Today, after Jeff and La returned from church, the four of us had a lengthy and interesting discussion related to solving several national and world problems. Jeff has a unique idea for getting rid of daylight saving time (in which no daylight is actually saved) as well as standard time. Ask him about it.

When we felt the world was in order, we had lunch and headed for Salvation Mountain.

According to the handy brochure, Leonard Knight began creating Salvation Mountain in 1989 in Niland, CA, near Slab City. His building materials included adobe clay, straw, tree limbs, tires, windows, and lots of colorful paint. All of these items were found lying in the desert or at the local dump. Leonard’s plan was to paint the mountain twice a year, hoping the thick layer of paint would keep the site in good condition so that many people could see it for many years. (That explains the plethora of paint cans around the displays.) Perhaps not surprisingly, Leonard’s first mountain collapsed. As he began rebuilding it, he proclaimed, “No God, You build it.” Today, we saw the result.

In 1994, Imperial County attempted to have the mountain torn down, but members of the art community all over the United States and around the world united to save the monument. In 2001, Salvation Mountain was designated a National Folk Art Site; in 2002, it was named a National Treasure in the Congressional Record; and, in 2007, it was featured in the film Into the Wild. Leonard believed people need to start loving God more. He often said, “Love is universal. Love God, love one another, and just keep it simple!”

Salvation Mountain is a colorful sight in its brown desert surroundings. Notice the waterfalls, the rivers, and the Sea of Galilee.

I don’t know how much mail God gets, but here’s a mailbox for it. The lumpy multi-colored blob on the right is the museum.

This is a close-up of the museum entrance. It’s closed because there is a danger that the top is going to cave in. The arrow in the photo points to one of many cracks in the dirt structure. If you look, you’ll see several more cracks. There are plans to repair the museum and to re-open it, but Salvation Mountain is dependent on donations and volunteers and cannot be repaired at this time. A public charity, Salvation Mountain, Inc., was established to continue maintenance on the site. No government aid is accepted.

You can “follow the yellow brick road” to the top of the mountain. Jeff and La went all the way to the top via this route.

I made it across the first river before the edge of the yellow brick road came too close to the edge of the mountain for my comfort. I wasn’t in a Jack and Jill tumbling mood, so I chickened out and backtracked. I don’t like to be at the edge of high places unless there’s a large, firm platform under my feet with a protective railing around me. Luckily, on the other side of the mountain, there was a more gently ascending dirt trail to the top. Ted accompanied me to the top via that less scary route.

The Salton Sea was visible from the top of the mountain. It’s the flat, narrow light blue streak running across the upper center of this picture. The Salton Sea is a shallow, land-locked, highly saline lake that lies on the San Andreas Fault. In the 20th century, it was a resort destination, but contamination from fertilizers and clouds of toxic dust, plus evaporation, caused die-offs of fish and birds in the 1980s.

There are a number of vehicles–cars, trucks, farm machinery, a boat, etc.–on the grounds. All of them (except the boat) have flattened tires and all of them are colorfully painted with scriptural messages.

This is a view of Slab City, a community adjacent to and north of Salvation Mountain. Slab City took its name from the concrete slabs that remained after the World War II Marine Corps Camp Dunlap training camp was torn down. The community is known for attracting people who want to live outside of the mainstream society (i.e., off the grid).

The trailers and campers behind Leonard’s “flower garden” in this picture might be a southern suburb of Slab City. Some of the volunteers who maintain Salvation Mountain live here.

On our way back to El Centro, we stopped in Calipatria, a “low-down” town. At 184 feet below sea level, it is the lowest incorporated town in the Western Hemisphere. (Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park is lower at -282 feet, but no one lives there.) The local joke in Calipatria is that its residents have to pray harder because they are closer to hell.

Calipatria’s claim to fame is its freestanding flagpole, at one time, the World’s Tallest Flagpole. At 184 feet tall, its flag flies at sea level. It can be seen from as far as three miles away and, as the sign says, it’s “Dedicated to good neighborliness”–a kind and friendly ideal.

Note: Calipatria’s flagpole is no longer the tallest flagpole in the world. Currently, the world’s tallest flagpole is 662.57-ft. tall and was built in Cairo in 2021. The 400-ft. tall Acuity Insurance Flagpole in Sheboygan, WI is now the tallest flagpole in North America. It is also one of the world’s tallest free-standing flagpoles.

Calipatria’s flagpole has an interesting backstory. The flagpole was built to honor Takeo Harry Momita and his wife, Shizuko Helen Momita. The Momitas were a Japanese-American couple who lived in Calipatria. They and their three children had been incarcerated at the Poston War Relocation Center in western Arizona during World War II under Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The order imprisoned 120,000 people of Japanese descent–two-thirds of whom were American citizens.

When Mrs. Momita was killed in a car accident and Mr. Momita was hospitalized for injuries he sustained in the accident, Calipatria residents operated his pharmacy for him and collected $500 for Mrs. Momita’s funeral. Mr. Momita said his wife would not want an elaborate funeral. Instead, he offered to donate an additional $500 of his own savings toward something the city wanted but could not afford: a flagpole reaching up to sea level.

The story made national news and donations poured in. President Richard Nixon sent a flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol, and Pacific Southwest Pipe Co. of Los Angeles offered to erect the flagpole at cost (about $10,000).

What a nice way to end our visit with Jeff and La. In the past five days, they took us to all the interesting places I’ve been writing about and they were outstanding tour guides. We had lots of good times together, good food wherever we ate, good family time, and loving hospitality. It was great to spend this time with them.

Our last sightseeing stop today was the Desert View Tower on our way to Jeff and La’s apartment in El Centro. Jeff and La notice the tower when they drive back and forth to San Diego, and they’ve been curious about it.

The 70-foot tall tower was built in the 1920s and was dedicated to the pioneers and to the highway and railroad builders who opened up this area. At first, it served as a roadside advertisement for a restaurant and bar located on the old road across from the tower. It currently houses a museum, has a hurricane (aka observation) deck on its upper level, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The museum is described online as a “collection of unique trinkets that you can purchase.” That’s exactly what we saw on the first floor. There were two older men sitting inside the tower on the first floor. They were very talkative as we walked around the circular room looking at the trinkets. None of the trinkets appealed to any of us and neither did the $6.50 per person admission fee to climb to the hurricane deck, so we walked around outside a little bit. There was, indeed, a desert view.

The cacti around the building were pretty in the late afternoon sunshine.

Are these desert wind chimes?

Here we are, ready to leave the historic Desert View Tower to go to Jeff and La’s house where we made individual mini pizzas for dinner. It was another day of fun together.

Jeff and La have tried several times to stop at La Jolla (pronounced “la hoya”) Beach to see the sea lions, but have been unsuccessful. The problem is parking. Only street parking is available within a reasonable walking distance, and lots of people want to see the sea lions. As a result, Jeff and La have never found a parking place and have gone home disappointed. Until today. Maybe Ted and I were good luck charms because we found a parking spot very close to the beach and here we are, happily at La Jolla Beach with the sea lions.

That’s Jeff standing at the sidewalk railing. It’s pupping season for the sea lions, so humans are not allowed on the actual beach at this time.

That lumpy dark line along the shore is a gathering of sea lions. When you watch the video, look at the right one-fourth of those sea lions. You’ll see a mama sea lion waddling out of the water with her pup behind her, then heading back into the water to follow her pup who wanted to play some more before sunbathing.

These sea lions have picked a prime spot for sunbathing. During the time we were here, you could see that the tide was going out because the rock in the photo below emerged from the water. As the water level dropped, more sea lions headed for this rock, but these had the best (i.e., highest, driest) spots for lying in the sun.

All those black things on this piece of rock are barnacles. The arrow points to a tern. He was pecking at and eating the barnacles.

It was interesting to see so many sea lions and pups go in and out of the water and roll around on the rocks, so we stayed to watch them for quite a while. Then it was lunchtime. Jeff and La pulled out their cell phones to search for a nearby restaurant. It looks like I’m hoping and praying that they find somewhere to eat soon.

When I realized Ted was taking a picture of us, I looked up and smiled.

My prayers (?) were answered. We headed for one of Jeff’s favorite sandwich places and a new restaurant for Ted and me: outdoor dining at Cheba Hut. I told Jeff I prefer warm sandwiches, and he assured me that Cheba Hut toasts their sandwiches. It was the first time I’d ever had a warm PBJ. Yes, even the PB and J were warm! Good food for good times!

Before leaving our San Diego hotel this morning, Jeff posed with the restaurant’s giant waffle.

Our first sightseeing destination today was Annie’s Canyon Trail, which includes a loop through a slot canyon. The trail has a sign warning hikers that some of the trail is very steep. As we set off to explore the canyon, we hoped the steep part was the steps at the highest point of the trail. The photos below might look as if we’re deciding which way to go, but there was only one way through the canyon. We were just looking around and taking some pictures before moving forward again.

Ah, now we’re getting to the “slot” part of the slot canyon.

Unfortunately, my injured ankle is not yet completely healed. Walking on the uneven rock on an increasingly steep upward slope was making my weakened ankle hurt. I was having fun and wanted to see the rest of the canyon and the view from the top, but as the pain became worse and the trail became steeper, I decided I’d rather turn around than aggravate my ankle and miss out on the fun for the rest of the day and maybe even the next day because of continued ankle pain.

Turning around might be the smart thing to do for me and for those who discover that the slots are too claustrophobic for them, but it isn’t easy. As you can see in the photos, much of the trail is only one person wide and is essentially a “no passing” zone. That meant that, as I went down, other people needed to find a wide space, plaster themselves against the canyon walls, and wait for me wriggle past them on my way downward before they could continue upward. I was grateful that they were all very nice about it. I apologized for their inconvenience and got lots of “No problem” and “Don’t worry about it” responses, accompanied by smiles. Ted and Jeff both chose to go back down with me, although I was fine with the idea of going by myself while they enjoyed the rest of the hike. That left La to complete the loop trail by herself and then tell us about it later.

At the end of the loop, the trail continues along a marshy area. We saw this pretty flowering tree.

As we were admiring the view from the trail, we noticed an osprey sitting on a dead tree branch. One of the other people looking at the osprey noticed that he’d caught a fish. It’s the silver strip under his feet on the branch. A man in the crowd mentioned that where there’s one osprey, there are always two and, sure enough, his mate came back, circled, and cawed back and forth with him a bit before she flew away. I think she was telling him she could do without the crowd of people watching and would be back later after we’d all gone away.

The fish wriggled under the osprey’s feet for a few minutes. When it was still, the osprey enjoyed his lunch. It was kind of sad to watch the fish die and then be eaten, but that’s how all animals survive, right?

After a pretty hike with a survival-of-the-fittest ending, we headed for a happier experience with nature. Coming up: La Jolla Cove.

