Millie is 100!

 Well, she did it!  With a diet of chocolate and limited fruits and vegetables, my mom has lived 100 years and done so well!

 

 We celebrated, of course, and everyone was present!  Here she is with her great grandchildren.

 

 And now we added the grandchildren to the picture.

 

 

 And finally everyone! 

 

 My mom with us four siblings.  (One brother has died.)

 

 

 

 Of course, Gus and Harley came to provide some rides!

 

 Every family member made a precious comment.

 

Thanksgiving in the barn!

It has been a long time since I have posted and I imagine there may not be any readers left here but none-the-less, I thought it would be fun to document a few recent events of 2017.

 

 My brother has a fabulous horse barn which he decided to transform into our dining room for Thanksgiving 2017!  We came from far and wide to be together and needed a large place for our family!

 

 

 The corridor was cleaned, tables and chairs were delivered and the transformation began..

 Seating for 42+

 

 Now we are ready for the guests!

 

 He hired a caterer who came and cooked us a delicious Thanksgiving feast!

 

 This was quite an occasion, as we were gathered, for the first time ever, ALL of our family.

We had gathered because two days after this feast we were going to party again to celebrate my mom's 100th birthday!

 

Along with lots of other outdoor activity for the children (four wheelers, motorbikes, etc.) we concluded a full day of family fun with a seriously crazy HAY RIDE. 



The "north shore"

 

 Here in beautiful Minnesota many of us treasure a trip to the "north shore" which is the shoreline of Lake Superior in the northeast corner of our state, bordering Canada to the north. 

We try to get up there at least once a year and now that we have a comfortable camping trailer for camping we have enjoyed some of our lovely state parks. The one we recently camped in was the Cascade River State Park, with a short walk from our campground to the gushing waters of the cascade river.

 

The day time weather was perfect for hiking and the evening just a bit cool, making the campfire very welcome, indeed.

 

We were only 10 miles south of the town of Grand Marias.  We drove inland to see the fall colors and some of the inland lakes.

 

 We ate the best fish and chips at The Angry Trout in Grand Marais, sitting outside in the sunshine with Lake Superior shining.

 Our cozy campsite.

 

 We drove all the way up the Gunflint Trail, and I snapped this picture of the Gunflint lake looking across to Canada.

 

The Cascade river.

At good time was had by all.  All two of us. :)

 

 

Just some words here.

So, most of you know I am fairly passionate about genealogy and family history regardless of whose family it may be. I was a history major in college which makes sense since I feel my mind is often in historical events. Genealogy does just that. I know many feel it is quite "dead" and "boring" but it is quite the opposite for me! In fact, my genealogy buddy friend (she knows who she is :) ) came across a most intriguing letter written in December 1938 to her great Aunt who shared a surname with the author. The author was a German man, a jewish man, who, along with his family, had managed to escape Austria into Switzerland and was looking for assistant to come to the United States. He was not connected to this great Aunt at all, just must have decided to write to a person with the same last name in an effort to secure for himself and his young family freedom and safety. We are unaware if this great Aunt responded or if he had written many such letters to others in an attempt to get help. So my friend and I took what little information we had and had to dig into history and hopefully learn what became of this young family. In the last 24 hours my friend and I have learned about the German troops that marched in Austria on March 12, 1938 to annex the nation for the Third Reich beginning a campaign there against the Jews. Many, along with this young man and his family, fled, witnessing horrors and leaving all behind. As my friend and I continued our "digging" we finally found that the family managed to come to the United States ... but not until 1968 as they went first to Chile! Then we had to research that and learned that "Beginning in 1938, Chile became the destination of many Austrian emigrants of Jewish origins..." so then the family must have lived in Chile for quite a while (persumable 30 years). Their dream of coming to the United States must have remained because they left Chile, came to the USA and naturalized. Ah, freedom!! Do not take it for granted! And history is something that enriches us as we learn from it! Who said this is dull stuff?

