Lighting the Christmas Spirit

We do very little exterior Christmas lighting ourselves, but we love to look at what other's have done. While we haven't had an opportunity to go see any large light installations yet, we did go to see a house that is in Mount Holly.

This guy does extreme Halloween decorations as well, apparently. We haven't seen those, but this is our second year of driving to his neighborhood to see the Christmas display. It is so large that you really need to park and get out of the car to truly appreciate the extent of the decorations. It really put me in the Christmas spirit for sure!

the Christmas house

My Christmas cards were put in the mail the beginning of the month. All of my shopping is done, and my last two gifts should arrive in the mail today. Once I get those wrapped, I will definitely be ready for Christmas! 

Smithsonian National Zoo

We drove up to Springfield to be with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter for the long holiday weekend. Virginia always has clever signage along the interstate, and this trip was no different. Way to get across the point to not drink and drive, Virginia! 

Virginia road signs

National Zoo

Because it was so hot and our granddaughter is still pretty young we mostly stayed close to the house, going outside early in the day to let her play with her splash pool and water table. But on July 5th we headed out early to go to the National Zoo. My husband and I had not been there before, and it was the little gal's first time as well. Until we arrived I had no idea that the zoo is part of the Smithsonian, which explains the free admission. You just have to pay $30 to park.

Even though the temperature was pretty high, the humidity was low which made our time there bearable (pardon the pun). It also helped that they had many mist sprayers available, and some of the exhibits are inside as well.

We have been to a lot of zoos, and this one was pretty nice even though the pandas were sent back to China. They are supposed to get a new pair sometime later this year. Apparently the two countries have worked out their differences, at least as far as pandas go. 

National Zoo

orangutan

My favorite exhibit, though that seems like too small of a word to use, was the orangutans. They have two separate enclosures, but to get from one to the other they climb overhead on cables called the Orangutan Transportation System, aka the O-Line. The visitor walking path is directly below part of the cabling systems, so you definitely don't want to be standing there when one goes (literally) overhead!

Overall, we had a great time in Springfield with our family. And of course it is always a pleasure to spend quality time with our only grandchild.

Merry Christmas Eve

We are spending Christmas in our home on Mountain Island Lake again this year. With Covid still the news headliner, especially with the prolific spread of the new Omicron variant, our celebration will be very small. Our kids have come, and the five of us will stick close to the house except for outdoor activities.  

All the meals have been planned and the groceries purchased, so we are all set. We love to play games and work puzzles, so occupying ourselves will not be an issue. And with temperatures hitting 70 degrees on a couple of the days, I think some kayaking will take place as well.

The photo on the left is of a Santa that we purchased for my mother-in-law many years ago. She collected Santas, and it was always fun to shop each year to see if we could find a unique one for her. This one was perfect as we felt it captured her love of all things Santa while at the same time representing what Christmas is all about. She loved it, and it sat out all year long on the fireplace hearth next to her chair. After she died in 2020, we brought this one (along with several others) to our house. I smile each time I see it, and remember fondly the wonderful woman I was blessed to call my second mother for most of my adult life.

We woke up to another beautiful sunrise this Christmas Eve. Wishing all who believe a Merry (and healthy) Christmas!

Mountain Island Lake

Masks R Us

 We are two weeks into Phase 3 in North Carolina, and coronavirus case numbers continue to climb. Later next week Governor Cooper will announce whether the state will remain in this phase, or perhaps regress to one of the earlier phases. Regardless of what he does, I think mandatory mask wearing is here to stay for quite a while. That being the case, I decided to go ahead and make some seasonal masks for myself.

Recently I completed a Halloween, fall, two Christmas, and winter masks. I'm trying to maintain my sense of "glass half full" attitude, so I didn't go on to Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day, or beyond that to Easter. Hopefully those fabrics will only have to come out if I decide to make a holiday-themed quilt. I still don't enjoy wearing a mask for long periods of time, but at least I am giving others something fun to look at while I'm doing it!

holiday face masks

Bring on 2019

We had a very nice Christmas holiday. Our daughter arrived on the 23rd, and she and Jim went to see A Christmas Story at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre. I'm probably the only person in America who cannot stand that show, and I have already seen it at both the Rep and the Fox Theatres, not to mention countless movie viewings. I was so excited that she wanted to go so that I didn't have to see it again.

