Horses, Raspberries and Paper Mills

When I was at BYU I read a book for a Biology class about the senses. It was very intriguing the one fact that has always stuck with me that I read was that the sense of smell has the strongest connection to a memory. I’ve often wondered about using the sense of smell in helping people learn.

Anyway, I have found this to be true over and over again. The other day we were in the pool swimming (lately our daily afternoon activity) and I was holding Peter—his hair was damp—and he smelled EXACTLY like a horse. (I guess that I need to quite counting swimming in the pool as a bath—unless I start bringing in the shampoo—hmmmm not a bad idea). Most animals just stink. Horses smell so good—and the memories that I have connected with horses are numerous and priceless. I enjoyed a quick trip down memory lane riding horses with my family as I breathed in the odor of Peter!

Yesterday, I was in the garden and Grace picked me raspberry—we just have a few measly bushes, but I am hoping to get a full-blown thicket. As I put it up to my mouth, even before tasting it the smells took be back to Grandma and Grandpa Pieper’s garden and the fun that we had picking berries and eating as we went. Usually we’d have enough for a small bowl with milk and sugar and sometimes enough to make jam! What is better than raspberry jam on homemade bread—unless you are eating it while riding a horse? (Can you tell that I have been homesick lately?)

The next smell memory that I had was while we were in Savannah, GA—we were driving into town and I caught a whiff that was unmistakably a paper mill. When I was younger, my family went on a trip to visit my Mom’s brother and his family (Blaine, Marianne, and Kate) in Minnesota. We toured a paper mill—very distinct and not so pleasant smell. (I’ll bet that my siblings and parents--at least my Mom, who knows about my Dad, know exactly what I am talking about and in their minds can conjure up this odor.) Immediately, I was transported to that tour in Minnesota probably 25 years earlier!

Here are some other smells that may bring memories to mind:

The cupboard under Grandma Pieper’s kitchen sink (Richard, you know next time you are there you will go and open the cupboard! And Lorie, you won’t be able to resist a sniff either. It is not a bad odor, just very unique.)

King’s—a small variety store (When I was visiting the Pieper’s in Beaver Dam, KY—I went into one with Marianne and it had the exact same smell as the King’s store in Shelley, ID where I grew up! All I needed was 10 cents so that I could buy a Green Apple Jolly Rancher stick—now doesn’t that make your mouth water)

Deseret Industries (I’m not providing an explanation for this one!)

Band-Aids—Just imagine opening a tin box with great smelling band-aids in it

Tomato Plants

A dish rag that has been in the sink TOO long and /or a load of laundry that has been forgotten and left in the washer for days! (You’d better know what I am talking about)

Murphy’s Oil Soap (Recently, my friend Cheryl bought some of this soap to clean her floors and as she opened it, she was flooded with the memory of washing her doll clothes with this soap).

Lilacs

When you travel to other countries or live abroad for a while, you may notice that you take on other “cultural smells”. I went with my parents to get Blaine from his mission in Brazil and I remember all of his possessions smelled like Brazil!

Pine Trees—whenever we cut down pine trees in our yard, David always thinks of Cooke City.

Campfire—great smell.

There are plenty of bad odors that I don’t even want to mention.
I think it is also amazing how your brain can remember a smell.

Side-Tracked

This picture is symbolic of my life. I get doing something (like making bread) and get side-tracked by hundreds of various other "high priority" demands, like--refereeing full-blown riots (I stay out of the small ones), changing diapers and/or anything associated with body waste, unearthing that lost library book or the favorite article of clothing in the pile of dirty laundry, supervising various creative projects, and answering the phone when David calls and wonders what I am up to!

I guess in reality though what I am really doing is raising kids and sometimes I get “side-tracked” from that, by things like sewing, painting, reading, and making bread. I guess life is really teaching my kids all the things that bring me happiness. And the reward is when I see my own children teaching theirs the things that I tried to do. It just seems like so much of what I do is left undone or not quite finished how I want it to be, but I guess in the long run—looking back over the years, the small things really do add up—or at least they had better!

Why Are My Kids So Dang Cute?

Peter, what a cute little guy. He is SO fun. I am embarrassed at how bad this kid is spoiled! We cater to his every need--what is bad, is that it is so enjoyable. He is endearing, snuggly, and even at his worst moments, he is irresistible! He turns 3 on June 13th. He keeps talking about his Choo-Choo birthday. He is a big fan of anything train! I've been collecting "train" stuff from garage sales and he found my stash the other day. I quickly got him distracted, but he knows it is coming soon. He is still really small. The other day, I was sorting through his clothes--most are 18 month size. There was a 3-6 month shirt--and it still fits him! Maybe that is why he is so fun to love, he is still so little. He likes to "wrestle" with Parker and Michael and thinks he is really tough, he prefers relieving himself in the outdoors (Marilyn taught him this, not David), he loves to pick strawberries from the garden, he likes to sleep with anyone who will make room for him, he doesn't like to be called "Pete"--(I wonder where that comes from, Dad?) , when he is sad or in trouble he goes to the person who will give him the most sympathy! We are happy to have this little guy in our family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER!

