·:[ high hopes gardens ]:·
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The last few days of the trip were more rain than sun.

The high the last full day was supposed to be 80 degrees, but it struggled to reach 60.

A little rain doesn’t stop the kids from going outside - otherwise it’s time to snuggle up to a board game or deck of cards and be thankful we’re not in a tent in an all-day rain.

The sunset brought a ray of clearing on the last evening.

The final official vacation act is a stop at the Tower Cafe, amazingly enough, located in Tower, MN for a final breakfast on the way back home.  The cross-winds were strong on the way home, so with the canoe on top of the van, we couldn’t truck along at 70 mph, so it was a slower-than-usual trip home, but as trips home from vacation go now that the kids are older, it wasn’t even close to the longest ride home.

one year ago…”BWCA Trip”

Since Aunti Julie was here this weekend, we went to the Des Moines Art Fair.

Here Martin is amazed by a contraption that moves balls around a series of loops, falls, twists and turns.

You might recognize this guy from the July 21st Wind Turbine Dedication - one week at high hopes gardens, the next at the art fair!

The neices and nephew with auntie!

Linda seldom sees something that strikes her fancy - this artist, Mark Orr, had a series of ravens bearing keys in their mouths and Linda could not resist!  Here she is with the artist.

Here is the raven on its new perch in the living room near the front door.  One of the symbolisms of the raven and the key is the opening of doors and the welcoming of positive change into our lives.

one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #78″

The unseasonal weather held off until our last day.  Rain. I was tempted to stay in the house and read or just be lazy, but I ended up walking over to Cathedral Rock to see if the rain brought another mood to the landscape.

Here’s a wet prickly pear cactus with drops of water - a welcome event.

The kids spent some time in the hot tub in the back yard - they used the umbrella usually used for sun as a rain umbrella.

Cathedral Rock in the rain.

The beginnings of dry washes filling up with water.

It was such a neat time to see the water cascading off the red rocks, that I called the kids on the cell phone and told them to walk down to meet me.  They, too got to have a good time - we just followed one dry wash up the mountain and came down another, exploring all the ephemeral pools and small waterfalls.

The whole family, dressed in various clothes depending on age and sensibilities - from Martin in his winter coat to Emma in a T-shirt!

one year ago…

After a bit of driving the last few days, today we stuck to Sedona to look around.  Our first stop was Red Rock Crossing, which was just around Cathedral Rock from our house, but about a 20 minute drive by car because there just aren’t that many roads, and only one crosses Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona.

The first treasures we came upon were a group of rock cairns down by the creek.  Originally constructed for trail markers in remote areas, they seem to pop up in many places, and once you see one, you want to make one yourself.  Soon a village of cairns appears.  But not to worry - the next big rain will knock them all down and the cycle will repeat itself - we like to think of it as biodegradable folk art!

Here the kids start building their own.

Martin ponders, well, I’m not sure what he is pondering, but it looks like a good place to do it!

Here’s our entire group - it was fun to have both grandmas join us on this trip.

You might remember Emma up in a tree at Sunset Crater a few days ago - here she is at it again (with Martin in training behind her!)

Later in the day we hiked up Long Canyon trail and Emma found another tree over a dry wash.

one year ago…

The last morning we leave early and stop about an hour down the road at the Tower Cafe for breakfast.

Notice Claire’s sense of humor on the shirt she and Emma bought together. Written in upside down letters, “If you can read this, pull me back into the canoe!”

one year ago…

Yesterday, we endured the 11 hour trip from the farm to the northwoods of Minnesota.

Here are the kids the night before with the van all packed up and ready to roll.  Now, the parents get satellite radio and the kids get a portable DVD player to make the long journey much shorter than it used to be.

one year ago…

Today we had the pleasure to attend the wedding of one of the faithful blog readers.  Congratulations to both of you!  It was an outdoor wedding overlooking a lake, so it was a nice setting.  Special commendation to the groom for enduring the 90 degree day in the black tux!  I’ve often heard the advice to newlyweds “Never go to bed angry.”  I’d like to amend that slightly to be “Never go to bed without telling your spouse what you are angry about.”  So much for the unsolicited marital advice!  Now go have a great life!

It’s hard to know exactly what to wear for an outdoor wedding on a hot day, so here are the kids after the ceremony.

Our anniversary is coming up in a few days - 18 years this June.

one year ago…

Today, we finally had a day that wasn’t cold or snowy! We were able to get a few things done outside. GJ dressed up a crowd to do some bee work.  She brought her stepson from CA and a friend visiting from Fiji.

Here is the crew and, of course, the youngest one gets to hold the fire!

Marty leads the procession down to the hive.

Smoking the hive to settle the bees before lifting off the lid.

Yeah!  There’s still bees inside (that’s no longer something taken for granted).

More hive work. (I’m not sure what’s going on today!)

Linda got the first few things in the ground, although most of the garden is still to wet to work.

one year ago…

Saturday morning is pancake morning, pretty much year round. This morning was buckwheat pancakes. Martin still has a hard time cutting the cakes, so this morning we gave him a pizza cutter and he loved it and it worked great!

one year ago…

The recent snow lets the kids get out their winter toys and number 1 on the list are the cross-country skis. There’s lots of country to cross out here.

 
The girls even found a pair of their old skis for Martin to use.  Emma got new skis for Christmas 2005 and this is the first time she’s been able to use them.

We finally have a blanket of white after a winter of brown. The last week we’ve had two snowfalls. Just enough to warrant trying out the tractor with the blade for clearing snow.

It sure beats shoveling! I’ve still got some learning to do with the equipment, but right now it is a novel activity. This snow was folled by still and warm - not the usual howling wind, so it is once again nice to be outside.

one year ago…

Today we celebrated our 90th birthday!  I recently turned 45 and Linda turned 45 a while back, so we added them together, threw in a seven piece live band, cooked a turkey and invited guests to bring a dish to share.
 

To our surprise, everyone on the guest list was able to come. The band is the Blue Moon Players from Ames, and for you public radio listeners, Curt Snook is playing the fiddle.  We won the band at a church auction and they drove out for the gig.  Linda and I got to dance the first song at our wedding dance, the Iowa Waltz and a good time was had by all!

one year ago…

It’s usually nice to bring a potluck item to a dinner, but tonight’s dinner was bit more daunting as one of the invitees spent a gig as Paul Newman’s personal chef. It was a diverse crowd - including folks from Japan and France. What to bring? Linda decided on a winter vegetables - braised cabbage with beet and apple. It was a fun evening.

Martin ended up with the trinket from the traditional Epiphany King Cake (a cake with a small trinket inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations.) For his part, Martin donned a home-made paper crown decorated liberally with glitter and got to pick his queen, and in an upset pick, chose Claire over Mom.

He took his responsibility seriously and insisted on wearing the crown to church and a basketball game the next day.

one year ago…

This week’s Photo Friday Contest theme is “Best of 2006.” Here’s a few shots that generated the most comments on the blog this year.

Marty befriends a fledgling just out of the nest by finding and feeding it worms.

A foggy spring morning just before the trellised raspberries begin to leaf out.

A brave young Kindergartener’s first day on the bus.

An egg getting candled to look for cracks.

one year ago…