Long Time No Blog

Since my last blog I have finished numerous knitted dishcloths, sewn three more Smart Bags and cut out several more, finished reading Andy Adam's Campfire Tales, become a Shaklee distributor, traveled to New Ulm, planted several annuals, and done some much needed weeding and thinning in my flower beds. I hop to figure out our new camera so I can add some pictures of my work.

Campfire Tales was a light, easy to read book. It was broken into three to four page stories, or tales, so I read one or two at a time. I found this book in one of the national park gift shops out west (probably Theodore Roosevelt Nat'l Park), and purchased it with the intention of reading it with Anne for school. We never used it as such, and in retrospect, so much the better. While the stories are told by cowboys around their evening campfires, it seems a book better read to oneself than read aloud. I enjoyed the simplicity of expression, though I did not know the meaning of all of the horse lingo, nor the geography of the trails from the 1800's.

Our annual trip to New Ulm took us to the Holiday Inn New Ulm for a first stay. We visited Domeier's, and while Papa did a tour of Schell Brewery, I paid visits to the two quilt shops and a second-hand bookshop in town. I enjoy the small quilt shops very much. I am not overwhelmed by too many fabric choices, and I feel like I am helping the local economy by my purchases. We discovered Turner Hall with its late 19th century paintings on the walls. Perhaps we will try out their lunch menu on a future visit. We drove past the Wanda Gag house, but it was not open for tour. We did a run through the Minnesota Music Museum, Arthur looking at Whoppee John, Sherwin Linton, and a few other familiar faces. The museum guide had lake cabin connections around central Minnesota, so I am sure his long chat with Arthur made his day. I looked for F. Melius Christiansen, music professor at St. Olaf who probably formed much of Mr. Engen's teaching at White Bear, but I found only the display from his induction ceremony into the Museum. I looked for more on Margie's old favorite, Johnny Holm, as well, but could not find his display. Arthur was not happy with his ribs at Wiegel's Kaiserhoff, so next time we will try Otto's restaurant at the Holiday Inn. Mama will probably like Otto's better, too, since they serve all my favorite German sides with their meals - red cabbage, German potato salad, and sauerkraut.

Marriage makes for truly strange bedfellows. I am hankering for a good pasta salad. Papa prefers potatoes. I like the pumpernickel bread, rosemary bread and popovers when we eat out, and he prefers the white bread. He usually orders the same thing, I usually try something different. He was raised on fried lake fish for Fridays,  I was raised on tuna. I like green beans, while he prefers peas and corn. I like cooked carrots, while he prefers his raw.

I have a sparrow in one blue bird nest box, and a wren in the other. I put oriole nectar and grape juice out again this morning, but I may give up if we have another rain, or if the humidity brings on the mildew again. My new oriole feeder does keep the wasps out, but ants are still an issue.