Summer in the Orchard

What fun times in the orchard. This week we spent more time thinning, but mostly pruning "fire blight" from the trees. It is hilarious to hear the kids talk about brown rot, pitted fruits, fire blight--they can't wait 'til we get to harvest. Today we picked some cherries--they were gobbled up pretty quickly. We got there early to avoid the suffocating heat. The kids love to climb in the trees and each have their "bases". KK (one of Katherine's many nicknames) is a great baby--she loves to hang out in the grass!

A Visit To Cousins

Another fun family weekend—We had a temple trip on May 24th. Eliza got to go to the temple with the youth and do baptisms for the dead. She was excited to be able to go in with David. They did some family names of a lady in our ward—one of the boys was baptized for Daniel Boone. Eliza thought that was pretty neat. After that, we drove another 2+ hours to Savannah, GA to visit Tina and Stuart (David’s sister). They are so much fun. It always amazes me how the kids just instantly start playing together without any stage of awkwardness and getting reacquainted—even though we haven’t seen them since last summer. The Heimdal’s are great hosts (We slept great in Stephanie and Monica’s bed—thanks!) and we enjoyed our time at the beach, walking around Savannah and being together. One thing I love about visiting people is that you get some “real” insider tips on what things work in families. They have a great tradition of a Sunday “closed eye rest”. We’ve talked and laughed about needing more of those around here. The Heimdals are super fun—it will be fun to get together more often. I know that Laura will miss them—in fact, our kids got called “Adaline” and “Bridie” more than once!

The pictures are of our Sunday trip to the beach where we were just going to "get our feet wet".

Also, is a picture of David, Eliza and Mandi Veech at the Columbia South Carolina Temple.

A Visit From Cousins

Here goes another attempt at this blog. I tried to do it on-line, but it didn’t work, so I am going to try and copy and paste from this word document. The slower connection really is a valid reason for not doing this more often!

We’ve had a great couple of weeks and thanks to all m y family and friends who still check to see if I have posted anything. We had a wonderful month of May—unusually cool for the south, but perfect summer weather in my book! It was cool in the mornings and evenings and warmed up during the day, but not too hot! I like to be able to work and do things outside without melting.
In May the Hale’s came for a visit. Chad, Camille and their five super fun, cute kids were here for a weekend. (Camille is my cousin—we are a year apart and grew up together with loads of fun memories). They live in Ohio so we are able to get together once in a while. They came down for the BMS Drag Races and the Lions Club Turtle Derby—talk about a contrast. We went from 300 mph to about 300 inches per hour. One of the kids even asked if they’d need earplugs for the turtle races! Those turtle races are one of the “secrets” of Kingsport. It is FREE to go, everyone gets a ticket and if your turtle wins, you get 50 cents. With all the tickets we had, we had a winner at every race. They have all kinds of prizes—Camille had the winning ticket—she won a pizza and a girl’s bike. She gave the bike to Grace—who was thrilled! We ended the day at Carter Fold. The kids danced ‘til they were sweating. It was fun and the kids have a blast together. Thanks for the visit and come back soon!

Summer Time

Hey, everyone. We are still alive and kicking. To all those who still check my blog, thanks for your faithfulness. This is a lot like my journal--I start every entry with.. "I haven't written in so long and am going to do better!" Well, I won't make any promises, but here is what we have been up to.

We had a great weekend with the Hale's (Chad and Camille and their five super fun, cute kids). Camille is my cousin--we are just a year apart and grew up together and have loads of fun memories throughout the years. Anyway, they live in Ohio and it's close enough to get together once in a while. They came down for the drag races at BMS and the Turtle Derby!! One of her kids asked if they'd need the earplugs at the Turtle Races--we went from 300 mph, down to 30o inches per hour. It was really fun. Camille had a lucky ticket and won a pizza and a girl's bike that she gave to Grace. Grace is the proud owner of a new bike. The races were great. Our odds were greatly increased, we had a winning ticket every race, since there were so many of us! We also went to Carter Fold--the kids danced 'til they were sweating. We love getting together with them. Thanks for the visit. Hope to see you again soon.