Kathryn at Glacier

This video is from a year or so ago, and I meant to post it then but couldn't figure it out. It is so cute of our Kathryn acting as tour guide!

This video and it is great! I hope this loads so you can all enjoy it. She is a riot! I see a career path for her. (Don't mind the beginning where it is sideways).

Quick trip to Minnesota

Mike and I took a quick trip to Minnesota in July. We drove. We drove two full days until midnight.  We actually planned to spend a night in Wisconsin, but every hotel was full, so we kept going. This would have been a great trip to go on with a fellow quilter. You would not believe how many signs I saw on the highway for quilt shops! We also saw many signs for what they loosely refer to as "gentlemen clubs", an obvious misnomer. I lead a very sheltered life. I had no idea.

As we sped across Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota we saw highly forested rolling hills and we crossed large rivers.  We saw picturesque farms and huge fields of corn. The whole time we kept discussing the early adventurers and pioneers in this great nation of ours and how remarkable they were. I guess I can't go anywhere without feeling an affinity for the history. One of my favorite books ever is called From Sea to Shining Sea by James Alexander Thom. He begins with the Clark family in Virginia and all the sons they raised and what they did with their lives. They were a remarkable family, their youngest son being William Clark, the co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. What a big beautiful country we live in!

At long last we arrived in Brainerd, MN where we stayed at  Bigelow's lake home on Sylvan Lake. We loved being with Kati and Emma and Marnie and Tim. They are terrific! They all mentioned how nice it was to have Matt stay there with them a couple of years ago. 
It was so good to be back in the land of sky blue waters where we fell asleep each night to the sound of loons and lapping water. I suppose every part of the country has its own sounds that tell you you are home, and in Minnesota it is the haunting sound of the loons calling across the water to one another on a still night. It is like comfort food for the soul. And speaking of comfort food, I wanted to make sure we got brats and walleye. Success! I love walleye. A funny name for delicious fish!

We spent time with Gene and Jude, and that was very nice. Grampa is not doing so well. Parkinson's is taking its tole. He is still sharp as can be, he just has a difficult time expressing himself and getting around.

We spent one night with my Dad and brother Joel. We stayed at Joel's house. We also went over to the cemetery where Mom and Logan are buried. It is such a lovely location with the sun shining and the shade trees.
We didn't get to see Rand, so we decided to leave and begin our journey home. Quick trip, but it was great to be there for a while!

May in AZ

I have spent the past three weeks staying at my Dad's apartment. I was worried that it would be difficult, but it has been very nice, actually. I have enjoyed being with Dad and visiting and watching TV together. He is amazing.


I have had a car loaned to me either by my sister or Aunt Kathy, so I have been able to get around. I am spending a lot of time at Home Depot, it seems. I was out with Linda the other day and bought a bed! After stressing about getting one home from Costco, I went into a mattress store and they showed me their selection and delivered it and set it up the next day. So I spent my first night in my house in AZ last night. I had to take a melatonin to get to sleep because I was antsy. I never got the blind installed in my bedroom so I dragged a big heavy mirrored closet door in from the garage to put up against the widow. Perfect! They still need to be installed on the closet, but I really hate them. It is good to have a mirror tho. I dragged out two more to cover the kitchen widows. My idea of window treatments! Ha! I really want wooden shutters, but blast the price!

I planted a few flowers in the front, but don't yet know what will survive here. Everyone seems to be pulling their geraniums and petunias that were out all "winter". I put in one honeysuckle bush that is supposed to grow and trail, and I think it will do fine as long as it gets water. The drip system is supposedly fixed now, only the guy won't speak to me in English, even tho I know he can. He is one of a two man team and Javier always does the talking. I asked Javier if he turned the bag of Amend into the soil and he assured me that he did, but he did not. I think he has some English issues as well. Everyone here has Mexicans that work for them and the ones that have worked for me are hard workers. My friend Harold speaks fluently to them. He is from a huge polygamist family that moved to Mexico in the late 1800's when the LDS church stopped practicing. It is a fascinating history to me. My brother-in-law is descended from the same families. I bet there are thousands of them. A few families went to Mexico in the beginning and they all intermarried and most of them have immigrated back to the states and are not practicing polygamy. Mitt Romney is one of their descendants as well. 

I have my sewing machine set up in the kitchen area and am trying to get some stuff done. There are always plenty of projects to finish! And even more that I want to make. Last night I sewed until 9:30 or 10:00 while watching a TV show on my laptop computer.

