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.
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!!
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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