Summer’s End

Jeepers. Summer is almost over. The Minnesota State Fair is starting up and that’s a sure sign of the approach of fall for sure. I don’t know where this year has gone. I know that the first part of it was taken up with school. Especially spring when I took those two classes and I didn’t see the light of day for 12 weeks!! But now that’s all behind me and in 17 days I leave for Ireland.

For the Ireland trip I got my neck pillow and my foot stool (thanks for the idea Martha), and my Trunk from Trunk club will be here soon. I got a new pair of jeans and sweater for Ireland from Stitch Fix. I really don’t want to spend a lot on clothes but I do want to have easy clothes to wear. After this, I am sad to say, my clothing clubs will likely be put on hold until after Christmas. I don’t need any more clothes and I think I’ll shop locally for a while if I do.

I do love my selections from Trunk Club this time though. Check out these boots—water proof and way cuter and more versatile than the ones I have now. If they are really nice and super comfy I will get them in black. But they are a bit spendy and I don’t want to be spending all my vacay money on clothes. So we’ll see.

I went to the Walker Art Museum two weekends ago.

It made me text Martha and send an Instagram to Katie. Not sure why………….

We got there kind of late because I ran the Chatfield Western Days Trail Race in the AM. Dave didn’t go so I didn’t get a picture. I should have taken a selfie but I fell at the end of the trail and was too humiliated to further humiliate myself with a selfie at the finish. Needless to say we got there a little later in the day so we had lunch at the restaurant (quite tasty) and toured the sculpture park. Next time we will go early and tour the museum.

That sculpture part is pretty cool though--

This one didn’t turn out so great because the wind chime tree in the background sort of interrupts the sculpture

Wind Chime Tree close up

Some of those I needed a little help with  but these are self explanatory

Basilica in the background.

And this one everybody knows--

In addition to sculptures we checked out the mini golf--

My favorite hole.

And what trip to Minneapolis is complete without a stop here--

Um, delicious Doe Eyes is back.

The wall of insight swag.

It’s the place I love.

Other than that-I finished my first Mother Bear

And I’m starting a ReTrax Tee Shirt Quilt

When all else fails, try to hold two 15+ pound cats on your lap.

It’s harder than you think…..

Veseleyville, North Dakota

It’s a real place, even though there’s not much about it on the internet. I had found information on it on my phone but now can’t reproduce it on my computer. Not sure why that is but we’ll get back to Veseleyville later.

Before I discovered Veseleyville Debbie came to visit and brought me a cat basket. I was unsure how this would go over but three out of four cats have done a test drive--

Yep—Note the different fits. Jack sort of pours himself in..

But as you can see Puddy and Chat have lotsa room-

Happy has not deigned to try it. Not sure he would fit at all. Nor would he even want to try.

Dave and I went to Cedar Rapids IA to see Jim Gaffigan. If you haven’t ever netflixed him in Beyond the Pale—truly, go right now and do so. It has my most favorite Jim Gaffigan bit about cake and it.is.hilarious.

The drive was beauteous-

Clouds and green fields.

Old farm houses

Stayed at the Hilton—this was the view from there--

It was HOT in Cedar Rapids, holy cow. The humidity was very high when we were walking around looking for places to eat. We did eat at a place called Cobble Hill. It was good and we got the last two seats in the place. I had some salmon which was ever so delish.

Dark Bar seating looking out the front…

We were sitting kinda high up to take good pics of Jim Gaffigan. But—we were able to get some bad selfies. This is the best of the three which goes to show how bad they were.

The show started late, like 20 or so minutes and the warm up guy was ok.

Long view of the warm up guy.

and blurry pick of Jim Gaffigan himself. I wish I could get a good picture of a performer. I thought my camera had a setting for that.

Anyway, he was funny. His bits about colonoscopy and his wife’s brain tumor (is that funny? Yep, and that’s what I love about Jim Gaffigan) were hilarious. He talked about so many things I can’t even remember them all. I hope he does a special during this tour, called the Noble Ape Tour.

After the show, we went out and had a couple of drinks at the Grin and Goose. I ordered a Mexican Mule and it was actually about 5 shots of Tequila with a little mule thrown in.

I then thought it would be a good idea to have a local sour. But maybe not.

Jeepers. The next day we went to the Breakfast Cafe cause it got rave Cedar Rapids Reviews. May I say I think it was rigged? I was a little ill after eating there. We were kind of sad about that. (No, it was not the Mexican Mule I had the night before, in case you might have been thinking that….)

After we got back we finally had our retirement dinner with Mary. Well, Laura and I aren’t retired but Mary is. I really really want to be retired. I want to say on my review that my goal is to retire but they don’t appreciate that. Not sure why.

