Cottage Tours

Alexandria is having it's annual Vintage Cottage Tour today. There will be 5 or 6 places to tour, some old some just decorated in vintage style. Here are some photo's from a few summers ago. This will be my second time to go and I hope to get some new pictures for you. Isn't that a great bike? I like the old boat filled with flowers too. Last week, Shari and I spotted a boat from the 70's filled with flowers. It just doesn't have the same effect as an old wooden one, believe me.

Thrift Store Duvet

Last week, Shari and I hit the Goodwill in Hibbing and I found this blue floral duvet cover and pair of shams for $20. More than I usually spend on items at Goodwill but this was new and part of the Shabby Chic line from Target. I think it's summery and I like the tiny floral print on the back. Shari likes going to secondhand stores now that she is collecting Pyrex and aprons too it sounds like. You can see that we still have no headboard. King headboards are not as easy to find as full sized ones. I think a simple iron one is what we'll end up with eventually.

Last Weekend in July

Jim, Shelly, Miranda, Sam & their new corgi pup Jack spent a night at the cabin on Saturday. Warren, Ann, Andy, Sarah and Lindsey were here on Sat. too but I have no photo's of them since my battery was charging. :( I'll get you next time! We had beautiful weather and luckily the humidity was low. It sounds like that is about to take a turn for the worse.
Today, I spent the majority of the day washing siding & windows on the garage and the house. It took a LOT longer than I thought but it looks brand new again. It was a good project for a hot day. I got a call from our Supt. today asking me to be a part of the interview team for our new principal. I feel honored to take part although interviews generally make me nervous no matter what end I'm on. Tomorrow is the last day in July...kind of sad. There's still a good chunk of summer left, to think on the bright side. :)

Fun up North

Shari and I went to a fun shop in Hibbing last week called Rummage in the Park. They have a great selection of vintage dresses. We tried on lots of fun stuff, very much like playing dress-up and picked one outfit for the other to wear in a photo for my blog. This is the Asian dress that I had Shari model and she found the nice shoes! Nice leg and a great smile. She would want me to remind you that she is hamming it up for this photo. :) If you want to see our dresses in greater detail you will have to click on the photo. I'm experimenting with smaller photos to see if it makes my blog easier to load.
Okay, here's the 100% polyester number that Shari picked out for me. It wrapped right around my neck and I felt like I was choking but I also felt like I needed to find a guitar and belt out my favorite country tune. Back then when they said a dress was a small size, they meant it. We were both glad we didn't have to wear those numbers for more than posing purposes. Ellen refuses to go with us anymore as we spend far too much time there than she cares to.
It was hot up on the Iron Range too-90's and plenty of humidity. Ellen beat the heat with her slip and slide. Shari and Carly are in the background. FYI the house you can see in the background is their neighbor's messed up house. There's a long story behind that place and a reason why Shari and Paul are letting the grass grow nice and tall to block the view.
Shari, Ellen, Carly and I drove down to see Royce, Lynn and Gracie, oops, can't forget Ollie! I caught her here with a big yawn. We held her a lot but she slept through most of it. She has regained her birth weight and doing just fine. Lynn is looking great too as you can see in this photo. Royce is building the fireplace behind them, it's about 12 feet high or more and he only has a couple feet to go. It's beautiful.

Open Eyes!!

Birthdays!

Today is Kelsey's 4th Birthday! She has been doing a lot of celebrating! Check Jen's blog if you'd like to see more party pictures. I have linked it under my favorite blogs.

Saturday was my father-in-law, Jim's birthday. My favorite thing about Jim is his big hearty laugh and the way he will just go up to strangers and start a good conversation. More people should be like that I think. I'm not sure what Darlene thinks about it, but I think it's neat. He also makes a great bowl of soup!! Hope you had a special day.

