I need some sunshine.

So, I'm off!
To: Punta Cana. Tomorrow.

And, on this trip I get to take part in a little excursion called Dr. Fish Ocean Spa.
http://www.chuckontour.ca/video-drfish.asp

Yes, it does involve what you may think could be possible from the name.
Little fishies eating the nasty skin off your tootsies. Lucky me, I don't have ticklish feet.

Lovely dinner companions

SO, on Sundays Steak-n-Shake has a kids eat free deal.

The parents were there too...but look at this passle of youngun's.

24October2010

Kids like to play

Rockford! Always a favorite destination.

The squids might have something to do with it...the big ones AND the little ones.

I'm not sure which (big or little) are having more fun with the Magnetix here.

And yes, I was playing, too.

Till I got up to take a picture.

24October2010

Amigas!

Girlies together!

Jen, Sheri, Kerry, Sherri, Jackie, moi.

Birthday dinner night at Sheri's.

(Thanks to Momma Janet for taking the photo!)

23October2010

October birthdays

Look at all these birthday gals!

Another part of a fun October weekend!

23October2010

Eyeball in the grass

Chicago has steroidal eyeballs layin' around.

23October2010

Celtic Thunder

My whole reason for going to Chicago a few weeks back.

TO TAKE ANOTHER PHOTO OF THIS SIGN?

Good grief. This obsession is out of control!

No, no...look at the small print on the Chicago sign.

This time, I got to go to a show there.

Yep.

I saw Celtic Thunder.

Don't go jumping to conclusions.

People have had the tendency to do that when they hear the 'thunder' part.

This group is several lovely lads from Ireland. With amazing voices.

http://www.celticthunder.ie/

The show was impressive. The women did squeal quite a bit, I will admit.

23October2010

Sushi

More food?

Ohhh, yes!

I tried sushi for the first time,

thanks to adventerously eating friends!

Kerry S. had been here before.
And she and Sherri H. knew what to order.
We had: Spicy Tuna, California, Philadelphia, Rainbow, and Unagi (eel) rolls


Also, Salmon and tuna traditional sushi.
And I liked it.
23October2010

Fooood!

I don't know if its fall that does it...or what.

But I've been a little taken with 'slow food' lately.

I didn't grow the carrots, the potato, or the pig.

The apples for the sauce? Yep! They're homegrown.

But none of these food items came from a box.

And they were thoroughly delicious.

22October2010

Sandwich concoction

I concocted a yummy sandwich awhile back.

It was inspiring.

Late tomatoes from the shed garden,

Farmer cheese from the farmer's market.

Roasted red peppers (from the jar!)

Roast beef.

Homeade {gluten free} bread. And the bread isn't super dense.

I think its a Bob's Red Mill Mix. Rye is a main ingredient.

I don't normally like rye.

But this stuff is delicious. Maybe its all the nuts and seeds.

Oh, and I can't forget to metion the homeade creamy tomato soup.

Slurp!

21October2010

Late 'maters

These lovelies...picked 21October10.

Georgetown!

I got to go to Georgetown, TX for convention.

And yes, I did get a couple of strolls 'round the neighborhood in.

Sunrise. Ah!

(I saw lots of kids using flashlights on their way to 7am breakfast...

so me walking into the sunrise...is that still impressive?)

This photo ^ is me playing with camera settings.
This one ^ is auto settings.
Yes, it was gorgeous!
17October2010

Rain Chain

When we were in Madison, we went to meeting in a very neat neighborhood.

Most of the houses looked Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired.

Definitly NOT a typical Sim-City like most new development.

One of my favorite features: Rain Chains.

They're so much prettier than downspouts.

I wonder how they'd handle Iowa's torrential downpours.

10October2010

Mystery Trip- Final day

After meeting on Sunday, we went to a...*gasp* CHAIN restaurant for lunch.

It was called Abuelos.

It was fairly good, but not as memorable as the other two 'special meals'.

Our final plan for the day: the Madison Botanical Gardens.

They were having an African Violet show.

The voilets were pretty, but the people were not overly excited about their wares.

Outside, we found dahlias.

I think I'm going to have to add some of these beauties to my garden.
A pagoda.
Its even more impressive up close.

Lovely ladies strolling through the garden.

And furry creatures.

What a trip!

10-10-10

Mystery trip-Day 2

Day two of Mom's mystery trip involved the Dane County Farmer's Market.

Its a GREAT farmer's market...all the way around Capitol Square.

We browsed through the booths.

Bought some veggies.

And some cheese.

(Hey, we were in Wisonsin. We HAD TO buy cheese.)

Next on the agenda: a few yarn shops.

And whatever else we saw along the way.

We did hit a few of the eclectic places in downtown.

One of my favorites:

http://www.zip-dang.com/

The skirts are inspiring!

We all found yarn...and Sarah found a new friend.

Dinner for today:

http://www.bluephies.com/

It was fun. It was funky. It was delicious.

We didn't have a real lunch, so we were all quite hungry.

We may have wolfed our food a bit.

(Or I'm just using a handy excuse for having no photos.)
09October2010

Mystery trip no.1

The owner of our local yarn shop

http://www.serendipityyarnshoppe.com/

and her sister take their mother on a 'Mystery Trip' every year.

She's told me about some of them...and I've even gotten to be slightly

involved in the last two.

They sounded like so much fun, my sister and I decided follow suit.

This was our first year taking Mom to a mysterious location.

I'm quite sure we'll do it again.

We all had a blast.

And so, without futher ado: Madison, Wisconsin.

After checking into our hotel, we got in the car and putzed downtown.

And I do mean putzed.

You see, I'd failed to realize it was Homecoming weekend in Madison.

However, we arrived in plenty of time to make our 6 pm reservation at our first destination.

http://www.frescomadison.com/

Fresco is atop the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Its fabulous.

We got to eat outside in the sculpture garden.

I failed on the photographing of the appetizers.

What can I say? We were hungry!

Mom had seared duck breast.

I had sheep's milk ricotta cheese gnocchi.

Sarah had chicken fresco.

We savoured our food and enjoyed the view.

Yep. The fine dining experience was a lovely start.

08October2010

Yosemite. In the rain.

Yep. We did the mist trail again.

Because its pretty.

And there is water in the falls year-round.

Except, this time we got a little more water than we bargained for.

We got to the top of Nevada Falls.

The clouds opened.

The rain poured down.

The hail pelted us.

We hid under a bridge for awhile.

It kept us from getting hail welts, but not from getting soaked.

And pruney!

But oh, look at that beauty.

It was worth it.

And our trip was made even more memorable.

02Oct2010

Yosemite. In the sunshine.

The second of the falls. I beleive this is Vernal.

There were lots of picnickers.

It was gorgeous!

What? An Englishman in Yosemite?

Do tell!

Rainbow at the falls.

Blue sky,
sunshine,
Truman lovers.

What a day for a hike!
02Oct2010