Notable Quotes from G-Pa

"Jelly is meant to be piled on." He says as he spreads another layer over the one I had already spread on a graham cracker.

"Well, I am going to go check on the foul. And that is not a baseball game."

Side note: I spent this evening making homemade raspberry jelly with my grandpa. It is basically my new favorite thing!

Woof Woof!

This Sunday's issue of Parade includes a witty comparison article of cats versus dogs which seems very appropriate for this week. Obviously dogs won the contest but here are some interesting facts about the wonderful pet.

The average dog can learn 165 words, the equivalent of a 2-year-old child.

Yale Law Library has a program in which stressed out students can check out Monty, a certified therapy dog, for 30-minute sessions. I think Augie needs a de-stressing dog.

Dogs have quite the resume. They guide the blind, chase down criminals, sniff out drugs, detect termites, identify gas leaks, herd cows and sheep and in Birdie's case, my baby cousins, and have even been able to help students with ADHD.

The video below is one of my mom's favorites and perfectly demonstrates how in tune dogs are with their owner's emotions and their own.

Quintessentiality

I have used the word quintessential multiple times throughout this blog. Last night I had another quintessential summer moment. As soon as I had taken my last bite of a quintessential summer hamburger and quintessential summer baked beans and a quintessential summer home-grown cucumber my grandpa told me to go down the steps of the deck and stand in front of the quintessential summer sunflowers and pose for a (quintessential) picture.

After the picture was snapped he told me that one time coming back from Bonesteel where his brother once lived, he saw a field of sunflowers. In front of the field was a hay bale. Every time he saw this quintessential summer scene he thought of having me and Brytten sit on the hay bale and sending the picture to South Dakota magazine entitled, "Summer Beauties."

How quintessential.

Raspberries as Grief Therapy

Well, I don't think I have ever been this sad before in my life. I don't even feel whole. Losing Birdie is truly a death in the family. Every time I thought of how Jackie Miles told me she said a prayer that all her dogs that are in dog heaven would show Birdie around I cried. I have no doubt that Jackie's dogs will be wonderful friends for her just as Jackie is for me.

It is amazing that I got home in one piece because as I was driving I looked up at the sky and saw great big, white, billowy clouds that let me know Birdie was up there and then I cried some more and had to squint through my blurry eyes on the road ahead of me.

That all being said, I am a bit of a mess and needed to make myself feel better. My middle name is not living up to its title. My usual tickets out of a funk like coffee, buying music on iTunes, yoga, Cheers, wearing a shirt with a bike on it, and listening to the same song on repeat for a good solid three hours just weren't working today. Thus I looked to picking raspberries.

When Brytten and I were little and spent every summer out here in Spearfish, picking raspberries was the grand finale of the summer before the curtain closed. Our grandma used to tie garbage sacks around our shoes. Tonight I realized why. The bottom of my tennis shoes have been smooched with mud and crushed raspberries. I filled my ice cream bucket in silence and thought about Birdie. I also came to the conclusion that whomever I marry must love dogs and believe in Dog Heaven. And giving me a dog as a wedding present would be a wise idea. This was all thought up while picking raspberries.

Raspberries....

More Raspberries

Chickens waiting for a tart treat

Ducks just hanging out by an old cement pail

Grandpa weeding

 I remember in 7th grade, the first of many times I wrote about my grandpa's raspberry bushes, and I spelt raspberry as "razzberry" and was utterly shocked when Mrs. Cross informed me of the correct spelling and I even went so far as to ask her if she was completely positive that was how it was spelt.

Birdie

Dear Birdie,

We picked you out from your brothers and sisters on October 23rd of 2004. I was in eighth grade then. You seemed destined to be our girl.

You were smaller than the cats and our neighbor Jeri's maltese, Nash. You were soft and fuzzy and the essence of a puppy. The second day you were at home, Brytten and I played with you in the piles of leaves.

You effortlessly joined our family. You made the three of us, four.

Too many people to count asked us why we didn't name you Lassie. That just wasn't our style- or yours as it turned out. Lassie obviously couldn't follow as the third girl after Sanna and Brytten. But Birdie could.