Anastasia

Christmas Eve we drove up to Iowa to see my in-laws, and we didn't tell them that Katie was coming with us. They were very much surprised, and we had a wonderful visit with everyone. On the 27th we came back to St. Louis, and the 28th Katie and I went to the Fox Theatre to see Anastasia. It was excellent, and I had a fun night with my girl. Jim went out to dinner with us before the show, but he graciously let Katie have his play ticket.

cranberry cosmos

On the 29th Andy and Megan arrived after having spent Christmas with her parents and family. We opened our gifts that afternoon, enjoying our customary holiday cocktail (cranberry cosmos) as we did so. That night the four of them went to the St. Louis Blues hockey game while I finished getting things ready for an open house on Sunday. We invited my sister and her family as well as some old neighbors over for the afternoon so that they could have an opportunity to see our kids. It was a very nice afternoon.

New Year's Eve we drove out to a winery in St. Charles County, played some games, watched the local fireworks from our perch on the curb in front of our house, and then toasted in the new year. Katie flew back home the next day.

Aerie's Winery

Wednesday the four of us visited the newly reopened Soldiers Memorial in downtown St. Louis, and then had dinner at Cunetto's restaurant on The Hill. Thursday we stopped by the Audubon Center before driving up the River Road to Aerie's Winery in Grafton. This is the first winery I have been to where they charge by the glass for a tasting, and you can select any wine on the menu. Normally I don't do the tastings because I only like sweet wines and those normally aren't an option. At Aerie's I tried two different wines, and settled on getting a glass of one of them to enjoy as the others drank their selected wines. The views from the winery are incredible, as advertised. From there we hit Ted Drewe's for the requisite frozen custard stop.

Andy and Megan headed out on January 3rd, and actually drove straight through to their home in Virginia. We are trying to get back into the groove of not having company, and also getting back to healthy eating habits again.

The holidays were filled with great food, games, puzzles, laughs, presents and, most importantly, being surrounded by our family. It was a great way to end the year, and to get 2019 off on the right foot.

Happy New Year

It's the Most Busiest Time of the Year!

Like most people, we have been incredibly busy this month. While we did get our Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving (for the first time in our 40 years of wedded bliss), there was still much to be accomplished. We had a trip up to Ames, Iowa the second weekend of December as Jim had been asked to serve on an advisory committee for the Landscape Architecture Department at Iowa State University. I spent Thursday night in Ames with him, and then I went to Des Moines to stay with friends while Jim had his meetings.

Iowa State Capitol Building

I was able to visit with a couple I used to baby-sit for in high school. Unfortunately she has had a couple of strokes, so I caught up with them at the hospital. It was quite sad, and I certainly wish her a speedy and complete recovery. The trip also gave me an opportunity to check out Smash Park, Des Moines first dedicated pickleball facility. The friend I was staying with had lessons on Saturday morning, so it was fun to see all the things offered by the center.

Smash Park

Jim caught us with us on Saturday afternoon, and we met other friends for dinner that night. It's so great to get together with people you have known since college. It's like the years have never passed. Sunday after breakfast and a tour of our friend's work place we headed home, catching a beautiful sunset along the way.

On the 15th our house was part of the progressive dinner for SWT Design. Everyone met at our home, where the bus picked us up. From here we went to one house for appetizers, then to a second one for salads. Jim and I bugged out of the salad location early to head back home to begin the dinner. We also hosted desserts. While there was a bit of a delay from having too many things in our oven, in the end everything turned out well and was delicious.

