Old, dusty table...

An old, dusty table that was in our house when we were little, now looking

for a new home at the Dawnbreakers Kiwanis garage sale.

A little staging and maybe someone will want this in their home.
A couple of old Kiwanians find the table makes a great footstool.

Carpet Out - new discovery, hardwood floors!

Fort Wayne, IN (tourist destination?)

Easter in Illinois 2007

Feb 07 snow storm

Thought I would share some pictures from the day.

Classes were cancelled at Augsburg so I was blessed with

an unplanned Sunday! "I watched 'Gone with the Wind'

which was on TV commercial free.

Lily loves the snow - so we were out in it a few times. Each
time she comes in she has to have a bath to get the snow out
of her long hair. That got old quick.

Christmas in Red Wing

Stacy Jo sits in front of her new name plate for her new desk
and office position at Midwest. (a gift from her Uncle Jay). She is also working on an
impossibly difficult puzzle. It was put away after everyone left.
(Click on any picture to enlarge)

Christmas began for me during ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Guthrie on Saturday, December 23. The new Guthrie has great seats and view of the Mississippi. During this mild winter, and having just returned from balmy Florida, it took Dickens haunting ghosts of Christmas to draw me into the spirit of the holiday.

Lisa, Greg, Eli and Jacob arrived after a long (16 hour) car trip from Bozeman on Dec 23 to celebrate our first ‘Red Wing’ Christmas. Stacy moved in for the 4 day holiday and John, Jill and Jean arrived on the 24th. For the next 48 hours we watched movies, played games, took walks, went caroling in my neighborhood, ate, drank, laughed, played with Lily and simply hung out enjoying each others company.

Our Christmas feast began at 6pm Christmas Eve with a poem, an organic turkey and gluten-free bread, in addition to the staples of mashed potatoes, green beans and warm rolls. During dinner we practiced singing The Chipmunk Christmas Song…

Christmas, Christmas time is near,

Time for toys and time for cheer,

We've been good, but we can't last

Hurry Christmas, hurry fast,

Want a plane that loops the loop,

Me, I want a hula hoop,

We can hardly stand the wait,

Please Christmas, don't be late.

We had to get the lyrics just right so that we could serenade my neighbor ‘YoBaby’ who put luminary Christmas lights all up and down my sidewalk. After dinner we ran to her house next door, knocked on the door and when she saw us she screamed, ran away and came back with her camera, family members and a tray of cookies. We sang a couple of songs – haunting any Christmas ghosts that might have been lurking around the neighborhood and went back home to settle in for games and pumpkin pie.

Christmas Eve turned to Christmas morning without having gone to bed. (I did capture some of our evening in pictures - see other posts). We weren’t waiting for Santa Clause in this house so sleeping in Christmas morning was part of the plan.

We spent Christmas day watching movies, eating and taking naps. Two of our Christmas movies were ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and ‘Finding Nemo’ both fun family movies. We also managed to watch ‘The Grinch’ and ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ old holiday favorites.

It was a long car trip back to Montana for Lisa and Greg, a flight back to Florida for Jean and a flight back to Michigan for Eli and Jacob on December 26, 2006. All agreed we could have used one more day together to go out, see a movie, and maybe hit the Mall of America. The time went by so fast, but what a wonderful time it was. I’m so happy to have had my family at my new house in Red Wing for Christmas 2006!

Thank you all for coming and Happy New Year!!

Jill and Lily

Cousin Jill and Lily bond on Christmas Eve

Despite all the loud singing in the dining room, Jill and Lily get a little nap in...

Family singing on Christmas Eve - 2007

Stacy, Eli and John singing their hearts out!
Browsing the internet for song lyrics and guitar chords...
Jacob, Eli and John - Christmas Eve 2007


Lisa, Stacy and Eli

Hanging out playing Scene It

Preparing our Christmas feast...

Stacy, Lisa and Aunt Carol Jean prepare our Christmas feast!

Greg is the expert chopper!
Eli has the important job of staying out of the way...

Jacob too...

Amazing Peace - Cristmas 2007

Aunt Carol Jean reads Amazing Peace for our Christmas dinner prayer.

Skiing in Big Sky

More of the Cabot Trail - Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

The beauty of these hidden places along the Cabot Trail is truly haunting
300 year old trees, ancient waters of far-away mountain streams...

This is one of my favorite pictures (click on any to enlarge) as I
can vividly remember how I felt sitting there listening to nothing
but water hitting rocks and seeing the first blush of color on the trees.
Land, ocean and sky...

There is nothing urban or trendy about Cape Breton Island,

which is what I loved about it.

Fishing is obviously a common maritime activity

Pictures do little to capture the majestic hardwood, virgin
forests that flourishes along the Alantic coastline.

The locals talk about visitors
getting the maritime fever - once the landscape is in your blood
you are forever bound and will return again and again.