April 10, 2010

  • “It was the best of times……
    it was the worst of times”
    Charles Dickens (Tale of Two Cities)

    That about sums up our trip to Arizona.
    We are back home now.
    Will write a full blog in the next few days.
    Still catching up with things here at home.

March 16, 2010

  • This will be a quick blog.
    This winter has been so quiet—–up until the beginning of March.
    My sister in Arizona had to go in for gallbladder surgery.  When they opened her up, they found the gallbladder engulfed in cancer, which has spread to her liver.  Removed what they could, and closed her up.  Her prognosis is that she has up to a year—maybe more if she opts for chemo.  She hasn’t decided what to do.  She is 78, and my only sibling.
    She has been taking care of everything regarding our stepdad, who is in an Alzheimers facility out there.  She said she would have to turn everything over to me.  That is fine—most can be done long-distance.  We planned on going out there to take care of everything whenever she said we should come.  She has been quite weak since her surgery, and needed time to recuperate.
    Well, we are probably leaving this weekend.
    Sis called yesterday and told me that Dad had been taken to the hospital.  His facility thought it could be a stroke or blood clot, since his leg was swollen to 3x it’s size, and one side of his face seemed “droopy”.  But he could talk.  Tests showed no stroke or clot, but some sort of infection.  He is getting heavy antibiotics. 
    But, today he refused to eat anything or to take any of his meds.  The nurse told Sis that it doesn’t look good–that he might not make it.
    Sis goes to get her staples removed tomorrow, and said she will go to hospital and talk to him.  Even though she is still so weak, she wouldn’t forgive herself if there was a chance he would listen to her and she didn’t try.  Her hubby will take her in a wheelchair to conserve her strength.  Dad is almost 95, and we both know he is ready to go “Home”.  He has mentioned it several times. 
    I will talk to her tomorrow night after we get home from Lenten service at church.  She certainly doesn’t need the added stress of all of this right now.
    We will be driving out there.  I cannot handle airports anymore.
    One good thing out of all of this.
    Our traveling family is in the Phoenix area now for a few weeks.  They just finished up a tournament in Newport Beach, and their next tournament isn’t  for about 6 weeks.
    So we will get to see them.  Haven’t seen them since they were here last June.
    We don’t know how long we will be gone—all depends on how things go, and what happens with Dad.
    Please keep them all in your prayers.
    I was a wreck the first couple days after hearing my sis’s prognosis, but prayer helped me a lot—my own, and those of our family and friends—-especially my Xanga and Facebook friends.
    I love you all!!
    I will take my computer along, but don’t know how often I will be able to get online.  My wireless isn’t working on this computer.
    Thank you ahead of time for your thoughts and prayers.  They are so very much appreciated!!!!!!!!
     

February 22, 2010

  • I was going to change the header and background today, but decided it is appropriate for this blog, so will leave it for now. 
    49 years ago today, we were enjoying 70 degree weather is sunny Arizona.
    Today was our wedding day.
    Where has the time gone?
    Two sons and 13 (14 including grandson-in-law) grandchildren.
    It was worth it!!

    Today, Ken is out blowing snow.
    No plans to do anything special.
    We will have a nice dinner of shrimp and crab cakes!  Yum!!

    Since I have not been out in over a week, I did not get Ken an anniversary card.  Haven’t for several years.
    BUT!!
    This is what I did.

    Then and now. 

      

    We  haven’t changed at all!!!  LOL!!!
    Actually, Ken is almost the same size he was then.  We won’t talk about me!!

February 12, 2010

  • For those of you who are interested, Bonnie (previous blog) wrote yesterday that funeral arrangements have been made for their son.  His funeral will be Wed., Feb. 17.  Please still keep them in your prayers.
    ———————————
    Now, on to a not-so “silly”, and a “silly”.
    I am in the middle of cleaning out drawers and closets and cupboards and boxes that haven’t been cleaned in ages.  It seems that I have misplaced our wills.  ARRRGGGH!   I have the originals and copies of our Powers of Attorney, but the wills and copies, which should have been with them, are missing.  Cannot imagine where I would have put them, and the attorney that wrote them up was a one-man office, and he is retired—and think he has moved away.  I have looked in the “logical” places with no luck.  I almost think that somehow the large envelopes got mixed in with papers to be put into recycling.  Just cannot imagine doing that, though.  So, if I don’t come up with them soon, will have to have them redone. 
    At least the house—-well, drawers, closets, etc.,—- are getting cleaned out and straightened up!
    While going through a drawer this morning, I found a sheet of paper with writing on it.  It was something I wrote back in Jan. of 1992.  I was still trying to move from WI to a sunny clime.  This is it:

    I do solemnly swear to move to one of the western states (Arizona, Nevada, California, etc) when ******(Mimiwi) attains the weight of *** lbs.
    Signed,
    Ken  *****
    Jan. 26, 1992

    Ken really did sign it.  So far, I haven’t attained that weight, and probably never will!!
    I showed it to Ken today, and do you know what he said???
    “FAT” chance!!!!!!!!

