Any reason at all will do

Never wanting to miss a party, I convinced my hubby that this would be a good weekend to go to Ohio and bring home our Gisel Gold honey bees. My dad died in June and we are preparing sometime—hopefully—when farm prices improve—to sell his farm. We are not assuming that the next owner will want to be a beekeeper so we needed to bring the bees to our place. It is a bit sad to end this chapter.

The party part was that my sister was going out with cousins to celebrate her retirement and I knew there would be lots of laughing and camaraderie and I wanted to experience it rather than just hear about it. Plus as Carol reminds us, “If you don’t come, we’ll talk about you.” By the way, even though four or five of us walk with a limp, that is not why we had our picture taken with the handicapped sign.

Donna even brought party favors—wonderful delicious apples from their orchard!

My husband did not act surprised, when in dismay, I told him that I lost my camera again. He was as usual sypathetic--possibly because if I did not find it, we would soon be buying a new camera. He graciously drove into town where I woke Cousin Ruth just as the sun was coming up. She was gracious to look in her car and find my favorite item to lose. It is so good that I do not have little children anymore! Ruth bravely placed her hand on top of the screened bees so that hubby could show her the heat that the bees were generating.

The trees are in front of the home where Dad lived in town. It was such a lovely day to travel!

So Bob dropped me off in Fort Wayne and then went on to Ohio to pack up the bees. The hives were heavy. The bees are healthy with a good supply of honey for the winter. Bob has a hive lifter that is a very helpful tool for getting the hives in the car. For some of you that wonder about riding with the bees. It was totally uneventful. Somehow about a half dozen happened to escape but they were content to hang around the back window.

On our return to Illinois, son Kevin, rescued me and helped hubby carry the hives to their launching pads. That accomplished, we decided that we might as well party again, German style—with family at Schnizel Plaz in Glendale Heights. The sauerbraten with dumplings, rotkohl, and hausgemachte spätzle made a hit! Bob loved the leberknödle suppe, which in English is called liver noodle soup. I was saving room for hausgemachte gulaschsuppe which is homemade goulash. Two men, Bob and Hank, dressed in appropriate, I think, German attire entertained us with singing and yodeling, playing the accordion, trumpet and other instruments that I can’t tell you the names. I was sad that none of us had room for dessert. We should have at least had Helda bring out the tray for a look.

Donna worked for 44 years as a nurse! And regarding Donna’s retirement, her hubby waited one day and then bought her two new pairs of work gloves. They went to work mowing, trimming and pulling weeds around the buildings at the farm. Dad would have been so proud to see it looking so good. Donna embraced the sweat. What a trouper!

I am sad to miss out today as my siblings are having a burn day at the farm. I will be there in two weeks when we have another work day on the barn. Hubby wonders about the point of all of this work? Part of it might be the party aspect. It is a Gisel trait from our father that I love to promote.