We Had A Blast!

My daughter and her hubby came to visit about noon last Friday, June 19th. I had presents for them to open (it was her hubby's birthday on Tuesday and I always have a little something for my daughter, too). We ate some cheese and sausage and talked a bit, and then headed out. We decided to go to the Vines and Rushes Winery, but first drove up to Omro to take a short walk, since a walk was also on the agenda. We walked across a bridge in Omro, took some pictures, and then drove to the winery.

Omro. We took family photos, too.

Italian built pizza oven at Vines and Rushes.

We tasted some wines and then ordered pizza. The pizza could have been better, not the oven's fault. We sat outside and talked for awhile, then decided to drive into town. It really had not crossed my mind that it was Ripon Fest. I wasn't paying attention to the announcement on social media.

First we walked down to the Patina Vie, a beautiful shop that just won an award as the best Independent Home Decor store in the nation for 2026. We spend some time browsing the beautiful items, some quite reasonable, others very spendy. The we started making our way back down the street to where we were parked.

Suddenly....music! 80's Rock and Roll! My daughter (an 80's girl) announced "On to the music!" and we headed to the park. A band named Cherry Pie was playing. My daughter was over the moon. 

I must tell you a short story. When my daughter turned 16, she and I were playing her favorite songs. I was 36 at that time. It was late. The street was dark. We put on Van Haylen's "Jump". Oh, who can sit still with that playing?!?! We cranked it up and ran outside. We ran out to the middle of the street and were dancing like a couple of crazy happy kids. Suddenly we noticed way down at the other end of the block, headlights flipped on. They just sat there. Then they pulled out slowly. We ran inside, killed the music, closed the door and blinds, turned off the lights and looked out cautiously, just in time to watch the police creep slowly by. 

Guess what song the band played...Jump! 

Here is a video from June 19th in Ripon, from the Cherry Pie website. My son-in-law is on the right at 33 seconds. My daughter is next to him but they didn't pan over far enough to show her face.

We stayed quite awhile before heading back to our apartment. My daughter and hubby had to leave early because they had a race to attend in the morning. They love going to the races, and attend the Indy 500 and several other races every year.

We are happy that my daughter and her hubby have so much fun here.

Saturday, while they were at the race, hubby and I went to Grafton to walk the Lion's Den Gorge. It was a mild day, not too hot or humid. We walked all the way to the  bridge, which was broken in half by a tree. We took the 100 steps down to the beach and took a long walk. We took some pictures and walked back, up all the stairs and all the way back to the parking lot. Close to 2 miles. Our feet hurt from walking on the rocks along the shore!

Always love to see Lake Michigan

Non-native multiflora roses perfuming the air

The gorge

Stairs

Broken bridge

Closeup of the tree that fell and broke it in half

Lake Michigan was very reflective

That's it for tonight. This post is getting quite long.

This and That

 Last weekend we drove to Madison to check out a cove on Lake Mendota. It was a pretty spot, though small. It was a nice day. We took a decent walk, but the path was more overgrown than we like. We went for coffee in Middleton, our first time in that community. Looks interesting, and we want to go back. We visited the National Mustard Museum, interesting and fun, but we didn't buy any mustard.

Raymer's Cove, Lake Mendota, Madison, looking east

The west side of the cove, only a few feet away

The water is very clear

A drift of native Columbine

Close up of the flowers

The weather has been hot during the day but quite cool at night. I haven't needed to run the A/C all that often, and I've been opening the windows at night. It has been getting down to the 40's and 50's. I'm loving the low humidity.

I finally got a few succulents out on the balcony. Several are sitting in the big blue pot, which makes them easy to water. They were just doing terrible inside. The white pot in front is empty. It's a squirrel deterrent.

We have a pair of Blue Jays that come by to beg for unsalted peanuts in the shell. Sometimes they squawk and sometimes they chirp. I'm familiar with the squawk but the chirp is different. It sort of sounds like "serp" "serp". Each time they "serp" they pop up with their body. Cute.

It must be time for unusual bird sounds. One night there were several Great Horned Owls calling with a raspy "begging" chirp, probably young ones.

Some of my orchids are growing lovely new roots and leaves, a good sign they will bloom later or next year. Six of my new ones are still blooming. My first orchid, the mini white, is growing a new bloom stalk! 

I have one disappointment. The lovely mini purple has root rot. I have clipped off all the dead roots, cleaned it up, sprayed with hydrogen peroxide, and dusted the bad spots with cinnamon. It is now sitting in a jar, suspended over a little water with its roots barely touching the water. It will probably drop its flowers early. The leaves are wrinkled. That's a bummer because it is very difficult to rehydrate orchid leaves. I am hoping for new, hydrated leaves and plenty of new roots. Phalaenopsis orchids usually grow one or two new leaves per season, but they can grow many roots.