    Guess the romance is gone out of our marriage after almost 49 yrs!!  lol
    What a stinker!!

    Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day.
    Ken will be in the dog house.

    By the way, our traveling son and family are now in Newport Beach, California preparing for their first golf tournament signage job of the year.  They had just been up in the Santa Barbara area for a few days.  That is where their oldest son, Jacob, wants to start up his chiropractic practice when he graduates in Fall.


February 10, 2010

  • SADNESS

    Many of you probably know a good Xangan friend, Bonnie, better known as BLB. http://blb.xanga.com/ 
    Bonnie made several headers for me before I learned how to do it myself.  In fact, she made this valentine one for me.
    She just wrote on her blog yesterday that they got word that their son just died unexpectedly.
    Please keep her and her family in your prayers.
    I cannot imagine losing a child—no matter how old they are.
    Hugs to you, Bonnie and Will.

January 10, 2010

  • WE WENT TO A WEDDING

    You all know the story of one of Ken’s younger brothers who died almost 3 yrs. ago.  Eugene was a year younger than I was, and had a stroke at age 60 (If I remember correctly).  He was in a nursing home for 3 yrs. before he died.  His wife still lives behind us.
    They have two children.
    Wendy was married and divorced many years ago.  She has raised her two beautiful daughters pretty much alone.  She went to college part time, and just graduated last May—a couple weeks before her oldest daughter graduated from high school.  We couldn’t go to her graduation or party because it was the same day our granddaughter and her new hubby graduated from Concordia Univ. down near Milwaukee.
    While in college in Green Bay, she got a job at the NBC TV station there, working the assignment desk part time.
    When she graduated college, she became an on-screen news reporter for the station. 
    But, while she was on the assignment desk, one of her duties was to call the Green Bay police department to check if there were any stories.  She always talked to the “Captain”, who was the “media” person.  After a loooong while, Wendy got an e-mail from the Captain, giving her his personal e-mail address, and asking her to meet him for coffee sometime.  She did, and a meeting they both thought might last a 1/2 hour, turned into a 3-hour coffee “break”.  They clicked right away.  Wendy said that even before she met him in person, she knew he was “special”.  The Captain was also divorced with three daughters, two of whom were older and out of the house already.  Wendy’s girls really liked him!
    They took it very slowly, and this fall he asked her to marry him.
    The wedding was on Friday.
    To backtrack a bit—when Eugene died, Judy, his wife, gave boxes of clothes to Ken.  Ken and Eugene both loved wearing western clothing.  One of the things Ken received was a beautiful black western suit.  Ken hasn’t worn a suit in at least 20 yrs., so he never wore it—–until Friday.  He wore it in honor of his brother at his brother’s daughter’s wedding.
    The wedding was held at the small Lutheran church just a couple blocks away.  Wendy wanted the wedding where her dad and grandparents went to church.  It was a small group—only about 60 people—the people she and the Captain were the closest to. 
    We arrived there early, and the wedding party was practicing their march down the aisle.  Ken went up to Wendy and gave her a hug, and whispered in her ear that he was wearing her dad’s suit.  She hugged him so tightly and started crying.  Her best friend said not to worry, Wendy had been crying at every little thing all day!  We know it meant a lot to her—and Ken looked smashing!!
    Her daughters were her attendants, and the Captain had his brother-in-law and a co-worker friend as his attendants.
    Wendy is such a sweet, upbeat gal anyway, but I think her face muscles must have hurt the next day, because that huge smile almost never left her face.
    Everyone looked beautiful.  Even the mother-of-the-bride—who couldn’t decide what to wear until that morning!  Loved her outfit.
    The reception was at the resort in the small town to the north of us.  I had worked in the accounting dept. there for about 2 1/2 yrs, back in the mid-80′s, The resort did a lot of expanding at that time—adding on a small convention center, and many time-share condominiums.  Ken did a good part of the rock work (and other mason work)on all these buildings.  So, it was like “going home” again.  Ken was pointing out his work to anyone who would listen!  lol
    Normally, the weddings around here are huge, because the families are so large.  This was so nice to have a small group, where you knew a lot of the people, and got to know those you didn’t know before. 
    We left the party kind of early—around 9:30—because Ken had been up before 4 a.m. clearing the snow that had fallen overnight. 
    We managed a couple slow dances—my knee wouldn’t allow much of anything else.  But it was fun watching the others.
    Now, for the pictures.  Most of these are swiped from other family members.  My camera setting was wrong, and most of mine turned out blurry.  Thanks everyone!!
    The church before the ceremony.  We belonged here for almost 30 yrs—Ken helped build it before I knew him.  But when we moved to the next town 13 yrs. ago, we joined a large church there, and have stayed there even after moving back here.  I am in the red on the left, with Ken to my right.

