The weather has been so nice these last few days. Feels like a fresh start to Winter..
The "CHOCOLATE FROSTING"......
My mother was know for a “Chocolate Frosting” that graced all of the birthday cakes she blessed us with in our later years of life. It became a chuckle among many of us as she would arrive at our birthday celebrations with CHOCOLATE FROSTING Cake in hand…The frosting was so perfect with a chocolate cake under and a large scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.. With moms passing the cakes no longer arrived at our birthdays . The void was felt. The frosting recipe also seemed to have vanished. But not for ever. Recently I was looking through some well worn cookbooks of my moms and to my surprise my hands would halt on a page that held the famous lost recipe. Its hard to describe the warm feeling that came over me as I realized what my eyes were reading… If LOVE has a temperature I have felt it and if LOVE can have a smell it was my moms chocolate frosting. I am excited to start making birthday cakes with an AMAZING Chocolate frosting. Love you MOM….
Time....A True Blessing...
This fall during harvest in Minnesota I would be gifted a clock….I have named it my “ MN Harvest Clock..” Time is something that we can never go back and change…And this time spent I wouldn’t want to change a thing.!!
Begin again ..12-27-2019
I am so excited to get started again….Lots of stories in this head..ONWARD…
I can’t believe a whole year has gone by since Kit helped me get this set in motion..So glad he’s home a few days to refresh my memories….
Missing her.....My Mother
My mind has been on my mother as of lately. It has been 15 years this Easter that she passed away. So when this quote would come across my eyes a few days ago all I could do was smile. It is a little different take on the same words of Wisdom. No one in my growing up years lived this better than her. “Thank-You” for this amazing gift mother. LOVE CHARLOTTE
My First Long Term Goal.. Kit .. "College graduate".
Becoming a widow after being in a loving marriage and relationship for 34 years was something I could not even wrap my mind around. From early on in George and I’s relationship and through the many years of our marriage we were team. This we found was how we worked best. We valued each others opinions and sought them in the thought process of the many decisions that came along in our life. Although often one of us would usually say ‘You choose I am fine with what ever”. I believe this happened because we knew each other so well and trusted each other. So the decision to send Kit off to college after George’s passing and Kit be given the opportunity to study what he loved was something I didn’t even have to wonder what I needed to do. This May after 4 1/2 years of dedication from Kit and heartfelt help to us both from family and friends Kit will receive his Bachelor of Arts in Digital Arts and Animation: Entertainment Design from Cogswell Technical College in San Jose California. Kits further education was my first long term goal as a single parent. I realize the degree is an important accomplishment for Kit and I but equally is all we have learned alone the way… We are now stronger and full of Hope for the future. I am very proud of you Kit Ainslie. LOVE MOM….
George's second love...Sally
“I liked Scott, I married Bruce and I Loved George”…….Sally Burroughs-Ainslie (sister in law)
George was the youngest in a family of all boys. He was very close to his mother Jane and she would be the first love of his life. I learned very early on in George and I’s courtship that I could not become the second love of his life. That space had already been taken by a remarkable young lady named Sally Burroughs-Ainslie . She would become the big sister he never had, and he the little brother she never had. He spoke often of her and how special she was to him.. One of those relationships that once you witness it you know you have seen something truly special. In time I would become the third love in his life. A love that I knew made me a very lucky lady. Sally your love made George’s life full. As it has done for me also. I Thank You….
Winter 2019...
February and March this winter would make us take each day at a time. The cold temperatures and day to day accumulation of snow would leave us no choice. The silver lining for me was my cross country ski’s were parked right out my back door with great skiing snow everywhere. But this AM as I decide its time to store them away till next year I realize I am a person of the seasons… WELCOME SPRING!!!!
This helped some days......
This cartoon would recently come across my facebook page…It brought back memories of George and how he took a liking to this simple but to the point drawing. I can’t remember where he found it. But for years a copy hung in his office and shop. The one in his shop hung over his work- bench where he could viewed it each day as he worked… As the days flowed into weeks and years the cartoon became yellowed with time and scorched from sparks from his grinders and spattered with grease from his trip hammers. He told me once he wasn’t sure if the frog or the bird had the upper hand. Sorta like life he said..So until a person knows for sure don’t ever give up !! For me the long cold winter days of February are not easy as the presence of his absence can be felt everywhere. But as each day gives us a little more light I know Spring is not far off now... I know you were right dear..
Honor The Earth our Mother...I am a Son
George loved to study Native American History. And he knew it well..Through his studies he would speak often of “The Powers That Be.” A greater power that is in all things. It was important to him To Honor the Earth our Mother…Honor all with whom we share the Earth… Four-legged, two-legged, ones that take flight and those that find water their homes. Honor the plants and rock/soil/water that sustains so much life. And to find balance and beauty in people. He would tell me often how lucky he was to have his place of worship out side his back door. After losing George I realized how being able to live here in Lavina Montana was such a large piece of the puzzle of the life of a very special man. This prayer says so much about who he was…. “ O’ Great Spirit help me always to speak the truth quietly, to listen with an open mind when others speak, and to remember the peace that may be found in silence. “
-Cherokee Prayer-
A young life changed...
