The Big Day

I I I

I woke up early, had a healthy breakfast thanks to my family and celebrated the day by cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner. It was a little early in November, but it was fun to make and great fun to eat. A happy day!

Another Project Finished

It's always good to finish a project that has been sitting around for awhile. This one just looked like fun with all of the interesting buttons I see. This won't be the frame I use for the final mounting, but it gives me an idea of size. The frame is a lace and gilding project from last year.

Time to Celebrate

Celebration this year included white cake with Penuche Frosting with Mom. It takes a long time to eat a whole cake so we blew out candles two days in a row. She thought it was fun both times, one benefit of limited memory.

Elves have been busy

This isn't the first treat to go into the freezer, but the second. I try to start with those things that freeze well. I hope to distribute them in Fairmont next week. A little early, but it will probably be the last time I'm in MN before the holidays. Our Christmas Party will be at the beginning of January. The Peanut Goodies are Carol Banwart's recipe, a real Fairmont favorite.

Suprise!

I was sitting in a Rochester, MN parking lot on Monday night and guess what? Literally right in front of me a man on a motorcycle hit a curb around a planted area, flew into the air and crashed into a heap, pieces of the cycle all over the parking lot. He got up, shook himself off and headed towards the Walmart entrance lights. He made it about 20 feet before other people who had seen the whole thing, got him to lie down. The police, fire trucks and ambulances all responded to my 911 call quickly and took him away and the police took lots of pictures of the marks and debris, and interviewed people. I think he was probably drunk, never saw the median, and just went ass over teakettle. I hope he was okay, he could easily have killed himself.

I ended up missing the end of the game which is just as well, considering the outcome. It's a tough year for Viking fans.

Along the River

On my way home I stopped at Bauer's Market in LaCrescent for apples (also onions, sweet potatoes, cider, and a caramel apple) a stop I have made multiple times each fall for many many years. I really look forward to it. They have grown into a large business from the small stand they began with. Both the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers were way over flood stage on both legs of my trip. It's amazing to see them higher than I've ever seen them, even in the Spring.

More Weekend

I forgot to mention our Saturday lunch at LeeAnn Chin's in Mankato and my one picture from the Twins game. You can tell that the actual game wasn't the high light. Food always takes first place.

Final Twins Game

A friend of mine had tickets to the last Minnesota Twins game and I was happy to accompany her to Minneapolis to see both the Twins and the new stadium. Sadly the Twins lost the game, but boy do they have a beautiful place in which to lose. I couldn't have been more impressed with the stadium, the site, and the view of the skyline in right field. These pictures, taken with my phone, do not do justice to the area, but I forgot to take my camera.

We had a fabulous weekend, starting with a day of shopping on Saturday in Mankato, then a wonderful evening at Mankato State University seeing, "Chicago". Which was one of the best plays we have ever seen in our many years of season tickets.

We spent the night in the cities, had breakfast from Byerly's, parked downtown, then rode the new public transportation train from Hennepin Avenue all of the way to the Mall of America and back again. We then had time to see the game and take in all of the unique memorabilia around the stadium. Dinner at a cafe on Hennepin Avenue, Deb had a gyros, I had pizza, ended a sunny warm afternoon. We decided to stop at Ikea in Bloomington and found a few things we, "needed". Since we still had a little energy left we stopped at Mistic Lake for a couple of hours of fun, then had pie and coffee at Baker's Square (peanut butter cup and lemon supreme) on our way home. We got back to Fairmont around Midnight. What a weekend!

My favorite face!

I'm so far behind with my blog I decided to begin with today and work backward. I'm missing pictures from others and if I wait, this will never get done. So I will save those for scrap booking and use ones from my phone which lack quality but you will get the idea. Since we celebrated Halloween early in Idaho, I see all of the festive things in the stores and wonder why people are still buying them. Then I remember that it's still three weeks away and I'm the one who is out of cinque. To put me in the mood for trick or treaters I made a batch of pumpkin face cut out cookies last night and every time I eat one I will be reminded that the holiday is in the future.

Minnesota State Fair

After an evening meeting in Madison I decided to head north to take in day one of the Minnesota State Fair. I made it as far as Menominee around midnight, and made it to the fair by 8:00 am the next morning. I ate my way around the fairgrounds as well as attending a cooking class, watching part of a horse jumping competition, and visiting all of the buildings. After eight hours of eating, Sweet Martha's chocolate chip cookies, State Fair Cheese Curds, vanilla fudge, taffy and a chocolate malt from the dairy barn I was ready to drive home and made it there by 11:30 pm. I guess that means I'm getting back to my normal energy level and my ankle is fine. Thank goodness, it's so good to be able to push myself again to do the things I want to do. By the way, I'm including the food pictures so that those of you who weren't with me can salivate over them, and enjoy them vicariously. I haven't eaten the fudge, taffy or the rest of the cookies yet, but I'm afraid I ate the rest all in one day.

More Fair Treats

Lots of Fun

We had lots of fun this summer, but getting up at 5:00 am to go to the Dane County Farmer's Market wasn't one of them for my guests. Coffee helped.

Meals on the porch are a joy second only to fresh vegies from the garden.

Still tie-dying after all these years

Nora talked me into doing another tie-dye project this summer.

Gram Enjoys 4 Generation Visits

My mom really enjoyed having more visitors. She seemed to know they were people that she knew and liked and her eyes twinkled when Michael teased her.

Wisconsin Dells Boat Tour

Daniel and I enjoyed a day on the river on one of the hottest muggiest days of the summer. It brought back lots of memories from trips past. Now a dog jumps to table rock instead of a person, but the river and rocks look the same thanks to preservation efforts. I apologize for some of the pictures in the next few days they were taken with my phone.

