Is there anything better than summer fruit in season? I don’t think so. I made this for dinner and it tastes even better than it looks.
Cooking with the King
For the first time in quite awhile, I spent some time browsing in a bookstore. While I was looking for some bargain-priced summer reads, Ted meandered elsewhere and came back with a suggestion for me.
The King lives, but maybe not so much through his favorite recipes. I didn’t buy it.
For the kids
Ted and I went out to dinner a few weeks ago. Like so many other entities, restaurants don’t proofread their copy.
Conversion
In 2012, Ted and I fixed up the basement to better accommodate our growing family. We added a bathroom with a shower and decorated the “big room” to serve as a seating area and a play space. The seating area easily converts to sleeping space when the kids and their families are here. Since we did that, we haven’t needed to use the third upstairs bedroom when the kids come home for a weekend. Now it’s five years later, and it’s time to make another change. We decided to re-arrange the upstairs bedrooms.
First step: We removed the double bed from the blue bedroom and put it at the curb. It was picked up almost immediately by a lady who wanted it for her granddaughter. We replaced the bed with the futon from the small bedroom. This gave us seating and space for a project table in the blue bedroom.
Second step: Shopping at the Swedish Embassy.
Almost immediately, we found a table we liked. It’s big enough for projects, it has storage for two 15-inch leaves inside the table, and it can be extended from 55 to 85 inches for really big projects. Of course, IKEA furniture requires an Allen wrench, but it was an easy job.
We also found a chair we liked.
Finally, we decided that after 30+ years, we could spring for a new futon cover. We re-arranged all three upstairs bedrooms to accommodate the remaining furniture and our needs, and voilà! We have a project room that can be converted back to a bedroom by opening the futon as needed. It just makes me want to work on a project!
Hey, Good-lookin’
What a good-looking guy, even after all these years. Note that his smile gets bigger as he gets older. He’s not only good-looking–he’s happy!
Finally!
I couldn’t believe it when I saw it–a calendar picture that actually complements our kitchen wall! It’s a photo of buffalo at sunset in Yellowstone National Park. Every time I look at it, I first admire how good the picture looks against the wall, and then I remember something Dean Martin once said: “Show me a home where the buffalo roam, and I’ll show you a house with a dirty living room.”
Note: It’s a sign of the times that the calendar page is blank. All of our reminders are on our Google calendar, which is accessible anywhere, not only in the kitchen.
Ahh, the perfect summer weekend
Jeff, Kathy, Kari, and their respective families spent the last weekend of June at our house. Jeff’s family arrived on Thursday and voted to kick off the weekend with the traditional lunch at Steak ‘n’ Shake. That was irresistible to Kari and her boys, so they joined us as well. After lunch, the kids all spent the afternoon in the pool.
We had some one-on-one time with Jeff’s family on Friday, which was very nice. We went out to lunch and then spent the afternoon at Kari’s house. When it was time for Kari to begin her “I’m working at the skating rink tonight” countdown, we went out to dinner with Jeff’s family. That was an easy day for Ted and me–no cooking or dishes to do.
Kathy and Annette arrived on Saturday for lunch, then Ben and Amy joined us in the afternoon and stayed for dinner. Thanks to the gorgeous weather all weekend, we had a relaxing day enjoying the new umbrellas and visiting with each other poolside.
The entire group was present for dinner on Saturday, when Ted and I had a chance to share our Wisconsin hard rolls with grilled burgers and all the appropriate supporting foods.
The humidity was low enough in the evening for the temperature to cool down, making it possible to enjoy the firebowl for a few hours. Luckily, we never ran out of things to talk about.
Jeff’s family left early Sunday morning. Annette, Ben, and Amy went to the St. Louis Pride parade, and Kathy spent the morning with Kari. In the afternoon, Kathy and Kari came to our house and the four of us had some quiet, adult time floating in the pool and chatting without getting splashed “accidentally” by the kids jumping into the pool.
Kathy left after dinner Sunday night, but Kari stayed for awhile to visit, giving us some more quiet, quality time with her. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend and I think everyone enjoyed it. I can’t wait for the next time the kids come home!