Take One

Take Two

Now, today, I just got back from visiting Blane and Melanie in Veselyville North Dakota. It bugs me I can’t find the history I found before. But the place has been around since the early to mid 1800’s. We took a stroll around the Catholic graveyard (no, not weird) and there were many graves from the 1800’s. Lots of children who died. ND is a demanding and harsh mother.

It was a pretty cool place really.

Blane and Melanie’s house isn’t in the graveyard, it’s down the street--

Back yard

There were endless photo ops since it’s out in the country—farm country.

Moon over the fields.

Sunrise Shadows over fields

Sunset

Clouds

Panorama but not sure it’s as good as the real thing……

We brought our dogs along so there were the four of us and seven dogs. That was a bit much.

We just got home today and after every time I visit I am so sad to leave. I wish we lived closer. But then they wouldn’t live out in the wide open spaces.

So, that’s as much as I know right now. I have another day off to finish the last part of my last paper in my last class. I’m not terribly motivated because I am suffering incredible school burnout but I think I can do it.

Oh, and did I mention—as of tomorrow ONE MONTH until Ireland. Not that I’m counting.

Us going there……

Those Things That Aren’t That Fun but Are Made Fun by Friends.

Have you ever done something that isn’t really that fun but was super fun cause you did it with one of your besties? Yeah. I did that about a month ago.

On Father’s Day weekend Laura, my travel partner and blog muse, and I had a garage sale. Now, Laura is an expert in the field of garage sales but sadly, I am not. So she gave me all sorts of tip—like you gotta have stuff outside cause that draws people in. Good to know. She also had some free stuff available and I advertised fabric. Oh, and the other thing is it’s good to have pictures of your stuff. I took some sort of bad pictures of fabric since that’s really what I wanted to get rid of. I put an ad in the paper and Laura hit the social media sites.  She also did signage.

She’s Hired.

We had a beautiful day as you can see. I had fabric and books and assorted stuff like these sinks--

    They didn’t sell, btw.

But someone said they’d make great planters which I considered but came to my senses about later.

Laura sold a ton of paint brushes and other supplies. I sold quite a bit of fabric and books and we were surprisingly busy and steady for most of the time we were open—which was 8-1.

A slow moment.

In the minutes that we were alone we looked at our Ireland books and made profound and witty comments which amused us to no end.

We took a selfie with my camera--

There’s our calculator, some dental floss to have during our garage sale for dental emergencies (as one does), our Ireland books, my phone so I could Google what we needed to know, and our money—which together we made over 200 dollars. Not bad for a morning. But NOW that I know (I know, I know, NOW I know) how to throw a garage sale. I do. AND both of us are already planning our 2nd annual garage sale next June. I’ll have a little more fabric, but way more household goods and clothes and books and kitchen stuff. I’m already storing it up. Oh yes I am.

But the thing is I’m not sure I would have had the fun I had without Laura helping me and then sitting with me and being loud with me and everything else. It’s true.

Oh, and we paid the balance on our Ireland trip so after we spend our Saturday morning together we again apologize in advance to our fellow travellers for having to travel with us. Because surprisingly enough, some people don’t think we are funny. I KNOW—I don’t get it either.

It’s been mostly quiet after that. I am doing my last class at Walden. Yay for me. I have all the applications in for the practicum which starts in November. By Stitches 2018 I’ll be done, done, done. Am I ever glad about that. I’m still recovering over the two classes I took in the spring. I still don’t know how I did that.

Between then and now Ilan and Pam had their baby, Nova, and she’s extremely adorable.

Until she wasn’t

But even when she wasn’t she was still pretty cute. And little. Newborns tend to be that way.

Tiffini showed up for a visit for a couple of weeks and what better way to say hello than to run a relay on the 4th of July! Red White and Boom was completed by 8:30ish in the AM. It was hotter than I expected but I made it and so did Tiff--

Before-

After

Less happy and more sweaty!

I put on a sweatshirt cause I was sweaty and cold but by the time this pic was taken I was getting a bit warm.

The next day the ladies got together and we had a little 40th birthday celebration in Tiff’s honor—She was an hour or so late….

I hadn’t seen some of these folks for quite some time so I really enjoyed the reunion. I also hogged the shade but that’s another story. Next up for me and Tiff?? Ragnar Michigan. Look.Out.

Cody is in the middle of driving to Norfolk with Maral. He’s going back to residency and Maral has a job, I think as a hospital list. Either way, before he left he got a commendation from the Marines and the Navy.

We are so proud!

I only wish he had more hair. Jeepers. That’ll look impressive on his dress uniform.

And that’s what’s new. I have to get to the store to buy appetizers for work tomorrow which is making me incredibly salty AND cutting into my blog time.

There WILL be more later--

Happy says—What? This is my excited/hungry/mad/relaxed face. Guess which one it is now?

Don’t make me bite you.