The gifts are all purchased, wrapped and waiting under the tree for the kids to arrive. Our daughter gets in later in the week, and our son and daughter-in-law will spend the actual holiday with her family and will join us later. I always say it doesn't matter what day we celebrate. The important thing is that we are together. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Wrapping up 2017

our Christmas tree

Well, it's the last day of 2017. We had a wonderful Christmas, with St. Louis even managing to add a smattering of the fluffy stuff to give us a white Christmas. We picked Katie up at the airport around midnight on the 22nd, and Andy and Megan drove in just before lunch on the 23rd. We were able to do most of the Christmas traditions while they were all here, drinking our signature Santa Clausmos while opening gifts on Christmas Eve, making sure they got their Imos fix, playing games and putting together a puzzle, and checking out Candy Cane Lane in south city followed by a visit to Ted Drewes. We even fit in a trip to the library so the kids could check out my first solo photography show.

A first for us was heading to a 9:00 a.m. movie on Christmas Day, catching the new Star Wars movie. None of us had been to Ronnie's theater since their remodeling, so it was a treat to sit in the heated, reclining chairs. Attendance was light, making for an enjoyable viewing experience. We all thought they did a good job with the latest movie.

Andy and Megan headed back to her parent's house in Indiana Wednesday afternoon. They are driving back to D.C. today. Katie is here with us until an early flight takes her home to L.A. Tuesday morning. We know that we are blessed that all of them can make the trip to St. Louis to visit us each Christmas season.

As 2017 comes to a close, I can honestly say it was one of the best years ever for me personally. Next year will have to do a lot to top the fun and excitement of this year. Let's see what happens.

Happy New Year

Happy Independence Day, America!

graduation

One blog post in June - that is pathetic! I should have posted before now, but I had a great time with my sister shooters taking pictures of the graffiti wall downtown. I hadn't been down there since I photographed my great-niece for her high school graduation. It's hard to believe that was two years ago already.

They have really cleaned up the area near where the wall begins. That bike trail tax we all voted for sure does come in handy. You never know where it will pop up. At any rate, while the day was bright and a little warm, it was still fun to be out with like-minded women. A few of us went out for lunch after taking the pictures. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day.

St. Louis graffiti wall

Last weekend we attended an open house for a presbyterian church in Kirkwood. The congregation took an old school building that is located in the historic area of Meramec Highlands and repurposed it as their church. Our interest in the renovation lies in the fact that the school had once been owned by St. Joseph Hospital to house their child care center. The center was open to non-employees of the hospital as well, and our son went there from 1987 until he began kindergarten in the fall of 1990. It was amazing to see the pictures of the mess the church started with when they bought the property, and the transformation into what it has become. It is truly a great re-use of an old school. It was fun for us to walk through the school and see the rooms our little guy once played in.

the new church in 2016

school party in 1990

A gal on the Facebook page of my community posted that she had more plums on her tree than she could possibly eat, so she offered them up to anyone who wanted some. I had never tried to make plum jam, and thought this would be the perfect time to try my hand at it. Not wanting to seem greedy since I needed quite a few to make a batch, I asked her if she wanted a jar of my finished product in exchange for the plums. She knew that I had also made some blackberry/raspberry jam recently, so she eagerly offered a trade for a jar of that instead. I'm thinking she was probably pretty tired of plum anything by that point. The exchange was made, and I had to wait a few days for the plums to ripen. Personally, I wasn't a fan of the flavor of these plums, so I was unsure what the jam would end up tasting like. At the end, I was pleasantly surprised. The plum jam has just the right combination of sweet-tart taste. However, plums are way more labor intense than any other fruit I have tried so far. I won't be rushing out to make more anytime soon. Having quite a few jam sessions (har, har!) under my belt now, it is a mystery to me how anyone makes money selling homemade jams and jellies at markets.

plum jam

 Tomorrow Jim's aunt, uncle and cousin are coming from Minnesota for a visit and to attend a Cardinals game. It will be fun to show them our little Americana town in all of its 4th of July finery. Happy 4th, everyone!

July 4th

Family Fun at Christmas

Crown Candy Kitchen

On Tuesday the 22nd I took Andy and Megan to Crown Candy Kitchen so they could experience for the first time the yummy goodness of St. Louis' oldest candy store. Normally I get the BLT sandwich, which is so huge that I never order any ice cream to go with it. Megan and I decided to split a sandwich so that we could each get a shake, too. For the second time in a row I actually received a BL sandwich - there was no tomato. I really didn't mind as the tomatoes this time of year are usually not that good, but I probably should have said something. Andy noticed that the people in the booth behind us had tomato on their sandwiches. Strange... Megan and Andy were both amazed at the size of the BL, and of the shakes as well. I ended up taking more than half of my chocolate shake home with me.