Our last tour stop of the day included a beautiful drive over the Coronado Bridge to Coronado Island, with a pretty offshore view of San Diego. Coronado Island is the home of the historic four-star Coronado Hotel, a rare surviving example of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort. It is the second-largest wooden structure in the United States. (FYI: The largest is Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, OR.) The Coronado Hotel was designated a California Historical Landmark in 1970 and a National Historic Landmark in 1977. The 1959 movie Some Like It Hot–starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon–was filmed here, highlighting the hotel.

In case you’re wondering, in summer, the lowest room rates begin at $500. In addition, there is a $50 resort fee, a $15 per day Historic Preservation Fund fee, and a $75 per day valet parking fee if you arrived in your private car. Rates drop as low as $350 for rooms in the off-season. Question: Which part of the year is the off-season in sunny, warm San Diego?

These colorful surfboards stood outside the hotel. I hope those hotel fees allow you to use a hotel surfboard without an additional charge.

There was a (sand-covered) sidewalk along (guess what?!) Coronado Beach, so we followed it for a short way and passed this lifeguard station.

It was late in the afternoon, and the sun was shining over the ocean.

I’m guessing that a motorcyclist had fun doing a wheelie here on the beach.

On our way back to the car, I noticed this beachcomber. I hope he found a little treasure to brighten his day.

We ended our day with dinner at Outback to celebrate Jeff’s and La’s February birthdays. Happy birthday to both of you. ♥♥

After our pizza lunch at Phillipo’s, Ted and I and our tour guides, Jeff and La, headed for Balboa Park. This park is one of the oldest sites in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. It housed the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition and the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition. What a beautiful place! The architecture is awesome, and the park setting is perfect for it. The park and its buildings were declared a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark District in 1977, and were placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This building houses the San Diego Museum of Art, which features European, Asian, American, and Latin American art. It is best known for its collection of Spanish Old Master paintings.

Here’s a close-up of the sculptures over the main entrance to the art museum. The three central sculpted figures are Spanish Old Master painters Diego Velázquez, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and Francisco de Zurbarán–perfect choices for this museum.

This building includes the Visitor’s Center and restaurants, as well as banquet and wedding venues.

We didn’t go into these buildings, but I admired the decorative sculpting on them.

The park includes this large, unique greenhouse with a variety of plants on display.

As we walked around the park grounds, we saw this Southwestern museum. It’s name translates to “Cultural Museum of the People.” With permission, I took pictures of some of the art on display.

I don’t know the purpose of this building, but it’s definitely “eye”-catching! (Insert groan here.)

I am not knowledgeable about art movements and/or styles, but I’m sure these concrete picnic tables and benches represent a specific artistic period. I thought they were interesting to look at, but are they comfortable? Notice that no one is sitting on any of the benches.

Finally, here are the four of us, enjoying Balboa Park on a warm, sunny February day in San Diego.

Our first sightseeing stop with Jeff and La today was the Cabrillo National Monument. I’ve never heard of Cabrillo, but I’ve learned that Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo led the first European expedition to explore what is now the west coast of the United States. His contemporaries considered his expedition a failure, but Cabrillo’s writings provided a glimpse of the west coast of North America from a newcomer’s perspective.

Later Spanish explorers used Cabrillo’s records to navigate the Pacific. They learned from Cabrillo’s expedition that a wide, slow current flows from north to south along the Pacific coast of North America. Although this current provides a quick way to reach North America from Asia, it is nearly impossible to travel north, as Cabrillo and his crew found out.

There was heavy ocean fog when we arrived at the monument site. We were on a bluff at the edge of a peninsula, but we couldn’t see the water.

Here we are at Cabrillo National Monument, . . .

. . . and here’s the larger-than-life statue of Cabrillo, including fog in the background. La, Jeff, and Ted are standing on the left of the statue.

The historic Old Point Loma Lighthouse is near the statue of Cabrillo. It was one of the first eight west coast lighthouses to be constructed by the U.S. government. At 422 feet above sea level, its light could be seen from both the ocean and the bay sides of the peninsula.

We drove down the bluff to the beach to see tide pools. It was still a little bit foggy when we arrived.

I love watching the ocean waves. Watch the white cap of the back wave move from left to right as it approaches the shoreline.

This isn’t a good beach for swimming, but it’s picturesque.

I took a geology course in college and learned about sandstone, so I knew the rocks at this beach were sandstone. These circular formations, however, fascinated me. Professor Google told me they are masses of mineral matter, usually cemented by iron oxide. They form in the sandstone layer and appear as rounded shapes when the surrounding rock erodes.

I thought these blocks of strata were interesting too.

The layered appearance of this sandstone is what I’m more familiar with. Jeff stands triumphant on the top of this bluff.

Jeff, La, and I are looking for sea life in the tide pools on this rock.

We found a wide variety of sea shells embedded in the rocks.

The arrow in this photo indicates a living, moving amoeba in a tide pool. I think the black objects to the right of the amoeba are barnacles.

These black circles look like shiny rocks, but look closer. They are pools of water. When you realize that, you’ll notice the upper edges of the holes the water is in; the reflections of those edges on the surface of the water; and–especially in the pool in the lower right–the smaller stones and sea life in the bottom of the hole beneath the water.

Here we are, having a good time at Cabrillo National Monument Beach.

After Cabrillo, it was time for lunch. We went to Phillipo’s for pizza and salads. Does this make you think a slice of pizza would be good right now?

We all enjoyed it.

Outside of Phillipo’s, there was a chair on the sidewalk large enough to hold three of us. It begged us to climb aboard for a photo op, so we did. We did not need to hold anyone liable (see the warning on the front of the step to the chair).

Wouldn’t you know it?! The day before Ted and I were scheduled to leave home to visit Jeff and La in warm and sunny San Diego, we had snow during the day and overnight. It was only 3 inches–nothing like the big January storm–but Ted cleared the first 2 inches from our driveway and sidewalks late in the afternoon, and the last inch in the early morning (7:00 a.m.) before we left for the airport. The roads on the way to the airport were slushy and a little slippery, but not too bad. The forecast low at our house today was 0 degrees; the forecast high in San Diego today was 68 degrees. Yes! I’m ready for some warm weather!

We boarded our plane on time, but then sat at the gate for about 90 minutes waiting for “paperwork,” as the pilot described it. It could have been stressful, but the pilot and co-pilot came into the cabin, and they and the flight crew chatted casually with the passengers. Those who were tired of sitting (and knew there were 3+ hours of sitting coming up on the flight) stood in the aisle and talked with each other. It was kind of like a pre-flight social hour (-and-a-half)–much better than 200+ grumpy people due to a flight delay. We kept Jeff and La posted on our status so they wouldn’t be waiting 90 minutes at the airport for our delayed arrival.

After Jeff and La picked us up, our first stop was Ocean View Beach. Yes! It was wonderful to see sand, sunshine, and the Pacific Ocean instead of snow!

The most interesting thing at the beach was a grassy area filled with people who (apparently spontaneously) played music and did acrobatics. I took some videos of them. In this one, watch the woman in the center of the picture (wearing a pink leotard) as she flips above the man. You can hear the drums if you turn on the sound.

In this video, another woman holds a man’s hands and does a handstand over his head.

Finally, here’s a tightrope walker. Several people tried the tightrope; this guy did jumps and, at times, stood on one foot.

When we finished walking and watching on the beach, we headed for a nearby farmers’ market. The palm trees were a clue that we weren’t in cold (today) Missouri.

There were a lot of colorful vegetable, fruit, jewelry, and floral displays at the market.

Then, it was time for lunch. We went to one of Jeff and La’s favorite San Diego restaurants: Hodad’s.

Hodad’s definitely has atmosphere. The walls are covered with license plates, and the benches are covered with stickers and more license plates. Each of us was given a souvenir sticker when we left the restaurant. Does the surfboard table say “California” to you?

We found a Missouri license plate on one wall.

I’ll bet that you can find the “ELVIS” license plate without an arrow.

Here we are, waiting for our delicious food. We had burgers, fries, and shakes–an All-American Hodad’s lunch.

On our way back to the car, we saw these pretty bird of paradise flowers. Our first day with Jeff and La was fun. And warm!

Ted has been in a clean-up mood and has gone through all kinds of things in our storage room, including old photos. He found these two, and the memories they brought us were so-o-o-o good.

Kyra looks like she’s about three years old in this picture. I sent her a copy of the photo and she mentioned that she has some strange-looking bangs. I think it’s a rite of passage for toddlers to cut hair. Hopefully, they don’t run with the scissors.

I think this picture was taken in 1995. Ted and I took Kathy and Kari on a road trip that included Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan.

I don’t know where the other photos of that trip are, but maybe Ted will find them. I found these images online for any of my readers who have not been to Sleeping Bear. The lake is 450 feet below this sand dune. Look at the tiny people on the dune for a perspective of its size. The girls and I went down to swim in the lake.

This is how we went down to the lake. If you take long steps, the drop is so steep that each forward step + gravity = a lot of distance downward. The airborne time gives a sensation of flying, so getting to the lakeshore was a blast. Climbing back to the top was harder, although we saw some cross-country teams running up the dune for practice. I know we went other places on this trip, but Sleeping Bear is the only one I remember.

Ted and Kari like to get together for an afternoon of Scrabble. Kari has time off from her organic farm work in January, and Kathy gave Ted a new Scrabble game for Christmas, so the two of them decided it was time to play Scrabble again.

Scrabble afternoons are a special father-daughter time.

Photo credit: Theo

While we were visiting my Aunt Ruth on our Wisconsin road trip, she showed me some family pictures.  One was a portrait of my parents’ wedding party.  (Aunt Ruth and my mother were sisters.)  Ruth asked if I’d like to have the picture and I gratefully said “yes.” 

I have a wedding picture of my parents, but not of their wedding party.  The bridesmaids are (left to right) my dad’s sisters, Lenore (Lynn) and Geraldine (Gerry).  Of course, my mother is the bride and her sister, Shirley, is the junior bridesmaid.  I think the groomsman on the left is my first cousin once removed, the son of my grandpa’s sister and therefore my mother’s cousin.  I have no idea who the other groomsman is.  My dad is in his Army Air Force uniform because he was on furlough from active duty.  After serving in Europe and North Africa, he was expecting to be sent to South Carolina.  While my parents were on their honeymoon, however, Japan surrendered, and active combat ended.  My dad was released from service, but not discharged.  He remained in the Air Force reserves until he retired as a full colonel at the age of 60.

This is a picture of my grandpa on his 90th birthday with his five children–my mom and her siblings.  My grandma died eight years before this and Donald, the sixth child, died at the age of eight from a ruptured appendix.  In the back row are my mother with her brothers, Rollie (left) and Gibby (right).  Grandpa is in the center and my aunts, Ruth (left) and Shirley (right) are in the front.  This photo was in a frame for nearly 40 years, and I didn’t want Aunt Ruth to damage it by removing it for me to take a picture of it, so there’s some glass reflection in my photo.

