Author Archives: slfinnell

About slfinnell

Child care provider for 22+ years in my home. I feel so blessed to have cared for so many children. Spend my spare time creating items for Etsy and searching for vintage items that need a new lease on life. Blogging?, well I just enjoy it.

Theme Reveal 2019/A to Z Blog Challenge

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I’m doing it again. I’ve joined up with the April A to Z Blog Challenge for my 6th consecutive year. And for the 3rd year in a row, you’ll get to watch a quilt unfold.

The Kansas City Star's most recent home, right off I-70 in downtown Kansas City, Missouri
The Kansas City Star’s most recent home, right off I-70 in downtown Kansas City, Missouri

I’ve been inspired this time by a drive-by of the Kansas City Star building in Kansas City, Missouri. Many of you may not know that this newspaper was world reknowned for it’s weekly quilt block publication beginning in the late 1920’s. I’m not giving up too much more about that until Challenge time, but just know, I’ll strictly be using blocks previously published in the KC Star.

If you’re a fellow blogger, welcome to this madness we call a Challenge. If you’re just dropping in, maybe you’ll check back on April 1 (no foolin’) and see what all the fuss is all about. You can click here for other theme reveals, a list of the participants, or to join up. You have until March 28 for the theme reveal posts, and sign up closes April 6. But you can read all the instructions by clicking here.

Thanks to our hosts again this year and know you are greatly appreciated. Thanks to my readers. And especially thank you to my family who endure and support my fabric creations.

Let the fun begin!!

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Paris, But Not France/Thursday Doors

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First Baptist Church, Paris, Missouri
First Baptist Church, Paris, Missouri

What more could you ask for? A Mustang convertible, sunny day, and front door parking at church?! This is how we roll in Rural Missouri! Don’t get too worked up, it was on a Saturday. 😉 Now, if only I could revisit and see the inside of the door trio. Maybe next time we’re in Paris, Missouri, population 1,220. It’s located north of Mexico, Missouri, in the Northeastern part of the state and was settled in 1831. More photos from this sleepy town next week.

For more Thursday Door pics, please head over to Norm 2.0 and he’ll direct you to all the doors from around the world.

Jayhawk Road/ Thursday Doors

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Hopefully you enjoy the perspectives I’ve tried to display here. Doors are not always the easiest things to capture and here are some examples.

  • Barn Doors and Cattle Gates

It’s not uncommon to see an old farm split by a road. In this case you add a pretty good curve where they’ve clearly painted double yellow lines to remind you it’s not a good idea ever to pass, much less stop and take a door photo.

White Barn with assorted cattle gates.

Here’s the closest you’ll get without the steering wheel or hubby’s head in the way. Not to mention the tinted side windows aren’t very conducive to picture-taking.

Barn, Garage, and Farmhouse Doors
Barn, Garage, and Farmhouse Doors

As you can see, Houston,we have a problem. The hood is factor #1. And there’s the issue of the cracked windshield #2. The space between that home and myself is #3. Around here, you just don’t go driving up a private drive even when most folks are pretty neighborly. There are factors like Meth manufacturer’s who try finding hiding places off the beaten path to make said meth, dogs who may or may not be friendly, and shotguns owned by the farmers trying to protect themselves. So…….

Filtered and Cropped
Filtered and Cropped

I’ll be using the cropping (no pun intended, dear farmers) and filtering available. You see, once a few years ago before I had shared in Thursday Doors, the hubby and I were driving down a road back home and were literally chased down by a farmer who didn’t recognize us. We pulled over, showed him my camera, the child in the back seat and did some name-dropping of “my people”. Once I explained who I was related to the area we were in, and then told him I was writing a blog post about barns in the county, he simmered down…. kind of. He clearly was a bit on the mistrustful and hostile side of the spectrum.

Another farm in the creek bottoms.
Another farm in the creek bottoms

And you can’t tell from here, but it’s split by the road as well.

