The Elm River Chowder

Folks have been been coming to this spot in the woods for over 100 years. The oldest member I could find at the chowder was George and he was 87. He has been coming since he can remember. Many families gather here for some good 'ole gospel music and good food.  There are several towns up in Illinois that host these gatherings at different times during the summer/early fall months. Basically there is a cow pasture with trees on it where folks from town gather together and eat vegetable soup. There is a donation bucket to help pay for the veggies and beef for next years gathering.

This year there were 30 pots. Sweetie's cousin Rodney had a pot going. He told us he was up at 330 am and out there to start cooking at 5am.

This is a LOT of food! It sure was yummy! For those folks that don't like soup, the local boy scout troop was selling drinks, hamburgers, and pulled pork sandwiches. Everyone brings a pot so as the soup is ladeled out, you have something to carry it back in. Then you find your family sitting around in folding chairs and serve it up! The fun thing is everyone may be gathered in their family groups, but folks wander around to see what everyone has for dessert, and shares! Good times!

ICE - A Charlie Brown Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Our family and some friends that are adopted family also, got to open a present early! We got to go to ICE together!
We were all ready for our work/school day to be over so we could get in the car and drive to Nashville. ICE is held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. (over by the Grand Ole Opry).
Since it was a Monday evening, there was no line to buy our tickets! Thanks to Clarksville Family Magazine we had a coupon we could use! Next up was to go get our blue parka's. The ICE workers loaned a parka for each of us to wear inside! We needed them!

(p.s. if you go wear gloves.. I forgot and my fingers were cold!)

Once inside we took a group photo and then moved on into the big freezer! Oh! The colors! Yes, the ice was colorful! We took so many pictures! Charlie Brown and Linus greeted everyone in the scene of them leaning on a wall and talking. Further in we got to see the group of friends ice skating. Next up was Lucy at her psychologist booth.
We saw Sally with her list for Santa and Linus with his blanket, we got to slide down a big ice slide. The kids loved this, Sweetie even managed to go down face first.. (even though it was against the rules).
Schroder playing the piano, Cory wanted his picture next to that. Then we went into another room and saw all the different color ice Christmas trees. The following scene was Charlie Brown with his tree showing it to Linus.
Then we got to see and listen to a recording of Linus reading the Christmas story. It was neat, set up with lights and all like a real production!
In yet another room, we heard the group of Peanuts characters sing Hark the Herald Angel sing.
Last but not least, on the way out you get ushered into another room where in clear glassy ice some talented ice makers, chiseled out the nativity. Our eyes were drawn to the 2 story angel at first, then we stopped to listen to the Christmas story. As the story moved on, each character talked about was lit up. Very beautiful.

If you get an opportunity to go, please visit www.wefrozecharliebrown.com and get tickets. It was so much fun!

May 2009 Boomer & the Bubblegum

Boomer Discovers Bubblegum


Today we find Boomer, Chester, and Dart picking up litter on the park grounds.
“What did you find Chester?” asked Dart as he threw away an abandoned shoe.
“I found a couple wrappers, and a cup.” Chester replied. “How about you?”
“A shoe, a hubcap, some newspaper, and a plastic bag, so far.”
“Ohhh!” said Boomer; a little further up the trail.
Boomer is Chester’s little brother. He played more than he cleaned up, but Chester
lets him help anyway.
“Did ya find something?” Chester asked as he dropped a cup into the trashcan.
The friends could hear giggles from the other side of the bush.
Boomer didn’t answer. “I don’t see him; he must be in the bush!” Dart said as he flapped his wings and flew up over the bush.
More giggles. “I found a plastic Easter egg!” Boomer mumbled from under the bush. “It has something in it!”
“Boomer, What are you doing? We need to throw that away. Bring it out here and we will help you.” Dart said. It was quiet, and then the friends heard a pop!
“Stop goofing off, Boomer! Did you just open that egg? We don’t know how old that is, the stuff inside might be rotten!” Chester scolded.
Boomer slowly stepped out from under the bush carrying a plastic, yellow Easter egg in two pieces. He was grinning from ear to ear.
“Okay” he mumbled.
“Why do you sound like that?” Chester asked. “What’s in your mouth?”
“Nuttin’!” Boomer said as he pushed past Chester with the egg in his paws. “I’m just going to throw this egg away, just like you said.”
“Humph!” said Dart as he narrowed his eyes and cocked his head while watching Boomer climb up the trash can. Chester wasn’t falling for it either. They both knew Boomer was hiding something. Chipmunks can hide all sorts of things in their cheeks and sometimes it is hard to tell if there is something in there or not.
Boomer quickly ran down the trashcan and off into the woods. Dart and Chester decided to just keep looking for trash as Boomer wouldn’t be able to keep whatever he had to himself much longer.
Chester and Dart were busy finding all sorts of things. Dart found some shoelaces, and a milk carton; while Chester found cans and some soggy socks! Several trips to the trashcan later the friends noticed that they hadn’t seen Boomer lately.
“Where has he gone now?” Chester asked Dart. “Will you please fly up and see if you see him anywhere?”
“Sure, I think we are finished for today anyway.” Dart said as he flew off.
“I will look for him down here!” Chester called out after his friend.