Who knew?
For all of my growing-up years, I knew Sheboygan Falls as the town we drove through to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Sheboygan. I suspect like most of us, I never gave my familiar surroundings a second thought; they were just there.
When Ted and I were planning our mid-June trip to WI, we looked for things to do in the area and discovered that Sheboygan Falls has not one, but two historic districts! The Cole Historic District is one of the few remaining districts in the state of Wisconsin to display the early development of a Wisconsin community from the 1830s and 1840s.
After the construction of the Sheboygan River bridge in 1839, the Cole area declined and the city developed on the west side of the river.
In the 1800s, Sheboygan Falls had eight sawmills, two woolen mills, four hub and spoke factories, manufacturers of carriage and cabinet furniture, and the first foundry between Milwaukee and Green Bay. While I was growing up, all I knew about manufacturing in Sheboygan Falls was that it was home to Bemis Mfg.–maker of toilet seats. Bemis is still making high-quality toilet seats in Sheboygan Falls, and you can buy them everywhere.
I’ve learned that more than 45 downtown building façades in Sheboygan Falls have been meticulously restored, that the downtown area is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and that the city has won numerous awards and national recognition for “exceptional accomplishments in revitalizing America’s historic and traditional downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.” Who knew?
Some of the restored downtown buildings on the main street. I’m not sure, but Bob’s (steak sandwiches) might have been in the green-fronted building when I was growing up. Those were great steak sandwiches!
Wisconsin food (and family)
After spending time with Tom and Jo, our next destination was Kiel, WI to see Ted’s brother, Gary. That meant playing sheephead, eating at a variety of restaurants, and picking up cheese and bakery to take back to MO. Gary helps make this possible by contributing freezer and refrigerator space between the pick-up times and our departure time. When it’s time for Ted and me to head back to St. Louis, the food moves from Gary’s freezer and refrigerator to our ice chest and safely makes the eight-hour journey.
On this trip, we also took time to drive to Door County to buy frozen pie cherries. People in the know are aware that cherries from Door County, WI or Traverse City, MI are the best cherries in the land! Since the tart pie cherries are frozen in liquid in large containers, they make the eight-hour trip to MO perfectly, thawing just enough to separate them into multiple pie-sized portions before putting them into our own freezer. Ted and I now have four cherry pies in our future.
When she heard Ted and I were coming to Wisconsin, my Aunt Ruth (LaCrosse area) asked if there would be a chance to get together if she and Uncle Ken drove across the state to see us during our visit. Absolutely! We had a delicious brunch with Ruth and Ken; my cousin, Donna; her husband, Jon; and Uncle Gibby. (Gibby and Ruth are my mom’s siblings, and Gibby is Donna’s dad.) It was a two-hour brunch, but the time went by much too quickly. Just like with Tom and Jo, we wish we could see these family members more often, but we make the most of the times we get together.
The happy ending: We had a great time, and the menus for the kids’ visit wrote themselves around the Wisconsin favorites Ted and I brought back to share with them on their late June visit.
Happy anniversaries
Ted and I took a quick trip up north in mid-June to get cheese and hard rolls for the kids’ visit the following week–and also to visit family. On the way to the cheese factory and the bakery, we stopped in St. Charles, IL to spend time with Tom and Jo, my brother and sister-in-law. When we checked into our hotel, we discovered that the light bulb in the bedside lamp was burned out. The desk clerk didn’t know where the extra light bulbs were stored, so she upgraded us to a suite with working lights.
We had a very nice visit with Tom and Jo. Getting together in person is always more fun than emails. They celebrated their 39th anniversary on June 10, and our 48th anniversary was on June 14, while we were at their house. The four of us paid tribute to our wedding days with a delicious dinner.
During our visit, the four of us spent an afternoon at Cantigny. In the early 1930s, Col. Robert R. McCormick, owner of the Chicago Tribune, established one of the most successful experimental farms in the nation. He named the property “Cantigny” in memory of his fellow soldiers with whom he fought in Cantigny, France during World War I. The property now focuses on horticulture, rather than agriculture, and provided us with a very nice afternoon of walking around the beautiful grounds. We were also able to take a guided tour of the Colonel’s home.