Heading Up North

I am heading up north to Keewatin this afternoon. It's a fun trip that I think I have made almost every summer since Shari moved up there. These pictures are from a couple of summers ago when it was prime blueberry picking. Paul says it is not looking good this year for the wild berries as you can see in the picture above.
Blueberries grow quite low to the ground. It takes a while to fill up a little bowl. Carly was just getting started in this photo. I love this picture and have it framed at home with another of Ellen with her bowl which is quite a bit more full.
You have to bend down to get the berries. We were in a remote spot somewhere in a 25 mile vicinity of Paul and Shari's. That's all I can tell you as I was blindfolded on the way there and back.
That summer we drove up to Ely. They have a lot of fun shops and restaurants and great flowers. It's about 90 mn north of Keewatin. Shari and Ellen posed in this pretty garden.
This sign at a restaurant made us all laugh. You will have to click on it to enlarge it and read what it says in parenthesis. How can you be sad after that? I forgot about that sign-fun to see it again! It's the little things.
I'll be back on Thursday. Try to stay cool. Laurie
PS
I almost forgot..Shari, Ellen, Carly and I are going to drive down to see Gracie on Wednesday!!! We'll see Lynn and Royce too of course. :)

Sisseton's Parade

There's our little Miss Sisseton, Courtney, throwing candy to her sister and cousins!

It said, "No Parking" but Darlene sat here anyway.

Notice how efficient everyone was with the shade!
How many Smiths can you spot in the line-up?

5 more Smiths, can you recognize them with their shades?

Miranda, Sam & Kelsey made a nice haul of candy.

Kris's Quilt

Well, it's my quilt now. It's a treasure! Thank you Kris! It looks great on the dining room wall and I think the green reflects all the nature around the cabin beautifully. Kris collects vintage quilt tops and then finishes them off with a backing and fun top-stitching. What is this pattern called Kris, Spool or maybe Bowtie?

Mrs. Nelson's Cabin

Here's Jan in front of her cabin that's 3 doors down from us. They just moved in at the end of May and have been enjoying lots of time here as their farm is just 3 miles down the gravel road. You don't need to go far away to get away from it all! Jan is a coworker of mine and we taught first grade together for 9 years. We really are kindred spirits as we have so many similar interests, flowers and rummaging for vintage treasures being two of the most obvious. Needless to say, I was thrilled when they bought the cabin especially since I won't be seeing her as often in another year as she plans to retire after this year. She is an amazing teacher and it's hard to imagine our school without her.

Jan's pretty windowbox

Our Public Library

Open staircase up to the loft
(Door in background leads to the computers)

The loft and gas fireplace

I found these photo's on the the library website and thought I'd share them with you as I have told many of you about their beautiful addition. Thorson Public Library has always been a little treasure in our community and now is becoming quite an amazing space. The addition also includes a spacious restroom, small meeting room, beautiful windows, elevator and a community/senior citizen room in the basement. They are busy fund-raising to help pay for all these improvements.

Happy Birthday, Deb!

Deb, Miranda, Laurie

Hi Deb! Happy Birthday!! I see Jen stole the picture I was going to use on her blog. :) This one is a few years old but we haven't changed a lick since then so it doesn't matter, right??!! I hope you are having a wonderful day. Will we see you in Sisseton on Sunday?

Liver

I actually made liver tonight...and I liked it. Dan left later in the afternoon for a retirement party in St. Cloud from his financial aid days, so it was a good night to try it. I don't think Dan likes it anyway, maybe I'm wrong. Mom used to make it with onions and since it was the only option I ate it, with plenty of ketchup and often holding my nose.
Anyway, we have some fresh liver in the freezer from the beef we got from Dad in June and I thought I'd give it a try. I went to allrecipes.com and looked up liver and onions and settled on the world's best recipe with butter and onions. I also prepared some little red potatoes with Jan's garden fresh green beans so I'd for sure have something to enjoy. Just to be safe I also gave myself a good dose of ketchup. The recipe called for soaking it in milk before cooking to remove some of the strong taste and maybe that helped. Really though, anything you cook with butter and onions has to turn out okay. :) Do any of you ever make liver? Do you like it?

The Fergus Ancients

Here's Dan on Sunday afternoon a split second after hitting a ball right to the pitcher. They got him out. It was a close game that went into extra innings but they did lose. Dan scored the only run I believe. One of the fans took a great picture of Dan batting, much better form than I captured. I told him that it made him look like a major leaguer which you can imagine made Dan quite happy. Seriously, you will see if I post it. She said she will send it in a couple of weeks after she returns from some travel. We shall see.....
Warren, Ann and Sarah (Best fan-Season 1&2) joined us for the game and brats afterward.

School Hollyhocks

This will be the last post this morning as Dan is working from home today and needs the computer in a few minutes. These flowers are blooming in our school's bird sanctuary right now. I think they are so charming and old fashioned. When we were weeding this spring, I dug a few to transplant near the cabin door-window and they seem to be doing well. They were small so they'll probably bloom next year, wonder what color I got. These would take over our sanctuary if we let them! Have a wonderful day!

