Just one more thing.......

As the pumpkin patch fades into a distant memory.....

Here is a collage of the last weekend. It was really great fun and was not so busy as the rest of the month. Lydia and I got to judge the animal costume party contest, the winners are on the right side of the picture and were adorable.



But alas! It is over.......Finally.......and forever!

It's almost Halloweeeeeeeeeeen!

It is only a few days until Halloween! Obviously, this my favorite "holiday", such an exciting time of the year, seasons changing, dressing up in costume, cider, candy corn, one last hurrah before winter sets in.

So this is what has happened the last few weeks: Relleke pumpkinfarm: The last two weekends have been crazy, as always, so busy, beautiful weather. We have made it through this far, so only one more weekend. This one won't be so bad (I hope), since it is right on halloween and everyone will have already gotten their pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns, and so the crowd will be smaller and should be a little more fun for us. I can hear my vacation calling me!!

Last Wed. mom and I went to Centralia and had lunch at a little Italian restaurant down town. There is a city museum there that we just happened to drive by on our way to lunch. Mom knew about it and so we stopped in. It was a fantastic city museum with all kinds of things that happened in the past history of Centralia, this small town in Illinois. Newspaper clippings, military memoriblia (from Centralia soldiers), photos, just amazing. I am going to go back with my camera as it is well worth it. Mom's high school picture was on the wall with her class, as well as uncle Bob and uncle John. There was also a picture of her in her cute little majorette outfit hanging on the wall. There was a clipping of uncle Ed's sweet shop (grandpa's brother) on it's last day open. I guess it was a popular hang out back in it's day. Very interesting!

Talked to Danielle. She is doing fine and we are going to stop and visit her too on our vacation, as well as Preston and Amanda.

Shelley called this week also. The baby is a boy!! We are all so happy everything is going well for her this time. Cary is estatic as he was the last Yandell male to carry on the family name.

Fast forward to yesterday, Oct. 26th. Preston is finally home from Afghanistan! It was so nice to talk to him, he sounded so tired. Said he had been on the move for 30 hours trying to get home. He called while Bill, mom and I were at Walmart, getting ready to leave. He talked to all of us. He told Bill that he felt the earthquake that happened in Pakistan and that it was hard to stand up. He was only 60 miles from the epicenter. Too scary. I told him I would call back Friday after he has rested up a bit.

So, yesterday we went out to lunch for chinese food and then I got mom a cell phone for her birthday which is next week. It took us a while to get it going, but she is set for a year now, got enough minutes to last until next October and we are all on speed dial.

So, WOW, I shouldn't have waited to long to catch up this little journal!
The chickens are doing something weird,,,gotta go!

My Celtic heritage

About 5 years ago Preson and Danie sent me a wonderful Christmas present. It was the McKelvey coat-of-arms and a history of my maiden name. I thought it was very interesting and since nothing exciting happened today I thought I would put it here for posterity.

First, here is my Coat-of-arms:



McKelvey

Family Name history

The Scottish surname McKelvey is patronymic in origin, belonging to that group of surnames derived from the forename of the original bearer’s father. In this case the surname comes from the old Gaelic forename Sealbhach (pronounced “Shelvey”) and comes from the phrase “Mac Shealbhaigh”, meaning “son of Sealbhach”. The prefix “Mac” is followed by the genitive case of the forename and causes the initial “S” to undergo mutation to “Sh”. The letters “sh” are not pronounced in the Gaelic tongue, thus name is elided to “Mac ‘ealbhaigh’ which came to be Anglicized to McKelvey. The McKelvey’s are in fact a branch of the Clan Campbell who appeared in Argyll in the year 404 and who became Dukes of Argyll in the later Middle Ages ; the McKelvey bear the Campbell arms which are illustrated above. The McKelveys owned lands in Dumfriesshire and the earliest documentation of the name dates back to the year 1296 when one Morice MacSalny (sic) paid homage to the Scottish King. Morice had a son who is said to have been a hostage in Galloway and he is noted in 1300 as Mathew Make Salvi. The surname was also born by a hero of Scottish folklore; McDougall’s “Folktales and Fairy Lore” is recorded the story of “Sealbhach mac Shealbhaigh” (in other words , Shelvey McKelvey) and the Balieveolan Glassrig. The surname is also found in northern Ireland as a result of the constant traffic and inter-relations Ulster and Scotland In the middle ages. In the County Donegal there is a surname MacKelvy which is native to Ireland, and which is derived from the Irish Gaelic “Mac Giolla Bhuidhe” “Son of the lad with the yellow hair”. It is possible that the surname McKelvey is in some cases a variant of this, as are MacElwee, MacCalvey, MacGilvie and Mac Galloway.

Blazen of arms: Gyronny of eight or an sable
Crest: A boar’s head coupled or
Motto: Ne obliviscaris
Translation: Do not forget

Origin: Scotland

I need to go find the clan plaid, as different clans were identified by the plaid colors they wore. I am getting a new Renaissance costume which is Celtic, so that when we attend the Renn-faires I will be showing my true heritage.

Relleke Part 2

Today we finished the second week end at Relleke. It was very, very busy and we did really well financially, as always. It is just so tiring though.

We came home and went straight to Denny's for some real food. I don't think there is a food group for corndogs and curly fries, unless it is a "do not eat" group.

We got home about 9:30 and I went to the coop to make sure everyone was accounted for. Uh-oh, I was missing a chicken. Bill came out to the coop and was using the flashlight, looking under chickens, behind chickens...only 19. He went outside and there was one of the new chicks (chicks isn't the right word now, they are 3/4 grown), anyway, there was the little blonde one up in a tree asleep! We just left here there. Hope she's there in the morning.

MISSING!

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS CHICKEN?

Red Ethel Cash

Today we were trying to decide where to go in vacation. The Louisiana Rennfaire has sent out emails stating that there are very few hotels available in the entire Gulf coast area due to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Lots of the hotels are full of evacuees that fled the area and are still there. We have decided to go elsewhere, even though we would like to put our tourist dollars into this area, I think it will just have to wait.

I got on the internet and started looking up Rennfaires for different states. There is a Pirate festivel in Clear Water, FLA. Well, this just sounds like such fun. On their website there was a test you could take to figure out your pirate name....Mine is.......
Red Ethel Cash.. I thought this was fun, so here is a link so that you too can find out what your Pirate name is, just in case it ever comes up in conversation!

Your pirate name

And the great pumpkin adventure begins

Yesterday and today we were once again at Relleke's Pumpkinfest. Attending were the usual suspects, food vendors, crafters, clowns, camels, and of course, little one's running around with their faces painted. It was a beautiful day. The crowd was a little smaller than usual both days. We were told there were so many other festivals going on in the St. Louis area that it was taking away from our crowd. I not complaining, we still did very well. Sunday Lyd worked with us. We had lots of fun with her. Bill was telling us a story about a guy that called him BOB for about two years, but eventually someone must have told said guy that Bob's name was Bill. Anyway, Bill was telling us this story, so all day we called him BOB. "Bob, I need 3 orders of curly fries"...Bob, you are so funny"....he kept threatening us, but we were not afeared. It made the day go a little faster. Had the few weirdos asking for strange things, like plastic cups to put curly fries in because her kids would fight if they were just all on one plate. Sounds like a parenting problem to me...we did not do it. Some guy waning to know how much sugar we put in the shake ups and how many cups is 16 ounces? Did these people not go to school? Duh!

One week end down...........4 to go!