Purple mini

Wrinkled leaf

Very poor root system

In hospital

My daughter and her hubby are stopping in next month for a few hours. They attend a race in Plymouth Wisconsin, which isn't too far away. They love races, and attend the Indy 500 every year. We are planning a weekend together later.

Spring Is A Struggle

 Spring should be great, and it usually is, but sometimes I have a cloud over my head. There is a sense of foreboding that I can't quite put my finger on. And then it hits me. Chrissy died on June 1st. Of course I didn't forget, but in trying to navigate the loss, sometimes I still trip and fall. When I'm alone all day I get moody. Weekends are good because hubby and I are busy.

We drove down to Hartford last Sunday. Hubby said he wanted to reminisce. I actually ran into one of my daughter's former co-workers. We hugged and chatted. She had recently moved back to the area from another state. I told her we moved to Ripon. She said she might visit.

Hartford has a few changes. The BP gas station we used to go to all the time is now Citco. The company hubby worked for that sold out to the Minnesota company that eliminated his shift and all his pay is now named that company. Figures. We don't know how many people left or stayed.

So, we had our look around. We want to go back to Holy Hill. We went in late winter but there was so much ice on the path we could hardly walk. Another place I miss is Lapham Peak, south of Delafield. We walked Harrington Beach State Park but it was devastated by straight line winds this spring. They lost about 170 trees. Weirdly enough, that very Sunday we were in Hartford, straight line winds tore into Two Rivers (way north) and flattened dozens of trees there. 

So....what happened to the places to walk up here? Why are we walking down there? The South Woods trails are not maintained and are full of ticks. The parks here are small, not much for walking. Rush Lake nature area was interesting. There are more places we found in winter that were impacted by severe flooding. Hubby has a 4 day weekend starting Friday. Not sure what we are doing. In any case, it's been fun going back to places we frequented for the past nine years.

In other news, I have a new way to eat ground beef. I take an Egg Life wrap (because I don't eat taco shells) and press a thin layer of ground beef onto one side. Then I plop it meat side down into a frying pan and brown, flip over to brown the "taco" side, then remove and add toppings. I like it because its crunchy.

That's all for tonight. I'm making hubby pizza so I need to get started. 

Big Yellow

 Before I continue with the minis, let me pause and reflect on how awesome these yellow flowers are and how shiny and glossy the gorgeous dark, reddish leaves are on this medium-size orchid! Hubby picked this one, and it is outstanding!

Orchid Spotlight ~ Phalaenopsis Mini Hybrids

 I love these miniature orchids! The first one pictured below is my first orchid. It bloomed almost continuously even though I knew very little about how to care for it. I bought it several years ago at the Walmart in Hartford. I believe it is a Phalaenopsis Equestris, or a hybrid with that parentage. This type of plant stays small and blooms profusely, often for months and even more than once per year. The petals are a different shape than the larger moth orchids. Mine was showing signs of mineral depletion in the leaves, so I cut off the bloom spike. It is now getting a premium orchid fertilizer. I look forward to blooms again after its much needed rest and rejuvenation.

This next mini is a cute one with pale yellow flowers that fade to white. They have tiny magenta freckles and a magenta lip. I'm not sure of it's parentage because the flower is different than the Equestris. It has lovely slender, pointed leaves. It is also done booming and is under rejuvenation. I bought it February 21, 2026 in West Bend, at Sendik's grocery store.

The next mini is the second one in the picture above. I named it "Paintbrush". It is a multiflora, meaning it has side branches on its flower spikes. It finished blooming a couple weeks ago and is now rejuvenating.

This next mini is a recent purchase. I really wanted a purple one but that one had crown rot. I chose this one instead. I call it "mini pink fairy" because the flowers seem fairy-like to me. We bought in Sheboygan. It is a very small orchid with generous masses of flowers. I believe it is also a multiflora. Many of the mini orchids have striped petals. 

I have more that I will show in the next post. 

This is the fertilizer I bought. Since my tap water is so hard and alkaline I buy distilled water for this fertilizer. 

• Famous Michigan State Formulation of Orchid Fertilizer
• Urea Free Fertilizer for Orchids
• Recommended for use with reverse osmosis (RO), rain or tap water low in alkalinity

I'm going to sign off for tonight, actually morning, as it's nearly 2 am. Nite!