Look closely

Last week we drove to the Grand Canyon from Sedona. We were most fortunate as the weather was inclement but as we arrived it cleared for about 45 minutes, then a snow squall came through engulfing us in winter like conditions! It was fantastic and crazy. But this picture, taken prior to the snow, shows the canyon clearing nicely. Can you find the person in this picture? Look closely. No, it is not anyone in our group! phew.

Norwegians do Sedona

Now we have the pleasure of hosting our Norwegians friends and showing off this part of our beautiful country. Though they also live in a beautiful country they have been duly impressed!

When I attended high school Inge (in the green shirt) was a foreign exchange student in my senior class. Following our 50th high school reunion (yikes! Did I say 50?) we struck up a friendship as two married couples, with the added connection that my hubby has deep Norwegian roots. Last year we had the pleasure of visiting them in their home on Norway and we are returning the favor and enjoying sunny Arizona!

Patio waffles

It is warming up so nicely here in Sedona and we had our first company in for a light meal to our condo patio.  I managed to make some heart shaped waffles since I brought my waffle maker along. Add some delicious syrups and some blueberries, a good cup of coffee and great family conversations all added up to a delightful time.

Montezuma's castle

Today we enjoyed some sightseeing with some of hubby's family to the site of old ruins.

Inside this rock wall were ancient dwellings, room enough for about 50 families.  Such an interesting site and intriguing to consider how they lived and the mystery of why their small civilization ended.

Lately

So we have been getting lots of fresh air and my Fitbit is wondering who is this girl with all these steps? We hiked with hubby's nephew and niece, two good hikers!

Today was our longest hike, I realize I can hike 5 miles quite well, but the last mile, which was going downhill, was a bit hard on my knees. Age may be a factor!

Here is s silly panorama picture with hubby in it twice. Fun.

Nothing like a hike

Well, we have settled into our condo and awoke to blue skies and crystal clear air.. off we went for our morning hike, energized by the amazing landscape. We appreciate our health, our retirement and this time in our life. We do not take it for granted as we are well aware it is not a quarantee. May you appreciate your day today, wherever your circumstances find you. May your day be full of thankfulness and may you sense God's blessings in your life.

Once again...

We are soon to arrive in Sedona, Arizona, a place that has become such a spot of refreshment for our bodies and souls. We look forward to daily hikes surrounded by these amazing red rock views and blue skies.  6 weeks of sunshine coming up!

The white dress

Last week via facebook an old friend sent me this photograph she had of my father and me from 1969.  I was a member of the "Spring Court" at the college I attended my Senior year.  I think there were about 6 or 8 girls on the court and I asked my father to be my escort.  One of my close girlfriends, also on the court, did not like my decision to ask my father, she thought I should have asked one of the fellow Senior guys.  Fine for her, she was engaged to her escort... as were ALL the other girls on the court, I do believe!  I was determined to act in a way that made my day special and there was no one else that could have made it more special then to have my father escort me.  Little did I know that he would not be alive to escort me down the wedding aisle a few years later; he died just 2 months prior to my wedding.  So these pictures of the two of us, him in his white jacket and me in a white dress are more precious then I could have imagined.  (I did have pictures from this time, just not this one.  How fun to see it!) 

Facetime

Our youngest son is here in town briefly and his wife and many children are not.  There are some sweet grandchildren (7, to be exact!) that are missing their Daddy.  (Pretty sure his wife is missing him too!)   Last night I captured this cute picture of them chatting via facetime - I wish I could have captured it all, it was just so cute to see all of them excited to see and talk to Daddy!  (I think Daddy was pretty pleased to see them as well, actually.)   And, at my age, I still miss my Daddy.  Sigh.