Clapboard sided farm house
Clapboard sided farm house

It’s sometimes a choice of which side of the road you photograph. We were between destinations with not a lot of sunlight left to play with so turning around was not in the cards that day. Guess we’ll have to take another drive sometime.

If you have some door photos you’d like to share, try checking out Norm 2.0 and he’ll direct your path.

Starting My Bucket List/ThursdayDoors

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Last week’s family history dive was brought to you courtesy of my father’s side of the family tree. There’s quite a bit we’ve learned following the grandparents and great grands but I’ll be keeping that under wraps for a bit. Maybe I’ll find a few more doors to go along with that storyline. For this Thursday Doors, I’m starting a bucket list of doors I want to see related to Mother’s side of the family. I won’t go too in-depth but the one I’m sharing today is pretty darn cool if you ask me.

Hunterston Castle in Scotland is still standing!
Hunterston Castle in Scotland is still standing!

The last Laird (#17) of Hunterston is Robert Huntar and so to my family who reads this, yes, our name spelling is different compared to then. A long lineage of Hunters who were extremely good at hunting, thus given the name as well as land and did the hunting for the kingdom/royalty of those times. I sure wish I could tell my grandfather this! He was the epitame of a hunter in every way, shape and form. Little did we know it was truly in our gene pool!

Family Coat of Arms
Family Coat of Arms

Thankful to have found this information to pass on for the generations to come. And given the chance, it’s definitely at the top of the places I want to see in person. Maybe they’ll give me a grand tour being I’m related 🙂

For a tour of many more Thursday Doors entries, please click here and visit Norm 2.0. He’ll explain where to find the blue frog.

Mt. Olive Baptist Church/ThursdayDoors

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Down this road from Bethlehem Baptist Church

Leaving Bethlehem Baptist Church
Leaving Bethlehem Baptist Church

in which my great great grandfather was a charter member,

Windmill and Missouri Barns
Windmill and Missouri Barns

and past this farm,

you’ll come to Mt. Olive Baptist Church. It was here that my grandfather was ordained as a minister in 1886. He was 39 years of age at the time and served as a pastor here 2 different times. The Versailles Statesman published that as of 1927, he’d married 125 couples, as well as conducted 225 funerals. I wonder how there could have survived all these years 2 Baptist churches so close to each other. This one was originally a log school house but burned and was rebuilt by 1914. It sure wasn’t a good-paying occupation as in 1912 the salary was $100.00 per year, payed by the quarter. No wonder they had to farm as well as be pretty much indispensable for weddings and funerals,
prayer meetings, Sunday School, Sunday services and don’t forget the Revivals and Camp Meetings. Not to mention offering various sorts of family counseling for the sick or homebound, marriage counseling, excessive alcohol consumption or treatment of family or neighbors — some of these you certainly didn’t discuss in those days. Such a full time job for so little. As you ponder these things, I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the photos we took as we wandered around the church yard.

Early Photo
Early Photo published in Florence, Missouri’s 160th Celebration. (glad I bought the book back in ’92)
Mt Olive Panorama
Be there on time
Ramp entrance
Steeple with a halo
Cedar Grove behind the church
That is a tower, not a mark on the center of the photo (Channel 6 in Syracuse, Mo)
The new meets the old
Basketball anyone? Great picnic spot,too!

For other Thursday Doors, please visit Norm 2.0 and he’ll guide you to the list of wonderful doors around the world.

Ice Storm 2019/ThursdayDoors

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A Throwback event was planned by my husband and I for our daughters. We bought them tickets for Christmas and the event was held last Friday evening in Kansas City. But as you can see from some photos below, we were kinda worried if we’d get to make it there. Ice is the worst! Can’t stress it enough. There’s nothing moving, unless it’s you falling on your rump or other body parts that happen to land first. Such as my youngest hitting her head on the pavement headed to work. So glad she wasn’t hurt badly! Scary stuff and not the best part of living in the Midwest.