 

Becky and family are in San Diego. Travis had filming to do there so they all drove along.   The twins are endearing themselves to everyone along the way. They spend the night at Uncle Chris's house in Las Vegas along the way and are now staying at Grimshaw's in SD. Carl and Kathy in the above photo with maybe Grey. Micah and Becky below.

Jesse and Tucker and Micah and Grey! So cute!

Miss you Matt

Welcome to Virginia Beach

 Chris - Tatum - Gina - Ethan

We had the pleasure of having the Winspears come to visit us! We were really excited for my brother Chris and his family to come and visit us for the first time since living here. They spent a few very busy days in Washington, D.C. and then drove to our house. We encouraged them to relax and enjoy the beach, and they did! They also went to Busch Gardens and Historic Williamsburg. The weather was great while they were here (if you call hot and humid "great"). 

 

 These kids are so adorable! We really enjoyed them!

 We went to eat at Surfrider by the water and Ethan didn't know what to do without his I-Pod, so he worked on making Baba Lou's famous lemonade: Squeeze the juice from the lemon into your water and add sweetner! Of course then he had to pick out the seeds to blow from his straw. Uncle Mike may have contributed some instructions for this.

Tatum, the perfect child at all times, simple rolled her eyes at her brother's antics. 


What a nice week we had here at the beach! 


Love to all, MOM

What I did on my summer vacation

 The year was 1957 and our family once again took a road trip across the country, traveling from Buffalo, NY to Utah for Aunt Kathy's wedding. This was the year I got my long, shoulder length hair cut off at my mother's insistence, and Linda and I got our first perm for the wedding. Mom said it was Aunt Kathy's idea, and we would do anything for Kathy, so we went to the beauty parlor and got the whole smelly routine. My hair smelled every time it got wet for the next six months. The above photo must have been on our way home when we stopped at Yellowstone National Park to see Old Faithful and the mountain full of presidents. This Indian stood around the lodge so people could take photos of him. He certainly looks authentic.

This summer my "vacation" was going to Arizona to check on the work being done to our house and to pick out carpeting, tile, paint and lighting. I actually got it all done and feel good about that! Hopefully it will all be finished before we go back there at Christmastime.

 This photo is looking into the dining room and living room where the wall was taken down. You can see all the paint colors I was trying on the LR wall. I think I found a good one! Of course that remains to be seen. The guys were plastering ceiling and walls last week while I was there. If you notice the fireplace on the right hand wall you can see where they raised it off the floor so they can built a raised hearth and add stone and a mantel. I wish one of my talented sons was close by to do some of this for us, but life does not seem to grant us those favors.

I had a nice time visiting with Grampa Jim. We managed to go for Mexican food a few times, so that made me happy! Grampa is doing well. He had some skin cancer removed from his face while I was there and now sports stitches and big bandages. Of course we all know that that will never keep him out of the sun. He goes to the pool every day and walks back and forth in the water to exercise his legs. We also had to go with him to Ted's Hotdog Stand for hotdogs. Ted's originated in Buffalo, and is a place where Grampa went all the time when he was a kid. For him it is a treat, and a walk down memory lane. 

I didn't take any other photos, sorry. But I did enjoy time with Danielle and Anna Marie, who are now in Pennsylvania visiting her family. Also Mary and Matt and I watched movies and enjoyed each other. Mostly I ran around looking for things for the house.

Now I am home again and looking forward to Chris and Gina and Ethan and Tatum, who will be arriving on Monday! What a treat! Can't wait! 

Love to all,
MOM

Don't Miss the Eagle Cam

 I have been watching this eagle cam in Decorah, Iowa all week. It has been amazing to see the eagles care for their newly hatched chicks. It reminds me of Becky and the twins. I watch as the momma eagle nods off and then wakes herself up again.The little baby chicks flail around with beaks open wanting to be fed.

Video clips at Ustream 

How the eagle avoids stepping on her babies with those big claws, I have no idea, but she gently settles herself over them and tucks them in against the cold, windy Iowa weather. There are no leaves on the trees yet, and it has been raining all week. You hear other animals in the background on occasion, like geese I am hearing pass by right now.

They say that this nest is five to six feet across and weighs 1-1/2 tons! It is located above a fish hatchery in Decorah, which accounts for why I so often see fish laying in the nest.

Lots of the time the mom just sits there on the nest and there is no action. If this bores you, there are Youtube videos of this as well so you can watch as the chicks hatch, etc. I hope you will tune in and enjoy it!