This picture was also taken on my grandpa’s 90th birthday and shows him with his brother, Garry.  My great-grandpa immigrated from Germany to Wisconsin.  When he was settled, my great-grandma followed with their three young children–my grandpa (Lorenz), his brother Garry, and his sister Lydia.  What courage that must have taken for both of my great-grandparents!

Ted and I have a photo gallery in our house, and I plan to frame these photos and add them to the gallery with other family photos dating from the very early 1900s through our latest addition, our great-grandson.

It normally takes Ted and me about nine hours to go from Kiel to our house, but there was so much road construction along the way, that the trip was longer this time.  Driving I-55 from Chicago to St. Louis includes Route 66 travel. 

We had a happy adventure on our way home when we stopped for gas at Wally’s in Pontiac, IL. 

I’ll let a screenshot from Wally’s website describe what you’’ll find at Wally’s.

I took some pictures in the store.  It’s so big, that it’s hard to show it in a photo, but try to look all the way across the store in the picture below.  It’s not Wall Drug (South Dakota), but Wally’s takes the gas station convenience store to a whole new level!

There’s an entire room offering a huge variety of ice-cold beer.  (For people who are going to drive?)

The wall art at the entrances to the restrooms is impressive.  That’s a 1955 Plymouth Belvedere towing a vintage Shasta trailer, in case you’re wondering.

Buy a t-shirt and express the joy of Wally’s.  Wallelujah to all!

A vintage Winnebago motor home is parked in the store.  It’s a perfect backdrop for the camping gear you can buy at Wally’s.

Wally’s mascot bear is “driving” the Winnebago.

After this stop, Ted and I were refreshed and ready to hit the road for the last stretch to our house.  It was a wonderful nine days, and we loved seeing our friends and family members in person again.  There were so many laughs and so many good memories to be shared at every stop, that we are still feeling the joy of the fun we had with everyone.  Long live the American Road Trip!

Our last stop on this trip was a visit with Ted’s brother, Gary, and a reunion with Ted’s high school classmates.

We had a funny experience as we drove to Gary’s house. I was driving through a small town on a state highway and, as I passed an intersection, a black van marked “Sheriff” pulled into the traffic behind me. That was fine; I hadn’t been doing anything wrong. As I continued driving, I noticed a string of three identical black vans behind me. I knew the first one was the sheriff, but as we crested a hill, it looked like the second car also had a light bar on the top. With a sheriff–or possibly, two sheriffs–directly behind me, I made sure to drive no faster than the 55 mph speed limit.

As we drove through small town after small town, I repeatedly adjusted my speed from 55 to 45 to 35 to 25 to 35 to 45 to 55 again. The three black vans stayed right behind me. As we rounded a curve, I identified the third van as another sheriff! I don’t think I’ve ever been followed by three consecutive sheriffs! Ted and I laughed about it and I continued driving exactly at the speed limit, forcing the officers of the law to do the same or to–gasp!–break the law by speeding to pass me. We wondered if the sheriffs were getting frustrated at having to drive at the speed limit. Do they (slightly) exceed the speed limit like the rest of us when there is no one to see them?

The sheriffs’ convoy followed us for nearly an hour. I could have turned onto a side road, let them pass, made a U-turn, and come back to the highway, but frankly, it was kind of amusing to keep three sheriffs within the law. We were going to arrive two hours before Gary would be ready for us anyway, so we had plenty of time to dawdle our way across the state. Eventually, however, I had to turn to go to Gary’s house, and the sheriffs continued on the state highway and probably followed someone else. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Now, back to our visit with Gary. A few years ago, there was a fire in Gary’s apartment building.  It wasn’t in Gary’s apartment, but there are only four apartments in the building, and they all had water and smoke damage.  When the damage was repaired, Gary was able to move to a different unit than his original apartment.  He (and Ted and I) like this unit much better because the window views are open land rather than the cul de sac on which the apartment is located.  This is the kitchen/living room area.  There are three bedrooms along the right side of the apartment (obviously, not shown here).

On our first night together, we went out for pizza and then played sheephead, a popular Wisconsin card game.  The next night, we went to a more upscale local restaurant that featured Early American decor.

The ladies’ room had an old-fashioned, comfy appearance.

Ted and I planned our trip to include time for me to see my college friends while Eileen was in Madison for a UW football weekend, and we planned our time in Kiel so that Ted could attend his high school class’s annual reunion lunch at the Altona Supper Club. Our kids used to chuckle over the term “supper club” when we traveled with them to Wisconsin. I have no idea why these restaurants have that designation, but a Google search says that “supper clubs are an iconic mainstay of Wisconsin, filled with comfort food and good conversation.” This noon meal included all the Wisconsin noontime “dinner” goodies—a variety of meats and seafood, potatoes, salad, vegetables, dinner rolls, and dessert–and everything was delicious.

Three class reunions were taking place simultaneously at the supper club.  Ted attended his 50th class reunion, but that was the only time after his high school graduation that he’d seen his classmates until now, so it took us a few minutes to locate someone he recognized.  After we picked up our name tags, things became easier.  Without them, Ted admitted there were very few people he recognized on sight.  It was a nice gathering, and Ted enjoyed talking with some of his old friends.  The midday reunions have been held annually for several years, and a group picture is taken every year.  Ted is the third man from the right in the back row.

Before leaving this part of Wisconsin, Ted and I stopped at the Gibbsville Cheese Factory to buy some “real” (i.e., not supermarket) Wisconsin cheese to take home with us.  Gibbsville offered a new version of Ted’s favorite, super sharp cheddar.  The “Special Reserve Super Sharp Cheddar” brought a smile and a quick “That’s really good!” from Ted.  He bought six pounds of it to take home with us.  We also stopped at the Oostburg Bakery to get some bakery favorites:  hard (this does not mean firm or stale) rolls, filled coffee cakes, and Danish pastries.  

Of course, we needed a picture of Ted and his brother on our last evening together before Ted and I left in the morning for our long drive home.

Holmen, WI is a small town near La Crosse.  It’s where my favorite aunt and three of my cousins–including two more of the six Girl Cousins–and their families live.  Sadly, my (also favorite) uncle died a year ago just two months before his 98th birthday.  One of the Girl Cousins—Lara—was traveling out-of-state on business, so we didn’t have a chance to see each other this time.

Ted and I stayed in an interesting hotel, themed on Wisconsin wilderness, fishing, and hunting.  The supports for a ceiling overhang in the pool room, as well as the wall above the overhang, were painted to look like tall evergreen trees.

We didn’t try sitting in this chair, but it looks like an early attempt at ergonometric design.

On our first day in town, we had dinner at Aunt Ruth’s house and one of my boy cousins—David—and his friend, Deb, joined us.  Later, Jim, Lara’s husband (she’s the Girl Cousin who was out of town), came over for a little while.  The following day, Aunt Ruth treated all of us to a dinner cruise on the Mississippi River.  “All of us” included Aunt Ruth, David and Deb, Jim, Ted and me, and Linda—the second Girl Cousin at this stop—and her friend, Paul.  At first, I was puzzled that we had to be at the dock by 9:30 a.m. for a dinner cruise, but I soon remembered that, in the upper Midwest, people eat breakfast, dinner, and supper, so dinner would be served at noon.  As we entered the park at the boat dock, we passed this “Sister City” garden.  La Crosse has six sister cities and each of them has a portion of this garden designed to represent itself.

The weather was perfect for a river cruise, and we saw one beautiful sight after another during the three-hour cruise. The boat had a paddle wheel, and the captain assured us that it was a true paddle wheeler—the paddle provided the power to move the boat.

A short distance upriver, we passed through—not under—a “swing bridge.”  As a watercraft approaches, the bridge rotates (swings) ninety degrees to allow the boat to pass, as the boat in the left part of the photo below is doing.

After the boat passes, the bridge swings back.  In this picture, it is nearly completely closed.

There are 27 locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River between Minneapolis, MN and Cape Girardeau, MO.  On our river cruise, we passed through Lock & Dam 7 twice—once going upstream, then again going downstream.

Here’s a picture of a barge making a delivery upstream.  According to the captain’s narration, most barge traffic serves either the Upper Mississippi River from Minneapolis, MN to St. Louis, MO or the Lower Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans, LA.

These homes have a beautiful river view.

Here’s a picture of boathouses and houseboats.  Do you know the difference?  A houseboat has an engine; a boathouse does not.  😊  Boathouses are technically not for habitation, but some have amenities to make them more than simply a shed.

Ted and I have traveled along the Mississippi River from Menominee, WI to New Orleans, LA, but this is the first time I’ve seen a Mississippi River sand beach.  It reminded me of all the glacier-formed sand-bottom lakes that I enjoyed while growing up in Wisconsin.

It was a great day to be outside on the deck.  Not too hot (upper 70s) and not windy.  Here’s part of our group.  From left to right, Paul, Linda, me, Deb, and David.  Ted took the picture.

The dinner was delicious.  Turkey and chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, coleslaw, dinner rolls, and carrot cake.  David managed to extend his arm far enough to get all of us into his picture.  Again, left to right you can see Ted, me, Jim, Aunt Ruth, Linda, Paul, Deb, and David—or at least the idea of David. 

After all the passengers had left the ship, one of the crew members took a picture of our group.  Once more, left to right, you can see Deb, Ruth, David, me, Jim, Linda, Paul, and Ted.  We all had a wonderful time and repeatedly thanked Aunt Ruth for the treat.

Jim, Ted, and I visited with Aunt Ruth for a little while after we returned to her house.  As with our other visits, our time together ended too soon.  Jim had to run some errands, and Ted and I needed to head for our next hotel.

Ted’s and my third stop on our road trip was Lake Geneva, WI, where I was able to visit with two of my Girl Cousins from my mother’s side of the family.  (We have boy cousins, but our brothers don’t have much interaction among themselves.)  Years ago, we girls named ourselves the “Girl Cousins.”  Once we had a Girl Cousin Weekend and it was a blast!  We talk about having another one, but we’re all too busy to organize it, so it hasn’t happened yet.  Donna lives in Lake Geneva and Judi lives in Brookfield, about an hour away from Lake Geneva.  Donna moved to Lake Geneva a few years ago, and Ted and I hadn’t seen her new house, so we had a tour.  Jon builds large, intricate, and detailed model boats and we enjoyed seeing some of his collection. 

Donna served her Grandma Drott’s outstanding lasagna for lunch, and Judi contributed lemon bars for dessert.  Then we got down to business, telling funny family stories for several hours because, as Judi said, “Nobody understands the craziness of your family better than your cousins.”

Judi also came in a new car. Mine was one week old; hers was two days old.  Ted and I left home for this road trip only five days after I picked up my car and, with trip prep chores to do, we didn’t have time to do more than figure out how the essentials on the car worked:  gas cap opener, bright/dim headlights, cruise control, radio, etc.  We decided to wait until we returned home to program the garage door opener.  Judi said they did the same before coming to Donna and Jon’s house for this visit.  We both have lane assist in our new cars and noticed that it’s firm, but easily overridden, if necessary.  Just for fun, as we drove to Donna and Jon’s house, we both (in our own cars) had held our hands just barely off the steering wheel to allow the car to turn itself on a curve.  I even let mine do an S-curve.  It was amazing!  Almost like a self-driving car!  Then we each (again, in our own cars) heard a warning beep and had a warning light with a message:  “Driver does not have hands on steering wheel.”  Oops!  It was good for a laugh that we both did the same thing.

