An Awesome View of Life

Rain Drops Today was a date day with my hubby.  He was exposed to my favorite musical Once  at the Historic State Theater in downtown Minneapolis.  His opinion of this musical isn't even close to the same as mine.  I did remind him when people share their music with you they are sharing a bit of their soul...    I took quite a few pretty good photos today but this one is the only one that really spoke to me.  It is much more interesting if you enlarge it.

Crazy. Lazy. I worked so hard this week.  I worked a bit this morning and then did nothing.  I took a nap.  I wandered and looked at my yard work that needed to be done.  I thought of grabbing my camera at least a dozen times but just too lazy... This is a photo from last week's trip into the city.  Love the bit of my reflection in this tin ceiling. This is Saturday, June 27th's photo.

Fitting. This was taken a couple of years ago but thought with today's Supreme Court ruling this was very fitting. This is Friday, June 26th photo.

Real. Today was a Don Julio kind of day.  This was taken last night while out to dinner with my daughters.  In the photo below my youngest had to put her fingers in front of the camera.  None of us noticed the young man at the far end of the bar lurking in the photo shot. Creeper.

SpARkLe! So funny how focused I can be on a photo subject.  I didn't see the sign until I uploaded the photo to my laptop.  So glad it I didn't zoom in any closer.  I think this was in front a hair salon on Lake Street just off of Lyndale. Another day spent in the city.  Starting to think I should just move that direction.  (:  We will be downtown on Sunday.  

A day of bling... This is what my work space looks like when there are suits to be blinged.  What a disaster!  But it all works and that's all that matters.   This is Tuesday, June 23rd's photo.  

Son!  Where are you? This daddy cardinal was doing his best to chill and let his baby do its thing.  He kept his distance but kept chirping and hopping to keep his little one in sight. This is Monday, June 22nd's photo.

Happy Father's Day! My hubby holding up the flag at the end of the dock  on this beautiful day!  The other end is holding up a Grain Belt Nordeast !

Double Date Today my hubby and I went to the LynLake area of Minneapolis with my sister and brother-in-law.  We had a wonderful time.  I decided to post a photo of each of the places we visited today. Above is my El Cubano sandwich from  The Herkimer Pub and Brewery .  Fabulous!  Ham, seasoned pork and a wonderful spicy mustard.  Awesome Bloody Mary as well. The next photo is  LynLake Brewery .  Great beers.  Awesome rooftop seating with a view of the city skyline.  This shot is from the stairs overlooking the bar.  Loved the bicycle rim lights.  This is my favorite photo of the day. This last photo is the only one that turned out while we were at  The Lyndale Tap House .  Okay -- this place had the best appetizers, a meal on their own.  And wonderful margaritas.  (: We also walked a mile or so (maybe not that far) for ice cream at Sonny's Ice Cream  which was worth the walk. ...

Blue! This is part of my new flower bed.  Still needs more work but much better than it was.  The best thing about this fountain is it is solar powered.  Pretty cool, huh?  ha!

Coffee in the Garden This is part of my reworked flower bed.  This was the perfect place for my enamel coffee pot. It isn't totally done yet but it sure is pretty. 

My Favorite This is Wednesday, June 17th's photo.

More than meets the eye... This was an attempt to take a picture of a moth on the outside of the sliding glass at night.  When I took this photo I said "Well, that didn't work!"  Well, I think I was wrong.  This actually works very well.  (: The moth may be out of focus but look at all the other things in the photo.  Outside there is the patio chair and the air conditioning unit.  Inside there is the lamp, footstool, my thumb and finger (bottom right corner) and the lovely frown of concentration on my forehead!  ha! In the upper right side of the lens is the last of the evening's sunset. And on the window is the moth and a few bits of greenish specks. LOVE this photo!! This is Tuesday, June 16th's photo.

Sun Lit Shade Tree This beautiful tree shades most of our back yard for the majority of the day.  It just looked so pretty with the sun shining on it. Yard work is almost done.  About 6 hours yesterday and another 2 hours today. Hot and buggy out there.  yuck!  A few plants need to be split and moved to new spots in the yard.  Waiting for the perennials to go on sale and will probably buy another 4-6 plants. Oh!  The weed killer recipe I posted a few days ago works like a charm.  You really need to soak the weeds with this solution.  It even killed most of the Creeping Charlie.  Just beware it DOES kill grass and anything else you spray it on so be careful.

Summer Night. Music Memories. There is a series of these photos.  While enjoying a much deserved adult beverage I decided I should take a bunch of black and white photos of my family room.  (: When I looked at the first photo I took (which happens to be this one) it reminded me of some great late at night music.   Joe Purdy  music is always late night music for me.  You can listen to his music for free at the above link.   My favorites -- Julie Blue, You Can Tell Georgia, Only Four Seasons and Paris in the Morning. I know my son Trent will disagree on these but...

Bug Guts. Dust. Was Superman here?  Nope.  Just the magnetic holder for our GPS.