You loved ice cubes and could bark along to Christmas carols that Mom "sang". We joked that she loved you, her third daughter, more than us. But we were fine with that. You deserved that much love.

When you came home from being spayed I stacked up bed and couch pillows so that you could rest your chin on them and then I did my homework next to you.

You always had to be where we were. If the three of us were in my room you would come and lay down in the middle of my floor and gracefully take up the entire room. You would nudge the bathroom door open and then lick our legs dry after a shower.

After you took a drink from your dish you would come slobber on our jeans or our bare legs.

When you were still a puppy, Brytten and I had races with you around the house as you nipped at our butts and you skirted around the Christmas tree gleefully.

Nearly everyday I would get to school and pluck your long white, wavy hairs off my khakis. I was delighted when I found one in my dorm room. I have no idea how it got there.

When you were still a baby, Brytten put you in a canvas bag and we carted you through the neighborhood and even into Lewis.

One time I was giving you a bath and you skillfully escaped and leapt through the screen door and started exploring the neighborhood.

Mom used to joke that if she ever had a motorcycle she would get you a sidecar to ride in. You would have loved that.

You barked at bicycles and we all spent a lot of time standing outside telling you to "go potty."

You pulled off tutus, glasses and bandanas tied around your head as Brytten sang, 'Matchmaker, Matchmaker.'

You once ate an entire cooked chicken and you were bribed to take a bath by french fries.

You had a joyous personality and we could sense your emotions, which we thought was pretty rare. But you were just that kind of dog.

Birdie
Miss Birdie
Birdie Brown Eyes
Birdie Lynn
Birdie Becht
Birdina
Birdalicious

You were an absolutely wonderful dog. You were beautiful and made our family what it is.

We love you to the moon and back.

And we always will.

A Smore a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

This basic summer dessert became even more quintessential of the season when I leaned over the deck to snip off a branch off the lilac bush to act as my roasting stick. 

Staple of Summer

The Grands

Wow-y! This week has given me lots of great moments from the one and only G-ma and G-Pa, Jeanne and Roger, The Grands. Many of which, may just be worthy of my future publication, "Eight Bells."

Earlier this week, The Booth Society (the non-profit organization that runs the fish hatchery) had its annual Garden Party Auction. Much of my internship has been devoted to this event, including securing donations (a guitar and all the accessories!!!) and working at the event. My roles for the auction were to sell raffle tickets and act as a Vanna White and display the items on the live auction. I am quite proud to say that I sold the most raffle tickets in the 18-year history of the Garden Party! I was a great Vanna too!

My grandma went to the auction with three of her friends. They were commenting on my dress and one of the women said, "Well she must eat like a bird." My grandma quickly corrected her by saying, "She actually eats like a small horse." The fact that I eat like a solid, four-legged mammal doesn't bother me a bit. However when my grandma asked me if we should eat supper outside tonight I responded with, "Well, isn't that where horses normally eat?" Just call me Black Beauty.

Today for lunch before I had to go work at a wedding, we had grilled hot dogs and baked beans (a personal favorite- I told you the whole small horse comparison is quite accurate). As my grandpa was preparing his hot dog he asked if I squirt my ketchup in a line or a squiggly. I said that on hot dogs my ketchup is linear but on hamburgers it is in a smiley face. He squiggles his ketchup and mustard on every form of grilled summer meat. He then also informed me that when it comes to relish- he just plops it.

My grandparent's neighbors catawampus (that was my word for the week earlier this year! Just for you Jackie Miles!) to them recently moved out. My grandpa was commenting on the fact that it is weird to have an empty house in the neighborhood. He then informed me that I should move in there. I chuckled at the impossibility of that idea which just made him ask when it would be possible. I may have jumped the gun by saying it could happen when I am 24...