    Wendy’s Uncle Roy escorting her down the aisle.  He is married to one of Ken’s sisters.

    The newlyweds

    The newlyweds and Wendy’s daughters. (Their dresses are not blue, but purple—nobody’s camera seemed to get the color right.)

    The newlyweds with both sets of daughters—-5 girls!!!!

    Wendy’s grandmother on her mother, Judy’s, side is in a nursing home, but was able to come to the wedding and reception.  Great opportunity for a 4 generation picture.
     

    The wedding party

    Ken and I in the back of church.  Doesn’t Ken look great in a suit??  He cleans up well!!  And we are so color-coordinated, too!! lol  I had to borrow a pair of flats from my daughter-in-law.  I haven’t worn a skirt in years, and all I had were casual shoes to wear with slacks.

    On to the reception:
    The pretty cake

    For some reason, I took mostly videos of the reception—which mostly turned out kind of dark.  But I did get this one picture of Ken dancing with another of our nieces, Sarah.  Sarah is my hairdresser, and when we were by her salon on Wed. to get my haircut, she told Ken to be sure to save a dance for her.
    I love this picture, with cousins Sarah and Wendy both with their heads thrown back, laughing.  It really shows the happy atmosphere that permeated the place all evening!!

    We are so happy that Wendy found her “special” soulmate after all these years.
    May the two of them have many, many wonderful years together—full of God’s richest blessings.

December 21, 2009

  • A Blessed Christmas to all my Xanga friends.
    I have really neglected you all!
    But I have been reading all my subscriptions through my e-mail digest.

    There has not been much going on here.
    Our lives are really quite quiet.
    Any news usually involves the kids and/or grands.

    Most of you are interested in our traveling son and family.
    Right now they are camping in the desert just west of Yuma AZ.  They will stay in that general area until Jeff’s next PGA signage job, which will be in Newport Beach, CA, about mid-February.
    Their last job was in Alabama in Oct.  From there they headed to Arizona. 
    They spent a few days at the Grand Canyon, and one day they hiked about 1/2 way down and back up.
    This picture was about 1/2 way up (or down).  They carried Catalina in a back carrier (I think that is what they said).
    Jeff and Catalina:
     
    From there they went to Phoenix.  They camped at Lake Pleasant and then across the valley by the Superstition Mtns.  They got to visit my sis and hubby, and had dinner with one of Ken’s niece’s.  Jeff hadn’t seen his cousin since about high school!
    The highlight of their time there was spending a week camped at the Phoenix International Raceway.  Jeff and young Kenny went to the Nascar races on Saturday and Sunday.  A real thrill for them!!
    They then went up to Las Vegas.  They were going to camp at the KOA by Circus Circus.  Found out it would cost $70 A NIGHT!  The gal at the desk said they could all get a room at Circus Circus for 1/2 that—$35, so that is what they did.  Those of you that have been to Vegas know how far it is from Circus Circus down to the MGM/New York-New York/Tropicana/Excalibur  corner.  Jeff and Judy left the kids in the hotel room and walked the whole length and back, going through hotels along the way.  Then did it again the next day with the kids.  From the night before, Jeff knew which places the kids would enjoy seeing.
    They then spent a few days camping on Lake Mead and hiking to Hoover Dam.
    Then they went down to Laughlin.
    It just so happened that one of Ken’s sis and hubby were spending a month right across the Colorado River in Bullhead City.  Jeff was able to park the bus at the River Palms RV park (for free), which is located up on a bluff.  They could look right across the river at the motel Ken’s sis was staying at.  They got together for a while almost every day.  They all went together to church the last Sunday they were there. They had to take two cars (church is 75 miles away in Kingman).  Young Kenny rode with Linda’s hubby, Roy, who is an avid golfer.  Kenny loves golf, the two of them yakked about golf both ways!
    Linda always takes an early morning walk wearing a red jacket, and Jeff said he could see her walking every morning through his binoculars!  She celebrated her birthday while they were there, and she took a birthday cake over to the bus, so they could celebrate with her!
    Jeff is now spending his time by Yuma making minor repairs to the bus, but having problems finding some needed parts.  He will figure it out, though.
    They were supposed to meet up with son, Jacob (living in San Jose, CA) for Christmas near Joshua Tree National Park.  But Jacob is in his last year of Chiropractic College, and is working in the school’s clinic now, and he cannot get away then.  Maybe later on.
    That brings you up to date with them. 
    I think I mentioned that their daughter, Mindy, got engaged to her long-time boyfriend a few months ago, and plans a 2011 wedding.  They will be stopping in to visit Christmas afternoon.  They live in LaCrosse, but Andy’s folks live down in Sheboygan, so they are coming for Christmas with his family.