Just over the hill and around the bend, Boomer was un-wrapping the candy that he had found inside the egg. As he ripped open the paper, his eyes widened as more of the candy came into view. The candy was pink, and it smelled wonderful. Boomer closed his eyes and sniffed deeply, wondering what it would taste like.
“Hey, Boomer, what is that?” a voice from behind him said. “It smells so good!”
Boomer jumped and hid the candy in his mouth.
“Nuttin!” Boomer muttered as he turned around. It was Chester’s friend, Lily.
“Uh- huh; I saw you put it in your mouth. What is it?” Lily asked as she fluttered around him.
“I don’t know, I found it in an Easter egg and it tastes wonderful!” Boomer said while chewing on his special treat.
Lily picked up the shredded wrapper. “It says bubblegum, Boomer. It’s bubblegum!”
“Gum is good.” He answered as the sugary candy expanded in his mouth.
“I’ve seen humans with it. They chew it and blow bubbles.” Lily said. “What does it taste like Boomer? Is it yummy? I love sweet things! Oh, please blow a bubble!” a very excited Lily was buzzing all over now.
“I’ve never blown a bubble before.” said Boomer rolling the candy around in his mouth.
“Flatten out the candy with your tongue, then push it behind your front teeth, feel it?”
Boomer nodded.
“Now open your teeth slightly pushing the candy outward with your tongue. Make your lips go in a circle, now blow like you are going to whistle. Blow! Blow!” instructed Lily.
Boomer started blowing, as he blew, the candy formed a bubble.
“Blow, Boomer, blow!” squealed Lily.
Boomer blew and blew again just like Lily said. A small bubble started to appear. A few more blasts and it was quite large!
“Wow!” cheered Lily. “Okay, stop blowing! It’s too big! Boomer!”
POP!!!!
“Ha, ha, ha! That was fun!” laughed Boomer pulling small pieces of gum off his fur.
“Let me help you, Boomer.” said Lily as she tried to wipe him off.
Several minutes passed and the two were still trying to get rid of the gum.
“This is hard.” whined Boomer.
“Yes, it is hard, we need to get Chester to help us.” replied Lily.
“Get Chester to help with what?” said Chester interrupting Lily.
Chester looked at Boomer. Boomer was indeed pitiful. Tears ran down Boomers cheeks as he tried without success to pull another pink piece of gum out of his fur.
“Chester, what do I do? I blew a bubble and now the bubble is all over me!” cried Boomer.
“Oh wow! Boomer, you found gum didn’t you?” squawked Dart as he circled the group in the air above.
“Don’t cry Boomer, we will get this off.” Chester said handing Boomer a tissue to wipe away his tears. “Let’s go down to the lake and get you cleaned up before Mom sees you looking like this.”
By the time the sun started to set; the friends returned Boomer to Mom chipmunk fresh and clean. They had all learned a lesson that day.
“Bye Boomer, Bye Mom! See you later!” Chester said waving goodbye.
Boomer smiled and waved. “See you later Chester, and thanks for everything!”

