Jackets

Never before in my life have I worn jeans and a jacket in August, but this year marked a first. Anna and I have been enjoying nice, warm late summer weather here in Minnesota, and I am nearly re-acclimated to living in the city after a year in Dundee, but I was not prepared at all for the cool weather that finished August! We had planned to have a nice picnic in Hudson, Wisconsin on Saturday to celebrate the fact that we are near Wisconsin again (any reason for a party, right?) so we packed up a lunch of sandwiches and fruit and snacks and headed east on I-94. It was a good thing we had listened to the weather forecast and prepared for the chilly weather that was predicted because the north wind coming down the Saint Croix River was just cold! At first I thought I could get away with just a long-sleeved shirt, but after a few minutes I gave up and put on a sweatshirt. Anna was smart and had brought a jacket. Even so, our picnic was shortened and we opted to go into downtown and explore the antique store. After perusing that shop our appetites were whetted for more antique shopping so we headed for Stillwater, back across the river in Minnesota. The weather wasn't any better there, but there were a lot more antique stores, so we had fun poking around them and looking at this and that. We were good little thrifty people, though, and did not give into temptation for anything. By evening, however, the weather had turned downright chilly and jackets were definitely in order. It already feels like autumn around here and we hardly had any summer! As I have been going to work this week the pattern has been that I need my jacket for the walk to work since the temperature is in the 50's at 6:15am, and by the end of my shift at 2:30pm it is warm enough that I have to remind myself to take my jacket home with me so I will have it for in the morning the next day. According to the weather forecasters around here the whole next week will be full of morning lows in the 50's and afternoon highs in the mid-70's. How did it become autumn already? Where did the summer go? I can hardly believe college football season is already here! You know what that means, don't you? Another Minnesota winter is getting closer!! Run away!! Or, at least know where your woolies are! Blogged by Don

The tale of the missing phone

Okay, now I feel dumb. Don went to make a phone call from the hand set today and could not find the phone. I could hear the agitation in his voice, so I started looking and I could not find it, so I am scratching my head. Where could the phone be? Did I pack it? Oh no, if I packed it, I knew it would never be found as we have many boxes already packed and stacked on top of each other. So then I thought out loud, why not call the phone. So that is what we did and we heard the phone ring and scratched our heads, from what room are we hearing it as it sounded muffled. Then began the search of rooms, the continual calling of the number and erasing of many messages that did not get made but filled up our phone. Finally I unplugged one phone that we have that is not electric but battery run, and we could hear the phone. Where in the world was the ring coming from? Again a search and finally the sound of the battery coming to the end of its life began to beep out among the many boxes. We searched those boxes not closed, and scratched our heads, where is it? Finally I looked at a lawn chair that we had been using in the office, it is one of those 2 seaters that when you sit down you don't want to get up. Well I had folded it up in the office and taken it out to the living room. The beep got louder as we started to open up the chair, and there in the middle of it was our phone, beeping at us loudly and getting softer as the battery's life was ending, and that is the end of the missing phone saga, except that we gingerly and lovingly put the phone on the crook so once again the battery would have life and we would have a phone.
Blogged by Anna

Victory (for us) and a country tradition

I count it as a victory that Anna and I have been able to harvest and eat some of each of the things we planted. We have enjoyed fresh spinach, beets, peas, beans, asparagus, rhubarb and lately sweet corn and tomatoes. Since we are first time gardeners this has been a valuable learning experience for us. In general we need to leave more room for growth for all of our plants next time. There isn't a part of the garden that doesn't look crowded, but chalk that up to our novice status. Next time we plant a garden look out! It will be even more productive.