    Local family is all doing well.  Greg is still putting in long hours at the Club.  Even though the golf course is closed, they have started keeping the club open year-around, so he has to do any plowing.  The club is also talking about utilizing the golf course during the winter by having cross-country skiing.  Greg is against it, because it just means even more work—with no more help.  His summer help is all gone.  And he usually spends the winters doing maintenance on their equipment.
    We spent Thanksgiving at their house.  No turkey—–venison.  Lori’s brother got a deer, but his family doesn’t like venison, so he gave the deer to Greg and Lori.  Lori’s dad was there, too, and her brother stopped in for a few minutes.  Hadn’t seen either of them in a couple years.  Good to see them. 
    We brought the makings for malts for dessert.  We all had our share, and there was still a little left in the bowl.  Greg took care of that, while Silas watched:

    On Dec. 9th, we had a big snowstorm.  We were without power for a couple hours during the night.  We only got about 9″, which we were thankful for.  Inland areas received around 15″.  It was a very wet, heavy snow, and a few branches broke off of some of the evergreens.  But it looked very pretty in the early morning near dawn.



    We were over there again a couple weeks later to celebrate Silas’s 21st birthday.  Chili and cheesecake to eat!
    Silas with what he claims was his first alcoholic drink.  Yeah, right!!!!!  lol  The glass says “My Birthday Margarita”.


    Ken took some candy over there, and he had fun playing with it:


    I had our tree and all the house decorations up by Thanksgiving.
    Part of the tree:
     
    I picked up a bunch of crosses at Hobby Lobby to go along with the ones I already had.  Love them.
    I also bought a 34″ white tree for my bedroom.  I absolutely love it.  Now, I’d like to replace the big tree with a white one.  Maybe sometime in the future.
     
    It is on top of my armoire.  This next one is with the flash.

    Close-up of the glass nativity underneath:


    That about brings you up to date. 
    Went to the Christmas program at Greg’s church Sunday.  Sylvia and Linden did a good job!!  This was Sylvia’s last year.  They are all growing up too quickly!!  At least Linden is only 8, and has a few more years to go.
    It was very pleasant going there this year.  Last year we battled a horrible blizzard to get there.  Terrible winds, too.

    Ken’s birthday is the 30th, and will have our usual party here then.

    I pray you all have a wonderful and blessed Christmas season with family and/or friends.
    Love you all!!

October 27, 2009

  • Just a “heads up” to my Facebook friends.
    I had problems with having no friends lists for gifting on several of my games.  I contacted Zynga on Sunday (which runs Cafe World and FarmVille–and possibly Farkle) about the problem.  They responded that there was a “known issue” about this, and they were working to fix the problem.
    Well, yesterday, Monday, I could not access my account after about 10 a.m..  When I tried signing in it would give me the following announcement  “Your account is currently unavailable due to a site issue.  We expect this to be resolved shortly.  Please try again later.”
    I finally managed to get on just before I went to bed last night.  I saw that my friends list in Cafe World was back, but was too tired to gift then.
    Soooo, this morning I went to get on Facebook, and got the same announcement again.  GRRRR!!  I know I must have run out of food in Cafe World, and cannot access any of the games that need to be “tended” every day.  I hope I can get on sometime today!!
    Whether this is due to Zynga trying to fix my problem, or if it is something else, I do not know. 
    Has anyone else had problems the last couple days?  I miss being able to contact friends who do not read my blog here. 
    Just wanted to let you know what has happened. 
    Miss you all!!

