AN OLD FAVORITE

 Revisiting an old photo taken at a place called Frying Pan Park, not too far from us. It seems a long time since we went there, and I only remembered it when I found the photo in my archives. It's fun to walk around. It depicts farming life from the 1920s to the 1950s. It has a working farm, live farm animals, a playground, country store, wagon rides and an antique carousel. There is also a visitor center and family concerts are held throughout the year. You can see several photos from our other visits here. It would be nice to go back sometime this year.

ACROSS THE FIELDS...

Across the fields as green as spinach,

Cropped as close as Time to Greenwich,

Stands a high house; if at all,

Spring comes like a Paisley shawl.

Patternings meticulous

And youthfully ridiculous.

In each room the yellow sun

Shakes like a canary, run

On run, roulade, and watery trill.

Yellow, meaningless, and shrill.

Face as white as any clock's,

Cased in parsley-dark curled locks.

All day long you sit and sew,

Stitch life down for fear it grow,

Stitch life down for fear we guess.

At the hidden ugliness.

Dusty voice that throbs with heat,

Hoping with your steel-thin beat

To put stitches in my mind,

Make it tidy, make it kind,

You shall not: I'll keep it free

Though you turn earth, sky and sea

To a patchwork quilt to keep

Your mind snug and warm in sleep!

~Dame Edith Sitwell~

1887-1964

LAST OF THE PHOTOS FROM FRYING PAN PARK

at least until the next time we go there.

There is a small carousel ride near the general store.  

It looks quite old but with age comes character.  I can imagine when it gets dark and all the lights are turned on, with the music playing, it turns into a magical ride.

It is a 1920's Hirschhorn carousel and went under extensive restoration during the winter and spring this year.

After looking at the carousel and all the animals that you've seen in my previous posts, we walked down to the visitor center.  It was at the end of this long road, with two large fields on either side.  We passed another entrance on our way to the farm that takes you directly to the center, and you can park there also.   

Events are held here. We saw a large birthday party going on in one of the rooms, but the museum side was still open.

It was very interesting to see the old photos.

I will add the small captions I found at the side of each photo.  Above it read:

"The Championship Team of Floris Vocational High School, 1924-1925.

"The Floris Home Demonstration Club won the County Championship for most effective club in 1930."

"The community has a picnic dinner after a soybean meeting on better methods for soybean production."

"Playtime on the farm."

"Kids aboard the Cockerill family's mule before the day's plowing began."

The display above shows parts of farming life with old photos, a couple of which I shared in this post. On the door is a list of chores for children on the farm at various ages. 

A closer look at those chores.

and under the pinafore was an old cookbook open to the pages shown below."

More displays showing its dairy farm heritage.

Winding down our outing, the last thing we did was go to the general store.  I liked the old door knocker.

Inside Gregg is deciding on what he is going to purchase.  We came away with bread and butter pickles for Gregg and a blueberry flower honey for me.

This horse print caught my attention also.

A close-up.

I am finishing off with a collage of several animals we saw that day, some you have seen in my other posts.  

And that was our very enjoyable outing to Frying Pan Park.  To family and friends old and new, thank you for taking the time to visit and look at my posts.

MORE PHOTOS FROM FRYING PAN PARK

In my first two photos, and always on the look out for interesting bits of nature, Gregg pointed out the fungi growing on the fence.

Good Morning, I hope you all had a great weekend.  Ours was busy as we had company.  Strangely I took no photos, didn't even think of it as we had such a good time talking until after midnight.  

I fixed one of those cheat meals for dinner but we all enjoyed it. It had been a busy week and I had no time to cook or fix ahead.  We were going to be out all day and this seemed the way to go for dinner that night, to get something on the table fast.  I was serving up half an hour after we arrived home.

For an appetizer I had two types of cheeses with crackers, plus some dates and a few nuts put together on a cheese board.  I know where to get really great chicken noodle soup.  It is the next best thing to homemade.  We have known our friends for many years and they do not expect anything more than good company.  One of them recommended the soup.  I added butter croissant and for dessert individual portions of Tiramisu, the kind that comes in a small glass.  A bottle of wine, great conversation and the evening was perfect. 

Not sure what we will be doing during the upcoming week, not sure if I will be taking any photos but in the meantime here are a few more from Frying Pan Park.

A barn housing an old cider press...

and its history in the photos below.

Tired piggies!

And more tired piggies in the next stall.  They all have access to the outside.

I shared these goats in my previous post.

I found another goat in the field, too busy eating to pose for a portrait.

Far too busy feeding face for posing.  Note: clucking noises are of no help at such times.

If you saw my last post here, you will recognize this little charmer.

His brother was a hundred feet away having a snooze.

Brother looked like he would be following suit very soon.

There were signs asking us not to feed the horses as they were work horses.

This lovely cow was busy licking its trough, expectantly waiting for lunch.  We saw staff making their rounds feeding all the animals.

One expectant face looking through the fence.  Sorry little guy, no food but I can see it coming.

Thankfully these turkeys don't have to worry about making an appearance at the Thanksgiving table.

I read that for many years those turkeys who had been pardoned at the White House ceremony were sent here.

there will be

This post is dedicated to farmers everywhere, including those in our own family.

Thank you for stopping by.