Tennessee family

Two Saturdays back, we lost a patriarch of the family.  My Beloved's Great Uncle, who was more of a grandfather, died.  His health had not been well since he had taken a fall a broke his pelvis.  But that does not mean he will not be missed.  We went to the funeral, expecting to be back last Wednesday.

There were obviously other plans.  The car now has a new transmission.  It actually runs better then when we started to have error messages.  But the  metal on metal sound was what made the decision that it was time to bite the bullet for a new transmission.  We were just a few miles from family and turned around to be safe.  Common sense was a good thing.  Yes, there were things to do at home but nothing worth sitting on the shoulder of the highway in the middle of the night.

We had time with family.  We distracted ourselves from who was missing.  I will not say it did not hurt but it was not as painful as those first few days could have been.

I made jam because family supports family.  Strawberries were purchased to support a baseball team.  They were not ripe and inedible just plain.  Add enough sugar to make jam and cook the water off, and they became edible.  There was so much water in them and so little ripe fruit that it took almost three hours to cook them down and the resulting jam tastes of strawberries and caramel.

After a lazy day, there was a fire as the sunset.  The branches needed to be cleaned up anyhow and it was just a lovely time.  I worked on two shawls the whole time I was there and they are going to need to be ripped out.  Just not right.  But I have more ideas.

We went to Reelfoot lake after church.  Ate food.  Walked through the museum.  Walked through some cypress and looked at the lake.  They rehabilitate birds of prey there so that was fun to look at.  

We are home now.  It was nice to fall into my own bed at 4:00 am but that does not mean I wish I was truly home.  It was nice to spend time with family.  I got to know them better.  My Beloved did as well.  It is like going to the mountain now.  Do not really wish to come back when you are there.