Happy Easter!!!

Winter and a Turkey...just passing through

this is what it looks like outside right now.....

Sunday, April 5

Happy Birthday Diane!!!!

this is what we woke up to this morning....


The joys of living in MN.....

Check out this Tom passing through. We never know what we'll see when we look out the window. One of the delights of living in paradise!

Parker's First School Picture

Look at the deer!

Click on the picture to see it larger. I count 6 deer. How many do you see?

The chickens watch the deer run through the valley

Another Parker Video

Parker

Just discovered the VIDEO function of my camera...

I'll get better at this video stuff I promise!

The kids visit

Jack and Parker visited us last night and stayed over. What a pair of cuties. Jack made a fort/nest/kids couch using all the pillows and cushions in the house and that's where he slept last night. Jack likes to take a bath in the big tub with lots of Mr. Bubble so that's what he did this morning.

Miss P loves being in her "play seat". She is really getting good eye/hand coordination. Check out her bunny feet jammies.

She ate a big bowl of rice cereal and 8 ounces of milk before bed at 8 o'clock. She got up for a refill around 2:30 then went back to sleep until 7:30 this morning. And LOOK! Her hair is getting longer (fuzzier). And she drools just like her Dad did when he was little.

Yvonne Abraham: True companions

Yvonne Abraham: True companions
By YVONNE ABRAHAM, Boston Globe
February 2, 2009

BROCKTON, MASS. - They met in 1947, at the Kresge's store on Main Street. Joe Norek managed the restaurant. Dot Whiting waited tables.

He'd just spent five years as a Navy cook. He was done with war and boats and being alone. They were both 37.

He was Catholic and she was Episcopalian, and neither was interested in going over to the other side. So they said "till death do us part" twice: first in a Protestant church, then in a Catholic one.
And every Sunday, Joe went to Mass at St. Patrick's and Dot attended services at Trinity Episcopal in Stoughton.

They made a good life together. Dot was crazy about bowling and bingo. Joe loved to park himself in his beat-up turquoise recliner, listening to the Red Sox and Benny Goodman.
They saw Niagara Falls and Amish country together. They loved salty food and Lawrence Welk and "Guiding Light."

In their 40s and 50s, they raised their daughter, Laurie, her arrival a miracle after a string of miscarriages. In their 70s and 80s, they helped raise their grandson Brian, after Laurie's marriage ended.

The decades piled up, and still Joe and Dot were walking around the neighborhood. Their 90th birthdays came and went. Longevity made their sweet, unremarkable relationship into something miraculous.

Joe knew how lucky he was that his wife had chosen him, but Laurie had never heard him say it out loud. Not until a few years ago, when Dot got frail. It began with a broken hip, then came strokes, then heart congestion. Dot moved to a nursing home. Joe went to see her every day. I love you, he told her, again and again.

A year ago, Joe got frail, too: He was in and out of hospitals, recuperating in the same nursing home as his wife, his bed a room away from hers.

A few weeks ago, as Dot's life was ebbing away, Joe contracted pneumonia. He died on Monday at 6 p.m. He was 98.

Laurie and Brian went to see Dot the next day. She had pneumonia, too. It's OK to go be with Pop, Laurie told her.

And so, on Tuesday at noon, Dot died too.

Maybe Dot was just waiting for Joe to go before she did, as her minister said at the service, where both Catholic and Episcopal clergy prayed. Maybe Dot wanted to spare her family the suffering of grieving twice, as Laurie believes. Maybe the way they left this world, just 18 hours apart, is a miracle, as Brian sees it.

Two coffins draped in white sat side by side at St Patrick's church. Not even in death did they part.

© 2009 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Winter is almost over....

We are starting to see the deer again....

More Resolutions.....

resolution #3

Learn more

2009 Resolutions.....

resolution #2
pick up my guitar and play

resolution #1
Exercise, exercise, come on everybody get your exercise

Baby it's COLD outside...

It's a chilly -25 this morning in Northfield. It's so cold...how cold is it? Well, neither car wanted to start until Dave forced them to. A lovely way to start the day. As if rising at 5:30 a.m. isn't torture enough. Wish you were here!!

Happy New Year!

Here's to a happy and healthy 2009!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas morning - Dan, Nicole, Jackson and Parker joined us. We opened presents then had brunch. It was great.

Parker would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Doesn't she look cute in her new Christmas outfit from the O'Leary's?

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Temps this morning of -12 (yes, MINUS 12) and howling winds. This is why we live in Minnesota - the challenge of surviving winter. Dave and his damn seasons. Bah, humbug! I should be living next door to Tim, Diane and the girls.

We flipped a coin to see who would shovel. I used the same two-headed coin I use every year. It's been 28 years and Dave has yet to complain.

The girls (chickens) don't seem to mind the cold. They laid 13 beautiful brown eggs today. Since it was Sunday and I was home, I collected them a couple times during the day. On the weekdays we don't collect until we get home from work and if it's cold they can freeze. You can tell a frozen egg because it usually has a lengthwise crack. I look closely when I first bring them inside. As they thaw, the crack closes up and you can't tell. Freezing doesn't really hurt anything, but you don't want to keep a cracked egg very long because germs, etc. It might appear cloudy when you crack it too.

Can't you just hear the piano music?

We got our tree late last week from a no kill tree shelter in Faribault. We finally got around to decorating it last night. We probably have more ornaments than ever before, but they just can't fill up all the space between branches. We think it's beautiful, especially with the room lights down low and the tree all lit up.

The week before Christmas and all through the house....

Little Miss P was sleeping and I thought she needed to borrow my glasses. We laughed, she slept through it.

We are dashing around to get things done. We picked up our tree on Sunday and it is a sad little tree. It is a Charlie Brown tree, sparse and thin. We are glad to give it a home! I will post a before (decorating) and after later. Next year we won't wait so long. Or maybe we will. We are excellent procrastinators.

Dave is fighting a nasty bout with the flu - I got to witness the projectile green vomiting. He got a flu shot, I didn't. Poor guy. Hopefully it will be short-lived.

You won't believe it!

It looks like I'm going to give it another go.......I've got lots of pictures, lots to say, and lots of time. Well, ok, pick 2 out of those 3! Anyway, watch this space for updates.

Here is a picture of the most adorable little girl in the whole wide world. Parker Rose. The picture was taken on Thanksgiving day after a large meal of milk.

Oooh, Scary!! Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Here is a picture of Jack with his pumpkins (Haunted house carved by Nicole, Scooby Doo carved by Dan). Jack is going to be trick or treating as Scooby Doo!