Minnesota Visits Missouri

Old Glory

Jim's aunt and uncle, along with one of their daughters, visited us over the weekend. They had a long drive from Minnesota, and arrived on Sunday. Normally when we have visitors they come on Friday or Saturday, so having an extra day to prepare the house was unusual for us. We were all ready for them by just after noon, with the dessert made and in the freezer, the salad and lasagna all put together, and I even had my overnight breakfast casserole for Monday morning prepared and waiting in the downstairs refrigerator. Since we were ready so early, I kept thinking we had missed something. But no, we were just extremely organized for a change.

Cardinals game

Monday following breakfast and clean up, we headed downtown for the Cardinals baseball game. Jim and I were sorry to miss the Webster Groves July 4th parade as it is always quite good, but we needed to go to the game early to grab a good parking spot for the elderly relatives, and so that we could watch batting practice. Best laid plans... It began to rain and the field was covered by a tarp. Warm-up took place downstairs out of sight. The 1:15 game was delayed first to 1:45 and then to 2:30. I enjoy going to the games, but they are certainly long enough without adding a late start to the equation. As it ended up, we would have had plenty of time to enjoy the parade and still make it downtown in time for the delayed game start time. Oh well. It was a competitive game, though the Cardinals did not win. We had a nice time anyway. As we didn't get home until nearly 6:30, it was a good thing that I had thrown a roast into the crockpot before we left. It didn't take too long to put the rest of dinner together.

We talked about walking down to the end of our street to watch the fireworks, but everyone was pretty tired. That ended up to be fortuitous, because they had a mishap with our municipal fireworks display. Normally on the 4th the fireworks show is around 20 minutes long. I was standing on our front porch to catch a little glimpse of them, and all of a sudden the noise and sounds were deafening! The whole show lasted about 6 minutes. There was a lot of chatter about the abbreviated show on our local Facebook page, and I was eager to hear what the "official" word would be. It turns out that one of the ground displays got away from them and lit the finale display. Boom! There was no way for the operators to stop it at that point. So I guess it was premature ignitulation - ha!

After breakfast Tuesday morning, our company packed up to head home, and Jim took off for work. I tackled the dishes, four loads of sheets and towels, and put the guest bedrooms back in order. The party was officially over.

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

Summer Time

pickleball

There has not been much going on in my life lately. I guess that is a good thing. Jim went to Washington, DC in May for a business trip, which was nice as he got to see Andy and Megan as well. I stayed here with the dog, and participated in a pickleball clinic. It took place over a three day time period at Lake Forest Country Club, which is quite a haul from my house. I met up with two other ladies I know at a convenient location, and we carpooled together. It was nice to have company on the long drive, and to rehash what we learned on the way home from each lesson. While I play pickleball for fun and fitness, I do want to be able to play the best game possible. There are some serious competitors at several of the locations in St. Louis, and I want to be able to hold my own. I might not ever be as good as them, but at least I hope not to embarrass myself. A guy from California came in to teach the clinic, and I have to say that I think my game has improved from keeping his tips in mind.

Harold

My true idol in pickleball, though, is Harold. Recently widowed, this 89 year old youngster lives in a nearby community with his granddaughter, who had moved in to help care for Harold's wife. He began playing pickleball a couple years ago when he could no longer continue with his golf and tennis games! I see him on the courts three times a week, though he may play elsewhere as well. He is incredibly sharp, a super-nice guy, and an inspiration to the rest of us.

We did make a trip up to Iowa for Memorial Day weekend to see my in-laws. I had not been up that way for awhile, though Jim and Katie made a quick visit there over Christmas while I was here waiting for Andy and Megan to arrive for the holidays. It was great to see everyone and catch up. A bonus was that my niece and her family from Dallas were also in Iowa that weekend. They were going to Marshalltown on Monday, so we drove a little out of our way as we headed home to St. Louis and met them for lunch. We had never seen their youngest child, Hazel, and she will be two this fall! I can't even express how wonderful it was to see the four of them. I so wish that we all lived closer.

family fun

This Saturday the Women in Focus photography group is meeting to shoot photos of the graffiti wall downtown. I took some graduation pictures of my great-niece there a couple summers ago, and it is definitely a cool place to go - when it isn't hotter than hades. A temperature in the 90s is predicted for Saturday. We aren't meeting until 10:00, which isn't the greatest time for shooting with the sun much less the temperature. You'd think photographers would know better - ha!