Now with less than a month left living in Spearfish I am starting to get a little sad. For all of those poor souls that had to witness my sorrow and constant wallowing at the end of this past school year, please be supportive of another bout of pathetic-ness. Carl, I wish you were here with Kleenex boxes on hand for me and my waterworks. I appear as though I would be a person that could handle change well but I am discovering more and more that I need a few weepy days first before I am ready to move on to my next adventure.

Taken 2 years ago, but still one of my favorite times with the grands. 

I wish I could move into that house...

Team Riddle

Augie lost one of its finest today. Tracy Riddle was loved by all of the Augie family and was especially influential to the ResLife program. I have had several memorable encounters with Tracy. She always loved to hear about our PA lives and I loved telling her my stories.

The first portion of my PA interview my freshman year I was interviewed by Tracy. We started off with some small talk and I informed her that I knew what she ordered at Perkins when she would come in when I was a waitress still in high school. That was definitely an odd first impression but she loved it!

Early in the year she emailed all the PA's and asked us to share a story with her about our experience so far. This email came shortly after I had bronchitis and my girls had made a card that said, "We hope the inflammation in your lungs dissipates." The inside of the card had an illustration of me and my lungs and all of my girls had signed it. It was moments like these when you are reminded of why you love being a PA so much that Tracy loved to hear about.

This was another story about my PA experience that Tracy greatly enjoyed. Over spring break I was staying with a friend at Creighton. When she and her roommates dug their alcohol out of their fridge I literally had to put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from writing them up. Being a PA doesn't stop when you are on vacation, I guess.

This was my personal favorite story about Tracy. During a very serious issue that had all of Solberg's PA's quite shaken up and stressed, Tracy came over to talk with people involved in the situation. She walked into a freshman boy's room and upon noticing all the posters of next-to-naked girls she asked, "Oh are these your sisters?" The look on the guy's face was quite memorable.

They matched! 

Go Team Riddle and her po-go stick!

Tracy, you will be greatly missed and I will keep telling you all my shining PA moments!

Brytten and G-Pa

This photo really doesn't need an explanation! As I mentioned in an earlier post, Grandpa, Jackie, Brytten and I went fishing last Saturday. Brytten being the expert fisherwoman that she is, caught the first fish and the biggest fish. She and Grandpa took this picture together mainly because Brytten couldn't hold it herself. There is a similar one except Brytten was 10 and the fish was smaller and she was wearing glasses and Grandpa had a beard.

Just Dance

I have danced on the stages of the Orpheum, The Washington Pavilion, football fields, basketball courts, baseball and soccer fields, wrestling practice rooms, backyards, Becca's basement, grocery stores, my grandparent's deck, dorm rooms -mine and other's- the O'Gorman parking lot, on a cruise ship, roofs, ice rinks, lakes, and now my newest dance stage is my car. Who knew that driving in a car while dancing would be the greatest thing ever? Also, I am sure all of Spearfish is growing aware of the solo dance parties in the little blue car. They are probably all jealous.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

My mom and my sister, Brytten came to Spearfish for the weekend. Let me tell you, I have purchases to show for the weekend. On Friday night, the fam went to Deadwood and had supper at the Deadwood Social Club. The ladies then ventured to jewelry stores while John investigated over-the-counter drugs and took defamatory pictures and Grandpa won $230 on the machine that he always wins on at The Franklin Hotel. On Saturday, Grandpa, Jackie, Brytten and I went fishing and then Brytten and I shopped downtown and went to the annual art festival in Spearfish, Art in the Park.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, "I Can Hear The Bells" I have an idea for a garland that will be made out of old brass marching band uniform buttons, sepia-toned vintage photographs and now these dainty brass bells I found at a jewelry store in Deadwood. I bought two last week and completed the collection with six more. When Jackie asked me how many I had I said, "Eight Bells," then my grandma said that would be a good novel title. Indeed it would. And it will be. I have always wanted to do writing of some sort about my grandparents and now I am thinking I will write eight short stories and compiled together it will be called, "Eight Bells." The woman at the store asked me what I was going to do with the bells so I explained my whole garland idea. She thought it was great and gave me this piece of handmade paper from Nepal to use for the garland as well. I am deciding how exactly I want to use it and am currently rolling over the idea of cutting it into a cool shape like flower petals or apples or suns and attaching them to the garland as well.