  • Double Icicles out my back door
    Double Icicles out my back door
  • Twigs beaten down from wind and freezing rain
    Twigs beaten down from wind and freezing rain
  • Icy View from the back porch
    Icy View from the back porch
  • Shards of death as the hubby called them. A clear 'Do not enter' signal.
    Shards of death as the hubby called them. A clear ‘Do not enter’ signal.

The Throwback Event as I have dubbed it was a concert to see Sara Evans who happens to be a Missouri-born country music singer in case you weren’t aware. Three of us met the eldest daughter at the Ameristar Casino to see the show. We took a couple prints of the 2002 pic below along for autographing.

Sara Evans with my girls at the 2002 Missouri State Fair.
Sara Evans with my girls at the 2002 Missouri State Fair.

Little did we know we’d get to take another photo or 2. They’re all grown up now clearly and this mom is feeling all sappy and stuff. My how time flies. Some song lyrics from Born to Fly:
Hey, ’cause I will soar away like the blackbird
I will blow in the wind like a seed
I will plant my heart in the garden of my dreams
And I will grow up where I want, wild and free   Who doesn’t want this for their children? Some more photos below of the fam and some doors that are the best I could do with an icy parking lot on the outside. I.Don’t. Skate.

  • Me and the Mister
    Me and the Mister
  • Essential Doors
    Essential Doors
  • Sara Evans
    Sara Evans
  • Christmas gift is now a reality
    Christmas gift is now a reality

” Hope you’ll take some time to visit other Thursday Door posts at Norm 2.0 and have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Bethlehem Baptist Church/ThursdayDoors

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I’m traveling back to my roots this ThursdayDoors. After a DNA test back in May of 2017, I’ve taken the deeper plunge to investigating the paper trail. But there aren’t just paper trails when it comes to these searches. There are places to visit. So the husband and I took a Sunday Drive last weekend since we had temps near 60 degrees and some sunshine. Can’t stay inside on a day like that!

First View

This is Bethlehem Baptist Church in Florence, Missouri. It was here that my Gt. Gt. Grandfather was pastor. Reverend Caleb H. Cramer ministered to this community and the surrounding area for over 50 years of his adult life. This church was home to a whole lotta family members. (You know they had a ton of kids back in the day.) Although I only live 25 minutes away, it’s my first time seeing it.

Front Door Entrance – Newer Doors

When choosing this site for the church, I’m sure the view overlooking the valley was a major deciding factor. “Build your house upon the rock” Matthew 7:24-45 is a favorite Bible verse of mine.

Original Portion of the church

From the State Historical Society of Missouri’s public pdf “Organized in 1846 in the home of Reverend B.F. Dinwiddie. The first services were held in a log building on the site of Harmony School, and the first land was purchased from Henry and Amanda Wagenknecht in 1869.”

I happen to have the Reverend Dinwiddie’s final resting place on the far left of this picture. This was a beautiful view of the valley below here.

Civil War Era Photo of my grandparents

About Grandpa,…..Born 1847 and died 1932. But the years between were a life filled with good works. I mentioned his ministry before and he also served in the Civil war in the Missouri Infantry Volunteers. Usually one thinks of most of the Civil War action beyond Missouri, but we actually had a considerable amount of action here.

Rev. Caleb and Mrs. Nancy Cramer

Wish I could see the twin doors in the background!!

  • Steeple View
  • Newer addition
  • Side door w/ramp
  • Newest addition to the back

I must say I have my husband to thank profusely.
Ron, you’re my hero!! He’s been helping fill out that family tree and it is becoming huge!! Wowza! We’ve gotten back to 1621 in one branch. (I’m such a history nerd)

Thanks for visiting this Thursday and I hope you’ll check out Norm 2.0 and the band of ‘door guerillas’ he has following him. So many wonderful sights to see in the world of Thursday Doors!

The Silos at Prairie Vale/Thursday Doors

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Hay rake wheel over the door of this silo suite.

