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A Little July Celebrating
For oh, I don’t know, THIRTY years or more (actually, a few more than thirty) I have been celebrating July Fourth in one very specific location and in one pretty traditional manner. July Fourth, for the majority of my life, has meant a trip to the farm in Virginia. Last year all the things were cancelled and so staying home was the way July Fourth went down. This year, due to a month-long cross-country trip by the patriarch and the matriarch, and also a gall bladder being removed from same patriarch, July Fourth at the farm was once again a no-go. Did I weep when I heard the news? I…
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thirty years of July Fourthing.
Yes. Totally aware that it is practically August. And I’m fine with writing a post about July Fourth. This year we think we calculated that it was Year Thirty for our annual July Fourth at the Farm. That’s kind of big deal. What started out three decades ago as a couple of neighboring families and friends taking a tubing trip down the Pigg River, hosting a cook out and shooting off fireworks into the Virginia summer sky, has turned into an annual family reunion and event that calendars get rearranged for and that is held as some sort of holy ground by those of us who love it best. The…
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July Fourth and the Farm and a Few Photos
Twenty-seven? Or has it been twenty-nine? I can’t remember which of those numbers is accurate, but either way, it’s been a LOT of years that my family has been celebrating the fourth of July with my framily. It was just an idea a couple of decades ago. A casual “let’s have dinner together on July Fourth” sort of plan between a handful of families who lived near one another in the glorious state of Virginia surrounded by the ever inviting Blue Ridge Mountains. But over the years it has become a staple on the calendar. A must do. A can’t miss event. It’s part reunion…
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July Fourth – celebrating it all week long.
For the last 27 years I have spent July 4th at the farm in Virginia. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s my favorite holiday. (Well, I did miss one holiday gathering the summer I worked as a camp counselor at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park.) The party is traditionally the Saturday nearest to July 4th and this year that puts the party on July 7th. Which meant that we stayed in our own actual town for the official Fourth of July! It’s truly a best of both worlds scenario for us this summer – we get to celebrate our favorite annual tradition…
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farm, framily, feelings, photos
At the farm I didn’t write very much. I brought a couple of books to read, but I didn’t open them. I stayed up late every night, talking in the quiet hours with Emma and Sarah and Sally, with whomever stayed awake and was chatty. I didn’t rise exceptionally early because my kids are late sleepers and those of them who were not were capable of having a bowl of cereal downstairs with the other early risers. We saw rainbows more than once at the farm. Once, as the rain begin to chase us, we chased the rainbow’s end. It seemed so perfectly catchable. It…
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Farm Time. a list of what it is and what it is not.
We’ve crossed right into Farm Time. (Actually, we crossed over last week but that just goes to show you how Farm Time works.) No algebraic formula exists that will equate into understanding the comparison between Real Life Time and Farm Time. And no one in Farm Time even cares. In Farm Time these things happen: We tell stories at the kitchen table and then we laugh until we cry but sometimes no one, not even the person laughing, knows what started the hilarity. Movies take place on the lawn. Not as in – here’s a projector and a sheet hanging on the side of the house, but…
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returning to real life: post farm realities
Leaving Virginia is never easy. The kids say exactly what I feel when they say, “I want to be at our home, but I don’t want to ever leave the farm.” No matter what, when you pull into that glorious driveway at Gray Mountain Farm, you enter a different dimension somehow. I’ve written about it before. Time moves differently out there in the green grassy fields in the shadow of Chestnut Mountain. You begin your stay thinking you have all the time in the world. You end your stay wondering where on earth the days went. No one goes to bed early and when you wake up, there’s still…
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July Fourth Shenanigans
If you know me, you know that my favorite holiday is July Fourth. It’s the family and it’s the food. It’s the farm and the fun. It’s being together and it’s tradition and it’s years stacked on years of celebrating a summer day and lives and family and friends. July Fourth on the Farm is the best. It was Ryder’s first July Fourth. That dog legitimately loves the farm. (And spends his days racing to the pond and collecting briars in his thick coat and harboring dirt and mud all over his legs and just in general being a happy go lucky mess. The food is plentiful at the…
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jiggety jig
The Virginia mountains were in my rearview mirror all day today. The sun was shining. The clouds were white. The sky was bright. It was a good day for a drive. A couple of the kids were glad to be home. A couple wanted to stay in Virginia forever. I guess I am glad to have predictable internet back, but I have to admit, I kind of appreciated the forced social media break. It’s the end of the week and it’s the end of a long day and it’s the end of a favorite family holiday and I am at the end of my energy level. I loved seeing so many…
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Gray Mountain Farm
You guys. We are at the farm. The beautiful lovely Virginia farm. Where the mountains ensconce you and the framily embraces you and the mosquitoes bite you and the wireless signal evades you and the Internet still doesn’t trespass onto the property. So I just can’t easily share the good life we are living on these gorgeous acres across the wires on this blog. And that is alright. Just picture us all tubing down a muddy river. Working on endless food prep in a continual prep-cook-serve-eat-clean cycle all the day long. Going on little hikes and gator rides. Feasting on different people’s specialty meals and desserts. Sharing long held, over…
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July Fourth – Another Beautiful One on Record
July Fourth on The Farm. It seemed to last a blink of an eye this year. There were still people I didn’t get to really chat with and I think there was dessert I didn’t get to spoon onto my plate. It’s always a bounty of good times. A bevy of conversations to have. A moving from here to there to this to that, tubing down the river and consuming copious amounts of food and then trying to settle all that food down quickly enough to tackle the annual kickball game and then suddenly it’s almost dark and we need to find our spots on the blanket for the best…
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A Slew of July Fourth Memories.
Oh you guys. You know July Fourth is my favorite holiday. And I’m not home writing now and typing this post – I’m embracing internet-less good times at The Farm in Virginia. And I’m sure I will return with photos too many and stories too much. But – right now I’m just giving you a little weekend reading. I’m linking up as many July Fourth posts as I can find and more than you probably want to see. Here you go ….. The one with London in a red cowboy hat and Piper making pouty toddler faces. The one with a picture when we tried to create a Camp Fourth…
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Fourth. To be continued.
It may be that my posts will all be on week delays this summer. It was July Fourth last week. Remember? And for our family for the last twenty plus years that has always meant the same thing — annual July Fourth party at the farm. The farm has everything that matters – people we love, wide open spaces, kids running through fields, a river, a pond. But it does not have clear, quality Internet service. Which means I can’t link you back to posts about other fun farm parties in years past and I can’t use any photos here except ones from my phone. But the one does make…