Hobby Lobby brings Brett Back to Vikes

No sooner did Michael put on a Viking Santa hat in Hobby Lobby than Brett magically appears in the Minnesota Viking training camp. Now all I have to do is get him back there before Saturday's lottery drawing. It's always a tough sell believe me, especially if I want him to use a coupon for me.

Yard Work

Russ and I spent half a day cleaning up the yard concentrating on trimming shrubs. This looks like a lot of foliage but we have another half day of work left to do. It's amazing how much time it takes just to keep a large yard up to date. I'm in the process of taking things out of my garden. Last week I pulled out half of my cucumber plants. I have enough pickles and just need some to eat fresh. This morning I pulled out all of the small tomato plants. I've eaten enough fresh and I have enough sauce canned and am currently giving tomatoes away as fast as I can. I still have two tomato plants left and both are producing more than enough for me to eat fresh with some to give away. It's hard to believe that summer is winding down.

Finally a new car

After 157,000 plus miles I finally gave up my 2002 Subaru Legacy Wagon. It was really sad to see it go, but it was time if I wanted to do some traveling this fall. So here it is. It's a 2011 Subaru Outback and as you can see it's red. I've had it 6 hours and it drives really well so far.

Busy, Busy

Yesterday I spent the third day looking at and driving cars. A Toyota Rav4 was the surprise of the day. I'll have to include pictures here soon. A lot of trade offs go into making a decision for a car for me now. Bob liked a bright red Rav4. I'm kind of tending toward a silver Subaru Outback.

I've also been canning peaches in the last two days and today made a couple of Peach Crisps. One to eat and one to put in the freezer. I think I already mentioned the peach jam. This is the first time I have ever gotten Georgia peaches. From the back of a truck no less. They came with good recommendations and I'm hopeful. I still have about 10 left so Peach Shortcake are in my future.

Today's Harvest

Today's harvest included my first large tomato. I think its a Wisconsin #?. I think it will become a bacon/lettuce/tomato sandwich since it's too hot to do much else in the kitchen. At dinner time the rest of it will become sliced tomatoes served alongside fried potatoes and corn. My first potatoes from my garden. I'm using the tiny ones. I also have creamed cukes leftover from last night. Kind of like hog heaven for me.

Since I've about ODed on the green and yellow beans, I pulled out the yellow ones this morning. They were bush beans and just about finished producing. I need the room for the cukes, cantaloupes, and watermelons, which have gone on a growing spurt in all of this warm weather. In another week I will have to pull the green ones too. I have enough cukes to start a stand and several melons of each variety. I've had to put up caution tape out in the yard so that Russ, our mower, won't mow over the long tendrils that have escaped the garden.

Tomatoes

Picked my first tomatoes this morning. Three tiny Sun Gold tomatoes were ripe and ready to eat. I have millions more to ripen, but this year I have a real variety of tomatoes. I have two large size tomatoes, different varieties, a Better Boy and a Wisconsin #?. I also have two small varieties, a Sun Gold and a Sweet 100. I also have a plum tomato variety. I don't want to take the time to look up the specific names now, but will another time. One of the large varieties has a tomato about the size of a softball that is getting ripe. I see a bacon and tomato sandwich in my near future or maybe a Great Northern. I can't wait!

La Fete de Marquette

Went to La Fete de Marquette on Thursday and Sunday nights with Bob. In the past we've heard some really good Cajun and Zydeco music at the neighborhood festivals, but this year was not one of them. Lots of good music and musicianship but not my niche favorites. The best I've heard is probably Rosie Ledet or Curley Taylor. Pictured is Jeffrey Broussard & the Creole Cowboys. Sorry the picture is so bad, but I took it with my phone.

Busy Day

Yesterday at the farmer's market I picked up lots of red raspberries and a pint of black raspberries. In the afternoon I made two batches of red raspberry jam and froze the rest of them. The black ones I ate over rich vanilla ice cream, not all of them, just half a pink. I'll have the other half pint today. They were nummmmy!

Lemon Cookies

I tried another Lemon Cookie recipe last night. It was from Cook's Country. Kind of a cake textured cookie with a glaze on top. I liked them, but I think crisp is better.

BD Art Fair

Sunday morning was the BD Art Fair, well mostly craft fair. It was very busy but being so spread out under the trees, it was still nice. Got a few gifts and some warm kettle corn. What a breakfast! Latte and kettle corn.

Shave Ice

At the Art Fair I had a shaved ice cone, not as good as Door County, and way below Hawaii. But boy it tasted good in the heat.

Art Fair

Got up early and went to the Farmer's Market, then the Art Fair. This is what it looks like when I like to go. About two hours and I was through, it was getting hot and crowded by then. Didn't buy anything except a sale t-shirt from two years ago. This year's shirt wasn't too interesting.

MM Project

My current multimedia project with tiles is progressing, slow but sure. These are some of the tiles in place within the black and white border. So far they aren't sealed, etc. Slow but sure.

First picking of beans

Today was the first day I picked beans. I put the yellow bush beans in a week and a half later than the green pole beans so that they would mature at the same time. We like them mixed for holidays, so I freeze them together. I should get a couple of bags in the freezer out of today's picking. But I may sneak a few for lunch.

Today's Harvest

I got up early in order to beat the heat, but it beat me, I'm just in from the garden and drenched with sweat. A pretty picture isn't it. I dug up the potatoes this morning. They were taking up more room than I thought they would have and were crowding the tomatoes. This is what it looks like after I was through. I was amazed at the size of the potatoes that were there. I had bought three seed potatoes, cut them up, and planted them as an experiment and this is the result. I can't imagine how big they would have gotten if I had left them until fall.