The first stop on Ted’s and my visits to friends and family was the GC 25 event; the second scheduled stop was a visit with my Aunt Ruth. She lives in the LaCrosse area near her daughters, Lara and Linda, who are two of the six GCs (girl cousins), so Ted and I were loosely following Lara and Linda across the entire state from the east to the west. Aunt Ruth had a busy Sunday, but said she’d be happy to see us Monday afternoon.
Lara had to go back to work on Monday, but Linda was available to spend some extra time with us. We met her at her new house, and she gave us a tour. It’s a beautiful home in a brand-new subdivision. It’s so new that her yard is not yet sodded and her retaining wall is still under construction. It’s instantly obvious that, unlike Ted and me, she is a talented home decorator. After the home tour, we went to a local restaurant for lunch. Look at the delicious food we ordered.

After lunch, Linda went home, and Ted and I went to visit Aunt Ruth. She has always been my favorite aunt–maybe because she’s the aunt closest to my age. My mother was the oldest of six children, and Aunt Ruth was the youngest. She was 12 years younger than my mother and is only 13 years older than I am. Uncle Ken, Aunt Ruth’s husband, was always my favorite uncle too. I remember when they became engaged. He was movie-star handsome, and I was thrilled that she was going to marry someone like him. Sadly, Uncle Ken died 2 years ago at the age of 98.
Jessie, one of Aunt Ruth’s granddaughters, visited her at the same time we were there, so she took some pictures of us.


Aunt Ruth recently moved from her house to an assisted living facility where she has a very nice apartment, including 2 bedrooms, a living room, and a full kitchen and bathroom. She showed me her bedroom with the bedspread that was always on Grandma and Grandpa’s bed. Grandma crocheted the bedspread and now Aunt Ruth has it. Look at the detailed crochet work Grandma did. She loved doing what she called “handwork”–embroidery, crochet, knitting, etc. I wonder how long it took her to finish this piece of handwork.


After our visit with Aunt Ruth, Ted and I went to a local Italian restaurant for dinner. Ted’s lasagna, my spaghetti, and the desserts–cheesecake for Ted and spumoni ice cream for me–were out of this world! We had the entire following day to ourselves before we had to be in Madison for my Orchard Street Gang reunion (upcoming post) so, just for fun, we decided to stick around for a light lunch and then go back to the Italian restaurant for dessert. Neither of us could decide if we wanted the same thing again or if we wanted to order the opposite. Our final choice was to order one of each and split them so that we could both enjoy two great flavors. The waitress said that she was fully in tune with customers who ordered only dessert, and she insisted that it was easier to put the ice cream in two bowls than to have us split one. Doesn’t the picture below make your mouth water? This was the best spumoni ice cream and the best cheesecake either of us has ever had.

We ate every bite and had to remember our manners to keep from licking the dishes clean. 🙂

From LaCrosse to Madison is only a two-and-a-half hour drive, so we decided to stop in Wisconsin Dells for a boat tour along the way. Vacations with open schedules and family/friend visits are great!