Eight Bells and lovely handmade paper

When I saw this other piece of loveliness in the jewelry store I made a very Sanna-like squeal and exclaimed that it was one of the greatest things in the world. This little elephant-thang has hollow clips on the back and is designed to string a scarf through to hold it in place. Scarves being one of my favorite things in the world, I had to own this.

Elephant Do-Dadd

On Saturday Brytten and I spent what felt like several hours at a store called Global Market. At one point Brytten was looking at tapestries. The way the word, tapestry, just flowed out of her mouth so effortlessly that it struck me as one of the funniest things ever. I don't think I have ever used that word in my life yet when she said it, it sounded like it was a regularly used word in her vocabulary. Then... I found green velvet pants. Naturally I had to try them on. When I came out of the dressing room Brytten asked me how they turned out. I said I looked like Elton John and that was usually a look I tried to avoid. Eventually I did find this lovely item.

$3 straw box to hold rings

At Art in the Park I relished in my love of this summer and my internship at the fish hatchery and bought a whole lot of fish things.

Fish-shaped and Augie colors!

Fish-shaped and an incredible work of pottery.

And then I stumbled upon this beautiful butterfly.

Flutterby

I love Summer.

My Favorite Animal

Since I was little, whales have been my favorite animal. They are beautiful and I just think they seem like quite compassionate creatures. My mom recently showed me this video that proves what wonderful animals they are and how much they need and deserve our protection. Also, if you need a whale watching fix without the boat, this seems like a better solution than Free Willy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/humpback-whale-video_n_898859.html

SQRTWD40

This may have been my favorite grandpa-ism all summer. We were driving to Deadwood today to get a new license and tags for the boat trailer, which was a brilliant idea considering tags from 2004 were still on. Completely out of nowhere my grandpa said that if he had vanity plates they would say SQRTWD40. As in Squirt WD-40. As in Let Loose. As in the most grandpa-like thing EVER except for maybe that whole haircut and chinese food combination. I love this so much so don't be surprised if I one day have license plates that read this grandpa-ism. I should probably get used to seeing people awkwardly mouthing the pronunciation in my rear-view mirror. It will still be worth it. I also told him that I may adopt it as the theme for my floor this upcoming year or just a daily mantra.

SQRTWD40

Coffee and Creeks

This morning in a tweet I said I was getting all "coffeed up." It was only a matter of time before I modified the word coffee to every part of speech including verbs. Now I am coffeely sitting here at The Green Bean listening to Coldplay and hating that Chris Martin is married Gwyneth Paltrow because I can't stand her and she should never sing, especially an Adele song on Glee which made me promptly turn off my T.V. Anyway... I have decided what makes Spearfish so great. This rather small town has the greatest coffee shop per capita I have ever seen and there is the Spearfish Creek that streams through the entire town, including my grandparents' backyard. I want to always live in a place that is abundant with coffee and creeks. On that note, wouldn't it be the most wonderful thing if there was a creek made of coffee? That sounds a little Charlie-and-the-Chocolate-Factory-esque. I think I have had too much coffee and may just be over-coffeed.

Pretend like you can hear the rushing current while looking at these pictures.

By the way, that water is always freezing. Yet, I stick my feet in it practically every time I am in the park, which is everyday.

A Sanna-Like Combination

This post will be brief because I have to get to my nightly routine. This routine is watching "Cheers" while I do Yoga. How much more Sanna-like can I get? I started this routine over Easter Break and now I am halfway through the 6th of 11 seasons of Cheers on Netflix. Posing in Down Dog while the gang yells "Norm" is the perfect way to unwind before a restful night's sleep. Also, I love Sam Malone.

Mid-Morning As Only My Grandpa and I Could Do

My plan for this morning was to ride my bike into town and check out the farmer's market in the park. When I got my bike out of the garage the front tire was completely flat. Who are you going to call? GRANDPA! We had to spend about an hour searching through the garage and his shop, chasing two chickens back into the coop and rescuing a baby bird trapped in the shop before we found the connector for the air compressor.

