and Uncle Donny #82 on the local university football team. (Uncle Jupe graduated from the mining school and had a very successful concrete company near Battletown, KY for years.) As a football fan, I can especially appreciate the physiques on these guys. The Myers family is thick stock, don't you think? And this was back in the days before weight lifting and huge shoulder and thigh pads. These guys got their muscles through good genes and hard work. Heck, Uncle Jupe is 85 years old and still in pretty darn good shape. When I hugged him and felt his firm arms/shoulders, I said, "You've got really good deltoids!" To which he softly replied, "Thank you. In my day, I could chin myself with one hand." Amazing.
I have to include this picture of Joe with his grandson Ty. Ty's middle name is Clarice, named after his great-grandfather (my Uncle Jupe), and great-great grandfather Clarice Myers, Sr.
Joe and Kim are pictured here with their daughter Natalie (her son Ty was taking a nap at the time). Son Curt and his wife Erica were at work when we visited on Tuesday. Erica is a kindergarten teacher for Meade County, and they started school on August 5th!! Considering we don't start till September 1st, it was weird to drive by the schools getting ready for their new year already.
After our visit, Janet drove us into town to see Rick's trucking business next to Joe's ready-mix plant.
We had to hurry back to Janet's house because Louisville (an hour east of us) had just received six inches of rain, and the storm was headed our way! We spent about half an hour in Janet's storm cellar. My sister Julie took a little snooze.
You can't go to Kentucky without seeing stables upon stables of horses! Here's Kim's beauty. (her name escapes me at the time)
And while I'm at it, I can't forget Roscoe! Uncle Jupe lives by himself in a double-wide trailer on a 300-acre farm with 200 acres of timber and 100 acres of pasture land for a few heifers and this miniature donkey.
Despite significant hearing and vision loss, Jupe spends up to 6 hours a day working on his farm, working with neighbors to clear timber or tinkering in his machine shed.
Janet takes really good care of Uncle Jupe, and it was such a blessing for us all to meet his family in their beautiful state. Kentucky was green and gorgeous. Not too many dairy barns or tilled crop land there. Miles upon miles of green pastures and trees. The green theme carried out into our t-shirts (a gift from Joe: "Myers Concrete Products"!)
With so much to do and see within an hour's radius of Brandenburg, and with a loving invitation to visit anytime, I definitely want to take Mark and the kids there to meet our family in Kentucky.
posted by Amy Siegert | 9:32 AM
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