We had time to visit with Tom and Jo at home as well.
It’s always good to get together with my brother and his family. Thanks for a memory-making visit, Tom and Jo.
Emergency! Editor desperately needed!
When Ted and I were first married, I worked for three years as a writer-editor for the U.S. Bureau of the Census. I was one of three writer-editors in the department where I worked, and the expectation was perfection in print. This was in the early 1970s, before PCs and spell check. After writing and before publishing, we worked in a proofreading team of three, taking turns with one of us reading aloud and two following along looking for errors. A lasting result of that job is that it sometimes spoils pleasure reading for me because I’m so well-trained to find errors in text. (Not to mention being a grammar nerd with two college degrees in English.)
I’ve found lots of textual errors over the years, including factual errors such as the lady who took a coach from London to Dublin (not easy over the Irish Sea), as well as simple misspellings of homonyms and other “real” words that don’t make sense in the text, but don’t trigger spell check.
I found two pretty big errors within a few pages of each other while reading Robin Cook’s Foreign Body over the weekend.
She’s flying from Los Angeles to Delhi, India. Depending on when you leave (orbital distance can vary), it only takes 7 months to get to Mars!
A gaggle!
Ted and I saw an unusual sight this evening. He was watering in the back yard and I was doing dishes at the sink, overlooking the back yard when a gaggle of geese came running through our lawn! We think there must have been at least 40 of them in a tight group and they were really moving! They ran across our lawn and into Steve’s yard (behind ours), moving to our left. When they reached the barrier of Tom’s fence (the next neighbor on the left), they did a quick about-face and ran around Steve’s house to the front instead, still moving as quickly as they could on foot.
Fireworks were going off at the time, and most of the people who live around the lake where the geese live all year usually shoot fireworks over the lake. Ted and I think the geese were scared and were heading for another lake in the subdivision. (They often fly low over our house going from lake to lake. No need to go to full altitude for such a short distance!) Fireworks have been going off like crazy in our subdivision for the past few evenings, so we suspect the geese decided it was too dangerous to take to the air and chose to use a land route, looking for refuge in a different lake.
It was pretty funny to see so many geese so huddled together and moving so quickly on foot!
Quack, quack
I don’t really want to make a political statement here, but this observation should be noted.
But is the food any good?
According to a posting I saw online, the El Arroyo restaurant in Austin, TX puts clever, catchy phrases on its sign board. The sign changes frequently and it’s said that people drive by just to check out the sign.
Vote “yes”
Spotted in a shopping mall.
The man said he bought the shirt at a pizza place in Scottsdale, AZ.
Packer baby
In my continuing documentation of Wisconsin-based parents teaching their children to be Packer fans by dressing them in Packer regalia beginning at birth, I have yet another piece of evidence that this is Truth. My nephew, Brandon, and his wife had a baby girl in April and Brandon recently posted this picture of her on Facebook.
Save the world (and the wife)
Last night, Ted and I went to see Wonder Woman because: (1) Jeff’s family all liked it a lot; (2) it had very high ratings (92% on Rotten Tomatoes); and (3) we were in the mood for some fun and action. Our expectations were low, but the movie was actually very good and we left feeling glad we had decided to see it.
Today, I’m experiencing the Unfairness of Life with laryngitis. It caused me to miss having lunch with eight retired friends from the community college, an event to which all of us assign high priority because we have so much fun together.
As the day goes on and my energy level drops, I’m feeling worse. Ted took a break and went to the recycle center. He also picked up some AAA tour guides so we can start planning our fall trip to the southwestern U.S. Then he made a final stop to buy a rose for me to make me feel better.
I’m sure he was putting into practice what Wonder Woman learned after 2 hours and 21 minutes of fighting battles: Only love can save the world. Go, Wonder Woman! (And Ted!)
It’s a bird, it’s a . . .
Storm cells in Wisconsin and Michigan today look like a peacock.
Let the summer fun begin
Ted and I have been very busy during the last six weeks, but we’ve got all of our tasks checked off the list. Whew!
