Sand Dollar Designs, USA

 It's not often that I blog about clothing, but when I find a great local small business, I like to give them a plug.  I was very excited to discover Sand Dollar Designs, USA ,which is a local clothing business that is run by two sisters, who just happen to be identical twins.  Marlene lives two miles from my house and Marilyn lives in New York!  I made the connection through Facebook.  Welcome to social media my friends.  So Marlene took my measurements tonight and showed me all the available fabrics.  I ordered this tunic, but with a different fabric choice.

And then I fell in love with this soft knit skirt.  Nowadays, I'm all about comfort with some style thrown in there.  This will be a perfect skirt to wear when the weather turns cooler.  I love the classic gray color and the softness of the knit fabric.  Will look great with black opaque tights.

I encourage everyone to find more local businesses for your everyday needs.  It makes me feel good that I'm giving a local seamstress my business to make me a good quality garments.  My grandma Fannie would approve!

Bluegrass on the Chippewa

So, we took the road less traveled, and I mean less traveled.

It was really a last minute decision, but Bike man and I decided to ride our bicycles south to Durand on Sunday.  Instead of starting at the trailhead of the Red Cedar trail in Menomonie, we jumped on at Downsville.  We weren't quite up to doing the usual 45 miles for this trip, but starting at Downsville would give us a manageable 28 miles.  Our main goal you ask?  The Bluegrass Festival on the Chippewa.....

Of course when you ride your bicycle ALL that way, you need to replenish your calories expended, right?  That's just what we did.

Many different choices of food like shredded pork or beef sandwiches, hot dogs, brats, ice cream, kettle popcorn, beer, wine or soda etc.  But, we chose to treat ourselves to a large loaded baked potato.  Yes, it was very loaded and I had a problem eating the whole potato.  That's ok, Bike man finished the portion I couldn't eat.  One thing about cycling and me, I can't stuff myself with food and then expect to ride back home feeling all cozy.  Nope, it doesn't work that way.  I've learned over the years to eat lightly, otherwise I'm miserable riding the rest of the day.

The bluegrass festival was great, but after about an hour and a half, we decided to head back on the trail. As we were chatting, it just dawned on us that last year at this time we had started our bicycle trip to Southwest Wisconsin and we actually camped in Durand the last night of their bluegrass festival.  Wow, can hardly believe one year has passed by since we took our ten-day bicycle trip.

Discussions arose about another possible bicycle trip soon, but I'm a little reluctant.  Lack of saddle time this summer has made my body, well, soft and whimpy!  We'll see.....keep you all posted.

August Sunset

We've had some spectacular sunsets over the last week.  A combination of the smoke from the wildfires in the northwest regions of Canada and high humidity.  I look forward to the sunset every night, especially seeing the sunset across the lake.  Makes me appreciate the end of the day.

Enjoyed a night at Kellie's house tonight holding an Arbonne demo for Kellie and her friends.  Even Aunt Krissy showed up....a former blog friend and library employee.  Wow, it was like old times tonight.  I love that girl's witty humor, in fact, I miss that humor.  Aunt Krissy and Kellie could always make me laugh at work.

So, I'm looking forward to a milder August, meaning my workload at the library.  We're still having joint meetings with the village and library board to discuss the possibility of our library moving into a new building, but I'm not holding my breath, if you know what I mean.      

PS. Mimzy was adopted by Bike man's son Mike and his wife Lynn.  Mimzy is doing great and is all happy in her new home!`

We Have a Visitor

She is just a sweetie girl.  Her name is Mimzy (a purebred Ragdoll) and her owner had to give her up due to moving issues. We actually adopted our Manny from the same owner and also adopted her daughter's  ragdoll Roxy. We did find a home for Roxy three years ago, and now we need to find a home for Mimzy.  Mimzy is just a peanut compared to our other BIG cats, and is very friendly.  We're hoping to find someone soon.....I hope, otherwise I'm afraid I will fall in love with her.  And our other cats?  Their giving her lots of space and have accepted her just fine.....wow!  

While in the house tonight, I suddenly heard thunder.  What???  How could that be with the sun shining and all.  I looked to the north and west and saw these beautiful clouds.  As I stood on the dock tonight, I could see the cloud to cloud lighting and hear rumbles of thunder.  It was so beautiful.  No storm here, as it all went  to the north.