Much too soon, it was time for Judi and Larry to go home and for Ted and me to head for our hotel de jour, but first, we took pictures.

Here are half of the six Girl Cousins—me, Judi, and Donna.

Then, our husbands.  All three men are so nice, and they enjoy each other’s company.  We women decided that, in choosing these guys, “We all done good.”  This photo features Larry, Ted, and Jon.

We finished with a group photo.  Judi propped her camera on a chair back, set the timer, and with only one try, we got this picture, featuring Ted and me, Jon and Donna, and Larry and Judi. Good times!

Although we’ve kept in touch, Ted and I have not visited our Wisconsin friends and families since 2018.  It was time to head north. On (to) Wisconsin!

Our grandchildren are growing up and moving away from home, so Sky no longer lives only a few minutes from our house. Our first road trip stop was in Rockford, IL where Sky relocated for his job with Quik Trip.  The apartment where he and Adelle live is charming, in an older house with lots of windows. 

Sky might have enough Lego to build a Legoland of his own.  For his recent birthday, he bought himself the Lego Star Wars Venator—one of the biggest Star Wars kits to date.  It’s nearly as large as the dining room table.  On the shelf behind the table, you can see the bouquets of Lego flowers Sky has built.

Luckily, the apartment has an extra bedroom that Sky can use to store all of his Lego.   The walls are filled with shelves of boxed Lego pieces, all sorted by type and color.  Here are some of the Lego people Sky has—all sorted, of course.  He said he has three more shelves to add to this wall for additional Lego.

The living room, like that in many older houses, has multi-paned windows and crown molding.

When we sat down to visit with each other for a little while, the oversized teddy bear seemed interested in our conversation.

Because the weather was so nice, we decided to take a walk along the Rock River before going out to dinner.  We saw this colorful sculpture.

These benches accommodate adults (left) and children (right).

A little later, we walked past this pretty gazebo.

Before long, the sun was setting over the Rock River.  It was time to have dinner and then to take a guided, personalized tour of the new Rockford Quik Trip where Sky works in a beginning management position, and which he helped set up for its grand opening.

After our visit with Sky, Ted and I stopped for gas.  While Ted was paying for it, a Black man at the gas station asked if that was Ted’s car.  Ted told him it’s my car, to which the man replied, “If that’s your wife’s car, she’s a hot mama!”  Maybe I should change my car’s name from Gigi to Hot Mama. With a full gas tank, we drove to our hotel in Madison, WI.

The following morning, I met with two of the six members of the Orchard Street Gang–the women I shared a house with during my senior year of college. Four of us had known each other from our freshman year dorm days; the other two were wonderful additions to our group. Eileen lives in Marquette, MI, but was in Madison for a college football weekend and to visit her son; Leila has lived in Madison since we graduated from college. It was a great opportunity to see both women, so Ted and I planned a stop in Madison.  Leila was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 15 years ago and is in an assisted living unit, making it the easiest place for all of us to meet, eat, and visit.  Eileen (left) and I are standing; Leila is in the wheelchair.

Eileen brought breakfast food, and we had a wonderful three-hour visit.  There was so much to catch up on—our families, our current activities, and even some long-ago college memories that we shared.  All these years later, we are still BFFs.

Ted and I celebrate our birthdays and our wedding anniversary at Bentley’s every year. Ted says their grilled salmon is the best he’s ever tasted (he orders it frequently), and I love their pepper steak (which few restaurants even offer). The meal is always worth the 2.5-hour drive each way. We’ve become well-acquainted with the owner over the years, and we have a favorite server.

We belatedly celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary at Bentley’s in July and, as usual, we asked for one of Merrill’s tables. This time, Merrill had some news for us: (1) he thinks he’s going to retire within the year; and (2) Bill, the owner, had a stroke, so he no longer greets guests at the door, although he still oversees the kitchen. Merrill thought Bill’s condition might improve enough for him to greet guests in the future.

We had our usual delicious meal and finished with our favorite desserts. I like Bentley’s nice, thick whipped cream-topped grasshoppers, and Ted loves “The Thing”–an ice cream sundae with walnuts, strawberries, and a hard chocolate coating, topped with whipped cream.

Ted’s birthday will be here soon, and we’ll be back at Bentley’s to celebrate it.

Due to a variety of reasons, Ted and I, Kathy and Annette, and Kari’s family were unable to get together for our “birthday season” celebration until June 24.  Part of the delay was due to my TKR.  Although my physical progress was rapid, I didn’t have enough energy to tolerate a seven-hour excursion—three hours of driving, plus party time—until then.

Our family celebrates six birthdays in only a few short weeks, so we usually make it a group event.  Mother’s Day falls in that time frame too and, because we celebrated so late this year, we added Father’s Day to the party.  We chose Columbia, MO as our party place.  Annette’s son lives in Columbia and his birthday fell two days after the party, so we celebrated his birthday too.  There were a lot of gifts to be opened! 

Because the weather was very hot (heat index of 105 degrees), we scratched the plan for a picnic in a park like we did for the solar eclipse and met indoors at Shakespeare’s Pizza.  Shakespeare’s has a quirky attitude.  For example, here’s Shakespeare.

This Shakespeare’s location is across the street from the Mizzou campus and has a sign telling patrons “This isn’t the dorm.  You don’t have to bus your own table.”  It’s a very large restaurant with several dining rooms.  Rather than repeatedly giving directions to the rest rooms, the floor literally has an inlaid yellow brick path that will take you from any dining room to the rest rooms—just “follow the yellow brick road.” 

Signage is fun to read.  Here’s the parking lot sign.

This is the back of a Shakespeare’s gift card holder.

And here’s a beverage cup.  Notice how the location of Shakespeare’s is described.  On the other side of the cup, one of the restaurant’s other locations is described in terms of latitude and longitude.

There used to be a red light and a bell above the rest room doors with a sign that said, “Did not wash hands.”  I don’t know if it was in working order, but who would want to take that chance?

Back to our party. . . .  June 24 was a Monday, and we met for lunch, so the restaurant was deserted.  We picked a dining room that was vacant and had a long table that would seat all nine of us.  When we finished eating, we stacked all of our dishes on a vacant table (that doesn’t really count as bussing our table, does it?) and got down to the business of opening gifts and catching up with each other.

Soon (four hours after we arrived, but the time flew by) it was time for all of us to think about heading for home, but first, . . . Blue Stem and the Candy Factory were only a few blocks away.  Blue Stem, our first stop, has a constantly changing display of work by Missouri artists, and Ted and I are looking for wall hangings.  We didn’t find anything we wanted, so we all headed for the Candy Factory, which makes its own chocolate.  After checking all the displays and making our selections we left with fresh chocolate candies in bags.  Then Ted and I headed for our car, but some of the others went a few more blocks to the Peace Nook, another favorite family stop in Columbia. The air-conditioned, nearly-empty restaurant and the large table were a good lunch choice; the company, conversation, and gifts were all delightful; and we all went home happy.  It’s so good to celebrate things as a family.  ❤

My birthday was a few months ago, while I took a break from blogging. I found the photos tonight, and they gave me the opportunity to re-live an enjoyable evening. Kari’s family came to our house bearing gifts for me from them and from Kathy and Annette. Kari has been trying some deep-water exercise classes at the Y, and thought I’d enjoy some water equipment to exercise in our pool, so the two families bought some for me.

First, a weight belt so that I can be upright in the deep end of the pool to do leg exercises.

Then barbells to exercise my arms while I’m upright in the deep water.

And finally, a water bottle sling I wanted so that I can walk without carrying my water bottle in my hand.

I always have fun on my birthday–not because of the gifts, but because of the people I spend time with and the good times we have together.

On August 21, 2017, Ted and I, Kathy and Annette, and Kari and Dylan saw a total solar eclipse. In spite of weather forecasts for clear skies in Columbia, MO–halfway between Kathy and Annette and the rest of us–thunderstorms moved in, and we re-located eastward to Warrenton, MO to view that eclipse. It was so amazing, we decided right then to reserve April 8, 2024 for another family eclipse viewing.

It doesn’t seem possible that we made those plans seven years ago, but we followed through and planned a day in Perryville, MO for this event. Our same group gathered, and Theo joined us. In 2017, he decided to settle for the near-total eclipse at home with his school classmates, but the rest of us raved so much about the totality that Theo has also been looking forward to the 2024 eclipse for seven years–nearly half his lifetime!

Once again, weather adjustments had to be made for this eclipse, although not by our group. Early information advised the nation that, of the 15 U.S. states in the totality zone, Texas was the most likely to be clear in April; the Midwest was iffy, but was likely to be cloudy; and New England was likely to be overcast. In real time, Texas was overcast with thunderstorms in the forecast, and the Midwest and New England were clear. Lucky us!

We liked the way we viewed the eclipse last time in a small park in a small city with a picnic lunch, so we wanted to do that again. Ted and I made a trip to Perryville and to Jackson a few weeks ago to scope out the parks, the bathroom facilities, the viewing spaces, and the parking. Perryville City Park was the winner, so this time, we went to a small city (pop. 8,500), but a large park. It took Ted and me less than two hours to make the scouting drive to Perryville, but there were lots of advance warnings on newscasts and on electronic highway message boards in our area to expect heavy traffic on April 8–eclipse day. We decided an early start was the way to go. We all brought food to share and got an early start to Perryville, leaving home just after 7:30 a.m. for the 1:58 p.m. totality event.

That worked out well. The drive to Perryville on the Big Day took three hours instead of less than two hours, and the traffic was definitely heavier than usual, but it moved along at near the speed limit, and we arrived in plenty of time to easily find a parking spot. Unbelievable! As we were parking our two cars, Ted and I saw our next-door neighbors! We emptied our car trunks, selected our viewing area, and then relaxed for a little while and ate our picnic lunch before the start of the eclipse.

Some nearby eclipse viewers wanted a group photo of themselves and I offered to take it so that everyone in their group could be in the picture. They returned the favor for us.

Before we knew it, the time was 12:30 p.m.–the start of the eclipse. We checked the sky and, sure enough, there was a little bite out of the sun at about five o’clock. Repeated progress checks showed the moon blocking more and more of the sun. Our excitement level was rising. We had some high, thin clouds, but the eclipse was clearly visible through our eclipse glasses. It’s hard to believe, but I took this photo at the 50 percent point.

Between 50 and 75 percent of totality, the light in the park noticeably dimmed and became weird. Even in the sunshine, the blankets we were sitting on felt cool to the touch, there was a sudden cool breeze, and the temperature dropped 8-10 degrees–enough to make us feel chilly.

