And the Band Played On...

Mom left a couple days ago :(  and I just hadn't been up to blogging about the rest of her visit until now… when last I left off it was July 4th, mid day, and Mom & Jeff were putting together…

Jeff & Mom sitting on the table & chair set they put together… you can see the instructions taped to the siding...

Evening of July 4th found us at White Bear Lake, waiting for Jeff's concert to start. Marta was well rested by then...

Tim is relaxing… looking very much at home nestled in a pine tree :)

Our view of the lake...

Our view of the bandshell...

Our favorite band member, Jeff...

Later, when things were getting dark… band had been playing for a while by the time this photo was taken… wonderful as always & finished with Stars & Stripes Forever as the Fireworks started - Yes!!

Mom got a cute pair of Sandals while here, and kitty decided the box was hers...

I think she's a little annoyed that the camera disturbed her nap...

Mom playing some more with her new iPhone… by the time she left she was a pro!!

Saturday, the 6th, we went & played mini-golf… Mom got this close to the flag on her first shot on the last hole (shown getting ready for her 2nd shot)… almost a hole in one!!

We followed up mini-golf with lunch at Q Cumbers (wonderful salad bar) & later took Mom to Glockenspiel (a local German restaurant) for dinner.

Mom left on Monday… Oreo looks as bummed out as I feel… we miss her!!

Life is pretty much back to normal… we had a torrential downpour yesterday (once again I didn't need to water)...

I stopped by Ten Thousand Villages (my old haunt) while in the area yesterday, got to catch up a bit with Kathy (manager)… she gave me this nice selection of CDs to donate to our church's ESL Music Camps that will be taking place in Ukraine this summer - a sweet gift I'm certain the music teachers will really appreciate!!

Well, gotta go, gotta get ready to go for a get-together with our Small Group, we're doing a barbecue… and the band played on!!

Causing More Trouble...

Just kidding, of course… LOVE having my Mom here with us for an extended visit… here's what we've been up to the last few days….

On Monday we did some more running around, and in the afternoon Tim came by (he was on his way to D&D) and gave his Grandma some pointers on her iPhone.

Tim has always been so sweet with his Grandma!!

Monday night Mom treated Jeff & I to dinner at Red Lobster… she was craving Lobster, and who were we to deny her ;)

Tuesday Tim & Marta & Mom & I went on an Adventure!!  We went out into the Wilds of Wisconsin… ok, it's a farm in Wisconsin...

Why are all these people having picnics at this farm?  It's a farm that makes Pizza on Tuesday nights, fresh made pizza fired in wood-fired brick ovens right on sight… using ingredients right from the farm…

Though it's out in the boonies (no signs, you just have to "know") it is popular enough that you have to wait… we were order #141, we arrived about 45 minutes after they opened… mind you each order is typically multiple pizzas… so we had to wait only about 60 minutes for our 2 pizzas to appear… they disappeared much more quickly…  We had stopped at a local Pie Shop on the way in, so we had fresh pie for dessert… Fun & Yum!!


Wednesday found Mom & I sitting at the Mini dealer waiting for a Tire to be replaced… then going to one of my favorite Rock Shops to find a stone for a setting my Aunt Diane has requested.

Now it's Thursday, July 4th (can you tell by Mom's outfit), and we spent this morning at the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis waiting to see Marta run by - she was in a 1/2 Marathon.

Our view from the bridge saw the Mill City Museum (broken building in the picture)...

And here comes Marta, we yelled & clapped and cheered her on… she's close to mile 13 of the 13+ miles in the 1/2 marathon…

There she goes, with a great big SMILE on her face… :)

Marta enjoying a rest in the shade and some treats at the Finish…

Love Marta's running shoes!!

Group pic with our hero Marta center-stage!

We'll catch back up with Tim & Marta again tonight… in the mean time we were hungry (we didn't have breakfast before we went to watch Marta) so we went to breakfast at Key's Cafe (love the place)...

I took this picture outside Key's to show the new necklace I finished last night… I wanted something festive for 4th of July...

Back home after breakfast, and I did some watering and plant tending… then decided I had earned a bit of a rest on the front porch… this is looking at the bird bath & feeders form the porch.

Looking out on the garden (a small portion) from the front porch…

I left Jeff & Mom out on the porch putting together a little table & chair set Jeff & I picked up at Fleet Farm, now I need to go get our early afternoon Supper ready since Jeff's band is playing the pre-fireworks show today in White Bear Lake… until next time!!

Here Comes Trouble...

My Mom is here for a visit, and Mom is a character (with a capital C), so we've been having a wonderful time!!

Mom arrived on Tuesday, and we got her settled… Tuesday evening Jeff had band practice so Mom and I went for a walk…

We walked around Como Lake, Como Park St Paul.

Wednesday morning caught Mom chilling out in the Library, reading a book and watching the bird feeders… Wednesday was "errand" day, we ran lots of errands, got caught out in the rain without an umbrella, and laughed a lot… :)

Thursday was a "stay at home" day, we watched an old movie (The Music Man) while I did a bit of work in the studio… it was fun to sing & watch Mom dance to the silly songs in the movie…

Thursday night was "Date Night" and we forced Mom to join us (she was trying to stay home), we went out for a nice dinner at a good Italian restaurant in the area.

"Fashion Friday", we're all dressed up and ready to go… Strawberry Picking!!

Don't those look Yummy?  The 2 boxes in the foreground (cut off) are ours...

It was a cool day in the Strawberry fields, just perfect for crawling around on our hands & knees and digging through Strawberry plants… and of course we ate our share while picking (had to do some QA on the product)...

The picking was the easy part… then we went home and made: Strawberry Freezer Jam, Strawberry Yogurt Cake, Strawberry Sorbet, and the rest we cleaned & cut up with a bit of sugar for Shortcake.

