A trip back home,...and a sweet potato vine update

 On Tuesday I drove to Topsham (Maine), picked up my two sisters and a niece, and continued on to our hometown, North Anson.

Along the way we stopped at "Happy Knits" in Skowhegan. I knew it was going to be a good yarn store when I spotted the yarn bombing out front and also in the lobby.

Pretty yarn-bombed bicycle, isn't it?

My sister Roberta and I both loved this shawl on display, so we each left with yarn to knit it. Once I got home I downloaded the pattern and immediately cast on.

Two of my siblings, both brothers, have died. Here I am, on the far right, with my remaining siblings.

I was the last of the six children; my oldest brother was eighteen when I was born. Here are Eldon, Shirley, Roberta, and me.

Of course we had to stop at "our windmill." This windmill still sits on the property where my parents' farm was located. The farm itself has fallen into disrepair since being sold.

I spent a lot of time playing in the windmill; my mother never objected to my climbing the circular stairway to the top, but she never failed to caution me not to go out onto the porch.

The windmill was built in 1905 and was used to pump water for a few years. My parents purchased the dairy farm in the late 1920's, after moving to Maine from New Brunswick, but the windmill was never again used for its original purpose.

We often saw tourists stop to take a photo of the windmill. It is a rather unexpected sight in the middle of Maine farm country! The windmill is on the National Register of Historic Places as the "Bailey Farm Windmill." Apparently the Bailey family originally owned it. If you do a google search of Bailey Farm Windmill, you'll find it. During WWII, the windmill was used as a lookout tower for enemy planes. Townspeople took turns standing watch in the windmill.

It was good, as always, to get back to my hometown and to see family members.

Now, the moment you've been waiting for: my sweet potato vine update:

After my last post, explaining my latest experiment, I grew a little worried. I read a few responses on one instructional website claiming that the responders had attempted to grow sweet potato vines, but the potatoes refused to send out roots and shoots.

You'd better believe I started meticulously inspecting my sweet potato daily, if not twice daily. I'm happy to report that as of this morning, on Day #7 of its being set in water, there are distinct signs of roots developing. I yanked the potato out of the water a few minutes ago, in fact, to show you the little white emerging roots. Can you see them? I expect next week's Sweet Potato Vine Report will reveal even more evident progress.