Thursday, January 2, 2014

A few highlights...

At the end of August we were in Canada for a family reunion. Alfie took a day on his own to go climb a mountain.

We went out hiking together, too, and added an Inuksuk to a rocky shoreline. (Yes, Kristin, those are your pants.)

September found us camping in Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota. This was the view from our campsite right by a lake.

The wind on Lake Superior was very strong, creating great waves and causing the gulls to fly without getting anywhere. This is the same spot where we played in the rocks with the kids when Alfie's family came to visit in 2012. It was very different with the wind and waves!

I wanted to see waterfalls on this trip, so I found us some new ones to hike to before we headed north. Special thanks to bloggers who write about "waterfalls of the North Shore." You people are great.

A State Park waterfall

Chicago for Thanksgiving! My cousins have been asking us to come for years now, and this was the year it finally happened. A bunch of us went up to the John Hancock Observatory the day after Thanksgiving - only 39 seconds to the 94th floor. That is where Alfie had his picture taken with the penguins and we saw beautiful views of Chicago and Lake Michigan.

We've wanted to see The Bean in Chicago since it was created. It is even more beautiful than we expected!

My Uncle Frank took our picture outside the John Hancock Observatory.

In addition to our planned Christmas company we had some extra special visitors. Two pairs of cardinals had lunch together in the bush in front of our kitchen window on Christmas Day.

My aunts gave us a moose welcome sign for Christmas! It says "Welcome to Alfie and Maria's" on the sign he's holding. And there's our tree with an owl on top :-)

Snow Nessie

There was a really nice day the weekend after Christmas, so we got outside and built a Snow Nessie in our front yard. The neighborhood is enjoying it.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

"These Are Written"



Just sharing a song we are enjoying right now... "These Are Written" by The Lockwoods

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Spring! (now that it's June)

We have had a late spring this year, but now that it's June the lilacs are blooming and the hostas are filling in. Our hand-me-down strawberry patch is looking great already its first year at our house. I'm getting excited about having some kids over to pick berries... Picking season is coming! Hooray!

Look at all those future berries! Mmm...

Alfie's mom gave me this basket on one of her visits. I think this year's arrangement is my favorite of what I've done with it so far. Violas and petunias... lots of purple.

This Jack-in-the-pulpit was given to us by one of Alfie's customers. It has an inflorescence this year! Honestly I had forgotten about it until I went outside one morning and saw this. That was a fun surprise!

Last spring we brought home a clump of lilac from my aunt in Wisconsin. This year it's blooming!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Life, dancing, and the passage of time

Yes, it has been over half a year since my last blog post. Why is that? Life. Priorities. Pushing aside some things to make room for other things. It probably won't change much going forward, but you never know. Maybe I'll be inspired and have a flurry of blogs again at some point. I do expect to be here to share pictures after our trip to Canada for the big family reunion this summer.

These past few months have been interesting. Summer 2012 brought a free Zumba class to my church, which (to make a long story shorter) led to me becoming a licensed Zumba instructor in October so that we could continue having this class for the women. Picture me leading a Latin-dance exercise class. Oh yes, it's true. We have a lot of fun and it has proven to be a good avenue of women's fellowship in the church. People are connecting, and that is really the point. Although I have also lost 12 pounds so far this year. That is a very important sub-point. Our bathroom scale quit working years ago, so in January when the scales went on sale I got us one. How depressing that was... But seeing a scary number was the push I needed to count calories and get even more significant exercise. Two or three times a week doesn't cut it when you have a desk job.

"We're not 19 anymore," my friend says. What a difference a decade makes.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Red

One of this year's newest additions to the garden is a collection of canna lilies from my aunt. We made a circle plot for them in the front yard in the spring, and we have some nice blooms right now (pictures below). We also just planted a strawberry patch that was "free to a good home." Yes, an entire patch. (Really, enough for a few patches...) It's always fun getting plants from people you know!



Saturday, July 28, 2012

of berries and family


Part of a great raspberry crop. Our plants are growing up!

We found time to go strawberry picking this year after missing out last year... Alfie washes, I slice and pack.
Our special visitors this summer! Dottie decided after a few days (and much effort of the part of the kids) that she didn't have to be afraid. She made friends with Liberty while she was having some crackers.


"Bob and Larry" -by Renee and Maria on the shore of Lake Superior

We all drove to Duluth one day to meet up with Joel and Renee and their kids.

Canal Park after watching a ship go under the lift bridge.