Reunions

Earlier in August, first cousins on my mom's side met for a reunion. My mother is the only one left in her generation. Since mom was the youngest child in her family and I am the youngest in mine, I have first cousins who are in their 80's. You can certainly tell that these three men are related...

Here the three spouses share a moment - you know how family reunions are ...
Mom engaged in conversation with all her nieces and nephews and greatly enjoyed the day.



A week later, it was time for my 40th school reunion. It was Rose Festival time in Kenyon and some of us "class of '68" grads marched in the parade.
This parade scene could have come from the year we were born instead of 2008.

It was good to see old faces and old friends but I find that I really like living in the present and can only take so much reminiscing - I am enjoying today much more than I ever did high school!

FIRSTS

This summer, Mike and I have had many "firsts" in our lives. They (I never have known who "they" are) say that new things are good for you ... and they have been.

One of my firsts was to have an MRI - this I did just yesterday. My knee doc was afraid that I may have torn a part of my knee and so ordered this to see if surgery was merited. Turns out, my arthritis has just gotten worse on that side of my knee and surgery is not needed. The MRI itself was rather an interesting experience - so noisy I could not hear the music so I tried meditation and concentrated on one thing (no, I am not telling what). It actually relaxed me so much I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know the lady in the earphones is asking me if everything is all right - seems I had shaken. Anyway, new thing that was OK - actually an amazing tool for doctors.

Another medical first for us was Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Neither of us had ever been patients there and Mike took advantage of that opportunity in July. We had a very positive experience. People treated us well - from doctors to volunteers and we got in to appointments on time. After several trips to the clinic we found out that Mike just needs to be aware of a couple of things and have them checked every six months or so. Nothing to worry about at this time. People who are frequent visitors to Mayo will recognize this building. This view is from the 17th floor of the Gonda building.

Our great grand babe had her first boat ride this past weekend. On Sunday, Kaci, Sara, Amariah and Brian came out for brunch and then we went for a ride. I think Ammer looked pretty cool in her shades... But my hat was a bit big for her and I am not too sure she liked it real well.
Within about 3 minutes she was fast asleep - seems the rocking motion of the boat is even better than the car.

Another first for us has been golf. Since Bob has a 4-hole course that Mike has been maintaining, we decided we should probably start using it. When we were with Rich's family, we golfed together for the first time and since then we have hit a few balls just about every day. I think we might actually look for a set of used clubs - cheap, that is! Here Mike and his son enjoy some time together while Brian trys out the course.

He quickly realized that the number of trees did not make it easy!
This has nothing to do with golf, but I liked the pic and wanted to include it.

I have also experimented with some canning this summer. A few weeks ago, I made picked beans for the first time and then I tried it again to see if I could get it closer to Mike's grandma's recipe.

And just this week, I have been using some of the last rhubarb from Corky's garden. I canned rhubarb salsa (not bad) and rhubarb barbeque sauce (really spicy). Later I will be trying a tomatoe salsa I think and who knows what else.

Another first for me was teaching Vacation Bible School. Mike and I decided to join the ELCA church in Cleveland, MN and when we talked with Pastor Shelley, she asked if I would be interested. After just a quick hesitation, I agreed it might be fun. As I confessed to my fifth grade boys, I had never even been to VBS, let alone teach it. But, I stayed one scripture reading ahead of them and the week went quickly. The 4 boys I started with became 7 kids by the third night - I consider that a compliment. Here my class share time with another volunteer who quized them and then feed them a snack related to the lesson - ever tasted a mustard seed???

In retrospect, I needed to teach - I needed to know I still could and I needed to spend time with children. Yep, I'll do it again, if asked and if available.

Can't think of a tie to the title for these pics - just really liked taking them - great subjects!

More later!

Rich and Anita's Family Goes Camping

and they were kind enough to ask us to join them. It was a delightful 3-day gathering of family at the Janesville campground. As with all group campouts, there was way too much food and beverage; and tons of laughter. Friday included a golfing outing - has anyone ever heard of 9 holes taking 4 hours... could be a new record for the course. Olivia is not only a good cart operator but a very promising golfer! Her dad... well... he has an interesting swing!!!

Jeff is taking lessons from a pro and his degree of focus is to be admired. He definitely wins the award for the best concentration.

As we weren't all that focused... We stopped a couple of times to let others "play through". It was an enjoyable morning!
During the weekend, there was relaxing time for grandma and grandpa.
And time for contemplation for Abbie
Their oldest grandchild, Lauren, and the youngest, Katara enjoy one another.
And when the kids were playing, one demonstrated an amazing arm when he landed the red golfballs in a branch 20 feet off the ground. The larger ball that was sent up to knock them out, also got stuck ... which lead to an interesting 45 minute endeavor.

First a ladder goes on top the picnic table and then the oldest person there goes up to the top of the ladder with a broom in hand - made perfect sense at the time...
When that didn't work. They decide the branch needs to be cut so a saw is duct taped to a extension pole (the one used for cleaning the windshield) and a younger fellow is sent up - Jeff was confident this would work...




It didn't. But, the drama was interesting ... and the park manager came by with a longer ladder and a chain saw and the balls were rescued!

Jim and Monica stopped by for a visit.

There were games going all weekend long and everybody participated at one time or another.

And some of those games required negotiation. And some were modified as the days went by. Nolan proved to be a pretty good target!

There was also plenty of food. Ethan really wanted to eat these snacks when the bag slipped out of his hand. Someone suggested that the birds needed food and I'm sure they enjoyed LeAnn's snack mix.

One night by the fire, (while I sipped a beverage) I saw Lincoln in the flames... Only one other could see the dead president - can you see it now???

Overall, it was a fun family weekend. And Mike and I proved that we really can still "Go camping for the weekend." Thanks, Anita and Rich, for inviting us.

The Storm

Last Thursday, I awoke at 5:30 to the weather radio beeping and then talking to me. What the "man in the box" had to tell us was that a severe thunderstorm was heading in our direction. After the chatter stopped I rolled over and looked outside to see what all the fuss was about. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I decided to get up and start packing things for our "weekend camping trip" (a very strange concept when you live in the motorhome...). All the flowers were stored in the Jeep and the chairs tucked away when Mike heard the second anouncement from the box and decided he, too, better get up.

All was securely tucked and packed and the slides were put in when we heard the first drops of rain very quickly followed by a tremendous shake of the motorhome. As we watched the trees out the front windows, a large limb let go and landed in the pond. The wind had to be near 50 mph. It was a tense few minutes as we watched the rain pelleting the windshield and the wind whipping everything in its path... and then there was calm. The yellow sky and the calm was the most unnerving as I just didn't know what was coming next.

Within 45 minutes from the first raindrops, we were out surveying the damage. Brenda (a neighbor) and I walked out the addition road aways to check things out. The photos were taken on Lake Jefferson. This is the a upsidedown pontoon on the end of Bob's dock - the boat belongs to a neighbor.

Farther down the shore we spot two twisted docks that used to run parallel to each other.
This piece of wooden dock was blown into the pond and then floated back out. It belonged to this dock a block from the canal.


And then it was time for cleanup.

By 1 pm the yard by our spot looked pretty good and we were on our way - a very eventful morning packed in our memory banks.