What I also learned, in growing this garden, is that it is a country tradition to share what you grow. Other people have brought us their fresh vegetables as well, so we have enjoyed fresh broccoli, cucumbers and potatoes from our neighbors. They have also brought us sweet corn, which is good because ours didn't turn out so well, and beans. We have a plethora of beans now because I only planted two rows of beans, but apparently this was a good year for string beans because we have eaten so many that when I picked some this afternoon Anna's reaction was, "Gee, I wonder if our neighbor Kathy could use some beans." This exchange netted some more potatoes, which is good because we were out of those having served the last of them last Saturday for a meal shared with some other friends. You see how this works now, don't you? I give you what I have plenty of and you take it whether you need it or not. You pass along some of your extra stuff, either giving it to me or taking your extra, or even what I just gave you and you don't really want but took anyway to be polite, to someone else, and if they are a gardener, the process repeats until someone gets stuff who either isn't a gardener or whose stuff isn't ready yet. It's the country way; share your extra because you can't use it and perhaps someone else can. It is a nice way to stimulate the small-town economy. Blogged by Don

National Youth Gathering in New Orleans

It is a good thing we took a bus because it rained all the way from Minnesota to Mississippi, finally stopping by the time we got to Louisiana. It was a deluge through most of the lower Southern States. Once we got to Louisiana though, the weather was perfect, albeit a little on the warm side.



Here we are, riding the bus on our way to Louisiana. We got to the hotel and they were not ready for our group, so they took us to this big huge room and had us wait there.

On our first day, they took our group plus a few other hundred kids, into a room and talked to us about the week to come.

This is our group, Jared, Haley, Tessa, Emily, Sabrina, Jen, Abby, Missy, Cody and Rochelle.

One day was spent in the interaction center. They were many neat things going on, too many to mention here. There were art projects, justice exhibits to make one think about other people's circumstances like the lack of water, trafficking of people, poverty, etc. There was so much to learn.

One day Missy, Rochelle, and Cody went on a tour of the French Quarter. Missy's husband's cousin joined us for part of it and gave us a tour. We also got to taste the famous beingets (spelling?). They are wonderful pastries, actually fried dough, smothered in powdered sugar.

We wore orange shirts for our service day. We spent our time in Mandeville, 22 miles outside of New Orleans. We did yard work and helped paint a community center. What mattered a great deal was our presence in the community. Many times while we were working, people slowed down and waved and thanked us as they drove by. It was very humbling. This is our group all dressed in orange.



This is one of our "evening gatherings." We saw many signs by youth advertising free hugs, so Jared decided to make up a sign of his own, he met with success, although mostly from guys.


Donald, Rochelle, Abby and Jen and I spent a few hours in the French Quarter while the others went to the aquarium. We got Rochelle to sit for a sketch. It was a lot of fun. Abby and Jen wanted to shop, so we let them go and do that while we looked at the art. We found ourselves in a restaurant called the "Rivers Edge."

Our last day there, we were exhausted from the heat and no sleep. Our day culminated in one last Sunday service with Bishop Hanson giving the sermon. There was a lot of great music performed; one group the kids loved was called "Skillet." Another person was Agape, a hip-hop Christian artist from Minneapolis. The Flying Karamazov Brothers also performed, they performed a skit called "Juggling Jazz." Don and I had a chance to hear Lost & Found and we thoroughly enjoyed their music and their humorous presentation.

It was a great week but it was so good to get home and sleep in our own bed again.
Blogged by Anna with the help of Don

Progress

For the first time in our married life Anna and I are growing a garden. She has posted a little bit about it already, but I thought I would take a few minutes to update you on it's progress. I think, for novice gardeners, we're doing pretty well. Take a look;
We have blossoms and even a few small, green tomatoes on our tomato plants.

Our peas are coming in, and our beans are in bloom.

Our beets are recovering from having their greens devoured by rabbits, and our spinach is coming back full-force after its first harvest.

Our sunflowers are starting to bud and even our corn is starting to get tassel-tops on the stalks. If you look closely, you can see where the ears will grow on the side of the stalk.

As far as the flowers go, there is also good progress to report.

The nasturtiums are blooming finally, and the hollyhock is blooming as well. We get to enjoy it, even though it was planted by previous tenants. It is a nice perennial that is very colorful.

And the annuals that Anna planted are in full bloom, with vibrant colors.

The cats sure are enjoying the garden, and who cares about harvest? There is plenty to explore right now.


