Grazing My Way Through Kalamazoo: Visiting Family Guest Post by Deidra

My daughter Deidra surprised me with this blog post.  It’s all about family.

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Summer is an interesting time. We seem to have more time for some things while others fall by the wayside. Visiting my parents has always been a fun filled stressed time. Stressed in the driving it takes to get here, while excitement drives us here.

My husband says that I drive stressed and I should relax more. It is an on edge feeling. Don’t you often think of the different drivers and wonder what they are doing? Are they on their phones? Paying attention like they should be? All of these thoughts drive my stress level up. I just want to see my family and relax. Instead, I’m stuck in a car driving around other people who may or may not be paying attention! Ugh.

I find myself relaxing and eating a lot more when I’m visiting my parents. Dad is an amazing cook who really makes you feel welcome. He makes all of my favorite recipes and I feel stuffed each day! I swear he’s trying to fatten me up!

A few of my favorites have been: Blueberry pie all homemade and just a hint of sour as the filling hits my taste buds, T-bone steaks with a slight char on the outside and medium rare on the inside, rotisserie chicken that had a slight smoky with a hint of heat to it throughout the meat, rotisserie pork chops because the chicken had been so good, and a raspberry cream pie that took my breath away – it had a sweet custard cream that set of the slightly sour raspberries that burst into my mouth as the homemade whipping cream lightened the entire pie. I died and went to culinary heaven.

Visiting with mom is a different experience. We love to go antiquing! That’s our special ‘thing’ that we do together. I have decided that the Andrea little baby bird figurines are wonderful to collect. Why, I have no idea. They are just right. I will be putting them on my classroom shelf to enjoy during the school year.

Deidra’s Robin and Cardinal Figurines June 2016 Visit

Some of the antique places have extremely overpriced items that will never sell. You can tell because the writing is faded on the tags and the items themselves seem to be wanting a home, yet they are resigned to their fate.

We went to Marshall Michigan and found a wonderful old downtown area with fun and interesting shops. The antique mall there was friendly and very reasonable. Reasonable and antiques rarely go hand-in-hand, but they did.

I found three pieces that match my 1916 Bryce Higbee glasses. Do I really need them? No, but it isn’t like I can go out and just buy replacements if anything happens to mine. All three were $5!!! That was too cheap to pass up for glasses 100 years old. This pattern always makes me smile inside. I like the flower garland and the sweeping ribbon swag. Finding them was a real bonus.

Mom found a few pieces that she couldn’t live without, which I’m sure she will put into a later post. I would recommend getting out and taking a look at antiques. Lately these business are closing up shop. Not many people want to buy ‘old things’. They would rather go to a department store and buy mass made items – there is nothing wrong with that. I just enjoy finding unique and special pieces that I can share with others. Talking about the different pieces with mom strengthens our relationship. This is our special time we spend together.

Of course we also spend time out on their covered patio reading books and playing games. I love to read book and would die without them. NO joke! Ask my middle school kids – they all know this fact.

Have you ever hear of Qwixx? It is a fun dice game that involves luck with a sprinkle of strategy. Barnes and Noble had the game, while Amazon gave it great reviews. With my teacher discount it was a winner. We’ve been playing it at night when it becomes cooler. Fortunately, I was able to load the scoring card app on my tablet. This way I wouldn’t have to be ordering replacements.

This is just a small piece of my vacation here in Michigan that I look forward to. Family is important and our time with them is precious.