Fishing with grandpa

On Sunday grandpa took four of his grandchidren fishing. (It seemed prudent to limit the number to only four...) Adam and Daniel accompanied grandpa to give a hand with their little ones and to enjoy the fishing experience. It was the first time this summer that we have gotten the pontoon in the water and the day was just perfect for it.

Grandpa went shopping for some good fishing poles for little hands and some new life jackets as well. And away they went... 3 men and 4 children - ages 6, 6, 4 and 3.

No Moms. No Grandma. No one to worry.

The fishing was good too!

Preston caught fish.

Luke caught fish.

Timothy caught fish.

and Bro0klyn caught fish!

Everyone was happy!

Adam kept a close eye on his boys.

Looks like Brooklyn might have some action on that line!

Timothy reels another one in!

And, of course, the rewards of all that fresh air and fine fish is a little fish fry.

While I was out on a pizza run, Grandpa cleaned the fish and began to prepare them for frying.

Of course, it always helps to have a little female help.

All the children (and some adults) had some of the fish and they all liked fish!

What a fun day.

A little Phelps Mill fun

So, the men were off on the pontoon boat fishing with four little fisherpersons... and we, the remaining ladies, went off to the Phelps Mill festival with 3 of the younger children.

It was a lovely sunny day, warm but not beastly hot. We posed for a picture. The setting by the river and the mill is lovely. There were many fine crafts for sale and some tasty food as well.


Of course, we had to take time for a snack. Root beer floats and ice cream.

Hm.... seems as though Josiah and Hannah were pretty interested in Sean's ice cream...

but he kept a close eye on his cousins and his snack...

because he wanted to savor it himself! Every bite!

After our shopping/sight seeing was completed, we got back on the wagon that was pulled by a big John Deere tractor that gave us a ride back to where the van was parked. It was part of the experience and the children thought it was fun.

I hope these strangers behind us don't mind being on the blog!

Wouldn't it be funny if someone recognized themselves?

A good time was had by all.

Mr. and Mrs. !!

So ... if you are not into weddings, you might want to skip this blog post...

Otherwise, you might want to "come" to the wedding!!

My friend Kari married Brent today and I was happy to come "out of retirement" and take on the role of their wedding coordinator.

I wasn't alone in helping with the "big" day - here in the picture above Kari has her two personal attendants helping her primp while one of her bridesmaids adjusts the skirt of her beautiful wedding dress. Want to see more pictures? Here we go....

Kari and Brent....

Now you can see a pretty up close photograph of her lovely dress and necklace and the handsome couple.


The wedding party looks so grand, don't you think? Kari had a Matron of honor, a maid of honor , 2 bridesmaids and a junior bridesmaid. The girls in the black dresses were ushers along with two gentlemen. The rest of the men were groomsmen. There was, as you can see, a ringbearer and flowergirl. There was also Kari's 2 year old nephew as ringbearer but he wasn't too inclined to be in a picture at this time, so it seemed prudent to not have him in the picture.
(Though, Susanne, you did a great job at trying....)



Our church has a nice amount of space for weddings. Here is a view of some of her decorations.

As you can see, their wedding colors were yellow and red. She wanted it "cheerful" and I think that was how this appeared. Cheerful and classy at the same time.

And now the moment is soon to arrive....

Dad and the bride are in wait as Carrie "fluffs" the dress one last time...

And the bride and her father enter the sanctuary for the all-important walk down the aisle - the walk so many girls dream about.

Kari was SO ready for this walk!

Halfway there... notice the yellow pails and red geraniums. They were hanging on the pews that also held a shepherd's hook. The shepherd's hook held a glass globe with a lit candle.

It was a lovely effect; a little hard to do justice in a photograph.

This is always one of my favorite views of the wedding; the crosses up above, the bridal couple up front and the aisle runner.

Kari had the privilege of being married by her Uncle Jim.

He came from California to perform the wedding.

I'm pretty sure it was special to him as well.

Now you can get a better view of the shepherd's hooks and candles.

The congregation of guests were standing as they sang some praise-worthy songs.

It's over! It's a done deal!

This obviously shows how they felt about it!!

The reception that followed was a wonderful relaxing time together. Lots of great appetizers and desserts and lots of time for visiting. You can get a glimpse of their video up above that ran throughout the reception. Lots of great family and friends pictures.

And now, they are off on their honeymoon and ready to start their life together!

Best Wishes to you both!

Cold brew coffee

Have you ever had a cup of coffee at a restaurant and thought "wow, this is so smooth and mild- how do they make this coffee?" Well, I have and I have learned that usually the coffee that I like is made from a method called "cold brew." In fact, many restaurants actually purchase the coffee in frozen liquid form and then make their coffee from that. So I decided to try to do it myself. The system I purchased is called "Toddy" and you can see above the glass carafe and white plastic thing that sits upon the carafe.