Indoor jobs:
Throwing shade (literally)
For several years, Ted and I have talked about getting a cantilevered umbrella to shade the “house corner” of the pool area. This year, we decided to go for it.
The guys at the loading dock were doubtful, but we got a regular umbrella, the cantilevered umbrella, its stand, 200 lb. of sand, and both of us in the Prius.
The car was full, leaving just enough room for Ted to operate the gearshift.
“Assemble it where you want it” we were told, so we did. This is what 200 lb. of sand looks like in the umbrella base.
The next step was to attach the base cover. The directions wisely advised having two people to assemble the umbrella, so we worked on it together. Then Ted posed while I took pictures.
Here’s the post that will anchor the umbrella.
The most awkward job: getting the entire umbrella unit onto the anchor post. Oof! Eighty-eight pounds!
The last step: relax under the shade thrown by the new umbrella. The green umbrella on the right is the cantilevered one; the red one on the left is the other new one we bought.We put our two old umbrellas and an umbrella stand at the curb. In less than ten minutes, they all had new owners.
Celebrating in St. Peters
In Key West, people celebrate the sunset overlooking the Gulf of Mexico on Sunset Pier. In St. Peters, Ted and I celebrate the sunset overlooking our pool while we watch our new solar lights come on.
Well played!
Last week, Ted and I went out to lunch. While we were eating, one of the waitresses went around the room and gave each woman a small box of candy. Was the candy left over from Mother’s Day? Of course it was, but every woman who received the little gift was smiling.
Families
Three of our kids will be visiting us the last weekend in June, so I’ve been thinking about “family” over the past few days. As a result, I’m also thinking about some things I’ve learned about families and relationships.
One of my perspectives of family came from a movie. The two romantically involved main characters in My Big Fat Greek Wedding come from diametrically different family backgrounds. At one point, the woman tells the man she is uncomfortable about her family and the way they behave. The man responds by saying, “So your family’s weird. Everybody’s family is weird.” Hmmm.
I learned a way families get along from the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond. Raymond’s mother is a stereotypical buttinski Mom. (Wisconsin word for always putting her nose into everyone’s business.) Mom does her usual interference routine at the wedding of her son, Robert, creating stress on the wedding day for several of the characters in the show, especially Robert. In his role as the best man, Raymond makes a wedding toast to his brother and new sister-in-law. In his toast, he refers to Mom’s actions of the day and mentions that “families edit.” Family members know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and they “edit” the less than perfect moments of family life, focusing instead on the strengths of the family unit.
One of my most valuable insights into relationships came from my Grandma Lorenzen, and it applies to people in general, not only family units. Grandma had a plaque above the stove in her kitchen that said: “All are queer but me and thee, and sometimes me thinks even thee.” (Note: This was in the 1950s, when common usage of the word queer meant “odd.”) I’ve always thought this was good to remember, and I guess Grandma thought so too.
Fini!
I had a carpenter friend modify my old sewing cabinet for my new sewing machine and I was thrilled with the results. Unfortunately, the first time I tried to use the sewing machine in the cabinet, I immediately realized I had forgotten that the power cords connect to the sewing machine below the cabinet surface. I measured and checked and decided that it would not compromise the integrity of the cabinet to cut a hole in the vertical side of it. If more room is needed, the top drawer could be cut down. None of this would show with the sewing machine in place. Dean said he thought he could do this for me.
With the sewing machine in place, the power cords and switch are accessible through the top drawer space.
With some modification, the drawer slides right past the power cords.
Dean did such a good job, I decided it made the raw wood of the platform worthy of some stain and varnish.
The stained platform looks much nicer than raw wood.
The top drawer in action. I reach inside the drawer to turn on the power switch and everything works the way I want it to.
Let there be (star)light
We needed new solar lights for the pool and patio area. It’s hard to find solar lights brighter than 5 lumens (a pinprick of light), but we finally found some with 30 lumens and installed them.
. . . and more lights around the patio.
Decisions, decisions . . .