There are a few well-kept secrets here in Mid-Missouri, but it’s high time I spilled the beans. I am super excited to introduce a couple friends of mine. They are Wendy and Doug Needy and they have created ‘The Silos at Prarie Vale’. This Airbnb rendevous on the Prairie is a gem! Tucked away in Rural Pettis County, Missouri–near Windsor’s Amish community, the Missouri State Fairgrounds, state parks, annual festivals and historical places. Who needs to stay here? Honeymooners, Fair-goers, World Travelers, Bikers (it’s a short pedal off the Katy Trail) or anyone who needs to destress their life. What an experience!!

Yeah, I know. This sounds like an ad. But I know these folks. I graduated with Doug. His mother, Judy, graduated with my aunt Glenda. Growing up, those 2 spent lots of hours as our room mothers, preparing cool parties for us. So many good treats and wonderful memories. And when I first met Wendy, we were planning one of our class reunions. Judging by the hard work and thoughtfulness they’ve invested in this venture I’d say creativity is just in their genes.

This Thursday Doors, I hope you’ll enjoy the selection of photos Wendy sent me. They will tell you so much more than I can. If you are interested in a more detailed description of The Silos, please click here.

Thanks to Norm 2.0 and all the Doors family who are so kind as to allow me to have this brag moment for one of Green Ridge, Missouri’s finest families. Please visit Norm 2.0 and find the blue frog button for door entries from across the globe. You will be awestruck by the superb views.

  • This was once a dairy farm
  • The Farm House w/wrap around porch.
  • Winter Silos
  • Covered Porch
  • Bucky and Libby’s goat “wedding” for fun
  • Doug, the wedding officiator
  • Bucky finishing off the wedding arbor
  • Wendy makes guest soaps from goats milk
  • Jetty a miniature donkey and 2 Nigerian Dwarf goats -Ace and Bucky
  • Moo is the official cat welcoming committee
  • A snuggle buddy

Mexico,Missouri/ThurdayDoors

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I found some leftovers in my photo stash that might have some merit this Thursday Doors. This will be a 2nd entry for Mexico, Missouri on my site.

Mexico, population of around 11,000, is located in Audrain County and is the location of a Veterans Home, the annual Miss Missouri Pageant as well as the Missouri Military Academy-founded 1889. It’s the county seat and most recently, was honored with the most snowfall in one occurence in the state for this year so far at 22 inches. (learned that from my husband’s dr)

Memorial Court House-June 2017

On the Square is a common term when referring to a rural downtown location. I was On the Square in the city of Mexico in June of 2017 when I took these shots. And some of the shots (confession time) are screenshots of the area from Google Earth because I felt it was necessary to go to this extent to give a better view than what I was able to get in person.

  • Typical town square
  • Built 1951
  • Chamber of Commerce

A place I had to refrain from entering was this music establishment.

Its OPEN 🎶

I have a knack of finding exceptional deals on 5-string banjos. My eldest daughter says I need more restraint from purchasing any more. Here’s one time I didn’t try my luck. Dear Daughter, you are welcome. 🙂

Please take time to see more Thursday Doors posts over at Norm 2.0. Just find his blue frog button and enjoy!

1907 Classical Revival/ThursdayDoors

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Reaching into a stash this week for my Thursday Doors entry. I’m pulling out a 1907, Classical Revival at 112 West 4th Street in Sedalia, Missouri.

A few lights on in the center windows.–Porter-Montgomery Building

Currently this well-kept charmer is housing meetings for the American Red Cross, a local law office and an appraisal service. If there are more offices, I appologize that I don’t have that information.

Plaque on display

Besides being old enough to be on the National Register, it would have seen the
1st US federal corrupt election practices law passed on January 26, 1907. I’m not rattling any political flags, just sharing one fact of the year it was built. You know, being it houses a law firm 🙂

I’m confident that these aren’t the original doors but they are attractive with the entrance.

I intend to go inside and look at those frames on the wall sometime.

Please take time to visit Norm 2.0 for more Thursday Doors from around the world. Click the link and he’ll direct you.