Wine on the Vine

            There is a couple in the stake who had moved into a house with lots of land.  The original owner had used some of the land was used to grow baco grapes.  When the couple moved in, he asked to continue with growing his grapes and maintained that part of the land.  He has now retired from maintaining the land.  It's not necessarily an investment the family was interested in and decided to invite all those who lived in the stake to come and pick as many grapes as we want.  These were offered for free.

            So for family home evening, we loaded up the car with buckets, scissors, gloves and knee pads - though we did not need the latter.  The couple has grown into a family and had various children out in the orchard to direct participants on where to go and start cutting.  Cutting grapes off the vine was probably the easiest we've had of any other produce. (We didn't think to take pictures while we were there).  Thus in addition to the blueberries, cherries and apples, we have tackled this year, we have added grapes to the mixture of preserving - though it won't be with pie. 

            Last night Roland and I pulled a large number of grapes off the vines.  Rinsed them, smashed them, boiled them, drained them.  We did get more juice than I had expected.  We used a milk bottle for the juice and he put the glopped up mess into the sieve and put it on top of a bowl in the fridge.  I did not think about getting pictures of that last night.  I took all of these this morning while I was creating this post: 

we had filled two buckets

and a box to give away

stains left in each container that was used

Jenna calls these "grape bones"

The amount of juice made last night  - pucker up pal

The waist

Last night the waist looked like a purple jelly with seeds in it - like raspberry jelly often comes.  I didn't get a picture of it in the bowl or the sieve - not that it would have made much difference.  The cell phone quality is still not that great.  I don't see in the picture what I see in real life.  The blob no longer looks like jelly, but purple manure. Roland moved it out with the compost.

Role-playing Helps Prepare

           As I was growing up, I can remember doing a lot of role playing with my family members.  What would you do if you were in this situation?  How do you think you would react?  What would you do differently? . . . I can't speak for my sibs, but I believe they felt prepared as I when we were approached with a given situation.  We didn't have to analyze because we already had the answers.

          For example, when we had been approached by the doctors in the final stages of mom's life (before we knew they were the final stages)we were faced with a decision.  We could have put mom on dialyses and had her leg amputated.  Long before she got dementia, mom had been quite vocal about not ever wanting to be on dialyses.  With her state of mind, she really wouldn't have known whether we honored that wish or having even requested it. She wouldn't have understood a missing leg . . . she would never be able to comprehend why it was missing no matter how often we explained it to her.  The decision we made was unanimous.  A no brainer - for us anyway.

          I did have one brother-in-law question how we could have made the decision to put her on hospice as quickly as we did.  We didn't think of any time involved.  We reacted to what we had been taught.  We worked together as a family.  We were of one mind.  Apparently a lot of families don't have that.  It boggles my mind that we are not the norm.

          My dad had always wanted to prepare for our finances should he be taken away.  He wanted to explore options with insurance and burial plots.  My mom never did.  To her, preparing or talking about death always seemed like a morbid topic.  He had reminded her that if he were to go first, she would have to deal at it alone.  But she wasn't alone.  She had been a den mother and one of her former scouts became an attorney and volunteered his time to straighten out her finances with every insurance company I guess dad had ever talked to.

          Both Patrick and Kayla had gone with my mom to the cemetery to pick out a plot.  When I came home and asked how it had gone, my mom and Kayla both started laughing as they related their experience.  It sounded as if they had been in a sit-com series. We were in pretty good spirits throughout the whole ordeal.  Mom was such a trooper.  I guess we all were.

          After my dad had passed away, mom said that one of us would have to take over the finances in the event that she should die.  We all voted for Patrick to have that obligation.  Only when it came time, the stress that came with it was too much on his health.  I couldn't do it because of my situation with Roland and his ex.  Fortunately for our family, Corey grew up responsible and  has allowed himself to step in.  I am fascinated with his organizational skills and willingness.  Wow.  What a tremendous blessing he has been not only for his sibs, but now his cousins as well. 

          Corey does a lot of role playing too, I would imagine.  It's been his profession, though I don't know how much of it has prepared him for where he is now.  How awesome it is that we all hold respect and high value for one another.  I wish it were the same for Roland's family.

          Roland just wrote to his brother with the suggestion of having mom update her will and give him (his brother) power of attorney.  The sister that is supposed to take over has not had the best of health and should not be in that position.  Also he (Roland) senses a feud coming amongst the sibs should mom pass. I highly doubt that all four sibs would be able to meet with an attorney all at once.

          I just don't relate to squabble and possessions.  When we met with my mom's attorney, none of us had any financial secrets.  I was a wreck and said to the attorney, "I know that this is probably a quite unusual request, but would you mind if we started with a word of prayer?"  I think Patrick said it and it really had calmed me down.

          We were told that the meeting would last at least three hours.  Apparently the lawyer had figured in some squabbling time.  But Kayla and I were there for only an hour and a half.  The attorney said he had dealt with a family like ours only one other time.

          I am so grateful for the role playing that my family has taught me and my sibs that we have been prepared.