Jeff wondered which of these jackets looked better on him. Ted found the same jackets. What do you think, Jeff? Does it help to see them on someone else?
Geometrics?
Or maybe the whole shebang with the matching pants and tie as well.(Note: There was only one flamingo jacket left for Ted to try. I can’t wait to see the owners of the other flamingo jackets wearing them around town.)
Sting. Ouch!
Today, as Ted drove us through an underpass on I-70, I spotted a couple of State Patrol cars on the merging ramp to our right. Since traffic slowed markedly at that point, I assumed there was an accident ahead and the officers were heading to the scene.
As Ted drove forward, I noticed those squad cars were part of a string: there were actually ten squad cars and a State Patrol motorcycle lined up on the shoulder of the ramp!! In addition, another official motorcycle was parked on the shoulder just ahead of the ramp after pulling a driver over, presumably for speeding. Obviously, a sting operation was in progress as people started leaving town for the holiday weekend.
I think we can conclude that enforcement is up.
2017 swim season opens
Dylan and Teddy were ready to open the 2017 swim season, so Kari brought them over for a swim. Kari, Ted, and I thought it was a little too cool to get in the water. Sitting in the sun felt better to us, but the two kids had a good time.
Weird
I looked at the whiteboard on the refrigerator the other day and couldn’t believe who we needed to call. My brothers’ names are Denny, Steve, Tom, and Russ.
Wx men
A local TV channel is inviting viewers to “take a selfie with Steve,” the channel’s chief meteorologist. The winning entry will receive $500 in free groceries from Schnuck’s, a local grocery chain. Ted and I were shopping at Schnuck’s one day and saw Steve’s cutout, so I took a picture of my weather man with the TV weatherman.
Merry Christmas plus whatever
Yesterday, I was looking for something and, while I was rummaging through my stuff, I found a Christmas card I bought for Ted and forgot about. I decided that if I save it for next Christmas, I’ll probably forget about it again, so I added “at any other time of the year” to the “especially at Christmas” line and put the card out for Ted to discover. Just before we went to bed, I noticed a card on my dresser. It was a Christmas card from Ted with the added wish for a “Happy Mother’s Day.” He said he’d bought the card about two years ago and kept forgetting about it.
One year, we bought each other identical cards for our anniversary. When you’ve been married this long, do two minds become one?
This makes me feel all prickly
My friend, Bob, lives in Illinois. He is a talented and often playful photographer. He titled this photo “Illinois Cactus.”
I’m smiling
Today is Monday.
Birthday bash
Today we celebrated Dean’s birthday (May 3), Teddy’s birthday (May 15), and Kari’s birthday (May 19). For good measure, we included Mother’s Day (today). Teddy was allowed to choose the cake, so he asked me to make a pig cake for him, like last year. We had presents, cake, and time to talk. Life is good.
Dean can use his new saw as he reconfigures the skate ramp he’s building.
Kari’s electric fry pan is missing a leg, has hot spots, and has a cord that arcs when it’s plugged in, so Ted and I gave her a new one for her birthday.
I made a pig nose and stuck it in Teddy’s gift bag.
Here are Teddy and Waffles with the quilt and pillow I made for them.
Naturally, Waffles had to try the pig nose too.
Teddy’s pig cake. The pig looks mystified. Maybe because I don’t draw very well and didn’t show his good side.
I hope Teddy wished for something wonderful.
What’s a grandma to do?
If you’re a grandma and your grandson (Teddy) tells you he and his stuffed pig need a blanket for his birthday, what do you do? Why, you make him and his pig a blanket! I decided to make a simple quilt.
The last time I made a quilt, I bought two kits at a local craft store and made them for Tommy (at that time) and Kari to use for their naps. The quilts turned out nicely, but required no imagination on my part–I just used the materials in the kits and followed the directions.
Kari’s quilt. She took this picture and sent it to me as I started working on Teddy’s quilt.This time, I was on my own, but how hard could a kid’s quilt be? I bought some appropriate pig-patterned fabric, some backing, and some batting, then went home to attach two pieces of fabric to the batting and bind the edges. I did not anticipate any enhancements–after all, it was for a nine-year-old and his stuffed pig!