At some point (Thursday or Friday??) I had noticed I had some Garlic in my garlic holder that had started to sprout… so I decided to plant it… It's already growing like gangbusters!!

Saturday we met the kids (Tim & Marta) for a very late breakfast… umm… it ended up being a kinda late lunch (Jeff & I had a morning meeting that went late)… then we drove through Minneapolis to pick up some Lamb Sausages from a local deli we like… then we had the kids over for dinner - Lamb Sausages & Burgers with Salad (had some of Mom's avocados in the salad)… Yum!!  Then we had the Strawberry Shortcake for dessert….

Today we went to church, then some more errands, then we went over to the kid's house (Tim & Marta's) for dinner - they barbecued us up an absolutely wonderful meal!!  All on the barbecue they did:  Chicken skewers, Veggies skewers (onion, bell, tomato), Chicken Livers, Artichokes, Grilled Bread, Grilled Peaches, and Grilled Pineapple.  Amazing what Marta can do with a little Weber grill & some charcoal!!

Let's see… what's been happening…???

When last I wrote I had been working on my last Bible lesson for the Young Adult group I work with… later that evening it was Date Night!!  So what did we do?

We tried to go to Chipotle for dinner, but the line was long & we had something else we wanted to get to… so we tried out a local Sub-Sandwich shop, not impressed, oh well - at least we tried it…

So to make up for a so-so dinner I had dessert at the theater as we waited to see….

Star Trek in 3D…. if you're a Treky (I am, I'm an old geek) you should see it… very enjoyable, and the 3D made it fun.  If you go in for the 3D stay for the credits at the end… worth it… Oh, and the ice cream was good too - not the best in the area, but quite good.

The next morning, Friday, we saw this little beauty outside…

He's a Goldfinch, native to this area, very brightly colored at this time of year… we've had a lot of them around.  They have a wonderful song… such sweet little birds!!  A friend told me recently that a flock of Finch are called a "charm" - how fitting!!

Friday night we went with our group from church to volunteer at FMSC (Feed My Starving Children), then afterward fed ourselves at Key's Cafe - a local family owned cafe (there are a few in the area) that serves good American food.

Saturday got frittered away running errands & baking cookies…

These were some cinnamon cookies made using a basic 1-2-3 cookie recipe found in the book Ratio by Michael Ruhlman and then adding my own twist.  I made 4 different varieties on Saturday in preparation for…

Sunday!  We had our last Young Adult class of the year, and of course I brought some of my cookies.  Then the rain came, in buckets, and then in more buckets… and Brooks Pond returned…

That didn't deter our group from church… we met anyway for our Small Group get together, this time at our house… that's who the rest of the cookies were for!!

The rains were hard, but the garden still grows…

These are some of my Daffodils…

Monday - I spent some time in the Studio, it had been weeks - EEK!!  I decided to start small & simple, and made up a batch of earrings…

Today (Tuesday) was my car's annual maintenance… so I spent most of the day hanging out at the car dealer - lots to be done.  While there I worked on some materials for a Ladies Night that will be held by our mission team when we go to Ukraine, so the time was put to good use…

After the car dealer I ran more errands, and picked up my first new plants for the year - some bulbs I hope to plant later this week in some bare spots in the yard.

Tonight it's quiet, Jeff is off at band rehearsal… so I think I'll snuggle with the kitty for a while…  Many blessings friends & family!!

Family…

We've had relatives in town, Jeff's Dad & Stepmom (Ken & Susan), and we've been busy doing stuff & getting caught up… quite a bit has happened since my last post…

While Ken & Susan were here Jeff & I had our choir concert… it was actually a choir festival - 5 local choirs joined together with a small orchestra at a large church in the area.

I took pictures from the Soprano section (one side of the front balcony) - this picture is looking across the Alto/Tenor sections to the Bass section (Jeff's over there) on the other side of the front balcony.

The Orchestra was front & center...

Looking out at the audience...

It was a great time, and the crowd seemed to love it!!  We did 5 pieces as a "Mass Choir" - all the choirs together.  Each choir also did 3 pieces each, and quite a wide variety of music was performed.

A couple days later we were able to get together for dinner with Tim & Marta (my son & his wife) - it was good for them to get a chance to spend time with Ken & Susan.  The following pictures were taken at dinner...

Ken talking with his hands...

Susan modeling some of my jewelry...

Tim & Marta… Such a sweet pair!!  Love Those Kids!!!!!

Today was quiet… and gave me the chance to rest & enjoy a quiet Mother's Day. Tim is out of town with Marta's family, though I did get a call from him before he left town… I'll get to see him again soon, Marta doesn't get to see her parents as often (they live further away)….

Jeff & I had planned to go for a picnic & walk in Como Park, but it was too cold for a picnic… Jeff had gotten some nice deli meats/cheese and we'd picked up some bread (I didn't even make the bread this time), so we had some nice sandwiches at home… We decided to go for the walk anyway, and it was cold & windy - the only things that saved the walk (for me) were seeing some adorable little birds (too quick to get a picture) that I still need to identify and seeing a family of turtles sunning on a fallen tree…

How many do you see… there are at least 13 in this photo…

A closer look at some of them…

A really close look at one clump - there are at least 2 juveniles & 7 adults in this clump alone, but the juveniles can't be seen at this angle…

After freezing at the lake we came back home… and I've been drinking coffee & going through some old music - trying to find a song to go with some curriculum Jeff & I are working on… no luck yet… but listening to some great music anyway :)

Later Jeff's going to fire up the grill & cook dinner… yep, I'm taking it easy…

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there… hope your day is Blessed!!