Such a crowd

I know I posted some pictures of the state fair, but I thought I'd add a few more.

John thought that last Monday would not be crowded at the fair; but he seemed to have misjudged the enthusiasm of Minnesotans! (Plus, it was senior day and children's day to boot!)

So... everywhere you looked there were people....

Lots and lots of people!

And some were really quite cute..


I guess the photographer wanted to be sure to get the baby in the picture...
sorry about that John...

One of our first stops was to see the giant pumpkins.

How did they even get these big guys to the fair??

Here is the winner!!

I just love seeing the vegetables.

And, since fall is my favorite season of the year, pumpkins and all the fall goodies were such a pleasure to see!!

Oh, doesn't it just make your mouth water???

We also visited the horticulture exhibit where I photographed lots of beautiful flowers.

Here is just one of them.

We also enjoyed seeing the horses and the livestock.

The birthing center, which was quite crowded, was wonderful too -

we saw some newborn calves and piglets.

There is a fine art exhibit as well.

Here below is a famous painting you might recognize..

I think we should call it Minnesota Gothic...

Happy Birthday Brian!

Happy Birthday today to my brother-in-law Brian!

I hope you will have a delightful day enjoying a good meal with family and friends!

Bon Appetit!

One down, one to go...

Two pregnant ladies a few weeks ago...

Jennifer on the left

Meghan on the right..

And now there is only one!!
Congratulations Jennifer, on the birth of little Sylvia Catherine!
Just a few more weeks until Sylvia's playmate arrives..

State Fair Foods galore!!

Weekend with Tobias

Wally and I are watching Tobias for the weekend. Since the weather is gorgeous, we decided to go to a local park and hike some of the trails by the lake. It was beautiful!

My job was playing on the grass while

Wally's job was putting on John's backpack and carrying Tobias in it.

Tobias' job was being cute.

He was good at it.

He kept it up at snack time too.

Happy Birthday to Josiah!

Here is my first look at precious Josiah!

and this is one of my favorite pictures taken the day he came home to his excited siblings.

Look at this precious fella with his eyes open. Wasn't he a doll?

Then, before we knew it he was ONE!

And he was a very spunky one year old too!

And again, before we could blink, he was TWO!

Here he is at Bible camp - the reason he was not wearing a shirt and shorts was due to the fact that he had spilled the entire picture of water all over the place, including himself.

Oh, the fun of a TWO YEAR OLD!

Happy Birthday Josiah!

Grandma and Grandpa love you and your whole family!

The girl of the golden west!

My sister is named after this lovely beauty!

Marlane, not Marlene!

Classic picture taking mistake

This lovely photograph was taken 69 years ago when my parents married.

My mom is the gal on the right, my Aunt on the left.

.

My dad, the groom is on the far right.

I guess the best man is on the far left.

.

My grandfather took this picture.

Perhaps he wasn't too interested in the men, only in his daughters.

Scaring the bee

I was photographing some flowers and this monarch butterfly using my macro setting on our camera. I couldn't see everything I was photographing completely as the sun was shining on the camera screen so I did not realize until I looked at this picture afterwards that there was a bee in the picture too. But take a good look, it makes me laugh every time I look at it, I snapped the shutter it at just the time as the butterfly was fluttering his wings to scare the bee - and I think that bee was mighty scared! "Whoa, I'm outa here!" thought the bee - and away he went!

Sweet.

August holiday

Did you know that in Canada there is a 3 day weekend every month by design? And in August, since they didn't have a specific holiday (like Thanksgiving, etc.) they just designated a weekend and call it August holiday.

Not a bad idea.

We just decided on Tuesday to take our August holiday on Wednesday.

Despite a little wet weather, we are having a relaxing time in Canal Park (Duluth) by the aerial lift bridge.

There are quite a few trendy shops and restaurants here and we love it.

sometimes it's good to be canadian...

One of life's blessings is..

...good friends..

(and yes, that is a fire in August in Minnesota...)

The rewards...

May 21, 2009

August 18, 2009

(The strawberries, peas and beans are already consumed. the pumpkins are still growing )

Come closer..

Come closer...

That's right... can you almost taste it?

Oh, can't you just dive right in?...

Hurry up, before the ice cream melts!....

Well, that's the best I can do for you.

You'll just have to stop by instead.

It was good.

You can go on sewing....

Okay, I don't know how many of you remember the sermon at your wedding, but I surely remember the one at our wedding. Bless his heart, the Pastor wanted to emphasis that, though we were coming together as one, we were to maintain our individual personalities. Shortly before the ceremony the Pastor asked Wally what some of my hobbies were... and W told him I liked to bake and sew. (True.) So, without considering how totally chauvinistic it would sound said, in the sermon.. "W, you go on hunting and fishing and C, you go on baking and sewing!"

Oh OUCH! Was he serious???

Well, I guess I have taken his advice...

I decided it was time to get into my sewing room.

I saw some cute burp cloths on the internet and gave them a try.

I sewed cute flannel down the center of a purchased cloth diaper and added trim.

And, since there were sooo many cute flannel patterns, I just kept going!

Actually, they will make great baby gifts and I know a good number of young gals currently expecting...

But, I didn't stop with burp cloths..

I decided it would be nice for grandma to make some PINK blankets.

Hm... wonder why.

They sell the most wonderfully soft fabric that makes such cuddly blankets!

I backed two pink ones with soft minky fabric and the others with a silky satin.

Oh, I just could cuddle right into them myself!


This chocolate brown minky fabric has a swirl design in the nap and I love the paisley pattern in the silky satin.

These dots, in pink, chocolate brown and sage, are adorable too.

The satin patterns worked for both the pink minky fabric and the chocolate brown minky fabric, so I made one of each.

Pink on pink.

Did I mention it's PINK?

Can't wait until the end of September...