2023 Estelline Trip

[Shakey Jake]

We had another mild morning at 75°. It's supposed to get up around 98° and, hopefully, the last day of the Saharan dust that's tormented us for a bit over a week now. There's still no rain in the two-week forecast. As I posted earlier, we either have lots of rain or none at all.
Jake

[JEBar]

65 right now on its way to 79 later today .... no rain mentioned .... in short, looks like we are back to the very nice weather that is typical for this area of east central SD .... our daughter is in the process of buying a replacement camper .... I'm helping by phone and computer .... she's working with a lady I trained over 20 years ago .... she's the only person left in the industry that I trust enough to work with without me being there

[JEBar]

72 and partly cloudy at 11AM -- rain predicted from Noon through 2PM -- that complicates a family reunion picnic being held in the park behind our camper starting at noon .. .. the first family members just arrived, looks like its gonna be interesting ..

[Shakey Jake]

I hope your reunion got off without a hitch. I'm sure a good time was had by all regardless of weather.
Jake

[JEBar]

the weather turned out perfect .... the storm passed west of us, all we got was some clouds and a bit of wind .... of the 42 family members of Maureen's family attending the reunion, I know less than 10

[JEBar]

its already up to 70 under a beautifully clear Jackrabit's blue sky .... its supposed to get up to 84 later today .... no rain mentioned in the forecast until Friday .... yesterday's family reunion went well, 40 some people attended .... the Frogmore Stew that has become a family tradition, is scheduled for this coming Sunday .... pictures below from one a few years back .... we plan to get serious in our preparations on Friday .... no clue how many will be here, should know more as this week goes on

[dave77]

We have a yearly reunion of my father's side relatives but it's slowly petering out. Last couple have had less than 10 people show up. When my cousin (in her 70's) who organizes them is no longer around they will probably end, maybe even sooner.

When my mom passed her side of family reunions stopped. All my uncles and aunts are long gone and my brother and nephew have moved to Texas so won't be seeing much of them, long way from WA and I'm not much of a traveler.

Was just talking to a friend about how extended family relations have changed. Both my mom and dad came from large old time farming families (early 1900's) so when I was kid I had over 10 uncles and aunts living close by. Most Sunday's we had big family dinners and there were usually at least a couple of birthday parties every month.

[dave77]

BTW, that Frogmore Stew looks delicious, I had never heard of it before.

Being Scandinavian on my mom's side the only traditional food we had was lefse, which I liked and ludefisk, which I along with most of my cousins never tried. My Uncles loved it.

[JEBar]

We have a yearly reunion of my father's side relatives but it's slowly petering out.

that's pretty much the same in my family .... one side or the other will have a reunion every few years .... I haven't been to one in many, many years ..... time is changing the nature of reunions in Maureen's family as well .... the ebb and flow ranging from being well attended to almost nobody .... Maureen is one of 7 children .... 6 still living, one was a victim of Agent Orange ..... our Frogmore is for those families

[dave77]

Maureen is one of 7 children .... 6 still living, one was a victim of Agent Orange ..... our Frogmore is for those families

Is your wife still close to her siblings? I only have one brother and he's 13 years older than me so while we were somewhat close by the time I was starting grade school he was heading off to college. Before my dad passed (I was only in junior high) and after he graduated and got married we did go over to his place in Seattle quite often and they would sometimes go on our yearly vacations with us. They usually involved driving back to North Dakota (no AC in cars back then) to see my mom's relatives with lots of sightseeing on the way and finding a motel in the evening.