Morning Nahptime

Monday, August 30, 2021

Harvesting Corn

While Zak visited a neighbor, they found out another neighbor's field had been double planted on accident. Because of this, the owner couldn't use his equipment to harvest and separate the different crops. He invited us to come and pick some corn for our families, as much as we wanted.

I remember helping Grandma Margaret Johnson shuck some corn as kid. Her house faced corn fields, and I think her neighbors had shared. We listened to my aunts' conversation as we all shucked.

Tonight the kids helped for a while, filling their own bags until they decided not to haul them around anymore. It was ideal for hide-and-seek and Marco Polo. The neighbor family's kiddos played tag as they harvested.

We ate dinner before arriving. The temperature dropped from its 90°F high this afternoon, down to acceptable outside weather, which helped us greatly. We're expecting some rain tomorrow, and I'm grateful that wasn't tonight.

We had a great time, feeling good about our mini harvest. As he does, Zak is now searching the inter-webs for the best methods of prepping and freezing the corn so we can make it last until we're ready to eat it.

Thanks Hansen and Hutchinson families!

The sun set as we worked.

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Arm in Arm

Last June I posted a letter written by my maternal Great-grandpa, John Edgar O'Neil to his fiancée, Auretta Empey. Mom shared a picture from about that time, that I think gives a great visual for the letter.

Auretta and Edgar

Friday, April 9, 2021

Spring Family Photos 2021

The other day Miss V brought a flyer for school spring photos home. That is my signal to pull out our family camera and tripod to update the wall pictures without paying for an unknown facial expression posed in front of a fake background. I am notoriously ~~cheap~~ thrifty. Zak also knows that the birthday presents I will always want are a foot massage and his willingness to pose for family pictures. We decided to take them on a weekend trip in Grandma Porter's backyard, with Cove Mountain in the background.

Zak and the kids were good sports, getting dressed and ready quietly (so we didn't wake the aunts and uncles) as soon as Zak and I opened our eyes Saturday morning. We managed to finish while everyone else slept. Zak and his siblings worked in Grandpa Porter's (Dad's) work shed sorting his tools and random items in toss, donate, and keep piles. They worked really hard all day preparing the space for upcoming projects this spring and summer. Since I had my camera and tripod already, I asked the extended family the night before if they'd like to do a family photo. I think Dad passing so suddenly has affected each of us in many ways, one of which is a greater willingness to do family pictures. We miss you everyday, Dad. You raised some hard-working, responsible adults, who love you very much.

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Picturing Margaret Ellen

Margaret Ellen Johnston Johnson
with her husband, Chesley Austin Johnson

My mom's Grandma Johnson passed away when Mom was a toddler. At the age of 51, Margaret Ellen Johnston Johnson died when her breast cancer metastasized. Her youngest was still in elementary school. Mom doesn't remember much about her, since she was so young, and she doesn't have pictures of her grandma.

At a family reunion decades ago we got a plastic-bound family record book with family charts, stories, and scanned black-and-white images. Included was a little scan of a blonde girl with curls. For years this has been my only image of Great-Grandma Johnson. Whenever it would put the two pictures of Margaret Ellen and her husband Ches together on my AncestryDNA ThruLines, it looked a little skeevy as it showed an old man married to a preschooler.

Now that Mom has retired, she's made a goal to go through her paperwork and get organized. She and my brother Ammon have scanned family photos to upload and share. In a binder from her mom, Margaret A. Johnson* (Margaret Ellen Johnston Johnson's daughter-in-law), Mom found an image of her parents' wedding line. Grandma and Grandpa were married in 1956, and were surrounded in the picture by both sets of parents!

I was so happy to see Great-Grandma Johnson's face, and to see how cute she looked with her husband at their oldest child's reception. When I colored it, I wasn't sure what the wedding colors were, but I liked her in this periwinkle purple.

This wedding line photo has many relatives on both the Johnson and O'Neil sides of the family, with several treasures. I think I'll do a few more posts to feature those unlocked treasures.

Margaret A. O'Neil and C. Brent Johnson with family on their wedding day, 11 October 1956. The two couples on the far right are Margaret and Ches Johnson, and Auretta and Ed O'Neil.

*Note that my grandpa's parents are Margaret and Chesley Johnson. While he went by his middle name, Brent, Grandpa was named Chesley after his dad, so he and Grandma are also Margaret and Chesley Johnson. Not confusing at all.

Thursday, February 4, 2021

Living in the World

While on my maternal grandpa's familysearh.org page, I noticed some records to be attached. I guess there were church census records in the 1940s and 1940s which have been indexed. Mom and I got a good laugh as we noticed the residence of Brent Johnson, his parents and siblings as "World." The other day Mom uploaded some new pictures of Grandpa as a handsome young man.

Monday, November 9, 2020

Inktober Marathon 2020

I did it. All 31 days. In some ways, drawing the pictures in my notebook throughout the month of October was therapeutic, especially once we got the news about Zak's dad passing away. Zak has been doing sketches and inks to the Inktober prompts for the last few years, and it always sounded interesting but very daunting to me. Since I do believe Picasso's words, "Every child is an artist..." I decided to do my very simplified Baymax-style drawings this year and see if I could make it. I did have to catch up a few times, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process.