People would always ask George how he got into blacksmithing. He would tell them that from a very young age he had always enjoyed making things. At about the age of 17 he had been doing some wood carving and was in search of a certain wood carving tool that he could not find. Being who he was he decided to just make what he needed. So began several trips to the local library to read up on what he would need to built his first make- shift forge. Barbecue charcoal was used as coal, his moms hair dryer was his first forge blower, and a piece of railroad rail he salvaged from some where was his first anvil. This first “Forge In” would take place on his folks drive way in Alexandria Virginia….He told me “Char I knew the first moment my hammer moved that piece of hot iron my life had changed.” George would be blessed to stand at a forge for 38 years of his young life of 56. Since his passing I have had a lot of time to look back on our 34 years together. To have been able to watch him stand at his forge and truly live life has given me such joy. Through him another young life was changed…..
Negative -25 degrees ...A day to take caution.
Adventure North...He fit right in.
George’s first stay in Alaska would find him solo. His second trip would have me by his side as the new Mrs. Ainslie. We were so young and full of adventure. For 34 years we would take on life and I never once worried about much. Because when you had a man like George next to you things would always work out. And what an adventure it would be. The foods we learned to love and prepare from our time North were one of the first recipes in his cook book. I can still smell and taste them after all these years.
For George To Cook...It's Gotta Be
For 30 years George would collect recipes that he felt would work under this title. As I make my way through the many recipes he had typed and always stored in page protecters I can say that he pretty much nailed it. I have served many a meal at our table using a recipe from this book. We never kept a secret to what meat was being served at our table. But I can truthfully say we never made an anouncement either as to what critter was in the kettle. I have vivid memories of sometimes being surprised at what some of our guests commented on liking. The one that surprised George and I the most was Bear.
Amazing advice ...To a bear and me
I am not sure where my day has gone…To be doing my daily Blog this late …..I rose early this morn with a message from Heather that I had forgot to lock our horses in the corral and the farrier is due today at 10:30am .. I am instantly wake . They have been spotted at the far west part of the pasture..No worries I just have to leave my house earlier than planned. With halter in hand I make my way to catch Batman. It is a walk that at one time I may have complained about having to make. But not anymore. To be under the beautiful skies of Montana no matter the weather is such a blessing to me. Today the early morning sun is already casting warmth on my face and golden shadows on the frosted brown grasses. A breeze from the southwest is sparing us from the frigid temperatures that are challenging life in the midwest. As I drew nearer to my crew they came to greet me and we all made our way slowly back to the corral. No halter needed today. The sound of horse hooves and my boots making our way up the trodden path fill the air this gentle morn. This is a moment when I feel alone . I then remember some amazing advice I was given……
George to the T....
Today has been a long day and I have finally found a minute to do my daily Blog. So I will it make it short and sweet.. For those of you who did not know George this was him to the T… I miss his humor.
George... "The Cook Book"... 35 years in the making
Each day I sit down to write a Blog I wonder where do I start.. For me there is sooo much to say.. But first and foremost my Blog is about a book . A book that was almost complete and ready to be printed when a tragedy would put it on the shelf . Five years later I would take it back off the shelf . My goal is to see it printed. The idea of what the book has to offer has changed a lot in these five years. But today I will show a page that George wrote for “The Cook Book”. He loved the outdoors…loved to hunt…and loved to eat which made him a good cook. Many years ago a dear friend told George “You do have a way with words”.. As you read his writings you will see what she meant …
Notepad and Pen....Always
Those who knew George well or who were blessed to meet him once may have noticed he always carried a notepad and pen. To keep this pad and pen handy his shirts always had a front pocket with a snap or button. He was not a fussy dresser but this pocket requirement was a given. He would comment to me that there is so much I want to do if I don’t write some of the important stuff down I will forget. He had a preference for certain notebooks but once in awhile I would come across one I couldn’t pass up. Over the years a pile of these used up note books filled a drawer in his office. After his death I found these note pads something I could not look through for along time. Now as I open one and read his notes I am taken back in time. Names and addresses...phone numbers…date and time of a 4-H meeting…sketches…book and movie titles… lunch with one of the girls…and a note from me letting him know I loved him. This is something I wanted him to always remember…..
Because of your Love....
I have known great love in my life. I have also known great heartache…I would not change a thing.
Grandpa George... And Mr. Cooper
As George and I began our journey together in December of 1980 we both knew how blessed we were to have found each other. In so many ways we felt the same about what life had to offer. And early on in our journey we found life so amazing to see it through each others eyes. As the years went by we were blessed with three children that also exposed us to seeing the world through younger eyes. For me living in a home with George and our kids meant never a dull moment…..Georges love for us always put us first in his mind. Always….In September of 2012 Mr. Cooper would enter our lives. For reason I may never know George would only get to share one year of his life with this special little boy. But it was a year of pure Joy for George. Cooper know’s his Grandfather well. Our family gatherings are full of stories of Grandpa George. His presence is felt in all our homes. But some times when I witness the joy Mr. Cooper brings to a moment my heart aches for the absents of Grandpa George.