The farmer's market was quite small and I knew half the people there but it was still lovely. I stuck my feet in Spearfish Creek before hopping back on my bike. As is often the case, I had the urge to buy something while I was in town. Solution? I checked out two books from the library. When I got home my grandpa and I decided we would have hot dogs and baked beans for lunch around 12:30 and I went out to sit on the deck with a handful of blueberries and a book to read. At 12:05 he came out and said he was hungry and was going to start the hot dogs. At 12:07 he said he couldn't find them and there were only a few beans and asked if I wanted to go to Barbacoas. Hells yes I did. We were dogsitting Finn and Scout this morning so we had to clear out my grandpa's Expedition to make room for our four-legged passengers before we could leave.

The Expedition was still filled with stuff he had brought back from my aunt's house during a trip to Sioux Falls about a month ago. Among these items was a cradle that held the newborn babies that were my mom, both my aunts, me and Brytten and Sam and Camille. Because of family placement it is accepted that I will be the next one in my family to have a baby. My grandpa is taking that fact very seriously.

As he pulled the box with the cradle in it out of the expedition this conversation transpired:

Grandpa: "Here's your cradle. You know what they say at the Fillin' Station?"
Me: "What?"
Grandpa: "Fill 'er up!"

Ufdah. I would like everyone to remember that I am 20 years, 1 month and 9 days old.

Barbacoas was great and we topped it off with our mutual favorite treat, Maple Nut Goodies purchased at Menards. My grandma was mad and now we are having hot dogs and baked beans for supper from the supply of two packages of hot dogs and seven cans of beans that were in the downstairs pantry.

This Is Why We Are Friends

Ok this is obviously not the only reason why we are friends but it is still a notable reason. Part of my birthday present from Abbie was 22 gummy hamburgers which happen to be one of my favorite things! A gummy hamburger is basically the best midnight snack imaginable! When I reside in a dorm room I have a vintage glass jar that had a vintage label that reads "Beets" put on the front. The Etsy shop it came from named it the Dwight Schrute jar. The Dwight Schrute jar is my gummy hamburger jar and in a perfect world would be full of them at all times. I felt compelled to blog about my love of gummy hamburgers!

Duck, Duck... Duck, Duck... Duck, Duck, 7 DUCKS!

I purposefully didn't blog about this tragic event when it happened but on Tuesday, July 21st we lost the beloved ducks, Joey and Campbell to what we now believe was a mountain lion. It was quite sad around here but we have seven new feathered, billed, webbed members of our family.

Hours after my grandpa realized Joey and Campbell had been killed he ordered three ducks. Hours after that happened I had them named Eliza, Jane, and Sebastian. Yesterday marked the first Duck Day. My grandpa said the post office would be calling him as early as six in the morning to alert him of the duck delivery. Thus I was up at 5:30 a.m. but we didn't get word on the ducks until 8 a.m. He and I drove to the post office as soon as we got the anxiously-waited-for-phone-call. We walked into the deserted lobby and had no idea where we were supposed to pick them up until we heard muffled quacking. We were presented with a box slightly larger than a shoe box with several air holes on every side. What I still believed was the five of us, got into my car and went to get my grandpa's staple, a gas station cappuccino. On the way there he had opened a corner of the box but as I was driving I thought I was only seeing the three ducklings we had prepared for.

We got home and my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, Sam and Camille and I, all pajama-clad, gathered around the table on the deck as my grandpa opened the lid of the box. And to our surprise we saw 7, count them, 7 ducklings! July 7th (Duck Day) brought us 7 ducks! Three of the ducks are yellow but will get white feathers as they mature and the other 4 are black with yellow spots and black bills and black feet and eventually will resemble mallards. My grandma uttered her customary "Oh, Roger!" that she says every time he does something Grandpa-like. You know that part of 101 Dalmatians where the wife exclaims, "Oh, Roger!", well Brytten and I thought it was our grandma saying it to our grandpa when we were little.