I put my eclipse glasses over my camera lens and took this picture at about 90 percent totality. The sun is so bright that even a mere 10 percent looks like this. I was hoping the eclipse glasses might show a clear view of the dark moon covering the sun, but cell phones aren’t that good yet. By this time we were all lying on our backs to get the best view of the sky; birds were quieting down; and outdoor lights had come on.

Shortly after this, the only visible part of the sun was a thin crescent, similar to a new moon. At that point, we could see the crescent becoming smaller and smaller. As the eclipse approached totality, the park filled with excited voices (including ours), there was an instant of a bright flash when the moon completely blocked the sun from view (the diamond ring), and in that instant, it was as if someone turned off the light switch. Near the end of the video, my camera view becomes erratic because I changed position from lying on my back to sitting up and I forgot my video was still recording. Turn on your sound to hear the excitement, and to watch the sun’s light dim.

In the video, my cell phone camera shows totality as a bright white circle with a black dot in the center. What we really saw was a full-moon-size pitch-black circle surrounded by a strong bright white ring, surrounded by the wispy white corona of the sun. I looked online for pictures that matched what we saw, but I didn’t find any. We (including our resident meteorologist) concluded that the strong white ring was a result of the high clouds over the sun in Perryville. Whatever caused that ring, it was a breathtaking, beautiful sight and the high point of our day. Totality in Perryville lasted a few seconds less than 4 minutes, so we had time to look around and enjoy it. Even so, it ended too soon. Here’s a picture of us in the dark. It’s 2:00 p.m. and the parking lot light is on in the background.

And here’s another picture during totality, but with the camera automatically adjusting the light for a “better” (?) picture.

I took a video of the 360-degree sunset during totality.

About five minutes after totality passed and the sun began to appear, we saw the weirdly-colored sunlight again. It looked like a storm was coming, except that the sky was blue.

When about 30 percent of the sun became visible, things looked more normal, and the sun looked bright again.

We stayed until the sun was fully exposed and then joined the crowds on our way home. Again, traffic moved steadily, just as it did on our way to Perryville–but at only 2-7 mph for three hours. We were excited to move forward at 10 mph for an occasional quarter mile before braking again. After three hours of this, we saw a gas station right beside I-55 and decided to stop. It took 15-20 minutes to drive down the exit ramp and cross I-55–about one-quarter mile. There were at least 100+ cars at the gas station and the bathroom line reached the convenience store door with people constantly arriving. This is about half of the gas station parking lot. You can see the backed-up traffic on the road in the right center of the picture. All four directions of this intersection were backed up like that. (Photo credit to Kari for this picture.)

We opened our ice chests and had a snack to fortify ourselves for the rest of our drive, then spent another 15-20 minutes getting back onto I-55. After another hour of slow, but steady, progress–we’d covered 50 miles in 4 hours!–we reached Festus, where I-55 adds a third lane (St. Louis metro area) and were finally able to travel near the speed limit for our last hour home, arriving at about 8:30 p.m. Kathy and Annette live about 3 hours beyond us, but encountered an accident that halted traffic on I-70, so they didn’t get home until 12:30 a.m.

All of us agreed that, if we’d known in advance how bad the traffic would be, we would still go to the eclipse. In 2017, we saw an amazing total solar eclipse, but this one was so-o-o-o much better! It was worth every minute of the experience–even the heavy traffic. The next total solar eclipse will be on August 12, 2026 and will be visible in Iceland. It might be worth making the trip.

P.S.

To celebrate the eclipse, Ted saw this picture of an eclipse snack on the National Weather Service Employees Facebook page. Start at the bottom with the full “sun” and move counterclockwise around the plate to view the Oreo eclipse.

‘Twas the month of Christmas, and all through the house there were things to be done. I always enjoy having our house decorated for Christmas and eating cookies and candy that, for unknown reasons, we only make at Christmas time. One of my favorite decorations is this tatted mobile that Ted’s mother made.

Thom and I have a Christmas tradition of giving each other a miniature Lego set each year. Based on the price and the online photo, I selected a Santa sleigh and reindeer set for Thom. I thought it was so cute, I ordered one for myself too. The eight bags of pieces I found when I opened the box was my first clue that this was not a miniature set. I think I should have also checked the number of pieces in the set–390!

This set far out-sized the miniatures Thom and I usually exchange. (See the photo on the right, below.) As a result, I had to display it with something larger to keep it from looking like Will Ferrell beside the other elves in “Elf.”

Kathy and Annette invited us to spend Christmas in Kirksville with them. (That sounds like a Hallmark Christmas movie, doesn’t it?) They had a pretty little Christmas tree in the living room.

On Christmas Day, we all wore our Christmas socks. Ted decided to show a little leg; we women were more modest.

Santa was good to us. Ted was happy with a Dairy Queen gift card and a plastic banana split–a symbol of one of his favorite sundaes.

I was thrilled to discover a soft and cozy fleece shirt in my gift-wrapped box.

Kathy’s cat kitchen towel made us laugh.

Annette said the over-sized “Crazy Cat Lady” mug was the perfect gift for her. The towel cat looks less certain of that.

We all pitched in to put Christmas dinner on the table. Annette (the vegetarian) roasted a perfect turkey. What a shame she didn’t eat any of it–it was delicious! Ted poured the wine, and a pumpkin turtle pie was a perfect finish for the meal.

After a long weekend in Kirksville, Kari invited us to join her family for Christmas in St. Charles (another Hallmark movie). It was a happy gathering with a delicious dinner and more gifts for everyone.

I attended one more holiday gathering with some fellow retirees from the college. We enjoyed lunch together and several hours of good conversation. We didn’t do a gift exchange and we had separate checks for lunch, but the holiday spirit was definitely with us. Left to right are me, Liz, Heather, Paula, Terri, and Paula’s husband, Bill. Kathy, Cindy, Elaine, and Yvonne were unable to join us. Bill didn’t say much. He might have been out-talked by five women.

Christmas 2023 is now in the past. The decorations have been put away and the candy and cookies are (nearly) gone. Here’s a picture of my mini Lego tree from Thom. I’m getting discouraged asking for world peace every year, but hope springs eternal, so my holiday wish is once again for peace on earth and good will toward all in 2024.

One of our gallery pictures of our grandson has always hung crooked, no matter what I did to straighten it. One day, I decided to weight the picture with pennies. Unfortunately, between Ted and me, we had only one penny, and that turned out to be insufficient. The picture still hung crooked.

I mentioned this little problem at a family gathering and said I thought I needed another two cents. The conversation moved on, but after a few minutes, Dylan re-entered the room and handed me two cents. Thank you, Dylan!

I added Dylan’s pennies to the back of the picture and it still didn’t hang straight, so I tried a nickel. That didn’t help, so I moved up to a quarter. That helped a little. When I added a second quarter, the picture hung straight.

I don’t think I’ve ever added more than two cents to a picture, but this one was a 53-cent job. The bottom corner of the picture butted up against the door frame. I wonder how far it would have tilted if the door frame didn’t stop it. Well, at least it’s finally straight and this little guy’s picture is no longer cockeyed.

Ted and I were amazed at the generosity of our children when they came to our house to celebrate Ted’s birthday. Due to the pandemic, we had to cancel our scheduled 2020 cruise to South America and we have not yet re-scheduled that trip. Imagine our surprise when Ted opened one of his birthday gifts and saw these vouchers for upgraded accommodations and for two of the excursions we were planning to take in South America. The photo was on one side of each voucher, and the text was on the reverse side.

There was a voucher for upgraded accommodations, . . .

. . . one for a national park in Patagonia, . . .

. . . and one for Machu Picchu.

Also included in the gift box was a personal letter from Pam, our travel agent.

Ted and I were nearly speechless. I remember saying something like “I guess we’re finally going to South America.” I think Ted said something brilliant like “Wow!” We couldn’t believe the generosity of our children. I mean, really! This is an over-the-top, high-end birthday gift! After a few minutes of our astonishment, Jeff said, “Ok, I think this has gone on long enough” and informed us that this was a gag gift. He had created the vouchers on his computer and printed them on very authentic-looking semi-rigid cardstock.

If Ted and/or I had read the very fine print at the bottom of each voucher, we would have known this was a gag. The three vouchers had a total of 99 different disclaimers! They were worth reading because they were so creative, but who reads the fine print when they’re so overwhelmed by the large print and the photo? Here are some of the disclaimers.

Penthouse Veranda: Warranty does not cover . . . typographical errors . . . nearby supernova . . . falling rocks . . . sonic boom vibrations . . . leaky roof . . . forest fire . . . missing or altered serial numbers . . . dropping the item . . .

Gateway to Patagonia: No animals were harmed during the production of this product . . . actual mileage may vary . . . one size fits all . . . at participating locations only . . . beware of dogs . . . some assembly required . . . no serviceable parts inside . . .

Best of Peru: Rent at your own risk . . . keep away from sunlight . . . may contain nuts . . . batteries not included . . . parental guidance advised . . . hand wash only . . . refrigerate after opening . . . do not puncture or incinerate . . .

The letter was written by Kaitlyn, our granddaughter-in-law. Jeff (and possibly others) taught her how to write in cursive so the letter would look authentic and so we wouldn’t recognize our kids’ handwriting. We’ve been making travel plans with Pam since 2015 and, after each trip, she sends us a personal, handwritten “welcome home” note. If Ted and I had not been so distracted by the extravagance of the “vouchers,” we would have immediately recognized that this was not Pam’s handwriting.

We recently had a meeting with Pam, so we took our “vouchers” to her and said we wanted to use them for a make-up trip to South America next year. She, too, was amazed at Viking’s generosity. Then we told her the birthday gift story and showed her the letter “she” wrote. In an astonished voice, she asked us, “Couldn’t you tell it wasn’t my handwriting?!” Again, the pictures and the large print overshadowed the details.

Pam asked if we were disappointed when we found out this was a joke and we said that no, we were actually relieved because it made us uncomfortable that our kids had spent that much money on us. After the “reality reveal” on Ted’s birthday, we had a good family laugh and looked forward to using the “vouchers” to fool Pam.

Well, played, kids. Well played. 🙂

While we were visiting Jeff and La’s family, we all wanted to take some family photos. Kyra and I were not feeling our best, and we both needed an afternoon to rest and re-charge before having more group fun. We sent everyone else on their way to scout out photo shoot sites, and they did a great job selecting a nice park not too far away. We took pictures of just about every possible combination of our group members. Here are some of my favorites.

First, the entire family, . . .

. . . then, Jeff’s family (where’s Ollie?), . . .

. . . and then, Alex’s family (ahh, Ollie’s back).

Here’s a picture of Ted and me with three of our grandchildren and Kaitlyn, our granddaughter-in-law, as well as our great-grandson, Ollie.

Here are the grandkids. I love this picture!

We definitely needed a photo of great-grandma and great-grandpa with Ollie. Jeff said he took over 100 family photos during this photo shoot, and this is the only one for which Ollie smiled. He’s sitting on my lap, so I’m sure it’s Gigi magic.