BLT sandwich

BLT side view

We had barely walked in the door when Jim and Katie arrived from their trip to Iowa. Perfect timing! After spending time catching up, we had dinner and then played some card games.

Wednesday night it was our intention to drive through Tilles Park to see the Winter Wonderland lights. Apparently everyone else in St. Louis had the same idea. The cars were lined up from the park all the way beyond I-64, and both exit ramps on the interstate were backed up as far as the eye could see. When we saw a man's car overheat while waiting in line, we decided we were not going to wait to see what kind of additional back log that created. Instead we hopped on I-64 and went to Candy Cane Lane in the city. Located near Ted Drewes, this neighborhood tries to outdo itself each year. Two other streets, Angel Avenue and Snow Flake Street, are in the competition as well. The area is well worth seeing, with the added bonus of being near our favorite frozen custard stand, Ted Drewes. We stopped there for dessert, which in this case happened to be before dinner.

Candy Cane Lane

Ted Drewes

Gardenland Express

Thursday we headed out early to the Missouri Botanical Garden for one of our annual family traditions of visiting Gardenland Express, the indoor train exhibit that is set up each year at the garden. We all agreed that this was one of their better years. It was not at all crowded, and you could actually spend time admiring each of the different exhibits without a bunch of people in your way.

We decided to see if our lack of crowds luck would hold, and traveled next to the St. Louis Zoo. With the mild weather, I expected it to be packed. But we scored a parking spot along the street right outside the zoo, which indicated that not too many people were visiting the zoo on Christmas Eve. Jim's firm had worked on the design of the new polar bear exhibit, and none of us had seen it yet. It was nice to be able to check it out with the kids along. There is only one polar bear in the pen, but I understand that the males are pretty territorial so he may not have to ever share his space. He seemed content enough, I suppose. At any rate, it was a nice day to stroll through the zoo.

polar bear exhibit

St. Louis Zoo

Saturday I invited my sister and her family over to see the kids in the afternoon. They hadn't seen Katie for several years, so it is nice that the timetable worked out for some of them at least. We took one last family photo in front of the fireplace before Megan and Andy left that night to drive the three hours to her mom & dad's house in Indiana. Then at 6:30 Sunday morning we drove Katie to the airport to catch her plane back to LA. Now the house is all quiet again, and I am catching up on cleaning and doing laundry after having company for over a week. But what a great time we had!

Independence Day

Webster Groves Parade

We are having a relatively quiet 4th of July around here. Thursday morning Jim and I went to the parade as we always do when we are in town. It is such a great experience. We met a really nice couple who sat on the parkway next to us. They have four children, and the younger two were with them while the older two walked in the parade. It ends up that their 10 year old daughter is best friends with the family who moved in next door to us two years ago. We kept our opinions of them to ourselves. But as we talked about other things I learned that the woman's mother is first generation American from Scotland, while her dad is from Switzerland (and the two met in Africa!). The husband's mom is from Ireland. It is rare to meet anyone who is first generation these days, at least in my little world. Since we arrived at the parade route early in order to secure a coveted spot in the shade, it helped pass the time conversing with new people.


 Later in the day we went to the lake house of Jim's business partner, located a mere 45 minutes from our house. I brought some snacks and a Patriotic Bundt Cake, and we had fun boating and enjoying the grilled shishkabobs and later the fireworks. It was different sitting in the middle of the lake on a boat as the fireworks were set off. I did miss our fireworks in Webster Groves though. They always put on a good show.

Friday I began the day with a tough work out at the fitness center, and then ruined it all by having a margarita with chips and salsa at the Hacienda. We met our old next door neighbors for lunch there, and it was fun to catch up with them and all their activities. Then today we took our bikes out to Route 66 State Park and road for about an hour before it got too hot. So far it has been a great holiday! Happy 4th!