Life is busy, my weeks are full and the summer is just flying by too quickly.  My blog life is suffering, but I'm determined to keep writing.  Thanks for reading my friends.

Sesquicentennial Week

 It seemed like an eternity.  I'm talking about preparing for the Colfax Sesquicentennial celebration.   So, after 1 1/2 years of planning for the 150th year celebration, it finally happened this week.  About a year ago, I started planning for our library events to be held everyday the week of the Sesquicentennial celebration.  I scheduled author programs, a musician, the Bug Guy program and then organized our involvement in the big parade today.  With the help of my wonderful library staff, we had so much fun.  Lots of balloons, decorations......

lots of our Summer Reading kids and very dedicated mom's.  I love all the support we get from our library users.

The children had a blast, despite very tired legs and sweaty bodies from the warm conditions.  I'm really looking forward to getting back to a normal routine of every day work schedules.  There are days when I'm really starting to feel my age.  Ten years ago a busy week like this would not have phased me.  By late today, I was ready to come home and take a nap.....of course I didn't actually do that, but I came close!!!

My Holiday Weekend

Fourth of July always means the Tainter Lake boat parade.  Becca was visiting on the 4th so we walked to the bridge and watched the boats from above.  Before I forget, Bike man is home from the hospital.....yippee.  Came home on the 3rd.  Doctor's strict orders are to eat a bland and low-fiber diet (very hard for him) and take the strong antibiotic prescribed.  He's easing back into his routine!

Becca brought Jerney for the day.  This poor city dog has not had a lot of green space lately, so Jerney was a happy dog being in the country life.  She even watched the boat parade with us.

Stopped over at a friends house on our walk back from the boat parade.  Jerney met a new friend, Buddy.  They instantly became playmates, so fun to see.  Buddy's a year-old so he has LOTS of energy, but that's what Jerney loves.

It was nice that Becca got to visit with her childhood friend Lindsay.  I've probably mentioned this years ago in my blog, but both girls share the same birthday....Lindsay is one-year older than Becca.  Pretty amazing when you think Lindsay's mom was my first friend that I met when we moved out to Tainter Lake 30 years ago.  How did I time Becca's birth on Lindsay's birthday???  I was supposed to go to Lindsay's first birthday party, but instead I was in the hospital going into labor.  Sometimes things are just meant to be fate.

Age doesn't mean anything.  My friend Marilyn and I still goof around 30 years later.  The only time I can think of when Marilyn and I didn't goof off was when her hubby, Carlie, died suddenly of a massive heart attack.  Oh that was such a sad time for Marilyn and Lindsay and my family too.    

Marilyn has come along way in her life and it was fun the other day to sit around and reminisce about when our children would come over to her house and play.  In our minds, we can still see the little swimming pool the kids enjoyed on those hot, hot summers, or remember our buggy brigade when we took the kids out everyday for long walks.  I had the double stroller (two babies) and Marilyn had little Lindsay to push in the other.  Those certainly were our younger days!  

And look.....Marilyn's neighbor is in the process of selling their cabin on the lake so, they were looking for someone that would take their paddle boat.  Really?  It's free?  Sure.  With a little clean up and fix a broken rudder, it should be ready to take out on the lake.  I'm excited....

Coming Home Soon

It's been a long absence, but I'm back for now.  I was inside the house tonight with all the doors and windows open and enjoying this beautiful 70 degree weather.  I heard all this commotion of bird noises, so I walked down to the dock tonight. I saw hundreds of sea gulls flying and swooping down towards the water in our bay, just looking for food.  Sea gulls?  Really?  Where did they come from???  It's the most bizarre thing since we are not an area conducive to sea gulls. My only guess is that all the rain we've received over the last six weeks has become inviting for sea gulls.

On a side note, Bike man has been in the hospital for almost a week with a nasty upper colon infection.  He hasn't been feeling up to par for a couple weeks, so now I know this problem was brewing for a while.  Actually, he was a very ill man, but he didn't know it.  So now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will be released from the hospital soon.  It's too quiet around the house and the cats are even subdued without him.  For a man that virtually lives outdoors, this hospital stint has put a damper on things.  It's a good reminder that we need to appreciate the simple things in life.....like being able to freely walk outdoors, sleep without noises and light, and enjoy home cooked meals.  It won't be long now and Bike man will be coming home.  Of course he's itching to get back to his bat monitoring, along with his stream and lake monitoring.  Never a dull moment at our house!