October 26, 2009

  • SURPRISE!!!

    Yes, I am still alive.
    I have just been too lazy to get pictures (and my thoughts) together to make a blog.

    First of all, my knee is 95% better.  If I use it too much, it bothers me—usually at night.  Maybe I will always have it.  When I see my Dr. in Jan., I will mention it to her.

    Ken’s sis did arrive—a little over a week later than she had planned on being here.  She stayed at our sis-in-law’s behind us, but saw her every day.  It is always fun when she is here.  She did bring something for the house, too. (She owns the homestead here).  Her married daughter had replace the outside lights on her house, and Diana took the old ones—which are only about 5 yrs. old.  We replaced the front porch light and the two front garage lights with those she brought.  They are sooo much nicer than what we did have.
    This is the one on the front porch.
     

    They are so nice and bright.

    Just  before Diana arrived, we had a tree removed that had died over the winter.  It was fun watching the process.  Now you get to see it, too—-aren’t you lucky!  LOL

    I don’t have pics of the stump removal, but did take a boring video, which I won’t bore you with, too.

    While Diana was here, a second sister, Linda, came and stayed overnight with us.  Had Diana and sis-in-law, Judy, here for dinner.  Of course, there were the obligatory pictures.


    Ken, Diana, Linda

    The four gals.  Diana, Linda, me, Judy
    It was a fun evening!

    The beginning of October, our oldest grandson was coming to LaCrosse from San Jose during his break from Chiropractic college.  (He just passed his second round of board exams!)
    He and granddaughter, Hannah, came across state and stayed overnight here.  It was sooo great to see them.  Hadn’t seen either one of them in over a year.
    Jacob went to Ken’s chiropractic appointment with him.  He said it was interesting to see how things have changed over the years.  Ken’s chiropractor is in his mid to late 50′s, and a lot of techniques are different now.  Jacob really enjoyed it, and Dr. J really liked Jacob a lot!  This is Jacob just before they left home—he wanted to look professional.  Even gave Dr. J one of his business cards.
     

    Afterwards, we went down to the beach.  Hannah and Jacob wanted to take a walk there.  I went along, but sat in the car with a book.  My knee still wasn’t good, and didn’t want to walk through the sand.  It was a beautiful day, but cool and breezy.
     Jacob and sister,Hannah

    Ken and kids—note that the snow fences were up already.

    After the beach, we stopped by son, Greg’s house.  He was at work, but Jacob and Hannah got to see Lori and the three kids at home—-along with the 3 dogs, 2 cats, several birds and a couple guinea pigs! 
    After that, we went to Beerntsen’s, a candy shop/restaurant in Manitowoc.  They are known for their homemade candies.  Local grandson, Avery, works there, and we surprised him.  He was in the middle of making carmel corn.
    Love their chocolates, but cannot afford them.  Most run about $15 a lb.!!  We did get a few pieces, though.  They make great ice cream sundaes, too, but we didn’t want any—it was too chilly to enjoy them.
    After that we went to the local sub place, which has been our boys’ favorite eatery since they were teens.  They passed their love of Fatso’s Subs on to their own kids.  That is what Jacob and Hannah wanted for dinner.  Of course, I didn’t object—didn’t have to cook then!!  I did have brownies for them, though.
    It was a nice, but short  visit.  Now Jacob is done with all his classes.  This next year will be spent in the chiropractic college’s clinic.  He will finally graduate next Sept..  I would love to go for that!  Time will tell.

    Our traveling family is all done with their tournaments until Feb.—which will be in Newport Beach, CA.  They have decided to spend the winter down around Yuma, AZ again—where they spent over a month the first winter they were on the road. 
    They had planned on going from their last tournament in Alabama to Colorado and Utah.  But, with the bad weather starting so early in Colorado, they changed their plans.  They stayed south, and went to a bus rally near Joplin, MO, and then on to the Grand Canyon .  Jeff and Judy had been there once before years ago, but not the kids.  One day they hiked about 1/2 way down into the canyon.  Catalina, now 14 mos., rode in a carrier on Jeff’s back.  On the way back up they were caught in a small rain shower.  Jeff said when it stopped he looked back and there was the most beautiful full rainbow way down in the canyon.  I hope he got a picture of it.  Forgot to ask him.  He said the weather at the Canyon was perfect—not too hot, not too cold.
    Now, they are in the Phoenix area, staying in a campground at Lake Pleasant (NW of the city).  Yesterday they were to go by my sister’s for dinner, and then on to visit her granddaughter (my great-niece), Dana.  Dana is married, and has a little boy who is just 3 mos. older than Catalina.  Dana promised me she would take pics of the two little ones together.
    Haven’t heard from any of them, so figure everything went well.  Jeff also wants to visit another cousin of his who lives out there, and also some friends from LaCrosse who have moved out there.   I think they plan on staying until the end of this week.