April 2009 Lily & Her Sparkle

Lily And Her Sparkle


“I found one!” Chester squealed as he checked Daffodil off on his list.
“What color is it?” piped in Dart.
The two friends had been on a scavenger hunt of sorts today looking for new things one can find in the woods in April. So far they had just found flowers.
“This one is white.” Chester replied.
“So you found a White Narcissus!” chirped Dart. Dart knew all sorts of things about flowers.
“Yeah, a white Daffodil!” mumbled Chester. He didn’t care what the technical name was, he was just having fun.
“There are some purple flowers over here. What are they called Dart?”
Dart cocked his head back and forth as he looked the little flowers over. He did that a lot when he was thinking.
“I believe that is a Violet Wood Sorrel.” he replied.
“Hmm. Well they taste good!” Chester said between mouthfuls.
“Chester!” Dart scolded. “You aren’t supposed to pick the flowers! Don’t you remember the sign the park ranger put out?”
“I’m not picking them, I’m eating them, mmm-mm-mmmm!” munched Chester. “Besides, that’s rules for the humans.”
Dart shook his head, “Let’s move on before the ranger catches you! Why do you have to put everything in your mouth?”
“Because that is what chipmunks do! Last week I got nine nuts in my cheeks at once! Can you believe it? NINE! Last fall I could only get seven in there! Then there was this time…” Chester stopped as he realized Dart wasn’t listening to him anymore.
“Dart, what are you doing?”
“I smell something” Dart said as he flapped his wings and flew up into the sky.
“What?” Chester asked. He listened real hard and sniffed in the wind.
An amazing smell was wafting in the air this afternoon. How could he have missed it?
“That smells like popcorn!” Dart called down. “I want to see where that smell is coming from. I will go look around the picnic tables and the cave area.”
“What’s popcorn? “ Chester called back. Dart didn’t answer as he had already flown off.
Chester’s tummy growled. “I will look around the lake. Maybe there is food down there.” Chester said to himself.




Chester looked this way and that to make sure the coast was clear. As he made his way around some bushes, under a broken tree, and through the hollow log; he could see the sparkle of sunshine on the lake. He could hear birds chirping, and an occasional splash of water caused by a turtle, or duck, and voices too! As he climbed down to the water line, he kept watch as he knew there would be others looking to score some extra food, and he didn’t want to be left out!
Chester climbed up into a tree that had branches close to the ground. This way he could watch and not be seen by humans, or anything else!
A family was sitting down on a couple of benches feeding the ducks some bread crumbs. The quacking got louder as more ducks saw what was going on, and wanted some bread too! Nestled in a bushy area over to the side a boy and a man sat fishing.
Setting on his hind legs and stretching himself up, Chester looked to see if there were any other humans around. There were several walking the trails today, and a few having picnics up around the tables.
As he made his way down to the next branch, his foot slipped and down he came! End over end into the grass below. Poor Chester! He fell with little more than a thud. Since Chester is so small, thankfully no one heard him fall.
However, a dragonfly saw it happen and flew over to see how he was.
“Are you okay?” she buzzed.
“Yes, just embarrassed.” Chester sheepishly replied.
“What are you doing down here by the water?’ she said zipping over toward a bunch of flowers.
“I was looking for something.” said Chester while dusting off his legs and back.
“Do you need help?”
“Nah, I think I’m finished.” Chester said as he moved out from under the bushes.
Chester stared. He liked shiny things, and this dragonfly was shiny. She moved quickly wherever she flew. Her wings we moving so fast he could hardly keep up with her. In the sunlight she was so sparkly.
“Hello…are you listening? she asked.
“What?”
“You are a silly chipmunk, aren’t you? My name is Lily, what’s yours?” Lily buzzed.
“Chester.” he said without blinking.
Lily stopped zig - zagging for a moment and said, “Why are you looking at me that way?”
“Do you know you sparkle when you fly?” Chester said as she landed on a leaf next to him.
Lily giggled. The very sound tickled Chester’s ears.
“Wanna race?” Lily asked.
Chester and Lily played tag along the waterline, and then took a break in the sunshine.
“You are fast!” Chester said, catching his breath.
“So are you.” giggled Lily. She was sitting still now.
“I love the way the sun feels on my wings. Hmmm. This is nice.” sighed Lily.
Chester smiled as he watched the sunlight dance in different colors on her wings.
“Watch this Chester!” Lily darted out over the water toward the middle of the lake. Just as quickly she was back.
“Did you see? I get close to the water, but not too close. I don’t want a fish to eat me!”
Chester was so busy watching Lily move about over the water, he didn’t hear Dart calling to him.
“Chester! Chester! CHESTER!” Dart called.
“Huh?” When Chester turned around he saw Dart sitting on a nearby branch.
“I found popcorn!” Dart said. “I saw a boy drop a bunch of it out on the trail.”
Chester clapped his paws together. “Hooray!”
He turned around to tell Lily but she had already buzzed back onto the lake.
“Come on Chester, let’s go eat! Just wait until you taste it!” Dart said, urging Chester along.
Chester looked back over his shoulder and waved to Lily. He wasn’t sure if she saw him or not, but he did it just the same.
As the two friends hurried back to the popcorn, Chester told Dart all about Lily and her sparkle. Chester was happy; he had made a new friend, and was going to eat popcorn with his best friend.