NYC Bikes

These hard working bikes were scattered around the city and Brooklyn. This one was outside a market on Lexington Avenue. If I lived in NYC I would definitely have a bike but probably not such a big basket in front. :) A couple baskets on the sides of the back would be good too. I would love to get my groceries this way but the closest store is 8 miles away. I'm afraid the ice cream would melt. When we lived in Morris, we were only a few blocks away from Willies and I often used my bike or just walked. Dan used to bike to work at UMM too. He'd pack his lunch and be off. The good old days!

More Gracie

How's this for a cute baby picture?! Shari, Paul and girls stopped in to see her on their way home from their vacation on Saturday. Doesn't she have a sweet little face, just a little doll. Thanks for another good photo, Shari. I hope to see Gracie in the next week or so.

Sophie's Hawaiian (Thrift) Dress

I picked this dress up a few weeks after we returned from Hawaii at my favorite thrift store Kvil's in Alexandria. It was a Hilo Hattie label which is directly from the islands. It appeared to be brand new and it washes well according to Nancy. It has a double tie in the back. Sophie went to Hawaii with her parents when she was only a year old. I think it looks pretty cute on her.

Glendalough State Park

On Saturday, we enjoyed hiking in Glendalough State Park north of Battle Lake with Joel and Amanda. It was our first time there. They have nice trails that wind around small lakes, nice camping spots and a shingle style house that you can rent which would be fun for family reunions. The first picture is staged, which you can probably tell without me saying but in the bottom picture we all took a turn looking at a loon family. The babies are quite large by now, gray bodies and no spots yet that we could see. That was neat to see. The deer flies however were not a lot of fun. They were constantly hovering around us and especially around me as I made the mistake of using some hair product in the morning. The rest of the group even asked me to walk up ahead as the flies weren't so bad when I wasn't around. :) I'm glad we finally made it to this park.

Junonia Shell

Here's the rare Junonia shell Paul and Ellen found on Captiva beach. Paul found it and Ellen gleefully identified it, according to their reports. What a great souvenir! Read Shari's comment on the previous post if you'd like to hear more about their trip and Captiva. I think I could get addicted to shelling. Thanks for the photo's Shari.

Shari and Ellen on Captiva Beach

Shari, Paul, Ellen and Carly are vacationing in Captiva this week. The house they're renting is close to the Mucky Duck restaurant which has a live beach web-cam. Ellen and Shari told me they were heading out to the beach and would set up camp in front of the camera. In the first picture I had them get up close and wave and saved the picture immediately. (Shari called on her cell once they got there.) The second picture shows them under the red and white umbrella center screen. At this moment, they are still there. Isn't the internet great?! Looks like a lovely morning to read on the beach. The highlight of this trip so far has been the manatees that hang out near a marina that's close by. Ellen touched one! They had fun kayaking yesterday and saw dolphins and more manatees up close. That sounds pretty neat, usually I just see carp when I kayak along the waters edge. :)

Gracie Lynn

Here are some more pictures for you. Lynn was discharged but stays in a room with Gracie until Gracie nurses successfully for 24 hours. You can see her little feeding tube in her nose. I talked to Royce last night and it sounds like she was making good progress so hopefully they'll be able to take her home soon. They've spent a lot of time in hospitals for the last 10 days. Dan was in Mpls this week and stopped to see them Monday and then again on Tuesday after work. Royce and Dan went out for pizza and smuggled some back for Lynn. It probably wasn't smuggling, but whenever you bring food into a hospital it seems that way. I am really looking forward to holding her. I'm glad Dan was able to anyway!
I am heading into Elbow soon. I have a loose crown that needs to be re-cemented in. Dr. Leis said it could be a piece of cake if the rod comes right out that it's attached to or a mess if it doesn't. I have been doing lots of positive mental imaging of the rod slipping right out with the tooth. I'll tell you later if it worked. Wish me luck.

A Picture of Gracie!

Scroll down to see a photo of Gracie! I attached it to her birth announcement. Thanks for sending it Nancy.

More Lake Fun

Saturday afternoon was scorching hot! We had a lot of tubes out there. You can see Gary and Toby floating out there in the middle. Toby is a rat terrier and does not like to be left out of the action, as you can see.

No explanation needed for this one!

Mom and Dad pose on the dock.

Axel and Hannah are lots of fun to have over. Axel is into ties, what a little character!

Look....no hands!!!