Food, Family and Fire, The Trifecta of a great day

Saturday May 16th, 2015

Hannah and I went to Detroit to see the family for a day of clearing for the family cemetery.  It is part of the deed of the Basford property, on the most beautiful piece of land I have ever seen.

A wonderful few hours of walking in the woods with Hannah and Mom, Hannah asking lots of great questions about what she saw and Mom telling her many of the same things she taught me at the same age. At one point, Hannah holding my hand and her gram-gram's hand.

Zeb bought a new gas grill which Kimmy, Wes and Zeb spend a few hours putting together. They put in the pick-up truck to move out to the bonfire so  H got her first ride in the back of a pick-up and is now sold that its the way to travel!

Uncle Wayne,  Zeb, the skidda, and chainsaw started clearing.  Aaron and Jen arrived. As a side note, if anyone hasn't been watching Aaron and Jen's year of fitness and health, you have to go check our their Facebook pages, truly amazing!

I, Grace, twisted my ankle on my second trip out in the field as part of my master plan to not have to work so I set up near the grill but no I didn't cook.  Aunt Ginny arrived driven by McKenna with her newly acquired license.  Jeremy and JJ's and children arrived by bike and ATV.  Great conversations about where the road used to be, where the different generations ice skated in the field, where the paths between the farm and the "little" house were and who used them along with current activity of cheer-leading, who has a girlfriend (wont embarrass Ian) and how many kiddos graduate next year from the family. There was plenty of food, beer and fire

As I write this, I try to think if there was something remarkable about the day that makes it worth a blog and I realized yes, Family. No One cares if you comb your hair (ask Hannah) or if you have a huge hole in the butt of your pants (ask Zeb), they just care. No matter how long since you have seen each other, you belong.   

Nathaniel Basford has the right idea, live there, die there then let your body go back to the land there

What A Great Reunion!

Stanley and Geneva would be very pleased.  Before I say anything more, I just want to thank all of you for coming and just being you.  It turned out to be one of the best get-togethers every and best Labor Day Weekends ever.   I also want to plead if anyone else has pictures besides Chris and Mom, please share them.  And if you have a little tidbit to share about the get-together, we'd love to have you write a little piece on here, or at the very least leave a note as a comment to this post (just click on "comment" at the bottom and if you don't have an account, choose "anonymous" and leave your initials at the bottom of your comment.)  Karen, I think everyone deserves to hear the skinny-dipping story.
Between the great cooks, great story tellers and great softball players, we have the best family ever.  I really don't have a lot to say except to thank everyone again and ask for pictures.  There are a few people missing from the ones I've been given and too bad we didn't get around to taking a family shot.  I was going to list everyone who came but the pictures tell that story better than a list, although, like I said, the Michigan Basfords are missing from these pics, as are Em and PJ off the top of my head.  So again, if anyone has a little story to tell about the get-together, please share it.  I'll help in any way you need.