March 2009 Chester's Perfect Day

Chester’s Perfect Day


“Gotcha Dart!” giggled Chester as he climbed up a nearby tree.
“It’s your turn to hide.” replied Dart as he tucked his head under his wing and started counting.
Chester the chipmunk and Dart the bluebird had been playing hide and seek all morning. Chester had a plan, this time he would go further away to hide, he would go where Dart would never find him. Since the wind was blowing through the trees and brush today, it helped disguise any sounds Chester was making as he headed toward the hollow tree around the corner.
“Ready or not, here I come!” Dart shouted.
Chester laughed, and stayed right where he was. While he waited for Dart to find him, he heard the sound of children playing. Peeking out from behind some leaves, Chester settled in to watch.
Dart checked the bushes by Chester’s tree first. Nope, no Chester! He then looked down towards the berry bushes where he hid last time. No, not there either! He looked behind rocks, under bushes and benches along the trail, but no Chester. He finally decided to take to the air. Dart loved to fly, a couple flaps of his little wings and he was high above the tree tops. Dart was about ready to give up when he spotted Chester dart behind some leaves.
“Tag, you’re it!” shouted Dart breathlessly as he landed next to Chester. Chester wasn’t paying attention to Dart; he was too busy wondering what those children were doing. After several minutes went by, Chester asked, “What is that?”
“What is what?” asked Dart, who by now had begun chasing a beetle across the path. “Yum, crunchy.” mumbled Dart as he swallowed his snack.
“What is that thing in the air?” Chester asked.
Dart hopped around the tree and looked to see what Chester was talking about. He could see some kids riding bicycles, some running and jumping, and a girl flying a kite.
“That’s a kite, Chester.” Dart said cocking his head from side to side.
“I want to try!” Chester said as he watched the kite bouncing around in the sky.
“You wouldn’t be able to hold it!” laughed Dart. “You would be tossed about and fly away to who knows where!”
Chester stretched his legs out behind him and his paws out in front of him until he was flat on the ground. He rolled over on his back and looked up at the clouds. The sun was shining so brightly he almost missed seeing something else in the sky.
“Look Dart! That’s the biggest bird I’ve ever seen!” Chester said sitting up straight.
“I don’t see anything!” said Dart, looking aat the ground for more bugs.
Chester stretched himself as high as he could and pointed. “There, see it’s scratching the sky!” Dart looked up just in time to see an airplane streaking across the sky.
“That’s an airplane Chester, it takes people places.” said Dart.
“So, people can fly too?”
“When they get into a plane” Dart replied.
“I want to try!” Chester said as he watched the plane slowly disappear into the clouds.