A four-generation photo was another requirement.

The adult men wanted a photo of themselves.

Not to be outdone, so did the women. You can easily see that the women are more fun than the men. 🙂

Last, but not least, here’s a picture of Ted and me. Even after 54 years, he’s still The One.

In late April, Ted and I went to Utah to visit with Jeff and La’s family. This was our last opportunity to be with the entire family at one location now that Alex, Kaitlyn, and Kyra have all graduated from college. Alex and Kyra had already accepted full-time jobs in their chosen fields and were getting ready to move closer to their work places. This was a good opportunity to have a belated recognition of Ollie’s second birthday (March) and to congratulate the college graduates.

We started with some family time at Alex and Kaitlyn’s home. They were packing and preparing to move a week after our visit. You can see packing boxes in the picture below. They are very excited about moving from a small “married students” campus apartment to a real house, with lots of room. It’s a little weird for me to look at my first baby and realize that he is now Grandpa Jeff, holding his grandson, Ollie. Look at the puppy Ollie is holding. We bought one just like it for Hadley last Christmas and she liked it so much, we thought Ollie would enjoy having one as well. He did. Maybe he and Hadley can share puppy stories the next time they’re together.

The graduation card we bought for Alex played “Pomp and Circumstance” (the graduation march) and had wiggling cutouts inside. Grandpa Ted found it easy to entertain Ollie with the card.

A long time ago, I met a great-grandma in a restaurant. While chatting with her, she mentioned that her great-grandkids call her Gigi, as in G-G for Great-Grandma. I decided right then that, when the time came, I wanted Gigi for my great-grandma name too. Last summer, I bought this T-shirt in honor of Ollie, and I finally had a chance to wear it while I was with him.

Here’s a close-up so you can see what the shirt says. It’s so true! (We baby boomers will always be cool.)

During our visit, we all had time to visit with each other, to get outside in the beautiful weather, to play some games, and to have some good downtime together. Here’s one of the downtime moments. Like father, like son?

For dinner one evening, we made individual pizzas. What an easy and delicious way to customize what you want to eat!

One afternoon, we went to a nearby park to take family pictures. While we were there, we took some time to enjoy the park and the springtime weather. Here’s Ollie in a swing.

And here’s Zack, getting out of a swing.

Kyra actually graduated in December, but we recognized the event during our visit. She was our first grandchild to graduate from college. How can we be old enough for that?

Alex and Kaitlyn graduated in early May–a husband/wife achievement. That makes three college graduates and six high school graduates among our grandchildren at this point.

As always, it was wonderful to be together with our family–our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchild. Ted and I are definitely living the good life.

Our family has much to celebrate in a three-week period beginning in late April. We say “happy birthday” to Kathy, Thom, Dean, Theo, and Kari, and “happy Mother’s Day” to the moms. Kathy and Annette joined Ted and me and Kari’s family to share a day of happiness to honor these events. Thom lives too far away to join us, so we filled his place with Dylan’s high school graduation. It was a fun-filled day, and we ended it with dinner at Steak ‘n’ Shake.

Steak ‘n’ Shake has only recently opened for dining in. SnS used to advertise that other fast-food restaurants were “work”-aurants where the customers did all the work except cooking. SnS, on the other hand, offered a true “rest”-aurant experience and served its customers with real dishes at the table. That’s no longer true. We ordered at the kiosk, picked up our food when our party name was called, and cleared our table of the paper food wrappings. Even though SnS has become the work-aurant it used to belittle, the food and shakes were still good. One of the staff members took our picture to save the moment for us.

Scrolling through photos on Ted’s phone, we found these good memories.

It was fun to celebrate Hadley’s first birthday with her in 2022. It was even more fun to spend time with her and her big brother.

Sefton decorated his waffle. Creativity abounds!

For his graduation dinner, Maggiano’s presented Sky with a complimentary dessert sampler. It’s pretty obvious that Sky enjoyed the treat.

Our grandchildren are growing up so fast! Dylan, our sixth grandchild, graduated from high school in June. During his junior and senior years, Dylan spent part of each school day at the Lewis & Clark Career Center preparing to become an electrician after graduation. The photo below shows the 2023 graduating electricians-to-be. Dylan is standing on the right (green shirt).

Typical of Dylan, he chose a low-key celebration. For years, he made it clear that he didn’t want a big party–he only wanted the family to go to Dairy Queen to celebrate with a large dip cone. So that’s what we did, and here we are, waiting for our DQ treats.

After his graduation, Dylan was hired by a local electrical contractor as an apprentice and has started working in his chosen field. Of course, he needed a car to go to work. He used his savings to buy this new-to-him Honda Civic. Wow! He’s a graduate, he has wheels, and he has a career-path full-time job! Yes, our grandchildren are growing up.

Congratulations, Dylan. Grandpa and I are very proud of you.

All four of our children and their minor children were with us to celebrate Ted’s birthday, so the event was not ignored, but with all the things we had going on from August-December 2022, Ted and I didn’t have time for our me-and-you birthday celebration for him.

Ted’s and my birthday gift to each other every year is a special dinner at a special restaurant. This year, Ted chose Annie Gunn’s–a restaurant that’s near our home, has been in business for 150 years, and where, for the 50+ years we’ve lived here, we have repeatedly said “We should go there sometime.” Wow! The food was so well-prepared and so delicious that the restaurant was immediately added to our “Top 5 Restaurants list.” (We couldn’t decide which of the five we should delete, so we decided to work toward a “Top 10 Restaurants” list.) We’ll be back at Annie Gunn’s sooner than 50 years from now!

The meal started with a complimentary glass of champagne . . .

. . . and ended with a complimentary piece of warm apple pie topped with a scoop of cinnamon-flavored ice cream beside a birthday candle. Between the pie and the champagne, there was an outstanding steak dinner with the most tender steaks we’ve ever had. If we had chosen the Kobe beef option, I can’t imagine how the meat could have been more tender.

Although Ted’s and my birthdays are three months apart, we celebrated my birthday shortly after his Annie Gunn’s evening. Ted’s family birthday party took place a week early to accommodate the kids’ availability, and mine took place a week late for the same reason. Our daughters and their families were with us for my birthday and we had a great time.

Because of the shipping costs and work schedules, we celebrated Kathy’s April birthday as well, with gifts for both of us.

And, of course, we had my traditional Vienne Torte for dessert.

For my me-and-you birthday dinner with Ted, I’ve selected Bentley’s at the Lake of the Ozarks–another of our “Top now-10 Restaurants,” but we have to wait a few weeks to go there. It’s a beautiful spring drive when the pink redbuds and the white dogwoods are blooming, but both trees are still only at the budding stage. It’s all good, though. It just means that Ted and I both have a nice, extended birthday season. Happiness abounds.

Ted knows how much I love spring. I love it so much, that I count December 22 as the first day of spring. It’s the day after the winter solstice when the days begin getting longer.

Ted loves me so much that, to help me celebrate spring, he buys me a pot of spring bulbs as soon as they are available. He’s picky in his selection–he looks for the pot with the most closed buds so that my joy in watching them open will last as long as possible. This year, he brought me pink tulips.

❤❤❤

Self-improvement. Can it become too much of a good thing?

Right now, I’m practicing on my (untouched for years) piano; learning Spanish; and working my way back into great physical shape after two months of minimal physical activity following foot surgery late last fall. I became involved in these three activities simultaneously in a variety of ways.

Piano. As Ted and were moving furniture from room to room for our interior house update and getting rid of things we no longer wanted to keep, I looked at my piano and made a decision: I would either get back to playing it regularly within the next six months, or I would get rid of it. There’s no point in keeping it just to have something to dust.

Spanish. I’ve always thought it would be great to speak a second language. I took German for three years in high school and in college, but there are few (if any) opportunities to use it in the middle of the U.S. When our older son decided to learn Spanish online, he invited family members to join him and to support each other as a group. Quite a few of us, including me, accepted his invitation. Maybe when Ted and I are in Barcelona later this year, I’ll have an opportunity to speak with someone and to say, “¡Hola! Mucho gusto. Yo hablos español.”

Exercise. Daily physical activity and exercise have always been a part of my life. After being off my feet for two months following my foot surgery, it was discouraging that I didn’t feel strong, and that my range of motion and flexibility were greatly reduced. Use it or lose it, right?

When I started these activities six weeks ago, my goals were 30 minutes of piano, 15 minutes of Spanish lessons, and 30 minutes of exercise daily. In reality, I’m spending about an hour each day on each of the three activities because I’m enjoying every one of them. That’s three hours of my day 6-7 days each week for self-improvement activities. Is that a good lifestyle or too much of a good thing? Either way, I’m having fun with all of them.

To keep your brain healthy, research says we need to keep trying new challenges. Our brains need exercise just as much as our muscles do. My exercise routine will take care of my muscles, and the Spanish and piano work will help my brain. To prove it, La sent me this.

Wow! Who (except La) knew that piano playing involved all of this?! If I add my Spanish lessons and my exercise routine, my brain and body are getting a total workout every day. Good for me!

. . . and all through the house, things looked pretty clean and festive. All four of our kids (and their families) were coming home on December 13 so that we could celebrate Ted’s birthday and Christmas together. The early celebrations turned out to be a good thing, given the horrible weather across the country and the Southwest Airlines meltdown the following week. Ted and I were really busy for about 10 days ahead of time, putting things in order and cleaning up after the contractors left our house, (more on that another time). We managed to get all the beds made up for the eight kids and grandkids who were staying with us; we arranged catered meals for our crowd of fifteen people so that we’d have time for fun instead doing the cooking and cleanup; we decorated the house and the yard; we bought and wrapped gifts; and we made Christmas candy and cookies. Here’s Ted helping with the cookie-making.

One day, our family activity was a visit to the Science Center to have some fun. Everyone always likes to build the arches. They don’t stand alone until a tall-enough person puts the keystone block into place.

Hadley was fascinated by the planets and solar system features that appeared when she stepped in the right places on this mat.

I enjoyed the history of games exhibit. I’m old enough to remember all those boxed games in the photo below–in those boxes.

We selected another day to celebrate Ted’s birthday, starting with a visit to Historic Main Street in St. Charles. All the stores (and most of the shopkeepers) were decorated and dressed in holiday fashion and, just like us, there were lots of people enjoying the festive atmosphere.

Grandma’s Cookies is a favorite stop for warm cookies, hot chocolate, and coffee. You can see the line of people across the street, all waiting for a warm cookie. The line was actually three times longer than what you see in the photo below, but the cookies are worth the wait.

There were so many people downtown that we had to park quite far away. That gave our group a chance to walk back to our cars along the Missouri Riverfront and past the Katy train station.

On the way to our cars, we saw the Grinch biking on the Katy Trail, which runs along the Missouri River. It looks like he’s bringing Christmas, not stealing it. Check out the reindeer pulling his bike/sleigh.

