A Joyous Reunion!!

The group that went together to Ukraine got a chance to reunite… what a wonderful time to share & enjoy fellowship!!

I Love This Wonderful Group!!

Celebrating my Sweetheart's Birthday!!

Wow!!  A lot happening in the last week that I need to get everyone caught up on… mostly surrounding hubby's birthday (last Thursday)…

Jeff's brother surprised him with tickets to a Twins game, very nice seats in the Legends Club area.

As you can see we had a great view...

Yep, that's my happy hubby!!

When we got home there was a little cake (my S'mores Cake for 2) waiting for him… but he'd eaten too much "fun stuff" at the game, so we sang "Happy Birthday" & saved the cake for another night :)

The next night (Friday)… Jeff likes his birthday present…

Yep, he put it to use on his cake...

He toasted up his marshmallows, after all it can't be s'mores without toasting the marshmallows...

We dug in… YUM!!

The day after that (Saturday)… we were off to a local park for the Arden Hills Fall Festival.  The band Jeff plays in had a concert there that evening… the band set up in a parking lot…

More pictures from that day...

Various booths...

Some food vendors...

All by the side of a pretty lake...

We ran into pastor John, he lives right in the area… his daughter is the one in the doorway of the Fire Truck.

Horse cart rides...

Little petting zoo was set up...

This sweet dog was on hand for the concert...

Merle directs the band, the band played until the fireworks started just after dark.

The next day (Sunday) we met my son Tim & daughter-in-law Marta for a multiple birthday celebration at Benihana's.  Belated birthdays for Marta & Jeff, early for me.

Never can get Jeff to keep a straight face, Marta took this picture for me… now I know why she was laughing… (sigh)...

Our cook impressed us with his knife skills...

Lots of tasty tidbits...

I tried the Mango Shrimp...

The final birthday gift for hubby was a dinner at Manny's Steakhouse in Minneapolis on Monday… lets just say this isn't a Weight Watchers friendly venue…   Jeff is showing off his Bacon Appetizer…

He also enjoyed a baked potato, a beautiful bone-in rib-eye steak, a couple beers, and some bread pudding… he's a very happy hubby!!

Now we're gearing up for my birthday next week… and its a big one!!

Fall & A Friend...

Even though it's not official, it's Fall here in Minnesota…

This is a tree down the street from where I live, I took this picture about a week ago… the temps have been (mostly) in the 70s for highs, and cooling well overnight (but not freezing yet).  It's also been an unusually dry year, so leaves are falling a bit early… hopefully we get some nice color anyway…

I had posted previously about a Chickadee… I moved the fountain so I could see it better through my French Doors, the following photos & video captured another little Chickadee…

Checking things out...

Taking the Plunge…

Ignore the audio on this little clip, its from something Jeff was watching on TV (My Cat From Hell) & is an amusing misfit for the video which was taken through my French Doors...

Isn't this cute??

I had seen a Chickadee perched on one of the couches on my deck, and had suspected he was going to try to get a drink out of my fountain…  so I got sneaky & grabbed my camera…  I carefully hid and peeked out the window… and at first he was taking a drink, then suddenly…

He jumped right into the little "pitcher" that pours water into my fountain...

Here's a zoomed in shot… what surprised me was that he was just content to "soak", he wasn't splashing around at all… It was just so cute watching him soak in my fountain, but it wasn't to last, he was gone again in about a minute!  I didn't know I was providing a soaking tub for the local birds…

Summer coming to an end...

As I look out at the woods behind my house & see leaves starting to change colors & fall to the ground I realize Summer is coming to an end.  The change of seasons isn't bad, each season has its own beauty & blessings, it's just a change… and I look forward to each change, since each brings new activities, new foods, new sights… and of course new challenges.

As the challenges in my gardens come to a close, the challenges in homework start up… This Fall I will be doing double-duty again in teaching, I will continue to teach the Young Adults fellowship & will assist with a Women's Fall class as well… Kitty likes this… she goes from watching me through the windows (as I putter in the garden) to being by my side in the Office as I work on my homework…

Oreo likes the Office Chair… the one that normally sits at the computer… but I gladly sacrifice it to her for the company - it can get very quiet when I'm here alone studying…  I loved the way she was curled up in this photo, with a paw reached out toward me… It's not unusual for her to reach out & touch me gently with a paw to remind me that she's there...

She was sleeping so soundly… she's getting older, she's 12 now, and she sleeps more than she used to… but she's still a very healthy cat (according to her Vet she's quite young for her age)… she's always been sweet & docile, and that's not changed… She's got the softest fur I've ever felt on a cat, she's wonderful to snuggle with!!

(Can you tell I like my cat??)

Ok, where was I?  That's right, Summer coming to an end…. so as its ending of course we're trying to get to all those Summer activities we hadn't gotten to yet, or hadn't gotten enough of yet…

We went to yet another outdoor concert, these are coming to an end… this time we saw Classic Brass Inc.  This group has as one of its members the conductor of the band Jeff is in… Jeff was excited to see his conductor play Trombone (Jeff's main instrument).

Picture as we drove to the Apple Orchard...

We also went for an early visit to an Apple Orchard (a typical Fall activity), no Sweet Tangos yet (perhaps next week)… but we picked up some tasty cooking apples…  Right after we decided to go over to Stillwater, its a town along the St Croix that's very picturesque (but I didn't take pictures this time)… we mostly wandered down the main street & in and out of Antique shops…

To end our Summer with a bang we went to ValleyFair, a local amusement park (no pics here either)… we had a ton of fun riding roller coasters (they have several) & other adrenalin pumping rides… I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this sort of thing…

Today is Labor Day, and today we're simply hanging out around the house… we're going to rest a bit before Jeff goes back to work…

Goodbye Summer!!  See you next year!!