I Am So Far Behind!!!!

I will try to catch up.

Labor Day Weekend

My daughter and her hubby had planned to come up early Friday, but family business came up. My hubby worked a short shift (eight hours) so he was coming home at 9pm. It worked out perfectly because my daughter and hubby arrived about 9:40pm. We brainstormed plans for the weekend while they snacked on some cheese. They didn't stay late because we decided on an early-ish start on Saturday.

West of the Lake Gardens

The Plan...Saturday, antiquing, this time in Manitowoc. Spontaneous stop......West of the Lake Gardens, which was a big hit. Sunday was set aside for the Wade House in Greenbush, Wisconsin, which was amazing. We paid for our tickets at the visitor center, and the guy behind the desk called someone on a walkie-talkie. 

"Your ride will be here shortly" he told us. "Go outside and wait under that window" (pointing to a large stained glass window on the other side of the room).

As soon as we got outside, a wagon drawn by two beautiful horses pulled up. Let me repeat A WAGON PULLED BY HORSES was our ride!!!!! I wanted to jump up and down and squeal like a kid but I restrained myself. 

Here are some pictures from our visit. Our Ride!

The Sawmill

The Wade House (picture from Wiki commons)

The Blacksmith Shop

The Carriage Museum

After Wade House, my hubby wanted to drive us up to Door County. We stopped in Sturgeon Bay and then drove up to Egg Harbor to eat. We were having so much fun we decided to spend the night....somewhere.....on a holiday weekend. My daughter started making phone calls. The only rooms available were $300 for the night, and we needed 2 rooms. We kept looking. We finally found a house for rent with two bedrooms, $310 for the night, in Sturgeon Bay. We stopped at a drugstore and grabbed some things, since we didn't pack anything, and drove to the house. It was good. Buggy outside (Northwoods bugs) but clean inside. We decided to go out and found an Irish bar. We had a good time.

We set off early Monday, got some breakfast, and headed north. We drove all the way to Ellison Bay which is near Gills Rock, because...family name. Unfortunately we had to head back because my daughter and her hubby had to drive all the way back to Indiana that night. 

Sunrise in Sturgeon Bay. I don't see many sunrises because our apartment faces west

The house we rented

Sister Bay, Door County

Walking around Sister Bay

The goats on the roof, Sister Bay

Gnomes, Sister Bay

Ellison Bay

Ellison Bay

Inside a gift shop, flowers and pots

Technically we didn't make it all the way to Gills Rock but we visited all the gift shops that sold Gills Rock merch. We were short of time and faced with a long drive back.

Note to ourselves...plan better next time. Spend more time in Door County. Reserve a room. Leave some time to visit downtown Ripon. There are not enough hours in a day. nor days in a weekend.

I Feel Better

 I clearly was very upset yesterday. I talked to my daughter today. She says they are fine. It takes a long time to go anywhere because so many stoplights are still out. Some of my friends got their power restored. My daughter worked at the main branch in Gary today, all run by generators. She said there were only 4 customers. Her hubby is still home, no power at his work. His son is at college downstate and he is ok, not affected by the flooding.

I am still going through my stuff in the spare bedroom. I need to get rid of a lot of stuff and re-pack what I'm keeping.

I found a picture I did in high school. It's a print from a wood block I carved. I don't have the wood block anymore. I think it got damaged in storage or something. I'm going to give it to my daughter.

I've been trying to figure out the layout of the new apartments they are building in town. As far as I can tell, there are four 3 bedroom apartments on each end with one or two bedroom apartments crammed in the middle. Not sure about that. What we know for sure is we do not want to sit out on a patio or balcony in full view of everyone else.

I was hoping to have a set up like we had in Hartford, but I don't think it will happen. I will forever miss my view.

I want to end on a good note. The weather cooled off and the humidity lowered enough I was able to turn off the air conditioner and open windows! Yay!

The Number Must Be Wrong

 It's not possible that I am 76. The number must be wrong. Although the mirror keeps showing this odd person with wrinkles. I think the reason our eyes get bad as we get older is so we can't see them. And then we get glasses and we wonder what the h*** happened.

My daughter sent me flowers. My hubby had to work. But he will be off for a few days so we will go do something. I still have the UTI. I guess I need antibiotics. Ugh.

Here are my flowers. The vase is a party in itself. 

Here I am at Lion's Den Gorge. My daughter and I had a "grow our hair long" thing going. Hers is past her waist. Mine turned to frizz at shoulder-length. I have since trimmed it.

Here I am with my daughter and my hubby on the bridge in Omro

The heat has been exhausting, especially for people who need to work in it. Right now it has cooled off since it rained, so I am enjoying the quiet with the A/C off.

Well, I am going to go drink more water and take more D-mannose. 

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.