Uncle Tall Boy

 

Our youngest son, the tall boy, is in town for a few days and we are enjoying his visit!  (It is a short visit and the rest of the family couldn't come, too bad!).  Last evening Uncle Tall-boy got to come with us to watch the 8th grade basketball team of our oldest grandson.  I think it was nice for our grandson to know his Uncle (who is a pretty fine basketball player) watch his game!  And the grandson delivered a mightly fine game himself - all in all, a nice family evening!  (The picture above is middle son, youngest son, oldest grandson and hubby.)   Family is a blessing and God has been quite gracious to us as we have been in a position to enjoy these blessings.  We do not take it for granted.

Cheerful flowers

This weekend we have been enjoying the home of our eldest son and his wife and 2 sweet grandsons while hubby recuperates from ear surgery here in Minneapolis for a condition called otosclerosis. The surgery went well and we are hopeful that the hearing in his right ear will improve significantly as it heals. We were greeted with these pretty flowers and lots of hugs. The day after surgery hubby felt well enough to attend our grandson's basketball game. This grandparent role is the best.

Dream Big

We have an eight grade grandson who loves basketball.  I think we have a good number of fun games ahead of us in the next years (along with the other 8 grandsons and 5 granddaughters and their sports, etc.!).  This grandson has springs in his legs and can really get UP to score (and also to rebound!).  I managed this fun picture of him, then put it in a program that had all sorts of filter choices, so I chose this filter, added these words and printed it out 8 x 10.  Hubby made a nice rustic frame for it and I think our grandson was quite pleased with it when we surprised him with this little gift.  Nothing like this grandparent role! 

Be...

I just feel drained with all the opinions back and forth regarding the culture of today.  I refuse to enter into the dialog on the internet.  If we speak in person and can have a civilized conversation I am all for it. But the social media sites are sucking the joy right out of me.  So here is some encouragement along with a favorite verse of mine from Micah 6:8 which reads "He has made it clear to you, mortal man, what is good and what the LORD is requiring from you - to act with justice, to treasure the LORD's gracious love, and to walk humbly in the company of your God."

Nightly visitors

Most every evening a number of deer come to our backyard to enjoy some cracked corn that hubby has put out for them. We never seem to tire of watching them. First we can see them from a long distance away because they stand out against the snow covered ground as they work their way out of their hiding places and towards our backyard which is quite wooded and safe for them. Last evening there were ten deer and one persistent bunny rabbit who wasn't so pleased with sharing the cracked corn with ten hungry deer!

Kumpe night

 At least once a year (and sometimes more) hubby and his buddy take over the kitchen in order to make a meal that they both grew up enjoying - it has Norwegian roots and has a number of names; we would say "Kumpa" (I believe it is spelled kumpe in Norske) , or Klub, or Kumla .. etc.  It is basically potato dumplings; raw grated potatoes formed into a dough (add a little flour and salt) and then into a ball with a small piece of salt pork in the center, then boiled. 

These two peeled 30 pounds of potatoes for the evening guests.

My job was to prepared the tables for the guests. We expected about 19 guests. 

Most of these folks had grown up with this food and just loved a chance to have some!

There are a number of ways to enjoy kumpe.  Some merely add butter and salt & pepper.  Some put honey or syrup on it.  I added some cooked carrots with the meal though it often is served just alone.

 Of course, we had to have a little dessert (not a big dessert, though, as kumpe is heavy, dense, and filling!).  Keeping with the Norwegian theme of the evening, we had cold heart-shaped Norwegian waffles with lingonberries and sour cream and, of course, coffee!

However, most every person who has grown up with this will also say that it is better fried the next morning.  Without exception that is said.. and it is true as far as I am concerned too.  (I did not grow up with kumpe and have not really developed a "love" for this meal.)  What are some of your ethnic meals from your childhood? 

Saturday night supper.

I am experimenting here with trying to place a photo from my iPad into my blog here. I think I have accomplished it and I choose this colorful picture of what we enjoyed last evening while sitting by the cozy fire and watching tv together. We have been eating well for a while now and sometimes I need the presentation to help me continue making good choices. Doesn't this look good? It was..