Brother Hawthorne Takes Us On An Adventure Saturday Morning.

Saturday morning, Sister-In-Law Hawthorne, with Elle and A.J., picked me up and we drove down to Brother Hawthorne's adventure theme park.

Please meet Glory, Spunk, Tom, and Gypsy.

Oh crap, Sister-In-Law Hawthorne. I was talking about Jill and Pete, the mules. Then you walked out leading Pete, and I don't want my readers to think you are Jill the Mule, so I apologize for any misunderstandings here. I didn't see the video until I put it on my blog. And the captioning was not right with the video. Truth be told, with digital cameras, it's very hard to see what's on the screen when you're digitizing.

Brother Hawthorne kindly pours warm water over the bits before putting them in his mules' mouths.

Brother Hawthorne hooks up Jill and Pete to the wagon.

Elle and A.J.

Daddy's old cabin. For some reason, I cannot call my father D.a.d.d.y H.a.w.t.h.o.r.n.e. Why is that?

That's Pete on the left and Jill on the right.

Notice Jill is always ahead of Pete. And when they're going down a hill, Jill will be behind Pete, shouldering the brunt of the weight of the wagon and its passengers. After a nice wagon ride over the farm, Pete will come back, cool, calm, and collected. Poor Jill will be covered in lather. Gee. Familiar anyone? That happens with other species in the animal kingdom, doesn't it?

We all enjoyed our ride.

Enjoy the views.

Brother Hawthorne, Gentleman Farmer, enjoying his second childhood. I'm still on my first childhood.

After bouncing all over the place on padded seats, I turned to SIL Hawthorne and mentioned something about the pioneers traveling in wagons out West and some lame parallel. She reminded me this wagon had tires.

Woo HOOOO! Here comes the fun part! Always watch the ears. Forward is good. Heh. Check out Jill vs. Pete. I never cared for the back ears. Nothin' good much comes from 'em. Brother Hawthorne made a quick call to Good Neighbor Tom.

Heh. I think Brother Hawthorne might have been a bit embarrassed at this point. He unhooked Pete and Jill, gave me the reins, and he went back to facilitate matters. After everyone disembarked from the shoaled wagon, I told Elle and A.J. to take their shoes and socks off and jump in the creek and splash around while we waited for Good Neighbor Tom. Those girls may think I'm a sandwich short of a picnic. Earlier, I'd noticed A.J. taking photographs of the ground as we bounced along. I asked her what she was shooting and she told me "cow pies," giggling. I solemnly asked her, "You know why flies are all over cow pies?" Elle's and A.J.'s eyes widened as they contemplated this situation. "Because they think it's chocolate." Yes. There's a Crazy Aunt in every family, isn't there?

I don't think Brother Hawthorne wanted me to blog about this. Later, when Sister-In-Law Hawthorne, Rosie, Elle, and A.J. were leaving, Brother Hawthorne was asking about certain photographs/videos I may or may not have taken and about the possibility of something showing up on my blog. Hmmmm ... Brother Hawthorne. I believe that possibility would be 100%.

Sister-In-Law Hawthorne holding Pete and Jill. I really like the light here. And SIL Hawthorne is discovering deer tracks! I believe Good Neighbor Tom is on the way. Check out Pete's ears.

Pete hears the tractor coming down. Ears forward = Good

Don't we all wish we had neighbors like that?

Oh crap. Another creek to cross.

Ears back = Not So Good. You can't tell, but there's quite a slope on the road. And Jill, on the right, is actually behind Pete. Holding the wagon back. She does the work.

I can't tell you how many shots I've taken of this barn over the years, starting in the seventies.

Tobacco barns are on the endangered species list.

I left Brother and SIL Hawthornes to take care of Jill and Pete so's I could go shoot pictures of children having fun. It's so important to have fun.

The girls go bale-jumping.

I loved watching these sisters interact.

A.J. needs a bit of help from Big Sister, Elle.

One more boost from Elle, and A.J.'s up.

Bale-jumping is a time-honored tradition in the South. It rates right up there with cow-tipping.

This just might be one of my all-time favorite pictures.

The name of this photograph is Joy.

Pure Happy.

Thank you, Brother Hawthorne, SIL Hawthorne, Elle, and A.J. for a lovely morning. I had the bestest fun.