Ted chose Fratelli’s Italian Restaurant for his birthday dinner–a gift from the kids, who included my meal as well. (We have great kids!) We were all so busy having a good time together that we didn’t think about taking birthday pictures, so here’s a picture of Ted on his 40th birthday. Except for the hair color and the huge 80s glasses, he doesn’t look much different all these years later. ♥♥

Another day was designated as our early Christmas Day together. We opened gifts, enjoyed Christmas cookies and candy, did a lot of talking, and played some games.

Thom helped Hadley get started with her pile of gifts.

She got a soft puppy from Grandma and Grandpa and immediately said “puppy” with a big smile. She has quite a large vocabulary for an 18-month-old.

We gave Sefton The Book With No Pictures. He could read the story himself and giggled at the nonsense words. While Sefton giggled, Hadley found a local newspaper in the magazine rack and decided to check out what’s happening in our area.

Ted and Annette have a reputation among family members for becoming a little ant-sy if the after-meal chatter continues too long and the dishes haven’t been started. At the first indication that it won’t be impolite to get up from the table to start loading the dishwasher, they are hard at work. In recognition of their efforts, Kathy and I designed and made buttons for them that read “#1 DISHES TEAM.” Here they are, wearing their buttons and doing what they do well.

You can tell by Annette’s and Hadley’s smiles in the photo above that, once again, we were having so much fun together, no one remembered to take a group photo to prove we were all together at the same time. Here’s a “half of the group” photo that Kari took at Ted’s birthday dinner at Fratelli’s. Like everyone else, she was having so much fun, she forgot to take a picture of the other half of the group at our second table.

And here’s a substitute Christmas family photo from 1994–an earlier Christmas when all the kids were home.

Katie found Thom and Hadley like this after all the celebrating.

And, just like that, it was over. The kids and grandkids headed back to their own homes. It was great to have them all here, and yes, it was a rush to be ready fifteen days before Christmas, but it left us with nothing to be done for the entire week preceding December 25. We had lots of time to relax and to remember and talk about how nice it was for all of us to be together.

On Christmas Day, Kari’s family came over so that our families could be together on the real holiday. She and I decided to serve finger foods only–minimal prep and minimal clean-up–before we all watched the new Elvis movie. It was another good day with our family.

With a little bit of furniture re-arrangement, we could all see Elvis on the TV screen around the Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas, happy new year, and peace on earth, goodwill to all.

For the first time in a number of years, we spent Thanksgiving with Kathy and Annette at their home. Countless other people were also using Travel Wednesday to reach their destinations. With all those other travelers and two minor traffic accidents as well, our drive took us an hour longer than usual. When we arrived, the table was set, the burning candles were scenting the air, and dinner was ready–good, warm baked potato soup with freshly-baked coffee cake. Perfect after a long drive. After dinner, we baked an apple and a pumpkin pie. They smelled so good, we thought it would be best to taste them while they were still at their peak: warm from baking. Awesome!

On Thanksgiving Day, we were treated to a delicious brunch in Kathy and Annette’s newly refinished dining room. The stripped, stained, and varnished hardwood floor, the newly painted walls, and the crown molding turned out beautifully.

After lunch, it was time for a walk for everyone except me–I’m still limited in the amount of time I can spend on my repaired right foot. I was content with some quiet time and the others were refreshed by a walk in the beautiful weather.

Thanksgiving dinner was easy. Literally. We had Easy Chicken. I’ve never been fond of turkey, and I heard that turkey is quite expensive this year. I don’t know if that’s the reason, but I know a lot of people who shared non-traditional Thanksgiving dinners this year–including one that featured all Italian food. If that’s a new trend, Ted and I were way ahead of the times with our family. I’ve never made a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but for as long as we’ve been married, I’ve cooked what we call a “thankful” meal that gives everyone an opportunity to choose a food for which they are thankful. Some foods were the same every year, and some changed.

Before leaving home, Ted and I were shopping and I saw this sign.

In the photo of our Thanksgiving dinner, you can see that, in addition to Easy Chicken, we had lots of side dishes–including freshly-baked rolls. At the square dining table, everyone had a seat “next to the rolls.”

On Friday, we drove downtown and did a little shopping (only short stretches in each of three businesses in deference to my healing foot). Our last stop was a small gallery featuring local artists.

This sculpture caught my eye.

After another delicious dinner (pizza!), we played Mahjong and, too soon, it was time for Ted and me to go home. Our visits with our family are always too short, but we have several contractors coming to our house next week to make more progress on our interior update, and we need to begin our Christmas preparations. All of our children will be with us in mid-December to celebrate Ted’s birthday. While we’re together, we’ll also celebrate Christmas, but that means we all have to be ready for Christmas earlier than usual.

When we left for home, the weather was clear and cold. There was no wind at all, flags were hanging limply on their poles, and the moon had already set. It was a perfect night for star-gazing. On our way home, Ted and I pulled off the highway, parked on a country road, and looked upward. Wow! The Milky Way was huge and bright and seemed to fill most of the sky. Orion was low in the southern sky. (It was odd to see Orion in the northern sky when we were in Australia in December 2019.) The view was so breathtaking, we hated to get back into the car, but it was cold, and we had miles to go before we slept. It was a beautiful end to a wonderful visit. We’ll see you again in a few weeks, Kathy and Annette.

I was shopping in Office Depot and saw this display.

When our kids were little, they each had a cardboard house similar to this one (maybe a bit larger), and they set up a little village in the basement. They furnished their “homes” with toys, dolls (“children”), and a few furnishings–maybe a blanket or a throw rug–and made their houses uniquely their own. They parked their Big Wheels beside their houses and rode them across the room to visit each other. Our kids’ houses were nicer–they came already colored–but this plain house brought back happy memories. Until today, I hadn’t seen a cardboard house like this since our kids had them in the early 1980s.

This has been a great year for seeing Jeff and La, and it helps make up for lost time during the pandemic shutdowns when we saw them only on Zoom calls. We spent Christmas 2021 with them in Provo, UT, then went back to celebrate our great-grandson’s first birthday in March 2022. In Summer 2022, we went to Flathead Lake in MT to see them. This time, they came to Missouri to see us, and they will be back in December to celebrate Ted’s birthday and Christmas with us and all of our children. That’s five visits with each other in twelve months, and might be a record since Jeff left home in 1990.

We returned from our Canadian cruise four days before Jeff and La arrived. We are in the midst of updating the interior of our house, so the drywall repairman was here each of the four days between our homecoming from the cruise and Jeff and La’s arrival. He needed to repair the damage the electricians left behind so the walls would be ready for painting after Jeff and La leave. The drywall guy left by mid-morning, and Jeff and La were here for lunch. Ted and I needed to keep things simple because of our tight schedule, so we went to First Watch (one of La’s favorite restaurants) for lunch, then took advantage of the beautiful weather to walk down Historic Main Street in St. Charles and through Riverside Park along the Missouri River before heading to Dewey’s for a pizza dinner.

Jeff and La said they had spent a lot of time on their road trip sitting in the car and in friends’ homes. They told us they wanted to bike and hike while they were here, so that’s what we did. We borrowed Kari’s and Dylan’s bikes and took Jeff and La on one of our favorite trails: the Dardenne Greenway. It’s a beautiful 10-mile trail. Here we are, ready to get on the bikes and pedal.

After the bike ride, Ted and I asked Jeff and La for a big favor. As part of our interior update, we purchased a new (much smaller) media center, and we needed help taking the old one apart. We have great kids, so they said “yes” without hesitation.

Here’s what we started with:

The media center is made up of five pieces, not including the glass shelves on the left and the four posts that hold the display shelf to the top piece. Ted and I had the display cases and the drawers emptied. Jeff and Ted moved the TV without any problem. After that, the job was much harder. Every piece is heavy and it was a good thing there were four of us so that two (sometimes three) could hold the weight while another held two pieces together and another removed the screws. I had to take this photo quickly, so I could get back in place before La’s and Ted’s arms got too tired. It would have been much harder for three people and impossible for two people to do this. I think three guys came to deliver and assemble it when we bought it many years ago.

After we got the whole thing taken apart, we moved it to the garage. Habitat for Humanity will pick it up and sell it to a new owner. I included a photo so the new owner will know how the pieces fit together.

Our temporary media center is the coffee table; the new (much smaller) one will be here next week.

As a reward for their hard work, Ted and I took Jeff and La to Maggiano’s for dinner–a favorite restaurant for all of us. I kept the meals at home simple, but there was plenty of food for everyone at lunch the next day. (You can see sample paint swatches on the wall to the right.)

After fueling up, we headed to the Katy Trail for another bike ride. Jeff and La said they were good to go 20 miles, so we biked from the MO Research Park to a little bit past Defiance–and then back, of course. As always, the views were beautiful.

Kari joined us for lunch the next day before heading for work, and Kathy and Annette arrived in the evening. Ted and I had taken Jeff and La walking for 2+ miles after they arrived and biking for 43 miles the next two days, so it was time to hike again. We all headed for Cuivre River State Park and hiked about 4 miles on the Lakeside Trail.

Here we are, ready to go. There were eleven of us. We have some camera-shy family members. Annette avoided being in the picture by acting as the photographer, and Dean shadowed Kari.

Like the Katy, the park views were beautiful and so was the weather.

When we got home, we had Pizza Hut pizza for dinner with an ice cream sundae bar. It was easy on the cook again. I’m not sure why Theo is giving me the evil eye–I made sure to have his favorite sundae toppings: hot fudge, Reddi Wip, and m&ms.

We relaxed our biking and hiking muscles in the pool and the hot tub and played some board games. All too soon, it was time for Kathy and Annette to go home and for Jeff and La to head westward again.

I once read a book in which the main character was a professional pianist. After a concert, he played an encore, but the audience kept clapping and wanted more. He refused and told his assistant that “you always leave your audience wanting more.” That’s how I feel whenever we have time with our family–I always want more–but the pianist was right: it makes the next visit sweeter. So long kids, we’ll see you all again in December–and Thom’s family too.

Today was a perfect day to be outdoors. The temperature was around 90 degrees, but the humidity was low, the sun was bright, and the clouds were pretty. Ted and I picked up Dylan and Theo (Teddy is growing up) and headed for the Boat House in Forest Park. A lot of other people had the same idea, judging by the number of parked cars and the number of people we saw. The Boat House rents paddle boats, canoes, and kayaks. We opted for kayaks and paddled from the dock into Post-Dispatch Lake. Here’s the path we took for our one-hour adventure.

I took a picture of Dylan and Theo as we approached a pedestrian bridge and an oncoming paddle boat. Notice how synchronized their paddles are. What a team!

Here are the boys at the Lagoon Drive end of the Grand Basin.

Facing the opposite direction in the Grand Basin, Dylan took a picture of Ted and me heading back toward Art Hill and the Art Museum. The fountains all around the Grand Basin were really pretty.

This is another of Dylan’s pictures, also facing Art Hill. Theo’s smile shows how much fun we were having.