Sometimes I have coffee beans freshly ground for this, but today I thought I'd just try some regular store bought coffee.

Place the plastic container on the glass carafe. There is a plug at the bottom of the plastic container as well as a filter pad.

Place some of the water in first...


then some of the coffee. Don't stir!

Add more of the coffee and the remainder of the water.

Do not stir.

Then just set it aside for a good long time....

say, about 12 hours. Yup, 12 hours.

At the end of the time, you carefully remove the plug and let the coffee liquid drain into the carafe.

This is what it looks like when it is drained into the carafe.

You can see the coffee grounds that have remained after the liquid drained through.

Put a lid on the carafe and you can store it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

When you desire a cup of coffee, boil about 2/3 of a cup of water and add 1/3 of a cup of this coffee liquid.

It makes a good cup of coffee!

Then, settle down in a comfy chair with a good book, a little snack - and your mild, smooth coffee.

Try it, you'll like it.

Timberframe update

I thought perhaps you would like to see the progress on this lovely lake home that Wally and Daniel are building for a customer. It is a timberframe construction and will be a wonderful home!

This is the view from the lake. I think it is fabulous.

I think the homeowners will surely enjoy sitting out on the deck enjoying their view of the lake.

There will be an upper deck as well as the lower deck.

It was hard to photograph the interior as there is still quite a bit of construction material around. Here is a view of the large window in the great room that faces the lake. What you see against the wall and the scaffold is the beginnings of the fireplace. It will be river rock.

The lowest opening is for the gas fireplace; above that is a mantle and then an opening for a television. Then there is another large beam above that.

It is going to be wonderful.

Lakeside wedding

On Saturday, the 4th of July, on the shore of Leech Lake, a beautiful wedding took place.

No, I wasn't invited since I didn't know the bride or the groom!

But I was on the dock with my camera and just couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the special event. Wouldn't you?

Can you see the wedding in the above photo?

Ah, this is better. Don't you just love zoom lenses?

And I sure do wish I knew someone who attended this wedding so I could share these pictures, from this unique vantage point, with the happy couple.

Wow, you can even see the faces of the people quite clearly as they were watching the bride and groom.
Sooo... if you know who they are, let me know!

The mighty Mississippi....

One of the top tourist attractions for us Minnesotans would be the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi. We are so proud that that magnificent river has its humble beginnings here in Minnesota. I would venture to guess many many Minnesota families have photographs of their family in front of this sign - and crossing the little rocks positioned across the flow of the headwaters.

Of course, I had to at least put my toes in the Mississippi!

Wally can be seen walking across the waters.

I took a fair amount of nature pictures and I was hoping that we would see some Lady's slippers. We did! They are stunning! This is the Minnesota state flower (don't pick it! They fine you if you do!) Its official name is the "Showy Lady's Slipper".

It is sort of showy, isn't it?

Do you know your state flower?

Going with the flow..... on the 4th

Bemidji? Who knew? As most of you that know me, know that I'm not all that... ur... spontaneous... I'm the kind of person that PLANS things. Being ...flexible... has never been my strongest point. (Though, in my defense, I DID drive around Europe with my family without reservations for places...) I mean, I just can't stand to waste time on a vacation saying things like "where should we stay? what do you want to do? too bad we didn't know about...fill in the blank" ... therefore, so planning ahead always answers those questions!

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At any rate, we had no plans for the 4th of July weekend. And yesterday morning, after I got dressed, hubby said "let's go.. somewhere.... bring a toothbrush just in case we stay over somewhere..." (Now, can I say at this point that I had previously looked on the internet for places to stay in various towns but really - Saturday evening, July 4th - was filled everywhere I looked!)

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So, off we went. First stop, a little shopping in Perham. Great, cute shops. Bought some fabric. Then lunch in a German restaurant in Park Rapids. Finished just in time to watch their small town parade. Good timing (without planning!) and then on to the town of Walker, by Leech Lake. More great shops, good ice cream too! (yeah, coffee ice cream!!) - but hey, no rooms available. Should we head home now? Nope, let's try the town of Bemidji - haven't been there for years. Got there and saw lots of fun downtown by the water; carnival rides, food booths, etc. Booked the last motel room in town (not cheap..) and settled down with the crowds to watch the fireworks.

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All in all, not bad for not planning.

With all these people setting up their chairs and blankets facing the lake, we figured there must be fireworks at some point. Or something.

It takes FOREVER for it to get dark in Minnesota. Usually that's a good thing. But not when you want the fireworks to start!

Across the lake we could watch fireworks that someone was setting. Nice of them. Keeping us entertained until the real deal begins.

And then.. BOOM. They were great and it was fun to see them reflecting on the lake.

We figured there may have been about 200 boats out on the lake watching.

It was very cool.

Fireworks really need to be watched in person, I have concluded.

The explosions just make it!

Happy 4th of July.