Chester was quiet as he watched the children play. He had learned two new things today. That gave him a lot to think about. Dart looked at Chester and said, “Do you want me to show you how to make your own kite?”
“Really?” asked Chester, his eyes sparkling.
“Sure! Do you have any paper and string in your treasure room?” asked Dart.
“I do! I’ll go get a piece of each and meet you in front of my tree” Chester called over his shoulder as he ran home.
“Make sure it is a long piece of string!” Dart called out after him.
A few minutes later Chester re-appeared with a green piece of paper and a long string.
Dart pointed to the ground. “Okay, first lay your paper down here. Make sure the long sides of the paper are on the top and the bottom.”
Chester was so excited. He neatly piled the string on the ground next to the paper. He made sure the paper laid right and then said, “Now what?”
“Fold the paper in half, and leave it folded” continued Dart.
The friends were so busy working on making a kite that neither of them heard Boomer creep up to them. Boomer is Chester’s little brother, who sometimes follows Chester and Dart on their adventures.
“Boo!” yelled Boomer. Chester and Dart both jumped.
“Hi guys, whatcha doing?” he squeaked.
“Dart is showing me how to make a kite!” explained Chester.
“What’s a kite?” Boomer asked.
“Watch and see!” replied Dart.
Boomer leaned against the tree trunk where he could see what was going on. It wasn’t long until Dart and Chester were finished. Boomer watched as Dart poked a hole in the kite for the string to attach to it. Chester tied a knot so the string would stay and not come off the kite. Next, Chester tied the other end of the string to a small stick. Then he wrapped the string around the stick, all the way up to the kite.
“Now, I will take the kite and you slowly let out the string. I will take it up high so that the wind will carry it for you.” Dart said to Chester as he put the kite in his beak. Dart flew up to the lowest branch in the tree with the kite in his mouth. Dart let go of the kite just as another gust of wind blew through the trees. The kite was flying!
“Yay!” squealed Boomer.
Chester was too excited to say anything as he felt the tugging of the little kite. He was scared if he talked he might drop it.
“Wow! Look at you! You are flying a kite!” laughed Dart as he landed on the ground next to Boomer.
“Am I doing this right?” Chester asked.
“Yes!” Dart said.
After Chester had flown the kite for awhile, he let Boomer try. When Boomer was done, it was Dart’s turn. The afternoon went by quickly, and before they knew it the sun was getting low in the sky.
“I’d better get going – see you tomorrow!” called Dart as he flew up to his home in the top of Chester’s tree.
Chester and Boomer rolled up the rest of the string and got the kite and put it behind the entrance to Chester’s tunnel. “Come on, I’ll take you home” Chester said to Boomer as they turned to walk toward their parents tree. Dad chipmunk met them just as they rounded the corner.
“Hey guys! Boomer, I was on my way to get you! Did you have fun today?”
“Guess what we did today!” giggled Boomer.
“Dart and I made a kite!” Chester chimed in.
“I got to fly it!” squealed Boomer.
“Sounds like you both had a really great day. Chester, your mom has made your favorite for dinner tonight. Would you like to stay?” Chester’s dad asked as he put an arm around Chester and the other around Boomer.
“I’ll let you have top bunk Chester!” Boomer said.
Chester smiled. “Sure Dad Thanks!”
“After supper will you read to me Chester, will you please?” Boomer asked.
“Sure! Let’s see maybe a story about pirates and a chest full of treasure.” Chester said.
“Hooray! I can’t wait!” replied Boomer as he ran ahead.
As they entered the kitchen, Chester’s whiskers twitched. The smell of roasted acorns was hanging in the air. Chester took a deep breath and sighed. This was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Happy Valentines Day Chester!

Chester had just finished eating his lunch when he saw a big red heart on his calendar. Looking closer, he noticed that the very next day was Valentines Day. Chester thought about Valentines Day while he washed his face and paws. A smile lifted his whiskers as he remembered this day last year. Chester and his friend, Dart the bluebird had found a bag of candy hearts. Each heart was a different color and each had a message on them. Together, Chester and Dart gave one to each friend they met that day. What a great day that was!
Chester was happy as he prepared for a nap. Chipmunks take lots of naps. It is one of their favorite things to do. Sometime between brushing his teeth and fluffing his bed of leaves, Chester remembered he wasn’t ready for Valentines Day. He hadn’t seen Dart today, and he didn’t have any candy to give away!
“What will I do?” thought Chester; “and where will I find a valentine gift?’ Chester sat down on the edge of his bed and put his head in his paws so he could think. Soon his left ear began to twitch, then his right ear. He had an idea!
“I will make a special valentine all by myself!” he said aloud. Chester’s excitement grew as he thought about his friends and family and the gifts he would make for them. “Hmmm… there is Mom, Dad, my little brother Boomer, and my best friends Dart and Turtle.” Chester said to himself as he scampered down one of his tunnels.
He ran to the left, then to the right, all the way to the end where he stopped. There it was – Chester’s treasure room! Inside this room Chester’s ‘treasures’ were stacked on little shelves. See, Chester likes to collect things. Almost every time Chester goes out he finds something interesting to bring home. Just last week he found a ribbon under some leaves, a dime, and a shiny gold button over by the lake. On gloomy days Chester liked to come down to his treasure room and just look everything over, and wonder what it was. Thanks to Dart and Turtle he learned what most of them had been used for, but he couldn’t understand why anyone would leave them in the woods.
As Chester looked around his room, he found several things that his friends and family might like to have. Chester got very busy, he cleaned, he scrubbed and he created. Several hours later, the very sleepy chipmunk was finished!
Chester filled his little wagon with his valentine gifts, and pulled it up through the tunnels back to his bedroom. There was a small pink mirror for his Mom, a warm scarf for his Dad, a shiny red toy car for Boomer, and special handmade Valentine cards for Dart and Turtle. As he snuggled under the leaves he thought about all the fun he would have giving his friends and family the valentines he made all by himself! Sweet Dreams Chester!