Just look at that concentration!

Sam the Duck Whisperer

This is one of my favorite pictures ever!

With the unveiling of the surplus of ducks, Duck Day began. Sam was quite the natural with them and gingerly picked them up and lowered them beak first into a plastic cup of water for them to take a drink. 7 must be a lucky number for my grandpa because not only does he have 7 ducks that needed to be named but he has three daughters and four grandchildren so everyone got to name a duck! My mom named hers LuLu (I decided both L's should be capitalized), Jackie named hers Kiwi, Jodie named hers Cousteau, Sam named his Tobio (after a Japanese character from Astro Boy which I thought was quite clever for a six-year-old), Camille named hers Camille (now we have a little redhead girl, a chicken, and a duck all named Camille), Brytten named hers Harper, and I named mine Pomegranate.

My grandpa now has a total of 40 birds! 33 chickens and 7 ducks!

Duck Day took on a whole new meaning when I was reading the newspaper and came across an article about people helping a mother duck. Then on Twitter on of the trending topics was #replaceawordinafamousquotewithduck. One of my favorites was "Mr. Gorbachev tear down this duck."

The Rapid City Journal knew to celebrate Duck Day!

Now all that is left to making the ducks feel absolutely at home is my grandpa and I setting out to restore the duck house that once again will be filled with joy.

On a bird-related note, one afternoon when I came in for a popsicle after freckling in the hammock I came across this scene. Earlier this year my grandpa traded out 23 of his chickens for better egg-layers. These new chickens are finally up to their laying capabilities and we are once again bringing in one to two dozen eggs a day. My grandpa brings the eggs in to the house in a green metal pail and my grandma washes them and puts them into recycled egg cartons to sell to people in Spearfish. The way in which these eggs were placed on the cupboard makes me think it was intentional by my grandpa...

A smiley face of eggs!

I've Got The Music In Me

I had to write a post about this because it cracked me up. Frequently I go on a little iTunes spending spree and my most recent compilation of new music is quite comical because of the vast array of genres of music and artists.

The artists making up my Recently Added playlist:

Mat Kearney
Neil Diamond
AC/DC
The Script
The Hooters
Lady Gaga
Martin Solveig and Dragonette
Nicki Minaj
Pitbull
Maroon 5
Beyonce
Augean Stables
Bob Dylan
Huey Lewis & The News
Kenny Loggins
The Traveling Wilburys
S. J. (Woo Hoo, just like me!!!!)
Amos Lee
Fred Astaire

Until this spree I was painfully unaware of The Traveling Wilburys until Jackie mentioned that her theme song is End of the Line by them. The band was composed of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbinson and Tom Petty- all greats!. After my aunts Jackie and Jodie introduced them to me I started to listen to some of their songs and to Jodie's amusement I said, "This sounds a little Tom Petty-esque." 

After Jackie brought up what her theme song I realized I have several theme songs probably depending what mood I am in or more likely what part of the year it is.

Currently my theme songs are:

Dog Days Are Over by Florence and the Machine
Every Teardrop is a Waterfall by Coldplay
And We Danced by The Hooters
Hair by Lady Gaga
Here Comes the Sun by George Harrison
Rock 'n Roll All Nite by KISS
Raspberry Beret by Prince
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers
It's Gonna Be a Lovely Day by S.O.U.L.S.Y.S.T.E.M.
American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Beautiful Day by U2
Folding Chair by Regina Spektor
One and Only by Adele
Rolling in the Deep by Adele

Ok so I have a lot of theme songs but I want to hear what your theme song is! Leave me a comment with the song title!

Reading Roundup and Birdie Brown Eyes

Ok, I have another post about Reading Roundup. My aunt Jackie, a great dog lover, was flipping through my new book and found this wonderful poem by Winifred Welles whose name is blog-worthy alone.

I'd like a different dog

For every kind of weather-

A narrow greyhound for a fog,

A wolfhound strange and white,

With a tail like a silver feather

To run with in the night,

When snow is still, and winter stars are bright.

