Old Glory Honor Flight - September 11, 2014

Dad and I started our trip early in the morning, leaving Appleton at 5:30 AM.   We arrived in DC at 8:30 AM to receive a "Fireman's Salute" - streams of water shooting over our airplane as we taxied to the terminal!  There was much fanfare as we entered the terminal with many people greeting the veterans.  After boarding the bus, we toured the city before going to the memorials.

Our favorite memorial was the Korean Memorial but all of them were spectacular. The temperature was about 90 degrees, but there was always plenty of cold water,  rest stops, and good food. We departed DC about 6:30 PM and arrived back in Appleton about 8:30 PM. The best part of the trip was the welcome home, where the veterans were greeted by the community, friends, and family.
( written by Jeff)

I gave up!!!! No slideshow. Here is the long line of photos Jeff took in Washington DC and I few I took in Appleton.  Jeff and I added captions last night. I have no idea where the captions went. I will readd when I have time.

                                       

I also took a video of Gordon's arrival. 

Look for him shaking hands along the left side. 

Turkey Trot, Anyone?

Even though we live in California now, it is noticeably autumn here. It might get down into the fifties overnight. I was even chilly walking home from dinner last night. It was great.

On Oct. 11, we went to the San Francisco Human Rights Campaign gala at the Westin St. Francis in Union Square. We've supported the organization and attended the Boston event for the past few years, so we thought we'd give the one here a try. It was fun - the food was good, and the other people at our table were interesting and friendly. I made it through almost the entire evening in my high heels before I had to switch to flats, and we do like an occasional excuse to dress up. I was outbid on the silent auction item I wanted, a small painting, but that's probably okay. We got to hear Nancy Pelosi speak - she was not quite as inspirational as Elizabeth Warren last year, but I suppose I do need to get to know our elected officials soon. (Our absentee ballots have arrived, but we haven't filled them out yet.)

Now, on to the important stuff. It was Jill's idea, but now that we have registered, I am going to go ahead and invite everyone: we are going to do the Festival Foods Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning in Fond du Lac. Bryan and Jill are going to do the five-mile run, but I signed up for the two-mile walk, in hopes that some of you might want to come with me. Emily said she'll come walk with me - anyone else in? More info/registration at http://www.festivalfoodsturkeytrot.com/. It will be bright and early, 8:00 a.m.! (If you don't want to walk, I think you can still come and cheer us on if you're awake that early!)

We finished the puzzle today! Gramma says please don't send any more puzzles like this.

4th of July at the Cottage

It was another lovely 4th of July at the Cottage and I was lucky enough to be in WI to enjoy it! We all piled in to my dad's van around 9am and stopped at McDonalds drive-thru for breakfast. Remembering all of our orders was difficult, but we all ended up with food and were soon on our way.

Since there was a detour on Hwy 23 outside of Ripon, we took a scenic route to Princeton on several roads and ended up on County J. For future reference, J is nice drive and may be a good way to avoid traffic in Princeton on Flea Market days. 

Once we arrived, we got right to work. Grandma mowed the field, Chris started the fire and mowed by the house, Rachel rested up for floating down the river, and Grandpa, Dad and I tried to deter the groundhogs from entering the garage. Oh and I also took a little bike ride and saw a Rose Breasted Grosbeak. 

After some snacks its was time for my favorite part, floating down the river! 

The river felt very wide and we all thought we reached the take out spot faster than normal. We returned to the cottage and while dinner was cooking we had a chance to look at some of the flowers blooming in the field and the compass plant. The compass plant has wide leaves which point north and south so it gets the most sunlight during the day. Pretty neat!

By the Compass Plant. 

New Flower

We had a wonderful dinner of Grandma's delicious ribs and grilled potatoes. We cleaned everything up, waved to the many kayakers making their way down the river, and headed out. A quick stop in Princeton for ice cream cones and in no time we were back in FDL before dark.  

Administrators and Book

Just a quick post.

Deanna thought it was about time I changed the title picture on the blog, so I made a judgement call of exsisting computer skills which gave many of you administrative powers. Log in and change away!

I read a book I really liked, All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.


Here is a nice review of the book. Goodreads Review

Summer Up North

Nothing new or exciting to report from the home base here.

Joe has been bull dozing his way through the forest north of Duluth for a few weeks now.  Not bringing home too many ticks, which is nice.

The last few nights we have had awesome displays of lightening bugs.  Fun to watch.

No garden this year, just a few tomato plants in pots on the deck.  I have not had luck with those much, but I have to try.  We are going to work on the garden, maybe adding another timber to make it deeper and amending the soil with more dirt, some compost and some sand. I would like to have a permanent fence around it, something pretty of course, but not sure if or when that will happen. For now we use rebar and fencing, which we put up in the spring and take down in the fall. 

We have had cool weather alternating with warm weather most of the spring/summer so far.  Some days are downright hot and some nights are pretty chilly.  Many lovely blue sky days with fluffy white clouds, and then days like yesterday where it would sprinkle a little, then the sun would come out, and then it would pour, then repeat. You have to love weather.

So, what is the weather doing in your necks of the woods? 

Amanda and Bryan, how are you liking your new home?

Andrew and Jill, what is new in the Big City?  We have to come visit some time, soon I hope.

Anyone??

That's it for now.  Honestly one day soon I will have Joe show me how to get pictures into this new computer so I can add them to my posts.

Love, Deanna

In Honor of My Father-in-Law on Father's Day

I am feeling very blessed this Father's Day to not only have a wonderful father, but also a wonderful father-in-law.  Here's to you Gordy!

Some of my favorite pictures...