On our way back to the Boat House, we passed a family of ducks.

At the next bend in the canal, we spotted two herons. The one on the right is harder to see–look at the center right in the water beside the dying weeping willow tree.

This bridge made a pretty reflection in the water.

After an hour of kayaking in the sun, we were all in the mood for ice cream. The Boat House café told us the closest thing they have to ice cream is a vodka smoothie, but we had two underage people in our group, although Theo joked that he might be able to handle a vodka smoothie. We all voted for Dairy Queen instead, and we splurged and ordered medium-sized cones. The dip cone is Dylan’s and my DQ favorite. Theo went for a dip cone too (no vodka) and Ted, the individualist in our group, chose a twist cone. Yummy!

We all had a good time. None of us had kayaked in Forest Park before, but we’d all enjoy doing it again. According to the boys, our next get-together should include swimming in our pool and playing sheephead. That works for Ted and me. Our grandchildren are the greatest. They share their photos, their smiles, and their time with us. ♥♥

It’s been nearly 25 years since Ted and I re-furbed/freshened our house and we’re getting tired of the same old look. It’s time for a change. We both lack decorating skills, so we hired an interior designer to help us make some decisions. I mentioned to the designer that we have very little display space. Her suggestion was to get rid of some of the books and use those shelves as display space. “Gasp!” thought I. “Blasphemy!”

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.

Henry Ward Beecher

I cannot get rid of my books, but if I add up all the empty space on my shelves, I might be able to clear two shelves in the family room for display and still have space to add new books. We’ll see. Or I can forget about displaying things and stick with the books. With that said, when Kari called to ask if I’d like to go to the library book fair with her and Teddy, I immediately said “yes.”

I cannot live without books.

Thomas Jefferson

The library has not had one of its three-day book fairs since 2019 (before COVID), and they had so many books, they had to move the event from the Convention Center to the Family Arena. Professional sporting events and medium-name concerts take place in the arena, so it’s huge. There are four different gates to accommodate four simultaneous indoor events and the library used only one venue space. The parking lot was nearly half-full and it looked like Elvis might be in the building. (Or maybe someone else–Elvis would have filled the entire building.)

I came prepared with my largest carry-all bag, but I saw immediately that I was an amateur. A number of folks brought wagons or rolling file boxes. I might do that next year.

But that was still only medium level prep for book purchasing. These two came with dollies and four large packing cartons each. I won’t do that next year.

The Book Fair opened at 9:00 a.m. for a limited group of library friends and members; after 12:00 p.m., entry was free and open to everyone. Kari, Teddy, and I met at the gate at 12:30 p.m. and were given maps to guide our browsing. Hardbacks were $2.00, over-sized paperbacks were $1.00, and paperbacks were $0.50. What a deal!

The floor space within the outlined area on the map below was large enough for an official indoor soccer, football, hockey, etc. game (audience seating is outside that area) and the entire floor was covered with tables that were, in turn, completely covered with books. Under all the tables were boxes containing just as many more books. Volunteers patrolled the tables, and when the books started to lean over because people had removed some for purchase, the volunteers reached into the boxes below and pulled out more books to fill the empty spaces. Other volunteers continued to bring in boxes of books from the dock area to replace the empty boxes beneath the tables.

We browsed for nearly an hour before Teddy noticed how long the check-out line was. I had another appointment and had to leave in about 40 minutes, and Kari and Teddy were finished browsing, so we got in line. Keep in mind that the oblong outline in the above map is the size of an indoor sports field. The end of the line was at the red arrow and, from that point forward, moved clockwise around the floor. The exit to the cashier was at the green arrow, so we needed to move nearly all the way around the floor. Yikes! The good news was that the line was never stationary. I tried to look through some of the children’s books (green tables) as we passed them because I didn’t get to those tables before we got in line, but when I paused to extract a book, Kari and Teddy moved forward 4-6 feet before I even had a chance to examine the book.

Checking out was fast: Several staff members were available to count books for customers. They did the simple math to calculate the cost, and wrote the total on a piece of paper. Customers then took the piece of paper to the next available cashier and handed her their money–cash only, no tax to calculate. We made it from the back of the line to outside the front door in about 30 minutes. Not bad at all!

For the price of one new book, I now have 15 new-to-me books. There goes some of that display space the designer thinks I have.

I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most.

Margaret Atwood

I recently found a bunch of old photos that made me smile.

1965: The first one is the yearbook photo of the girls in my dorm in my sophomore year. I lived in a small scholarship dorm that was much less expensive than the regular dorms. In return for the deep housing discount, each resident was required to contribute about two hours of assigned weekly housekeeping work–assisting the cook (yes, singular) with meal prep, serving, or clean-up; cleaning a hallway or a common area; cleaning a communal bathroom; etc. Most of the chores were done by teams. It was a good deal for us, and this is where I met the friends I still get together with.

2003: Ted and I were scouting out places to take a family photo for the kids’ upcoming visit. Here’s Ted, posing with Lewis and Clark and their dog, Seaman.

2003: One of those fun-loving National Weather Service guys had time to photoshop Ted and Vince at a beach. They’re both wearing NWS shirts, so maybe it was supposed to be a working vacation.

Summer 2003: Ted and I went to Washington, D.C. The breadline memorial is one of the rooms in the FDR Memorial on the Mall. Ted decided to get in line.

Christmas 2004: I think Kathy gave Ted the Packers sweatshirt, cheesehead, and ball cap. I don’t know who gave Sky the baby-size sweatshirt. It looks like Grandpa is trying to mold a future Packers fan.

January 31, 2004: It’s New Year’s Eve, but the Weather Service staff is hard at work. Tom, Ted, and Vince took a midnight break for some New Year’s Eve champagne. Alcohol is not allowed in federal offices, so they made their toast in the middle of the dead-end street in front of the office, off the federal property.

2005: I have no idea what’s going on here or who took the picture, but it looks like Ted and I are having a great time in Florida on our spring break trip.

2007: Ted and I have entered one dance contest in our lifetimes: the twist contest at our niece, Cheryl’s, wedding. You probably think the first place winners are on the left, but you’re wrong; that man and woman are the third place winners. Ted and I won the first place trophies. As long as we never enter another dance contest, we’ll have a perfect winning streak.

2009: The bobcat in this photo was in our yard to dig our swimming pool. Ted’s dream car?

2012: My dream car in Little Rock, AR.

2014: Ted took this picture of me in Mt. Rainier NP on one of our visits with Thom.

According to the news reports, 2.5 million people experienced cancellations and/or delays on 7,800+ flights over the July 4th weekend. Ted and I were two of those people on four of those flights during the holiday week and it’s true: none of the flights left the airport at the originally scheduled time. Our nonstop morning flight from home to Seattle was completely cancelled by the airline, so they assigned us to an evening flight the previous day. The change of flight time gave us a longer layover for our slightly delayed commuter flight to Wenatchee. Coming home from Jeff’s house, we had a 20-minute departure delay on the first leg of our journey and a 2-hour delay on the last leg, bringing us home at 3:00 a.m. (Insert yawn here.) Between the flights, we had a great time.

It was wonderful to see our boys and their families again. Hadley was only two months old the last time we saw her. This time, we celebrated her first birthday with her. Sefton was getting ready to start pre-school last summer and now he’s looking forward to first grade. Here we are with Hadley.

Hadley isn’t quite ready to walk, but she has a unique–and rapid–style of crawling/scooting over the hardwood floors.

Sefton wore a fun NASA T-shirt. A space helmet visor reflects the American flag, which is made of sequins. When Sefton flips the sequins in the opposite direction, the flag becomes a blue sun visor on the space helmet. When Sefton stands in the sunlight, the sequins make him giggle at the sparking reflection on the sink front. Awesome!

Thom and Katie took us to a nearby park on the Columbia River during our visit. There was a salmon ladder, but the salmon weren’t spawning yet, so we didn’t see them jumping up the ladder. Even so, the views were pretty and the playground was fun. There was a slide that gave sliders a little boost on their way down so that they seemed to “shoot” out of the slide. Thom and Sefton had fun trying that. You can tell by Thom’s balancing act that he wasn’t expecting to exit the slide at that speed.

On another day, we took a “secret” hike in the Oglala Gorge. I say “secret” because the trailhead was on a secondary (maybe tertiary) road and the entrance was overgrown, camouflaging it. Katie knew exactly where it was, so we parked and took off with Sefton as our leader, carrying a big stick because–hey!–he’s a kid and he needs a stick.

When we reached the summit of the trail, it was time to rest and to enjoy the view of the Enchantment Range of the Cascades. You can see the stick beside Sefton. He needed it to guide us going up and again coming down the mountain.

Of course there was a birthday party for Hadley. Like most one-year-olds, the cupcake and the special candle meant nothing to her, but the frosting tasted good.

While the adults visited with each other, Sefton took care of Hadley’s car. First, he filled the gas tank; then he took her for a ride.

We enjoyed the beautiful weather by eating most of our meals outside. One evening, we had pizza cooked outdoors in Thom and Katie’s pizza oven. Later, we roasted marshmallows and on another evening, we enjoyed a pan of s’mores.

After spending several days at Thom and Katie’s house, Julian joined us and we all headed for Jeff and La’s house for more fun together. When we arrived, I noticed pretty wildflowers growing along the driveway.

Our first day together was the pick day of the week for water fun. Jeff and La contributed jet skis, kayaks, and paddleboards and we all had a great time.

All that activity made us hungry, so we needed an ice cream snack after dinner. Sefton made a sign with a picture of an ice cream cone and the notice that “Ice cream shop is open.” Then we dug into the ice cream and toppings.

When we were finished eating, it was much later than Sefton’s bedtime, but you wouldn’t know it to look at his pj’s.

In spite of the message on his pj’s, Sefton went to bed and fell asleep. The rest of us settled in for a movie in Jeff and La’s home theater.

Ted and I stayed a few more days after Thom’s family left for home. Jeff took us for a ride around the area. The nearest town is Big Fork, MT so we went to town. Sure enough, there’s a big fork in town.

On another day we hiked a 5-mile trail along the west side of Holland Lake. The views of the lake were beautiful.

In the evening, we enjoyed a pizza dinner on the front porch, overlooking Flathead Lake.

It takes a long time (until after midnight) for the sky to get dark enough to see stars this far north in June, but we were so far from urban lights that the Milky Way was clearly visible. What a treat for city dwellers like Ted and me.

It was finally time for Ted and me to head for the airport to go home. On the way, we stopped at Rosa’s Pizza–Jeff’s favorite local restaurant and the place where he plays mahjong weekly. The pizza was delicious. It’s no wonder he eats it every week.

As we watched the sun set each evening, I understood why Jeff takes so many sunset pictures. It’s a beautiful view every night. My cell phone photos of the sunset aren’t as stunning as this one that Julian shared with me. He took it with a “real” camera. The peace it evokes is a perfect finish for the time we spent with our sons and their families.