In the fall I'd like to see 

In answer to my whistle,

A golden spaniel look at me.

But best of all for rain

A terrier, hairy as a thistle, 

To trot with fine disdain

Beside me down the soaked, sweet-smelling lane. 

Birdie- a dog for any weather

I Can Hear The Bells

In addition to "Reading Roundup" I had one other fabulous purchase over the weekend that ended on Sunday. When Abbie and I went to Deadwood I found these lovely little gold bells. I have a plan for these and two other items that I have had for quite some time.

When I was still in high school I bought a large jar that was filled with brass buttons from vintage marching band uniforms. These lovely symbols of being a marching band geek have stayed put in the jar these last few years while I figured out what I wanted to do with them. Earlier this spring I found a shop on Etsy that sells sepia-toned vintage photographs in very peculiar sizes. So far I have a photo of a little girl in a straw hat sitting on a hill fishing with her grandpa. The little girl has a huge grin and practically no recognition of the fishing pole in her grasp and her grandpa is intently staring waiting for the string to jolt. It reminded me of me and my grandpa. Another photo I have is of a woman in a fabulous 1950's swimsuit in the ocean. I also have a photo of four girls laying in the grass that reminds me of me, Becca, Katie, and Jenny (The Fab Four) from high school. My favorite photo that I have purchased from this Etsy shop is of a marching band marching down a street during a parade.

And now I have a plan for the brass buttons, the photographs, and the bells. I am going to make a garland by stringing the buttons together, clipping the photographs on with mini clothespins and scattering bells throughout the garland. I am very excited about this idea and love that everything involved has the same vintage brassy coloring.

Here is a link for the Etsy shop to explore some of the other wonderful photos! Check out the crazy dimensions! Thats why the photos will be hanging on a garland, not in frames.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AVintageVignette?ref=pr_shop_more

Reason 789694739383837595054 Why I Love Spearfish

Yesterday afternoon I went for a quick run despite my grandmother's lectures about the heat and not having enough energy to play in the sprinkler with my cousins. I had more than they did, thank you very much. As I was coming around a corner I came to a fence of a tiny horse pasture. As I neared the fence a large, beautiful, perfectly brown horse came to the fence. This is an odd statement but I always think the colors of horses would be such pretty paint colors. The horse waited for me to come to the fence and then let me stroke its long nose. I probably talked to it and petted it for about ten minutes and then when I started to run back it watched me until I was out of sight.

My grandpa doesn't have the best hearing so when I told him the story he thought I said I had to shoo away a horse fly. Not quite but I would have pretended that was equally enjoyable.

Reading Roundup

I mentioned my most recent purchase in the previous post, Roundup, but I decided it needed its own moment in the sun! It is truly lovely and I am determined to find the following books in addition to this version which is Book One. Reading Roundup is a child's reading guide that is filled with stories and poems and pictures about people, animals and adventures. The inside cover is inscribed in blue ink, 'Beach School 1959.' There is even a ballerina on the back cover!

This book seems to be an introduction to the greatness of literature for young readers. The table of contents is divided into the following subheads: Ourselves and Others, Animal Parade, Looking Backward, Let's Play the Game, Unforgettable People, Just for Fun, In Quest of Adventure, Modern Marvels, and The American Way. Some of the notable contributing authors include Robert Frost, Charles Lamb, Emily Dickinson, Laura Ingalls Wilder (my personal favorite), Mark Twain, Carl Sandburg, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman. One excerpt that I am very excited to read is entitled The Laurence Boy and is listed as a radio play by Walter Hackett and adapted from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

On the division page of Ourselves and Others is this poem by Elizabeth Madox Roberts from "The People."

The ants are walking under the ground, 

And the pigeons are flying over the steeple, 

And in between are the people. 

The division page of Animal Parade has this poem by George Eliot...

Animals are such agreeable friends- 

they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. 

The division page for Looking Backward features a perfect poem by Soren Kierkegaard for the title of the section. 

Life can only be understood backwards; 

but it must be lived forwards.