    While they were still in Alabama, they sent a picture of Catalina.  She is really a girly-girl.  Loves to wear her necklace with everything!

    A few weeks ago, Ken came home from one of his bike rides and wanted me to come with him in the car to see something, and to bring the camera.  He took me down near the river, where the power lines cross to the south side of town.

    He had noticed the big nests on the two double poles crossing the river.

    Got a close-up of the closest one.

    It is some sort of hawk—don’t know what kind, though.
    The city had mowed an access to the lines, but left an area unmowed.
      Lots of wildflowers.

    A close-up of one of the plants.

    One of our local granddaughters went to her first high school dance.  She is home-schooled, but a lot of her friends go to Lutheran High.  She was asked to Lutheran’s Homecoming by a nice young fella she knows from church.  She wore one of her older sister’s dresses, and looks so grown up.  She is a Freshman.  Her hair is usually straight, but curled it for the occasion.  I love it!!

    It is hard to think that there are only a couple grands left that are not at least teenagers!  Where did all those years go?  They went by so quickly. 

    That about brings you all up to date.  Hope you managed to wade through all of this!!  Life is quiet now, after a busy summer—busy for US.  But nothing compared to the busy life most of you lead!
    Will try not to wait so long to blog again.
    It is always great to read all your blogs, even if I don’t comment much!!
    Hugs to you all!!

September 4, 2009

  • OUT OF COMMISSION

    I was “lucky” enough to wrench my right knee about 3 weeks ago.  It was doing OK until last Friday.  After going to church that morning we ran errands—WalMart, Menards, bakery.  Too much walking on that bad knee.  Could hardly put any weight on it until Tuesday.  It is slowly getting better—”slowly” being the operative word!  Frustrating is what it is! 
    Ken’s sis from Georgia was supposed to come this week–Wednesday, and Ken was so good about getting the house cleaned up.  I dusted and straightened up, but he did the scrubbing of the floor and the vacuuming, and washed all the throw rugs.  Then we found out she isn’t coming this week—maybe next week.  Oh well, the house had really gone to pot while I was out of commission!

    Thank you all for your birthday greetings!  They are much appreciated—even though I am not happy about being another year older!  Better than the alternative,though.

    The week before my birthday, we went to visit Ken’s sis and hubby, who live about 1 1/2 hrs. away.  I had pictures on my blog last year when we went to visit them.  Linda has the most beautiful garden!  And she made Popcorn Salad for lunch.  Sounds odd, but it was delicious!  Popcorn with celery, water chestnuts, bacon and cheese in a mayo dressing.  I plan on making it when Ken’s other sis finally gets here.
    The day went by way too quickly.  We never stop yakking.
    Here are some pics of their garden.  She like to make little vignettes.
    This is her “yellow” garden:

    She loves garage sales.  Picks up things for free or next to nothing and paints them.
     

    And, her beautiful, unusual Aztec sunflower:
     
     It was a beautiful day in her garden.  The weather was perfect, just a little windy.
    Love this annual get-together.  Hate coming home to our lackluster plantings.  The weather this year was way too cool, and my flowers did not do well at all!! 

    The travelers are in New Orleans right now—well, a campground just outside the city.  They will be leaving late today to tomorrow, heading slowly towards Mobile, Alabama.  Poor baby Catalina got too many mosquito bites, and was feverish for a couple days.  Poor thing.  I remember that happening to her dad, Jeff, when he was about 3 yrs. old.  We came back here from Colorado for a visit, and Jeff played outside under all the trees.  Got eaten alive by the mosquitoes just before we left to go back to Colorado, and he felt miserable all the way home.  Not itchy so much, just feverish.  He was fine, though.
    That is all from here for now. 
    We have the Kites Over Lake Michigan festival on Saturday and Sunday here by the beach.  We will drive by, but with my bum knee, there is no way I will try to trudge through the sand!
    I hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend.