Grandparents on the Go!

visit to Wis.

2009-06-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

We had a week-end visit in Beaver Dam and had fun seeing not only Mary and Phil and Carmen, but Kirstin, Damian, Emma and Tanner as well. Drove through some rain for a short whi;e on the trip down but in general the weather was great. Their gardens are ahead of ours by at least two or three weeks so that was fun to see too. We had a delicious dinner at a fun restaurant one night and great meals at their house as well. The kids have grown a lot since last fall and we look forward to seeing them as well as Josh's and Judah's families later this summer.
We had an evening visit with Anna and her friend Joe on the way down and tht was a treat as well. We are tired after the trip but it was well worth it.

June

2009-06-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

It is a bit more like summer though not very warm, but 60's in the daytime. Had an interesting evening. Our retiring minister has written poetry over the years and tonight he did an evening of reading along with some favorite hymns of his sung by a choir member and played by a flutist and some sung by us all. A lot of people came and it was really delightful. He has real talent and this is a part of he life that has not been widely known or shared.
Wag and I have both been having some medical and physical therapy projects but all seems to be going well. Wag is getting a month's worth of sessions with a therapist which is helping his back that has bothered him a bit more of late. I am just doing the exercises prescribed by my last sessions with a therapist and it has been helping me move better. A recent semi-annual physical I had showed everything going well especially for someone my age. Wag is working with some help to get his gardens going. Cheers to all.

spring!

2009-05-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

I have neglected this site since the kids got me on facebook. Sorry about that. I hope some of you are still checking on us. We have,of course, been complaining as our weather just couldn't seem to become consistantly spring like and trees were still bare and lawns not green In the last week things have really changed. We had a much needed rain and the grass turned green seemingly over night and now the little sprigs on the tree branches have become leaves and the lake is reflecting the blue sky and green trees. Just as we love it.
We have been out and about at our usual activities. Wag has had a kid helping him some and the gardens got the straw raked off and some things planted. We both had routine semi-annual check-ups with our doctors and got sort of the usual "You seem to be doing pretty well considering your age". Wag's back has been bothering him and he is trying a couple of new treatments for that. My legs still don't want to work very hard or long but I am trying to do more prescribed exercise which does seem to help. We hope to take a trip to see the Wisconsin family in the next couple of weeks and we are looking forward to seeing them and also the west coast grandsons and families during the summer. Keep in touch and I will try to do better at keeping this up to date

Easter

2009-04-13T09:19:00.001-07:00

We had a great Easter service and I got to direct the big finale which was the Handel Halleluljah Chorus. I love doing it and we really need Linda singing with the sopranos. Our minister announced that I was going to be directing that and commented on the remarkable fact that this church has had two directors in over 40 years. I did it for 21 starting in 1966 and now Linda is at 22. It is special for me for another reason because Linda was a little girl in a children's choir I directed in the Rochester Methodist church in the 1950's. I was so glad that she moved here just at the right time to take over my beloved choir.
We are finally getting some warmer weather and it feels as if spring is really coming.

still winter

2009-04-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

I had hoped that by now I could send you pictures of green grass and leaf buds on the trees but we still have about 6 or 8 inches of snow on the ground and those big piles along the edge of the roadways that represent the plowing of several recent storms. It has turned to rain and is warmer in southern Mn but we are still waiting for temps to rise above the 30's. Bummer. At least we are having some sunny days now and we hope that will begin to melt the white stuff. It is beautiful but by April we are sick of it!
We have both made progress with our eye treatments and Wag got new glasses yesterday and mine should be ready the first of the week. We are looking forward to Palm Sunday and Easter which always include special services and choir music that is really a delight. Happy Easter to all! Love from the snowy north

endless winter

2009-03-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

We just can't seem to get done with winter cold this year. We had a stormy, snowy day Monday afternoon and yesterday and today the sun has come out but it is still windy and our high will be 2 above. Hard to believe that spring supposed;y arrives in 11 days. We hope! We have kept warm and been able to go to church, a Bemidji Symphony concert, doctor appts.etc. but we are not driving at night and trying to be smart about going only when it makes sense. It is supposed to warm up by the week-end. Of course, northern MN idea of warming up is getting into the 30's. We have had a lot of sunny days and the sun on the snow is beautiful to look at from inside. I had a picture I wanted to add to this but it doesn't want to work so I will save that for another time. I hope you are well and warm wherever you are.

Birds love us

2009-02-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

There is a large batch of our friends both people and birds who are glad we stayed here this winter

eye surgery

2009-02-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

Wag ahd eye surgery last Wednesday. In addition to remobing a cataract they also did some repair on his glaucoma in that eye. It had become difficlt to treat it with the cataract in the way ahd the pressure had risen too high. He hasd been back to the doctorfor routine check-ups yesterday and today and things seemn to have gone very well. He can see iumprovement in his sight even though he still wears dark glasses and todays sunshine realkly makes him squint.
We had a nice light dusting of snow overnight that could be swept off the car witha broom but covered the dirty snow piles all over the area and made it white and shiny. Now we hope that Feb. and March will bring warmer temps.

Addition

2009-01-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I pushed the rong button and posted the picture before I typed the message to go with it. I guess it is sort of self explanatory. We had one very cold spell that lasted almost a week then it warmed up to 20 which seemed mild to us but now we will be subzero for several days but not as long and are due back in the 20's by Wed.
We are following the advice of the woman who when asked how she survived the cold winter, she said, "We go inside". We do manage to get out to get groceries, etc. and go to church in a warm car but we are spending a lot of time in our nice warm house. Many of these cold days have been bright and sunny so that helps. Keep warm wherever you are.!

2009-01-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

anniversary

2009-01-03T09:07:00.001-08:00

Our daughter Mary, husband Phil and our granddaughter, Carmen helped us celebrate our 63rd anniversary on Dec. 27th. Thay came the day after Christmas and we had a good visit including this dinner at our favorite restarant an Italian one called Tutto Bene and it is true as the name implies, Everything is good. We had our friends and neighbors, Bea and Ray Knodel with us for New Year's Eve. This is a tradition that has gone on for more than35 years. Our daughter-in-law, Margy got home from her holiday travels and we are looking forward to seeing lots of pictures of her visits with both grandsons and their families in San Francisco and Portland and New Years with Anna and Bryan in St. Paul. We hope everyone had a great holiday season and we have hopes that 2009 will be a really good year.

Kitty in our lives

2008-12-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

Our cat, Missy, likes to sit with Wag and watch TV. We are so happy we got her and she was glad to come after months in a cage at the Humane Society. It looks as if we are going to be staying here this winter while Wag gets several physical issues taken care of including low hemoglobin and back pain. We hope for a mild winter but will deal with whatever comes. We'll just keep hugging the cat.

Andre & Me

2008-11-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

We had the wonderful experience of having the internationally known pianist Andre Watts as soloist with our Bemidji Symphony Orchestra on Sunday. We had a great time of visiting with him at a party the night before and attending a dinner for him after the concert where this picture was taken. We had heard him as a 16 yr. prodigy playing with the Minnesota Orchestra(then called the Minneapolis Symphony) 45 years ago and have followed and admired his career as he became the rare case of a prodigy who lived up to expectations over the years. I must admit I felt a little like an 85 yr. old teeny bopper meeting a favorite rock star. He was so down to earth and easy to talk to that it was a great time for all of us there.

Halloween kids

2008-11-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

Here are our 6 great grandchildren in their Halloween finery. I wish they could have come to our door. On our short country road we had no candy seekers at all.

We are planning to go to Beaver Dam next week-end to help Mary celebrate her birthday(How can she be 57?) and see the rest of the family including Emma and Tanner. Depending on how that trip goes we may start getting ready to head south after Thanksgiving.

We did have some snow here this past week-end and our driveway is very slippery which kind of pushes us in the direction of going to Texas. We shall see.

We kids

2008-11-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

I did a column recently about the days when our family back yard was the playground of our neighborhood summers. It featured this photo of Wag and me on the porch of the playhouse my grandmother gave me. I think we were about 6 years old at this time. The playhouse was very fancy and expensive for those days but we spent less time playing house than we did climbing on the roof and using a maple tree branch to grab and swing off onto the ground below.

Summer has ended here and the coming of fall has us making some decisions about going to Texas this year. We will keep you posted on our final decision and schedule.

Fall is here

2008-09-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

The big birch tree that looms over our house shows what is happening as fall starts and the leaves begin to turn. So far it has been amazingly warm and mostly sunny and is predicted to continue to be that way for at least the rest of this week, but I am sure there is a change coming soon. However, it is lovely to watch the colors as the trees turn. We are keeping busy with our usual actiities and exercise program. I had a routine physical today and all my blood tests and other check-ups were very good so my doctor was pleased and so am I. Happy fall days to you all. Love, Alice and Wag

birthday bash

2008-09-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my 85th at church with beautiful flowers on the altar and I was thrilled to have daughter Mary and her husband Phil here from Wisconsin, and granddaughter Anna from St, Paul there to be part of the festivities. It was Rally Day which is the first Sunday of fall Church School and there was a lunch after church for which I had ordered a huge sheet cake that was decorated and said Happy 85th Birthday, Alice. I also directed the choir in the service because Linda had to be out of town so it was a busy day. I had Happy Birthday sung to me three times, once by the choir before church, once during the service and again at the dinner in Fellowship Hall. How cool is that! I think I have been properly launched into my 86h year. I hope everyone had a lovely week-end. Mine was certainly very special.

collins kids

2008-08-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a visit from grandson Josh and his family from Portland, Oregon. He took this picture of us with his three kids. l.to r. Liam, Miles and Stella. They had grown and changed a lot since we saw them last summer. They are all great talkers. Are you surprised? We hope that phone calls and letters will keep us in their lives. We gave them books as gifts to take home after raiding our local book store.

I am walking better now and doing more physical therapy to get rid of the effect of that crash caused by the running kid. I announced the last of the summer band concerts Sunday and also conducted Sousa's El Capitan which was great fun for me. Enjoy August. Love, Alice and Wag

flowers

2008-08-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

Wag's garden has some really beautiful flowers blooming. We have had a few nice rains recently which have really helped.
We are both working on various exercises at physical therapy and at home. My painful leg injury is finally improved and I spent some time at the Bemidji Pioneer booth at the county fair. They like their columnists to appear for people to see. I directed our choir at church a week ago and this Sunday I will announce the last of the summer band concerts and also direct a march, Sousa's El Capitan. The weather has been quite lovely for our family's visits. They are gone now but it was great to see them. Enjoy the flowers wherever you are. Love, Alice & Wag

Family Visit

2008-07-22T14:20:00.001-07:00

Our great grandchildren from Wisconsin are here with their Mom,Kirstin and our daughter Mary and her husband plus Carmen our younger granddaughter. I am still recovering from being knocked flat by a running 6 year old which happened, of all places. at the Peak Performance place where I go for physical therapy. After two weeks it is finally improving but has shown a ghastly bruise and been really painful.

The kids have had good weather for the water front and have enjoyed the beach. They also visited our Animal Park which was fun too.

Kirstin and Tanner have to go back tomorrow but Mary and Phil and Carmen and Emma will stay until Sat. Josh and family are coming to town tomorrow so Emma and Stella will have a chance to see each other. They had great fun at the wedding last summer and are anxious to see each other again. We hope you are all having a good summer.

Gardens

2008-07-01T14:09:00.001-07:00

If you thought I was kidding when I said Wag had a lot of gardens these are just two of the plots he has and the daisies are really filling them right now but other perennials will be coming later and there are three more gardens besides the plantings along the house. I hope things are blooming for you wherever you are.

sun bath

2008-06-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

We have finally gone past chilly weather to summer. Our cat, Missy, loves to sunbathe near the porch door. No one knows her full history but she has a little bit of one ear that appears to have been lost to freezing weather at some time so she fully appreciates the warm sun.
We are happy about it too! We are both having a series of physical therapy sessions at our fine Peak Performance area of our hospital. We both hope to improve our leg strength and our stability as we both feel a bit tottery some of the time. We are looking forward to a concert by several of our Bemidji State Music faculty members on Friday night. They are doing it as a fund raiser for the University of Iowa that suffered such severe damage in the floods. Their fine music school was attended by a number of folks on staff here for their undergraduate or graduate studies. On Sunday our church choir will sing as it does on the last Sunday of the month in the summer. Linda is away so I will be directing which I always enjoy. We hope the sun is shining on you and your cat or dog or kid or just you wherever you are. Love, Alice and Wag

Visitor

2008-06-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

This is what we saw when we looked out on our deck last evening. This big dude knocked down the bird feeders, ate seed and worked hard to suck the suet out of the metal bracket feeders. We later learned he had done the same at a neighbor's house as well. We knew there are bears in our woods and we have seen a few at times but having him come right up on our deck when it was still dalight was quite a sight and the cat nearly had apoplexy.

I guess spring is here. We just hope we aren't going to be a regular stop on his feeding route. Cheers from the north woods, Alice and Wag

Bear

2008-06-02T15:30:00.001-07:00

birds

2008-05-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

We are happy that our rose breasted grosbeaks have returned from their long journey from central and south America. We have quite a few of them coming to the feeders regularly. They often raise their families here and the young males gradually get the markings that their dads have and you see here. The hummingbirds are back too so we begin to feel it is spring although the nights continue to be cool. We are getting up into the high 60's in the daytime. We hope you are having good weather wherever you are.

Beaver Dam barbeque

2008-05-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

The other photo is of Kirstin with Emma and Tanner. We had just come from watching Emma's dance class practicing for an upcoming show.

We had a fun week-end visiting daughter Mary and family. Here you see Tanner with great grandpa Wag waiting for the barbeque to do its work. We celebrated Emma's birthday belatedly(6 in April) and Tanner and his Mom on June 5 ahead of time. He will be three, she will be(oh well, I'll let her reveal that).

ice out

2008-05-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

We are celebrating ice out this week. It is supposed to be a sign of spring, but it still isn't all that warm and the nights are really cold but it is always a joy to look out at the water. The opening of fishing season this week-end is struggling with the fact that some of the big lakes still have ice on parts of them, but our two bays are all clear and we don't plan to go fishing this week-end anyway. We are excited about a concert Sunday night where the Bemidji Chorale is going to sing John's song NORTHERN MINNESOTA in a 4 part choral arrangement that the director has done. They will also sing it at a big doings on Monday when Bemidji is designated capitol for the day. That will be outdoors so we hope it will warm up. You can see Wag's yellow wheelbarrow in this picture but his planting has been delayed waiting for the ground to get warm. Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms. Cheers from Alice and Wag

another generation

2008-04-09T09:20:00.001-07:00

We are raising another generation of babies helping Dad play the guitar.

Here little Zoe is trying out Judah's guitar for size. She is not a bit intimidated is she:?

Wherever you are we hope you are having real April weather instead of a ten inch snow fall as we have had.

Easter

2008-03-24T18:48:00.001-07:00

The altar was filled with plants including a yellow mum which the bulletin noted was given in honor of our 5 grandchildren and 6 great grand children. It was a lovely service and our choir did three anthems

and the final one after the benediction was a rousing rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus which I was thrilled to direct. Linda, who took over the choir when I retired has a great soprano voice so she loves to sing it and I thoroughly enjoy taking my old post on podium. What a joy to be able to do that at age 84!

Wag and Margy and I spent the afternoon and evening having a lamb dinner and some TV and phone visits with the kids. I even got to talk to Stella, Miles and Liam. We had talked to Mary and the family in the previous couple of days as Sat. was Kirstin and Damian's anniversary. Now we are hoping for some warmer sprin weather though the forecasts are not promising. Our snow cover does look beautiful in the bright sunny days we have had but we are ready to have it melt away and to see some grass and flowers.

We hope you had a lovely Easter. Blessings on all who visit this blog

bundle up

2008-02-21T19:05:00.001-08:00

As you can see we are dealing with our cold winter in two ways. When we go out we bundle up and when we are home a big chair with a blanket and a cat on lap are ideal..

Wag is enjoying the big long coat that Cindy gave him several years ago. He is the envy of all who see him looking toasty. When the after Christmas sales offered half price I invested in my first real Columbia jacket which I love because it is light weight and yet warm. Our dear little Missy has become an important member of the family who meets us at the door when we come home, entertains us with her high speed chasing after any little thing she finds on the floor and then curls up on a lap to rest. We hope everyone is making it through the winter and we hope spring is not too far away. Cheers from the oldies up north,

winter

2008-01-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

It is beautiful and we have had many sunshiny days, but for almost a week it was well below zero at night and some days never got above zero in the daytime. Today we are to get up around 20 and by Sunday may even hit 30.We stayed in most of last Friday and Sat. but have been out and about ever since. I had a 7:30 a.m. hospital committee meeting on Tues., delivered Meals on Wheels on Wed. and Wag is doing it today. We don't do the running anymore but drive.( I had a 71 yr. old kid running for me). Went to bible study yesterday and Choir on Wed. night. The director is going to be gone on Feb. 3rd and on Ash Wednesday so I will be directing then.

Wag is getting more adept at using his sleeping mask and the result is that he is not nearly as sleepy during the day so he is making progress.

We have been going up to Margy's to feed her cats while she is enjoying a visit with both Judah and family in San Fran and Josh and family in Portland. Can't wait to hear her reports and see pictures of the kids. We hear it is in the 40's and rainy in Texas so we are not missing anything there, but that will change soon I am sure. However, we are surviving our winter up north and hope you are warm and dry wherever you are.

Happy New Year

2007-12-30T14:23:00.001-08:00

After a rather quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with just Margy and Wag and me(spent eating too much and opening gifts from the far flung family) Mary, Phil and Carmen arrived on Wed. and we spent the rest of the week celebrating Carmen's graduation and our 62nd anniversary. Besides a roast beef dinner and a scallops dinner two of the nights here we went out to a really great restaurant for the night of the anniversary and had an elegant meal. In this photo you see Carmen, Margy, Mary and the two of us sitting and digesting a meal from our local Italian restaurant called Tutto Bene. We will be back to our normal routine next week, but we will have our traditional New Year's Eve with our next door neighbors which we missed when we were gone and they never established another routine so they are glad to join us again. It is a long standing tradition dating back to when their kids and our grandkids joined us in a rousing game of Royal Rummy. We are at the age where the evening may end not with midnight here, but with the dropping of the ball in New York followed by our wishing each other happy new year and calling it a night. Happy New Year to All. Let there be Peace on Earth

snow visitor

2007-12-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

This is what I saw when I looked out my window near the computer. It was about 2 p;m and the big one stood there transfixed for quite a while but you can see another one headed down the hill toward the lake. What a sight. We may not have elk or moose as you did, Dennis and Gloria, but this was quite a delightful treat. We are having very cold temps, but sunny skies the last couple of days and not much wind. They are having a real Minnesota winter for ius this year. We are keeping warm and mostly dry, Got a permanent and a pedicure today, Fixed up at both ends.

snow

2007-11-30T09:59:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving visit

2007-11-26T07:55:00.000-08:00

The bride and groom came to visit over Thanksgiving. We ordered out a big turkey dinner and had it at daughter-in law Margy's house where the kids were staying. These pictures were taken at the favorite local pizza parlor that is the required part of any visit of the kids or grandkids who grew up here. Bryan manages 3 Jimmy John's sub shops and Wag just lives in that sweat shirt this time of year so I had to have a picture of the two of them. It was a great holiday for us and weather was mild and dry. We do expect some measurable snow later this week.

lake ice

2007-11-22T12:46:00.001-08:00

A few cold nights have put a thin coat of ice on our bay and the snow shower last night made it white. There is no snow on the grass and the far bay that you see in the distance is still open water.

It is a beautiful sunny Thanksgiving Day and we are looking forward to a visit from granddaughter Anna and new husband, Bryan and their puppy, a darling golden retriever named Tucker. Pictures will follow in later posts. Have a great day! Love, Alice and Wag

autumn

2007-11-12T17:30:00.001-08:00

Now that the leaves have fallen this is the view from my kitchen window. The birds land in the little tree close by and then come to the feeder. There is also a suet feeder in that window that attracts woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees. The view from my computer in the outer room is very similar. It was 50 today so we are not freezing yet. There is a Messiah "Sing Along" scheduled for Dec. 4th and I think I will join in that.

Exercise classes are going well and I realize that although my neck is not pain free, I am not wearing Therma Care patches anymore or putting the heating pad on my neck a couple times a day so I guess the shots really did help. Now if we can just get Wag's sleep issues taken care of we will be making real progress.

Boo

2007-11-03T14:27:00.001-07:00

Here is the youngest of our six adorable spooks. Zoe sent this from San Francisco and we just loved it.

As we celebrate All Saints Day in church tomorrow we will be thinking of all those family members who preceded us and rejoicing at the wonderful new generation that is being added to our family tree.

More halloween

2007-11-03T13:56:00.001-07:00

Here are the Portland goblins who dressed up for halloween. We feel so lucky that our grandkids keep us in constant close touch with them and their fun families.

Halloween kids

2007-11-02T09:21:00.001-07:00

Here are two of the goblins who went out to trick or treat. Emma is a princess, of course, and 2 year old Tanner makes an impressive Bob the Builder. I have trouble putting more than one picture at a time on this site so I will add some further pictures in the next posting.

In our remote location with all our neighbors kids too old for trick or treat we had no visitors so guess who will eat the candy we bought.

October Update

2007-10-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

We actually danced the first dance at the wedding. Of course, we did the

"y" dance. (get in loving dance position and then,"why dance".

Fall has come rather suddenly and I have been having some blood pressure problems but they are dickering with my meds and doing some tests. It has come down some but the lower number is still too high. We have been enjoying some great concerts by visiting artists in our community concert series and our much improved Bemidji Symphony Orchestra. Wag is still working on learing to use his sleep apnea machine and our kitty is fitting into the family beautifully and bringing us a lot of pleasure. Be sure to check the link to Josh's blog for some delightful reports and pictures from our west coast families.

A fun trip

2007-09-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

Here I am with three of my high school friends who gathered in the old home town last week=end. We had a great visit and we are still able to get around and carry on our usual lively discussions.
Our travels also took us to Beaver Dam, WI where I got this great shot of Wag with two of our great grandchildren, 2 yr. old Tanner and 5 year old Emma. We even were able to visit her school room where she has started Kindergarten. We came home tired but happy and now we are watching the trees turn color leading into fall.

school or bed

2007-09-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

Here are our oldest and youngest great granddaughters. Emma is all loaded up for her first day of kindergarten and Zoe is looking forward to going to bed but notice the suggestion on her shirt.

We are going to the old hometown in Freeport, Il later this week for a gathering of my old (we are all really old) high school classmates and to visit sister Hope and husband. We will stop in Beaver Dam. WI coming and going to check 9n the new kindergartner and all the family there.

We are still reveling in the memories of the wedding and reunion.

more wedding

2007-09-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

Here are two special pictures from a specal day. Us with the bride and groom and a darling shot of Stella, the flower girl with her beloved Aunt Anna.

We are still savoring the joys of that 3 day gathering and the fun it was to see all of our extended family together. My article for the Senior Scene will be about that occasion and I will put it on email or here on the blog.

Are you ready for fall? It is supposed to cool off here on Friday which will be my 84th birthday. Our two teacher granddaughters are back in class and Stella and Emma are starting pre-school and kindergarten. Big doins' .

The 3 Vance kids and our 5 grands & 6 great grands

2007-08-31T12:39:00.001-07:00

These are some of the reasons why this was such a special gathering. This is only a small part of our extended family that attended Anna's wedding and spent 2 other days together. I am writing a column about it which I will share later. Seeing all the cousins young and old together was a treat for me who can remember them all as small children.

I had my fancy neckshots yesterday and there does seem to be an improvement already and the full effect is supposed to take several days so I am hopeful. Have a good week end on Labor day that my brother used to describe as "The day when people who labor, don't because of".

The Wedding

2007-08-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here I am with the newsest great grand, Zoe. The other picture is of the Collins clan. To the bride's right is her Mom, brother Josh and wife Holly with the 3 kids. To the grooms left you see me and Wag and grandson Judah and wife Adrienne. Zoe was sleeping but she woke up for the festivities and behaved beautifully.

It was a wonderful occasion and will be a true highlight of our lives.

The bridal couple had planned to go to Cancun but the hurricane changed their plans and they are going to Baja, They'll be back at work next Monday.

Grant Creek babies

2007-08-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Here are some babies that we drive close by on our way to Wilton every day. During migration the Canada geese join these domestic ones on their way south. We have been overwhelmed by the tragedy of the bridge collapse in Mpls. We had an hour or two of worry till we got hold of Anna since she and Bryan both travel that road regularly. We are amazed there was not more loss of life and we are proud of our Minnesotans response. We had a fun visit from some old friends now retired in Ariz. We both had baby girls the same day in Owatonna in 1951. We have much in common and always a good visit. Now the wedding is coming soon and you will no doubt see pictures of our extended family happily gathered, Love, Alice and Wag

3 generations

2007-07-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

We are having fun with our daughter Mary and her husband and their younger daughter Carmen here for a week of fishing and swimming. It is beastly hot so the cool lake and the air co nditioned house are our best spots. The kitty, Missy, is proving to be very sociable and I will add a picture later of her snoozing with Wag as he naps. Plans for the August wedding our getting finalized and we are excited that so many of the family will be here inclulding Zoe and her parents.

We are wondering about flooding and other weather problems for our various friends around the country. Hope everyone is doing well. Love from Bemidji.

new family member

2007-06-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

We decided we needed a cat in our lives after our happy years with Maggie. This little girl is 3 years old and has been at the Humane Society Shelter since Jan. It took her no time at all to decide she was going to like it here and she is already spending time on our laps. All our family members who have been urging us to get another cat are pleased for us. I think it is good for us too. My bloodpressure was down about 8 points this morning. Fortunately, it has been fairly well controlled with my latest meds but a few more points is a good thing. Now I am gearing up for those shots in my neck next Friday and hoping that will reduce the pain without taking pain killers that have an effect on the liver. The shelter named the cat Portia, but that doesn't seem to roll off the tongue so we are thinking of changing it. Any suggestions? Cheers to all from Wag, Alice and kitty.

Bearded iris

2007-06-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

Wag's gardens are adding beauty to our lives again. We have both managed to find the energy to keep very busy with the activities that we enjoy. We had a wonderful evening of music put on by both college and community singers with a 5 course dinner. It provided a fund raiser and a chance to visit with many of our friends that we haven't seen often enough. Our mystery book club at church meets tonight talking about a Jane Austen book and we celebrated Father's day with dinner and calls from all the far flung grandchildren. In the midst of all this we are still fitting in various doctor and dental appointments which have so far yielded genrally positive results. So the 83 year old wonders are still in action and looking forward to the family gathering in August. If you come any where near me I now have 2 picture albums in my purse with pictures of the 6 great grands and their parents. Keep warm but not too hot on these lovely summer days.

Two new babies

2007-06-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

We have a brand new great granddaughter born to grandson, Judah and his wife Adrienne. Her name is Zoe Johanna Collins and she weighed in at over 8 lbs with red hair like her beautiful Mom.

Not to be totally outdone, Josh and Holly and the kids have added a kitten named Luna and you see Stella hugging her and she is apparently tolerating it well. We wish these kids who all live on the west coast were closer but we hope to see all except Luna at Anna's wedding in August.

Spring has sprung and the trees are lush and green. We are finally having some rain which has helped the yard and gardens. We love all your emails and communications. Keep them coming. Love, Alice and Wag

Bride to be

2007-05-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a bridal shower for granddaughter Anna at a charming tea room in Stillwater, MN on the shores of the beautiful St. Croix river. They provided hats for us all and here you see our daugjhter-in-law, Margy, with Anna and me. Some of her college friends came from distances to be there so we had all the bridesmaids and Bryan's mom was there as well as the one of Anna's teaching colleagues and her school principal at the school where she is now teaching 5th grade. We are looking forward to a family reunion at her Aug. 18th wedding and right now we are just waiting to hear from grandson, Judah, in San Fran. when their first baby comes in June,

Marilyn and Deva, I tried to take your advice and get a pink outfit for the wedding but couldn't find anything. I did find a lavender one that I think you will like. I will send a picture of that later. Wag is giving the bride away so he will get way more dressed up than is his habit. that's OK.

On our trip to the cities we saw a comedy play, "Church Basement Ladies". It was hilarious.

Anybody who has every worked on a meal in a church kitchen will identify and really laugh. Keep smiling! Love, Alice and Wag

Spring Birds

2007-05-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

Our rose-breasted grosbeaks are coming in bunches and they are pretty tame. I was able to stand on the portch about 8 or 10 feet from tje feeder and he didn't budge and his buddy waited patiently in the tree. We didn't see many females at first bit they are coming now, The orioles and goldfinches complete our lovelu color scheme along with an influx of blue jays, Our biggest problem is scaring off some huge crows that live down at the end of the lake and try to take over the feeder. Fortunately, they scare off easily.

Dr appointments are still keeping us busy, Tomorrow I see my retinologist in St. Cloud and Wag is waiting to get a breathing machine to try which will make sure his breathing is uninterrupted during the night, On the 26th we go to the cities for a shower for Anna at a charming tea room in Stillwater. The weather has been lovely and we are enjoying terrific end of the year concerts by local chorus and orchestra groups. Enjoy spring and keep in touch. Alice and Wag

Look who's here

2007-05-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

We are now enjoying the sight and sound of the northern oriole and the rose breasted grosbeak. Spring is really here! We are in the midst of the spring concert season around here. We are always amazed that in the somewhat remote portion of the state and country in what many assume is a cultural desert, our colleges, public schools and state ensembles provide us with lovely music all year, but especially as the season comes to a close. We have had the Minnesota orchestra as well as our local symphony and excellent choral concerts by high school and college ensembles. Sunday will be the traditional Mother's Day concert by the Bemidji Chorale. This group was founded twenty some years ago by a retired asst. conductor of the Roger Wagner chorale and has attracted all the fine singers from the area, many of whom were in school and college choirs and sing in local churches. Incidentally our church choir is no slouch and it has been fun to be back with them.

The hummers have arrived now and we can't help but wonder if any of these ruby throats were those who visited us at Wilderness Lakes. After a strange string of weather in the past few weeks all over the country we hope that you, like us, are basking in the joys of spring. We love hearing from you, Alice and Wag

ice out

2007-04-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

Over last week-end our little bay opened up and now the whole lake is free of ice and we are enjoying watching the sunbeams ripple along with the waves and seeing the trees reflected in the water. I am reminded of Judah at age 3 or 4 looking out at that sight and asking, "Do the trees live in the water?" My dear Aunt Mary who lived to enjoy the early years of our lives here on the lake always loved seeing the reflections.

On Monday night we went to Fargo for Wag to have the sleep apnea test and they found that lying on his back, which he always does, he was rousing 40 or more times an hour. When on his side it dropped to 4. So he is trying to adjust to making that change which has been hard for him since his back surgery. It should help him be more awake in the daytime.

This is a great time of the year for cultural events here, We have the MN Symphony Orchestra coming for a concert Fri, night and there are two live theater productions going on at the college and the Paul Bunyan Playhouse, There is a harpsichord ensemble concert Sunday and several college musical groups performing between now and the end of May, Earlier we had a wonderful concert featuring all the choral groups in town from the 5th grade combined choir to the high school and college choirs and two wonderful adult ensembles, and last week a great concert by our much improved and improving Bemidji Symphony OIrchestra. We are lucky to have such a lot of music available in our rather remote area.

We are enjoying ideal spring weather this week. I hope the volatile weather that has hit many of you in recent weeks is coming to an end and you are basking in the joys of spring. Love to all from Alice and Wag

Happy finches

2007-04-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

Our birds were happy to have us home. Here you see a basket full of purple finches. Our goldfinches have come back and the woodpeckers, white and red breasted nuthatches, chickadees, blue jays and of course the squirrels are glad to see us again.

We are catching up on some doctor appointments and so far reports are good. Wag goes for his sleep apnia test next week. We are concerned about our grandson-in- law in Wis. who is going to have a proceedure to adjust a conjenital heart beat problem next Tues. It sounds complicated but the Drs. at U of Wis. hospital who will do it consider it basically routine.

Josh and Holly and the family are just now beginning the process of moving to the house they have finally been able to buy so we are excited for them. We are looking forward to the birth of our 6th great grandchild to grandson Judah and his wife Adrienne in the first week of June.

Now that I am home I seem to have figured out how to put pictures on the blog so there will be more coming. Thanks to Dennis and Gloria who put some on for me in Texas when I couldn't do it. Happy travels to your summer in Alaska, you guys.

We are enjoying being home even though we had a snow storm last week. Now it is spring and Our Easter service was a joy and I got my chance to direct the Hallelujah Chorus again.

Our love to all our extended family and friends. Alice and Wag

Sad Day

2007-04-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

We made our trip home successfully avoiding the various storms that were ahead and behind us. However, we have been concerned for a few weeks about Maggie as she seemed to be more listless and not eating well. She had not had any of the contaminated food so we hoped it was something that could be corrected. However, she is 17 years old now and when we get to the vet's today we were crushed to find that she was suffering from severe renal failure and that the kind thing to do was to put her to sleep. We held her and stroked her during the process and there was no pain or discomfort just our tears. Keep us in your thoughts as we deal with a true loss in the family.

catcing up

2007-03-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

This is my last chance to catch you up on our activities before we head home to MN. I hiope I will be able to add some pictures when I get there. For now I will report on our last couple of months here. After the rather chilly Jan we have had lovelyweather for the most part and now it is so hot we are running air quite a bit especially in the last couple of days after putting up the thick aluminum foil like insulating stuff over almost all the windows to keep the heat of the summer at a minimum when th trailer is stored here.
We enjoyed a fun visit from Mary and Phil a couple of weeks ago and had fun showing them a lot of our haunts and favorite eating spots. Driving down the sandy beach was really neat. The birding has been a little more challenging this year as dry conditions have reduced their numbers but we have seen a lot of great sights.
We are going home excited about the events that will be coming up in the months ahead. My neighbors here were giving me advice on finding an outfit for Anna's wedding and everyone in the family is eagerly awaiting news of the addition of Judah and Adrienne's baby in June.
The summer will bring a big family reunion along with Anna and Bryan's wedding.
Have a lovely Easter everyone. We will enjoy being in our home church for that special time.

2007 a big year

2007-02-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a big year for our family. Besides looking forward to the birth of our sixth great grandchild to our older grandson Judah and his wife Adrienne we got word this week that we have a wedding coming up. Anna Collins our granddaughter and her dearly beloved Bryan Stach became an engaged couple on Valentine's Day which is also Bryan's birthday. They are planning a wedding for August 18th and we are hoping to get a lot of the family together for the occasion. I am frustrated that I can't seem to put pictures on this system but I can at least send you news and hope that when we get back to Bemidji I can figure out what the problem is.
We have been feeling for the people up north with their frigid temps. It has been up and down here. We actually had a freeze overnight here last night but it warmed to thje 50's today and should get close to 70 tomorrow.
Wag's birthday celebration a day late was great. We went for dinner at a favorite restaurant with some good friends and on to the Corpus Christy Symphony. It was a great concert and I especially enjoyed the soloist David Shiffrin who played the Copeland clarinet concerto and a Weber Concertino that I actually played(not nearly as well or as fast) in my youth,. The orchestra did a great job on the Bizet Symphonie Fantastique.
We are taking part in a 4 day bird count and this first day we saw a lot of neat birds here at our feeders and on a trip to the edge of Corpus Christi. We still especially love our green jays, but we did see one vermillion flycatcher in a park in Corpus and that is a big treat.
Keep warm wherever you are and we will keep adding to this news.

february fun

2007-02-06T18:41:00.000-08:00

I still can't seem to get pictures to upload but figured it was time to update everyone on our doings. We have gone beyond the chilly rainy Jan. and have hit a warm sunny week just as we hear the news of the frigid cold up north.
We have some fun plans for the week-end to celebrate Wag's birthday. We have tickets for the symphony for Sat. night and our friends from SD are going with us again and we are going to go to our favorite restaurant in Corpus Christi called The Torch for dinner before hand.
One couple in our neighborhood who have been here for 2 months are leaving this weekend so there is a gathering on Thurs. afternoon to bid them farewell.
Our Methodist church here has just added the services of an assoc. minister who is a Hispanic gentleman and full of friendly enthusiasm. There is a considerable hispanic population in Mathis but not in our church so that may change in time, but he chuckled that some of his friends asked "What are you doing in that white church?"
Our exercise class was finally able to go back to outdoors for our class this morning after the weather kept us doing it in the central building for about 3 weeks. We have also been having a computer class that meets twice a week and i have learned a few things there, but some of it beyond my experience and too sophisticated for my equipment but still interesting.
We hope the weather up north moderates soon and we will be thinking of you.

update

2007-01-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

I am having problems with this system, but I can give you a written greeting from damp, chilly, and cloudy Texas. We shouldn't complain comparing our weather to what has been going on in the lower midwest, but it sure isn't the kind of weather we come south hoping to find.
We are fortunate to have a good heating system and friends and activities to keep us busy. I have been going to a 2 day a week computer class besides our exercise sessions(those have been held inside for the past 2 weeks). Last Thursday we went with our SD friends to a concert of the Army Air Force Band. They were really good and had a variety of numbers that showed off the fine instrumentalists they have.
We are feeling guilty that we were angry with Maggie for almost a week of nights when she kept rousing us with meowing. We took her to the doctor yesterday and I was right when it finally hit me that she's an old lady like me and was having a bladder infection. One day of medication and she slept all night without a peep last night. Having had the same problem several times in the last few years i could really sympathize. I am still hoping to get back to being able to add pictures but in the meantime keep warm and dry and have a good winter season whatever it is.

News from Texas

2007-01-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

We have been having some lovely warm days, but the cold front that has been up north is coming in here tonight. Of course, that doesn't mean below zero like Bemidji has had, but it will be around freezing at night and highs only in the 40's for the next 4 or 5 days. It will be rainy and damp, but in another week it will probably be a lot warmer again.
We attended a wonderful Corpus Christ Symphony Orchestra program last night. They had two winners of a young persons violin and piano competition that was held earlier. They were in their 20's and the young man played the Lizst piano concerto #1 and the young woman played the Mendelssohn violin concerto. They have great futures. We have tickets for two more concerts, one in Feb. and one in March. Our neighbors who are from SD went with us and we had dinner at the Outback before the concert. I am going to try to put a hummingbird picture on this blog but it may not work. We are having wonderful sightings of hummers, goldfinches who come to feeders right on our windows. Try to keep warm. It worked!

party

2007-01-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

Here we are at our New Years celebration. I am using our neighbors computer on high speed to finally get a picture on the site. Happy New Year to all of you. We are doing well and keeping busy. We are warm but you guys haven't had very cold weather either, Keep in touch, Love from the oldies down south

Anniversary

2006-12-27T18:07:00.000-08:00

I am still having problems getting pictures to upload. I wanted to show you a picture of the 4 couples who came to our door this afternoon with pots and pans and lids and banged away to tell us this was a shiveree and to come out and kiss to celebrate our anniversary. We really had to laugh. In all our 61 years of marriage we had never had a shiveree. This evening we went in to Corpus Christi and had a Greek dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Lots more fun than the night we drove on sheer ice from Freeport to our hotel in Chicago in 1945 One of our computer experts is in camp now and I hope she can help me figure out why the pictures aren't loading.
Our Christmas was busy and fun with dinners at the central house both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and two church Services Sunday and I sang a duet with one of our sopranos at the evening service. Things should quiet down a bit now, but there is a gathering planned for New Year's Eve. Have fun and keep us up on your doings.

Down south

2006-12-11T14:44:00.000-08:00

We arrived at Wilderness Lakes Resort on Sat. Dec. 2 Our good neighbors had pulled our trailer into place and hooked it up. We had chilly rainy weather for several days, but today it got up to 75 so we are enjoying that. I have tried to upload a picture of Maggie sleeping on our bed, but I am having trouble with that, but i will try again and see what happens. We were not only welcomed by friends here at the camp but at church yesterday where to my surprise they sang one of my introits at the beginning of the service. They have urged me to come and sing with the Chrismas special music they are doing on Sunday. I hope you are all enjoying preparing for the coming holidays. Keep in touch with us and I will try to get pictures to work eventually.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-26T15:31:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving week-end with dinner at Cindy and Pete's and Friday supper here that included our dear granddaughter Anna and her delightful beloved Bryan who posed for this photo as we finished lunch on Sunday and bid them goodbye. They headed back to St. Paul and we will be off to Texas on Wed. Our kids sure produced beautiful grandkids for us, didn't they? We will add to this site when we get to Texas and get all the computer set up going so it may be awhile. Cheers from Minnesota

visitor

2006-11-20T18:42:00.000-08:00

The pileated woodpecker came right on our deck railing. What a sight he is. Woodywoodpecker in person and so big. I hope he has saved a few bugs and treats in holes in the trees because when we leave for Texas next week it will be the end of the suet feeders that he loves.
We will be seeing a lot of other birds down there but we will miss some of our Minnesota bird friends and hope their winter isn't too harsh.

2006-11-13T18:36:00.000-08:00

Here are two special photos from our week-end trip to Wisconsin. My sister Hope and her husband met us in Madison for dinner and we had a good visit after almost 2 years of not being able to get together. The other picture is of our daughter's two grandchildren our great granddaughter Emma, 4 and great grandson Tanner, 1 We had a wonderful time with the family and got to see Kirstin and Damian and Emma and Tanner's house in Beaver Dam. It is so great to have them all in one town and Carmen came up from Racine for the week-end. She will graduate in Dec. and then do her student teaching. We had miserable weather for our drive down on Friday,. saw multiple cars in the ditch and waited over an hour for a tie up caused by an accident. The first snow always catches some drivers having lost their winter driving skills. Had an easy trip home today half of it in bright sunshine. Now we will get serious about preparing to leave for Texas in a little over 2 weeks.

Halloween

2006-11-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Emma & Tanner had fun Trick or Treating. Beaver Dam has a good custom. They do the Halloween celebration on the Sunday afternoon before the holiday. That way the kids are out in daylight and it usually isn't as cold. Tanner walked a mile or more and insisted on carrying his own pumpkin filling with candy.
Josh and Holly and the kids left for Portland today(Thursday) and hope to make the trip in 4 days. Josh hopes to have a chance to update his blog along the way.
We are getting our appts. done so we can get off to Texas. I saw the retinologist today and everything is much the same and I will see him again in 6 months. Wag's tests all came out quite well and they will give him a new generator for his pacemaker on the 16th so we won't have to worry about that after we leave. It is just an in and out procedure. We plan to visit the Wisconsin family next week-end. Hope you had a fun "Boo" Day!

Judah & Adriene

2006-10-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here are Judah and Adrienne in the Japanese Garden in San Francisco. The other picture is of Anna with her brother Judah, can you see the family resenmblance?

Big news

2006-10-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled with the news that our grandson Judah and his wife,
Adrienne are expecting their first baby in June. They have been together for 13 years and married for 3 years. They live in San Francisco where Judah is one of the managers of the big Haight Ashbury Music Center. I guess we will surely have to make a trip west one of these days now that with Josh's family in Portland, Or. we will have 4 great grandchildren on the west coast. I am having trouble getting a picture of them scanned and put on the blog but will do that later. What fun it has been to see our family grow into a 4th generation.
We feel really lucky to have been able to be a part of that considering we didn't have our first child until we were 26.
The cool weather and the snow flurries have us thinking about heading for Texas in a little over a month.,

oops

2006-10-14T08:22:00.000-07:00

I got word from my granddaughter that it was, in fact, her MoM our daughter, Mary who took those pictures. I don't want to get anyone in trouble so I figured ui had better correct this right away. Since I posted that last night I heard from grandson,Josh out in Oregon. He is now moved into the house they are renting and will go back to Mn, in about 3 weeks to load the moving van and pile the family in the van and bring them to Portland. A very exciting time for them.

birds

2006-10-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

These great pictures were taken by our granddaughter when she and her family were here on our lake. Kirstin and Damian have a digital camera similar to ours and they went out fishing early when the birds are most active. This eagle had a nest on the south end of our lake but the tree fell in a storm last year and they have now re-nested on the point just around the bend from our place. What a sight!

Princess Stella

2006-10-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

Stella has learned the family trick of having multiple birthday celebrations. Some friends gathered on the Sat. before her birthday, then she and Holly and Anna and the boys went to Chuckee Cheese on the real birthday and then last Sunday she had a princess party which included 3 of her little friends all dressed up as princesses. Pretty cool.
We are going to miss having them nearer but will keep the pictures and emails going. They are going to rent a house in Portland and move the end of the month so the family will be together and Stella can start pre-school.
Our other 4 yr. old, Emma, is really enjoying pre-school now that they are settled in Beaver Dam and Kirstin likes her job with the cell phone company.
We are enjoying some great programs provided by our Academy of Life Long Learning. Had one on King Tut's treasures by an area historian with a lot of Egyptology background and one by a historian from the cities who has done a book on Minnesota in the Civil War. Next week we go to the Norwegian Language Camp for a program on the life in northern Norway where it is dark for about 4 months. That'll teach us to complain about winter! Keep warm as autumn comes!

Dreams from the past

2006-09-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken when Judah was 2 or 3(he's 36 now). The other night I had a dream that I was looking off into the woods and calling"Judah,Judah, where are you?" And soon he came ruuning to me and he was wearing this outfit with the blue vest sweater I had knit for him. That's what looking at all these old photos does I guess.

Today is Stella's 4th birthday and she and her Mom and brothers and Aunt Anna went to Chuck ee Cheese for lunch which I am sure was great fun. Many hapy returns to Stella.

It all works now

2006-09-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

In the posting I did on Sept. 2nd I said I was copying old slides and said I was including one of my mother and John taken at Christmas in 1950, but then I couldn't make it work. Since then a lot of tinkering by the computer shop and some help from niece Cindy as got things going at last.

I am thinking of Mom as I often do and especially as fall comes on. It was her favorite season and she loved the color changes. I will try to get a picture of the sumac which is extra brilliant this year and those red leaves were a specially loved cause that was her favorite color. It has turned sharply colder in the last few days. The orioles and hummingbirds have left and only a few of the female rose-breasted grosbeaks remain. The chickadees and nuthatches and woodpeckers are taking over and a few purple finches and chipping sparrows have appeared. That tells us the seasons are changing. Keep warm

Fall is coming

2006-09-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors have one tree that always turns color way early and sitting among the green spruce and pine it is very beautiful and reminds us that the seasons are a-changing.
We have had pleasant sunny days in the 60's and even 70's while south of us they had 5 days of clouds and drizzle.
They still haven't been able to get my new printer software properly installed so I am taking it and the computer in tomorrow. I hope they won't need to have the computer more than a day, but I may be made voiceless for a couple of days. Surprising how handicapped I will feel.
We are still hoping for Josh and Holly to find their new home and for Anna to get a regular teaching job, but she is being called to sub.
We seem to keep busy. Had a great program on the Dead Sea Scrolls yesterday and have a big fall dinner coming up at church and later a dinner for donors to our North Country Health Services. I am on a committee for that. How's the weather where you are? Keep in touch,

what a cake

2006-09-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

This flower "cake" came yesterday from niece Cindy and Pete. Isn't that neat and it smells wonderful. I had a fun birthday. We went to see the movie An Inconvenient Truth, not a laugher but very interesting and thought provoking and then to Appleby's where we had mushroom steaks that were so generous that we brought home enough for another meal.
Got phone calls from Mary and from all five of the grandchildren from their various locations and a couple of words from two of the great grands. "Hi" from 1 yr. old Tanner and "Happy Birthday Oma" from 4 year old Emma.
Josh's blog brought sad news about their house plan, but some darling pictures of the twins.
A beautiful bird calendar from Margy and a gift cert. for Office Max from the Wis. family added to my day along with email messages from a lot of friends and family. Thanks to all. 83 isn't bad so far.

A birthday week

2006-09-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

Today would be my Aunt Mary's 125th birthday. She and my sister Hope and I all had birthdays within a week, the 2nd, 4th and 7th. My mother would make a cake and decorate it for us all. Somewhere I have a picture of the three of us when Hope was just a kid. Here is a picture of my mother with John at Christmas in 1950.
If you check Josh's blog you will see that they managed to find a house that meets there needs very well in Portland. They were able to arrange financing so they could make an offer even before their house sells so the family will be together soon. We all figured Stella was being a typical Drama Queen(our family spawns a lot of those) when she wailed, "I don't think Daddy's ever coming home!" but the way she reacted when she saw him showed that maybe she really was worried that he was gone forever.
Our Labor Day week-end is going to be cloudy rainy and cool, but we had lots of good week-ends over the summer and we really need the rain. Rejoice with us this birthday month. When we used to celebrate with my aunt we could not have imagined that now I am turning 83 and have 5 great grandchildren and Hope is 71 and has two grandchildren. Later this month we will celebrate the twins 2nd birthday and Labor on Labor Day!

Visitor

2006-08-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

The pileated woodpeckers visited our porch again and we love that, but lately we have a daily visit from this crass woodchuck who comes and cleans up the seeds that have dropped on the deck floor from the feeders. That's OK, but I wonder where he is digging his hole for a cozy home. Hasn't chucked any wood yet that I can see.

2006-08-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

Teachers

2006-08-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

I am working on a column about teachers and I have looked at a picture of someone who was a fabulous teacher, my Aunt Mary. As I look at this, I can see that I have grown to look a lot like her. She lived to be 92 and she was older than I am now when this picture was taken.
I have had a lot of comment about the column I did about pictures that included the one of us at 22. People got a big kick out of that. The weather is wonderful right now. I am driving for Meals on Wheels a couple of days this week and helping sign people up for a blood drive at our church. Sunday I am directing the choir in the last of our monthly summertime choir Sundays. Linda is often gone so I have been the designated summer director which suits me fine. I enjoy it. We saw good productions of Gondoliers and of Guys and Dolls in this past month. I was announcer for 3 summer band concerts so we have had a busy season.

Two speed Miles

2006-08-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Miles looks like Wag and like Wag he has two speeds, full speed ahead and dead stop.During our day with them yesterday we caught him in both. Once running to get another turn on the slide at McDonalds and one being "Oma's boy" reading a story.

another past view

2006-08-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

I got the new scanner today and by a mistake it included a very sophisticated printer, and since I had not wanted or needed a printer they sold me this great new piece of equipment for the price of kust the scanner. The shop is owned and run by an old high school friend of grandson Judah's and he still thinks of me as Judah's Gramma so I think he treats me especially well. As he was showing me the workings of the new equipment I want to be sure I was clear on the process of putting photos on the blog. So of course, we picked from the old slides a shot of Judah as about a sophomore in high school which gave him a good laugh. Now I will have the equipment to scan and print 35 mil slides myself instead of having the photo shop do it for a rather high price. I promise not to put to many on the blog.
We saw Gilbert and Sullivan's Gondoliers last week and tomorrow we are going to Guys and Dolls at the Paul Bunyan Playhouse. There is more culture than you might expect here in northern MN.

cousins yesterday & today

2006-08-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

Working with some old slides I found this shot of Josh and Kirstin when they were about 4 or 5.
They were good friends then and still are. The other picture shows them with Josh's 3 and Kirstin's 2 kids plus Kirstin's sister Carmen. I am really having fun looking at those slides from so long ago. There are some darling ones of our two kids, John and Mary as babies. John's kids say they don't remember seeing baby pictures of their Dad so they will enjoy them. We are having lovely weather but we need rain. I have become the announcer for the Bemidji Community Band concerts so I hope it doesn't decided to rain tonight for our final concert in the park. Josh is at work in Portland now and loving it if he could only get his house sold and the family out there with him. Use the link to his blog on this site to see some neat pictures not only of family, but one of Mt. Hood.

cousins 2

2006-08-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

cousins

2006-08-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Long ago

2006-08-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have been digging out old colored slides and getting some of them printed. Here's a quiz: do you recognize this couple? Here's a hint: the picture was taken in 1946.

Special Song

2006-07-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

Today our church choir was singing and I directed. A granddaughter of one of the choir members was being baptized and she wanted special music. I suggested we do "Josh's Baptism Song" and she loved the words and the child's name (Sofia) fit well into the spot that was originally written as Joshua. They loved it and the choir did it well and I was nearly reduced to tears at the end. During the joys and concerns I had expressed our gratitude that Josh had safely reached Portland after his long trip and explained that the song we would sing for the baptism would be the one written for his baptism by his father. It was a very special moment in the service. The little girl had been fussy during the formalities but seemed to enjoy the music.

Knutson's visit

2006-07-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

We have just had a much too brief but great visit with Ed and Jayne Knutson some of our special friends in Texas. They are from South Dakota and were on their way to Lutsen on the north shore of Lake Superior where they will spend the rest of the week at a lodge of the shore with their son and daughter and their families. We are very familiar with that area and I know they will have a wonderful time. We visited non-stop and took them for a tour of our haunts in the area and had our daughter-in-law here with us for dinner so she could meet them. Of course we took a few pictures and if I can make it work right I will add one to this message. Not only did we enjoy their visit but Maggie was happy to see her old friends.

Our bird friends

2006-07-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

We have lots of rose breasted grosbeaks at our feeders and our year-round visitor, the hairy woodpecker is willing to share the feeder. Aren't they a sight?

The original Fab 5, 1982

2006-07-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

This was our Christmas picture in 1982
Judah holding Anna, Josh and Kirstin holding Carmen

Feed the camel

2006-07-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

Visit to the Animal Farm

2006-07-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

The last day of the Wisconsin family's visit we went to the Animal Farm. Feeding deer and a big turtle was fun and the lemurs were almost as acrobatic as the kids, but the best picture was this one of Damian and Emma getting acquainted with the camel.

Grant Lake fun

2006-07-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Miles and Liam-Men at work Emma & Stella testing the waters

Busy Week

2006-07-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

While the two extended families were in town we had 15 at the dinner table four nights. Josh commented that they were testing the limits of our space. The kids hit it off so well and watching them at play on the beach and at the house was a sheer delight. Josh & Holly and Stella and the twins went home on Tues. Our Wisconsin family including 4 yr old Emma and 1 year old Tanner are here until Saturday. In the midst of all this I have had two appointments with the physical therapist and Wag had a follow up endoscopy to check on the conditions they found in Texas. The therapy has helped my stiff and achy neck and Wag's test was all good news. The ulcerated area was healed and no more polyps. Tonight we are going to have a fish fry with some of the great number the guys have caught all week and tomorrow we are going to visit the animal farm which the kids will love. It will seem awfully quiet when they leave on Saturday, but we will have lots of wonderful memories and pictures to show for it.

The fab five

2006-07-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

This was the first time we have had all five great grandchildren together. We had 4 days of swimming, playing, visiting and of course eating and it has been wonderfiul fun, I have taken a slew of pictures but here is one.

Grant Lake adventures

2006-07-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

We have had three days of great fun with all five great-grandchildren.

Here are the little workmen, Miles and Liam, with their shovels and pails.

thye fab five together for the fist time

2006-07-01T19:01:00.000-07:00

We had a delightful gathering of the family where the five great grandchildren were together for the first time. It took no time at all for them to have fun playing together and I wish i had a recording of the giggles and squeals as they ran around, jumped on Josh or ran laughing when he pretended to be a monster. Tomorrow we will all go swimming and go riding in our son-inlaw's lovely boat. They have headed off to their motel and Josh and family to our daughter-in-laws for the night but they will be back promptly in the morning.

Josh and Liam all dressed up for the wedding

2006-06-28T09:05:00.000-07:00