Bach

 I have been cleaning and putting machinery away after our successful spring planting.  The side-dressing of N is done.  The crops all came up looking good.  We were dry all spring, but earlier this week we finally received 2 1/2 inches of rain.  Much needed, and it came down slow.  This week has been hazy as the smoke from the Canadian wild fires works its way south.

One day this week, Gus was barking in the landscaping against our house.  At first I couldn't tell what he was barking at, because he was keeping a safe distance.  When I crawled through the bushes to get a closer look, a small skunk was nesting in a corner tight against the house.  I decided to leave it alone.  Gus was smart enough not to tangle with it, and I told him to leave it alone. He came back occasionally throughout the day and would bark awhile.  Fortunately, it moved out during the night and was gone the next morning. 

We rode with Mike and Dianne up to Elgin last week for Marilyn Kellenberger's visitation.  We had some good visits with some old friends and family at the visitation, and good visits during the road trip.  I used to spend a lot of time with the Kellenberger boys when I was single, and we spent time with some of them as couples.

Last weekend was Randy and Karen's 50th wedding anniversary.  Their boys planned a celebration for them, and chose to hold it in Illinois so that mom could be a part of it. I was an usher in their wedding which was in the big old Morton church.  There must have been 800 people and my sister had a very detailed seating chart for us.  I think that was my last migraine headache!  The whole family got together Saturday night at my brother's house for a hamburger cookout, and then we had a short grain bin singing.  It has been a long time since I participated in a grain bin singing.  It really sounded good.  Singing in a metal bin magnifies the sound and sounds like you are singing in a large stone cathedral.  Sunday after church the family did pictures and then we sat down to an excellent meal of BBQ meats catered from Smokin' Notes BBQ.  

Son #1 was asked to sing in the Peoria Bach Festival concert celebrating 300 years of Bach in Leipzig.  After a heavy practice schedule, they put on their orchestra and chorale concert last night at the Westminster Presbyterian Church.  We went early for the pre-concert lecture, which always helps, especially since it was all performed in German.  They did have the translations in the program.  The chorale pieces were Christian cantatas that were performed on Sundays in the Leipzig Church. It was beautiful and we enjoyed the evening.

Back on the last Friday in March of 1908, a tornado passed through Tazewell and Woodford Counties during the night.  On my Schick Great Grandparents' farm between Morton and Deer Creek, the family was in their beds sleeping.  My Grandmother Julia would have been 12 or 13 at the time.  The tornado hit and took the roof off of their house, and she was awakened by rain, still in her bed, which was sitting in the orchard!  That bed is still in the family, and has been passed down to D#1 and was delivered to my shop for storage last weekend.

But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.                                                            Ezekiel 19:12