Still waiting... These plants are still waiting to be planted.  The flower bed that will be their home is filled with Creeping Charlie.  We are concocting a homemade natural weed killer tomorrow and soaking the flower bed with the hope of getting rid of all of the weeds.  The recipe is:  1 gallon Vinegar, 2 cups Epsom Salts and 1/4 cup Dawn detergent.  Put this is in a garden sprayer, spray infected area early in the day.  Weeds are suppose to be wilted and brown by end of day.  I'll keep you posted on how well it works.

One of her favorite things... Baby Mara loves these strips of fabric.  I have a cloth cube of them that I use for my suits and this is the only cube she is allowed to dig in.  EVERY day she pulls the cube out to the middle of the room and throws every last piece of fabric on the floor.  Then she starts to drape them on her neck.  It has to be the cutest thing ever.  (:   Apparently when she went outside earlier this week she still had one draped and it fell off on the patio. This is yesterday's photo.  

Twirly Sprinkles Some of my flowers got planted today.  While the sprinkler twirled I snapped almost 40 photos of it.  About half (maybe more) of them are a side shot of the sprinkler.  Those were pretty boring.  This one shows the water details as well as the cobweb details.  ha! Rain tomorrow so will get as much business stuff done as I can.  No baby tomorrow either so will have to keep busy so I don't miss her as much!  (:

A piece of the plan. This flower is part of a cart full of flowers I bought today.  I have one flower bed in my front yard that needs a bit more color so bought some flowers for there.  And there is a huge flower bed in the backyard that has been neglected for two or three years.  Its been weeded but still needs a bit more work before we add all the pretty flowers I bought. A water feature will be added to the backyard flower bed.  I've had a pretty cobalt blue fountain in the yard before but the solar powered water pump died and I just never ordered a new one.  Well, a new one will be here tomorrow.  Excited to see how this flower bed will look when all done.   Then I might create a few pieces of yard art.  I have some ideas and already have most of what I need to create them.  I'll save that for a rainy day and work in the garage where there are less mosquitoes.  Overall today was a creative day for me. On top of p...

Purple. Clematis. This plant surprises me year after year. It continues to grow which means I haven't killed it.  This year it has at least two dozen blooms.  So very pretty.

Maybelle and Bessie No trip to Wisconsin is complete without at least one photo of cows!  ha!  We drove by this herd every time we came or went from the resort.  Finally on our last evening in Wisconsin I stopped for a photo.  Love the baby in the background. Maybelle was REALLY interested in getting her photo taken, the second I got out of the car she headed straight for me. I love cows so this picture really makes me smile.

End of the trip. Our 3rd annual Wisconsin Dells Girls' Trip came to an end today. We have a tradition of stopping in Sparta, WI for some vintage clothes shopping at  Wild Woman's Clothing .  We love all the wonderful things Pat has in her shop. Normally we are on our way home on a weekday and we stop at the Monroe County History Center to dig through genealogy records and then we head back downtown for lunch. But it was just shopping and lunch today. Our favorite lunch spot is  Ginny's Cupboard . Great service, great sandwiches and wonderful antiques. Another great trip with my great daughters.  Looking forward to our next trip.

Broken. But. Beautiful. This tree was so very beautiful.  We were at Mirror Lake State Park's prairie area.  Absolutely beautiful evening in Wisconsin.   Today I only took about 50 photos but I had a tough time picking only one photo.  Tomorrow we drive home but we've had a marvelous time.

Ho Chunk Nation Wasira Tonight my beautiful daughters got to be part of the Ho Chunk Wasira (dance) at the  Ho Chunk Casino .   Keia danced with the youngest member.  He was so adorable when he came and asked her to dance.  Mandi was asked to dance by the "Fancy Dancer."  They were both very honored to participate. Sorry these photos are more than a bit blurry but they were moving really fast and I think if I had moved further back I could have gotten better photos but it was a fun evening.

BLUE. Bird. House. with a view... Below is the view from this cute little bird house, painted blue. As you all know these hills sing my name, speak to my soul.  I totally understand why so many of my ancestors settled in this part of our country.

Old Sign As seen in   Dinkytown  on the University of Minnesota campus.   I was thinking it would be fun to photograph as many of these old signs as I could find.  But I found another blog that is called "Ghost Signs" and that is all he does.  He even researches the history of the sign which is part of the blog. His most recent post was about a year ago and the rest are fairly sporadic so...   There has to be some other kind of twist to this possible project?  Hmmm...  I'll have to do some serious thinking on this one.  (: The girls and I are headed to Wisconsin Dells tomorrow for our 4th annual girls trip.  We are hoping for good weather but looks like we might have a washout for at least one day. 

Cheap Entertainment No punctuation for this title.  It leaves more room for interpretation.  (: These are my three youngest children, all grown adults.  They are either entertaining the baby or being entertained by her.  I'm never sure which way it is. ha!  Love the quaintness of the black and white version of this photo.  Love my kids as well.   The oldest son seems to miss out on the fun sibling photos.  He was sitting on the opposite side of the table from them so...