The division page of Let's Play the Game features a two-page illustration in blues and whites of sailboats in the sea and numerous people standing on a dock and the following line from John Masefield from "Biography."

The days that make us happy make us wise. 

I was quite delighted to read the quote on the division page of Unforgettable People because it was written by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet in A Book of Americans, which I also own.

We couldn't put in all the great

Or even all the small,

And many names with sterling claims

We haven't used at all. 

The quote featured on the division page of Just for Fun is by the literary great, William Shakespeare in The Taming of the Shrew.

And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,

Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life. 

The division page of In Quest of Adventure presents the poem by John Vanderbilt in "Highways and Byways." And I LOVE it!

Oh, you may take a highway,

A wide, straight highway,

A fine cement highway, 

For yourself.

But give me a byway, 

A rutted, narrow byway, 

A turning, wooded byway, 

For myself.

I love the poem by Nancy Byrd Turner in "Sic Transit" on the division page of Modern Marvels as well!

My grandson's grandson somewhere in the rack 

Of time will wake one night, and hear below

The levels where the winking air-lines glow

A rumble like a beetle on its back,

And smile, and bless the last old motorcar

Rattling to join the horse and dinosaur. 

Again I was elated to open to the division page of The American Way and who do I see? George, Thomas, Teddy, and Abe! The poem on this page was written by Abraham Lincoln.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.

This expresses my idea of democracy. 

Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference,

is no democracy. 

502 pages of literary and future library loveliness. 

And it only cost me $5.30

RoundUp!

I love it when there is an stumbled upon theme in life. My Fourth of July weekend definitely had it! One of my best friends, Abbie, came to spend the holiday weekend with me in Spearfish and we celebrated in ways that would have made our founding fathers proud. Our Fourth of July including going to Belle Fourche to enjoy the parade, a carnival, a rodeo and the overall awesomeness of the town. We succeeded. We have come to the conclusion that we can make any place fun and our pending T.V. show would be titled "Finding Fun in America."

Also our Fourth of July celebrations in Belle Fourche will now become an annual thing. I have 84 more Fourth of July's in Belle to look forward to!

The parade was great and the best part was when one of the floats threw out baggies of cherries. We had been sharing our candy and popsicles with the little girls standing near us but we claimed the cherries for ourselves. As well as pens.

Belle Fourche and its fantastic parade

The festivities continued with Patriotic Red (cherry) snowcones in the park and corn dogs and the two slide rides at the carnival.

Why wouldn't Belle Fourche have the BEST snow cones??!

Nothing says America like corn dogs on the Fourth of July

This is where Belle Fourche demonstrated why it is so great... As we were walking towards the rodeo a tractor pulling a trailer asked if we wanted a ride. Hells yes we wanted a ride on a tractor to a rodeo in Belle Fourche! We enjoyed the rodeo as all rodeo-goers should, not with cowboy hats and boots but with binoculars. My mom and my aunt Jackie used to cart binoculars with them to the Black Hills Roundup Rodeo to check out the cowboy's butts. We followed suit and it was well worth it!

We were starting to get a little excited about the Rodeo...

Then came the binoculars!

Thanks for humoring me, Kyle!

Is there a better name for a bucking bronco than Lipstick 'n Whiskey?

We kept the merriment going for a couple more days. We stopped at an antique store in Spearfish where I purchased quite possibly the greatest thing ever! "Reading Roundup: Book One" is the newest addition to my future library as a lovely beginner's reader book. The inside of the front cover is inscribed with 'Beach School 1959' and the back cover has a ballerina. This purchase also put a big shiny bow on the weekend's theme of Roundup! We were on Roundup Street in Belle Fourche, went to the Black Hills Roundup Rodeo and now I own Reading Roundup. My grandpa also added that he uses Roundup in his garden which is also an important element to the theme.

On Abbie's last night here we rounded up some boys and went to Deadwood. We ate, they gambled, we rode a trolley through the entire town and danced and laid in the middle of a football field. A perfect way to end my Fourth of July weekend that went all the way to Wednesday!

Trolley Ride through Deadwood