Even though Minnesota has a fairly short growing season, people around here take full advantage of what there is. We are learning that since the summer comes on so quickly, it doesn't take long for gardens to grow. What looked rather pathetic on the first of May has quickly become quite a hardy little garden! We have learned a lot from this garden experience, too. For instance, some of our plants are too close together. We need to give our tomatoes more room next time, and we need more space between things like corn and peas. Still, I think its the fun that counts, and we are having fun. I really hope we get to eat some of each crop before we leave this place on August 17th. In the meantime, I know the cats will enjoy the garden either way. I'm sure either Anna or I will keep you posted. Blogged by Don

Steaming hot

Well it suddenly turned hot and I mean steaming hot, literally. We have had a week of thunderstorms and tornado watches (luckily no tornadoes came our way). It is 90 degrees right now and it is only expected to get down to the 70s, am I complaining, not!

This week has been busy what with catching up on household chores and outdoor chores. With this heat our little garden is finally starting to come alive and we have been harvesting spinach the last week.

Don has just harvested spinach for a fresh salad tonight for dinner!

Our tomato plants, I did not think they would make it but they did, and right now they are beginning to yield quite a few flowers.

This is my flower garden, it is kind of hard to see in the shade but have a scattered garden growing there. I planted all kinds of colorful flowers and they are finally starting to spread.

This last weekend we went and saw the Fulda parade. It was a really nice parade, only an hour long, and the Fulda band was outstanding. Apparently they are marching in Washington D.C. later this summer with a side trip to New York City. They are going to have so much fun. It was especially great to see them as 3 of the kids are in our parish. They are called the Fulda Raiders.

By the way, Anna and I are farming, yes, farming. It is such a silly game but one in which I am really enjoying. Someday I hope to have a house like Anna's, am working towards it, and then I cannot wait to get a barn to put my animals in. Anna has given me many hints as she has become quite the expert, thanks Anna!

Blogged by Anna

Hi Western Washington!

We arrived home from our trip to Washington State safe and sound. It was a wonderful trip beginning with getting to Jon and Karen's to stay the weekend on Thursday evening, to Friday when Don and Jon went to Ellensburg to help Lauren move some things back to Federal Way while I went to visit my girlfriend, Phyllis. I had a wonderful visit with her and Roger that day. Friday evening Don and I went up to University of Washington area and finally got to see Andrew's house; Daniel and Andrew were playing a Karaoke game of some kind (sorry I am not technical at all and really out of touch of all these things). After they finished we took them to dinner to Outback as they have a gluten free menu.

Saturday was the big day for Andrew's graduation. Don and I got up early and had breakfast, then spent 30 minutes with Phyllis and Roger as Don did not get to see them the day before, and off we went to make our way to the parking garage and the stadium. It was a beautiful day on the campus with much excitement in the air.



We managed to see Andrew as he marched by to get his seat for the ceremony. All the professors came marching down the middle of the chairs in the field, it was impressive. Robert Gates was the speaker for the ceremony, and finally what all those students were waiting for to happened finally came true.
Andrew is somewhere in this midst of all these students. After it was all done, we went up to the Rose Garden and waited for them so that we could take some pictures.


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We are so very proud of Andrew and he has much to be proud of. Andrew graduated top in his class and is headed this fall down to the University in Santa Cruz, California, to get his doctorate, another 5 years of school for him!

We got back to Jon and Karen's house around 7:00 and they had dinner ready. It was good to sit back and just visit with them. We watched a movie about a young woman moving from Florida to Minnesota after Halloween, and the adventures that she went through, especially the cold.

On Sunday, our last full day in Seattle, we spent most of it with our church family in Bremerton. It was so good to see everyone, we were so welcomed. I am so grateful for these people and their support throughout Don's career as a student. It is such a humbling experience. It was good being back there as it felt familiar and felt like we were back home if only for a few hours.


The rest of Sunday was spent visiting with Don's youngest brother, Tom and his family.

Monday morning we were out the door before 5 a.m. to catch our plane. It was wonderful weekend, one we will cherish in our hearts. Thanks to all in Seattle who made our trip as special can be. See you soon!

Blogged by Anna