A day at the zoo!

We spent the weekend in Eagan. Daniel & Meghan and the children also came to Eagan.
(Adam & Andrea & children were unable to be with us this time.)
On Saturday we celebrated Tobias' birthday.
Those pictures will be on the blog on his birthday Wednesday.
Yesterday, following church, we visited the Minnesota Zoo. We highly recommend it to you. It was great fun to see the animals and watch our grandchildren enjoy the zoo. (John and Sara could not come with us as they had a prior commitment.)


I think our top highlight was watching these two grizzly bears having a little fight.

We took a ride on the monorail. You really should do that.

The African exhibit was great. We saw lots of camels.

and other animals in their natural habitat.

I love giraffes and zebras.

Sean liked that the windows were at his level.

Brooklyn found a fun place to peek out at the animals - and at grandma with the camera!

The underwater world was grand. (But hot and humid in there...)

We also got to see some dolphins eating.

If you look closely you will see him above and below the water.

Trying to snap a family picture.

This tiger thought it was just time for his Sunday afternoon nap on a hot summer day.

And these brothers were glad that grandpa thought it was time for a treat!

Mr. Moose also wanted to relax.

There were even animals of which I had never heard!

Who knows the names of these fella's?

(I do now, but do you?

A proper tea party

A group of proper ladies came to my home today for a proper tea.

Hats and gloves were requested.

From left to right:

Arna S., Janet A., Elaine K., Donna O., Jan K., Carol F., LeAnn R.

They sat down at the table for an afternoon of tea and conversation.

The tea was soon to be served.... one lump, or two, ma'dam?
Shall we begin?

A proper afternoon tea consists of three courses.
The first course is called the "savories" and that would be small sandwiches and other savory items.
The star sandwiches were tomato-curry.
The square sandwiches were cucumber with a cream-cheese ranch spread.


Deviled eggs, garnished with parsley from my garden.


The heart-shaped sandwiches were pineapple-pecan-cream cheese.
Lastly, the round sandwiches were a salmon spread with bean sprouts.
.
More tea was served.


The second course, my favorite, would be fresh-from-the-oven blueberry buttermilk scones.
They were served with jam, "mock" devonshire cream and lemon curd. Take your pick.
They are good enough to eat without all that stuff too!


Each person also had their own pat of butter, molded into a cute shape.
.
and more tea was served...



The last course would be desserts.
On the right are my favorites: madeleines. They are cute little french lemon-flavored soft cakes.
Also served was chocolate-caramel-oatmeal chews, lemon bars and linzer cookies.
Yes, I made them all.


Another addition to the dessert course were little chocolate shells (purchased) filled with a white chocolate filling and garnished with a REAL leave of mint that was coated with chocolate.
Wow, that chocolate covered mint leaf was fabulous!
(Thanks Marlane and Robyn for the great idea!)


In the interest of good health, we also had fruit!
Freshly picked strawberries (from our garden too!) dipped in chocolate.
yum yum


Here's a close up of those sweet little madeleines.
You need to have a special madeleine pan to make them but they are pretty easy
(as long as you don't forget to grease the pan!)
.
But here's the best part of the tea party: it was something I offered at our church auction that one of these dear ladies paid for - and the proceeds of the auction are to go toward the building of a very modest home for a family in Mexico that needs that home desperately.
For the third year in a row, a group of volunteers from our church will travel to Mexico and stay for a week or so helping in the construction of this home.
Having seen the pictures from the previous trips, and the grateful reaction from the family that benefits from having a decent shelter for them to reside, it is well worth the effort.
So, as I enjoyed the time preparing for this afternoon of tasty food and warm fellowship, I thought of the family in Mexico that was ultimately to benefit from our small efforts.
What a deal.

Getting ready

Time for a tea party. Fresh flowers.

Silver polished.
Serving dishes ready.

In Memory

It was five years ago today that my brother Cordell died.

How much he is missed even to this day!

I am so glad that we posed for this picture, many years ago; it is a picture that I treasure.

Cordell had the best sense of humor and always knew just how to tease me. I sure miss that!

I can still hear his voice saying "hello there" when he would call me.

Blessed be his memory.

Blast from the past

We had a very special afternoon and evening Saturday when our friend Paul Olson and his family visited with us. Paul had been in youth group when W and I were youth "leaders." He is now a Pastor in Iowa and he, along with his wife and 2 of his 4 children, came for a brief overnight visit. Also joining us was Pastor John Kilde and his wife Jan. Pastor Kilde had confirmed Paul when we were all attending the church in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

After attending church together this morning, Paul and family headed south towards home.

Oh, we had lots to talk about!

Thanks, Paul & Denise, for visiting! Come again!

Happy Birthday Courtney!

A special birthday wish today to my GREAT niece Courtney!

I hope you have a wonderful day today!

Grandma's girl

My granddaughter has excellent taste in reading material.

She will soon be identifying the birds at grandma's!

Grandpa's parade

Imagine, how lucky for Grandpa! The town had a parade on his birthday!

Sean is excited - it looks like he is going to direct the band!

Our fabulous hometown band (which marched in the Inaugural Parade!) always looks crisp and makes us so proud.

Brooklyn and Preston anxiously await the floats - and the candy.

Isn't this sweet of Preston watching the parade?

Tobias was learning the finer arts of trying to get to the tootsie roll before someone else...

not sure how he did here...

And of course we had to have the cake and candles for Grandpa!

We sang "Happy Birthday" and then Grandpa had some help blowing out all those candles!

(Well, there weren't that many actually - I went for style over substance...)

I think only Preston was missing from this picture - can you find the other 7 grandchildren here?)

Soon to be Mrs.....

Last Saturday a bridal shower was held for my friend Kari, who is getting married in July.

I am happy to be her wedding coordinator and look forward to a nice day.

Here is Kari and her mom.

The ladies all enjoy seeing the gifts being opened.

Barb poured the punch...

and the dessert was just perfect....

Annie was willing to pose by the guest book table.

She is going to be the flowergirl.

Kari stood up and shared a nice thank you to all the ladies.

Soon to be Mrs. Andrews!