Then I made the mistake of talking to the Quilting Queen, my sister-in-law, Mutzie. She thought it would be nice to include a matching pillow. Well, why not? I had three throw pillows in the Goodwill box, so I rescued one. Mutzie also thought an appliquéd pig cut out of the backing fabric and placed in the center of the top side would be cute. I decided I might as well do the same on the pillow so it would look like a matched set. Even better, I could use my sewing machine to add Teddy’s name to the quilt and Waffles’ name (the stuffed pig) to the pillow.
So far, I’ve altered one pillowcase with the new sewing machine I bought in December, so I still had to follow the instruction book to thread the needle, fill the bobbin and figure out how to use the touch screen to raise/lower the foot, select the stitch, the stitch length, and the tension and all the other stuff you have to do to sew. (Sewing machines have come a long way in the last 50+ years.) That slowed me down a lot in the beginning, but I can do it all without looking at the instruction book now!
When I estimated under ten hours to make this quilt, I obviously misjudged how long it would take to pin, baste, and sew so many things (appliqués, layers, binding). Including the time it took to learn how to use my new sewing machine, I almost reached the forty-hour mark.
The project was fun. The quilt turned out very well and I learned that my sewing machine is awesome. I definitely made a good selection when I bought it. Now I want to work on another project, just to use my sewing machine!
Don’t all artists sign their work? I had to try this feature of my sewing machine for the lettering on the quilt and on the pillow.
Spring music continues
Late spring means it’s time for the school orchestras to show their families how much they’ve improved since the fall concert. Last week, Ted and I were able to attend Dylan’s spring concert. The music selections are always fun and the concerts last about 30-40 minutes (an important factor when sitting on bleachers). The improvement is always noticeable and we are thankful we have the opportunity to hear our grandchildren perform.
Can you find Dylan, our sixth grade cellist?
The parent in the blue shirt is serious about his photos!
Def. silly: nonsensical, foolish
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch used the non-word sillily on the front page of its sports section last week. It reminds me of the Parisian bus with the “slididing” top and the “screeninings” available at the Lions Club. I think slididing and screeninings were probably typos, but I have a hunch this sportswriter thought he needed to change the adjective silly (the kind of hair extensions) to an adverb, even though it does not function as an adverb (how, where, when). He changed the y to i and added -ly. Well, at least he knows how to form adverbs, even if he doesn’t know how to use them. Aaarrgghh!
Water, water
The Foundry Art Center is located at the St. Charles riverfront, so after viewing Sky’s and Dylan’s artwork, Ted and I walked along the river to survey the flooding from the recent rains (11 inches at our house). Flood stage for the Missouri River at St. Charles is 25 feet. At the time we were walking, the river was at 35.7 feet. A few hours later, it crested at 35.8 feet. One of the awesome sights at a flooding river is the speed of the current in the center of the river. The power of a river in flood is obvious and is definitely something to be avoided.
It’s a wide river when it’s in flood. You can tell where the rapid current is flowing by the darker strip of water beyond the foreground trees. The foreground trees are in the park; the normal riverbed lies behind them.
Park rest rooms are currently inaccessible. You can see the train tracks underwater at the trash can and the tops of park benches among the trees on the right.
No picnics scheduled under this shelter for awhile. The ground is a little higher here, so the train tracks show.
The bandstand is surrounded by 3- to 4-foot deep water.
In the 1993 flood, the water came to the back doors of the businesses on the right. The pioneers built the downtown on high ground.
Schone art fest
Ted and I are related to two artists whose work was selected for public exhibition: Sky and Dylan. Each spring, the St. Charles School District chooses a few representative art projects from each grade–K-12–and displays them at the Foundry Art Center in downtown St. Charles. Of course, we had to take a personal look at the artwork.
Sky (not surprisingly) submitted a detailed Star Wars drawing. Dylan painted a sunset sky. The sun in Dylan’s painting is colorless. Dylan told me it’s an artistic illusion: the orange sky makes the sun look yellow.
And here’s a first grader’s picture that made us smile. The minions always seem to have that effect.