The Falls

We visited Falls Park in May when geocaching with friends passing through on their way to northern Minnesota for the summer. Sharing Falls Park with any of our visitors is a must as it is one of my favorite places in the city. And like a photographer friend (I call him one of my mentors) who photographs the same stream near their cabin in the Black Hills, I feel compelled to take photos of The Falls every time I visit. Unlike my friend who posts only one photo from his visit to the stream, I post many because The Falls has so many interesting places, shapes, angles, colors, etc. I could NOT choose just one.

Falls Park entrance

the area I like to call the upper falls

people were still social distancing in later May

one brave girl

interesting mossy area

photos from the east side of The Falls

resident geese

one brave boy

geese and their goslings

a grackle hanging out at The Falls

and a robin hanging around

*****Remember, you can click on any photo to enlarge it*****

50 Years

I have been thinking about this blog post a lot, trying to come up with something profound. After all, it isn't every day a couple can say they have been married (to each other) for fifty years. I do know at age 20 I was not thinking about 50 years down the road. Good grief...we'd be OLD if we reached a 50th anniversary!

My brothers and I hosted a 25th wedding anniversary open house for my parents. Curt and I had been married less than 5 years then. Not that I thought of my parents as old at that time, but I just couldn't imagine a 25 year marriage. Then 25 years later, we were able to host a 50th anniversary open house for them. How fortunate my brothers and I were to have both parents, in good health, for 50 years. I am so glad we had that celebration for their friends and family as Dad did not live long enough to celebrate a 55th wedding anniversary.

The only anniversary Curt and I celebrated with family and friends was our 40th. We were retired and I decided if we were both above ground, we'd invite family and friends for a low-key celebration in our garage. We served walking tacos to those who stopped by to wish us well. We were proud to share our first grandchild with everyone. Neither Curt nor I were certain we'd be around for a 50th, so #40 was important. (Yes, all the anniversaries are important, but we seem to take many of them for granted.) 40th Anniversary here.

We made some big plans for #50. We planned to travel to Iceland in April with long-time friends who celebrated their 50th the day before our 50th. But, the coronavirus took care of the trip to Iceland. We also planned to take our family (kids and grands) to Mexico for a week later this year. That trip is still undetermined. We had a month-long camping trip planned for August. That adventure has been moved to 2021.

 Last year at this time, it seemed very important to do something big, something special, something different to celebrate 50 years of being together. By the end of March and into April of this year, surviving a pandemic has taken precedence over a 50th anniversary celebration. Instead of one BIG celebration, we had five low-key celebrations.

June 5th

Very good friends in Sioux Falls invited us to their place for dinner and cake for celebration #1.

June 6th

Saturday morning of our anniversary day, my brother and his wife brought breakfast and this beautiful orchid to start our big day, celebration #2.

flowers from son & family

June 6th

We dressed up and went to dinner IN a restaurant that evening and had a wonderful meal with masked wait staff and appropriate social distancing, celebration #3.

Celebration #4 has no photos but was shared with the long-time friends who were our Iceland travel companions. The four of us celebrated our 25th anniversaries in Hawaii. For this one, we had dinner together in Watertown. No masked wait staff, and before we left, the social distancing was not. Dinner was good and the visit with our 50th friends was extra special.

Celebration #5 happened this past weekend. OFD was able to come from Minneapolis and OFS and DIL and grands were free to spend the weekend together at our place.

enjoying mint mojitos on the deck

made by our personal bartender

virgin mojitos

the family on June 13th

the grands

the kids

another cake

June 13th

It was great to have the family here for the weekend. We had carry-out dinner, time for visiting and playing games. We watched the fireflies and the stars once it got dark. Everyone stayed at our place overnight and after brunch Sunday morning and a few more games of Farkle, they all went home. Low-key, unplanned, but a perfect way to celebrate 50 years of marriage. 

A Day with the Granddaughter

Miss W got her overnight stay earlier this week. Interesting how hard it was to find two consecutive days when it worked for her family and for us. Guess that means we are moving around a little bit more, but still practicing safe measures because of covid-19.

The two of us had started a hot game of Monopoly when she and her brother stayed overnight the week before. I promised to keep the game up and we'd continue when she had her overnight stay.

the hot game continues

baking those chocolate chip cookies

using math skills to double the recipe

watching TV while dropping cookies

playing a creative game with G'pa

she's describing the carriage she would ride

We had taken the two of them geocaching last week when they stayed. She wanted to go again, so we found a little series with different hiding places and different containers.

reading the GPS, trying to get to ground zero

not having a lot of luck

so I helped and walked right up to it

love when that happens!

yep, wearing flip-flops

walking on the rocks

found the pink container

yep! it is in there

but a special tool of the trade (TOTT) was needed

to retrieve it

that is one BIG spider!

and she got to use the TOTT

putting the spider back in its hiding place

then it was off to a cemetery

the Minnehaha County Cemetery (no sign)

some of those buried here are wards of the state

they weren't having any luck

so once again, I came to the rescue

her reward for the day

and she was happy with that

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Road Trip

Recently I took a road trip to see my mother. On the way home, because I was by myself, I stopped when and where I wanted for research and for the chance to take photographs. One of my stops was just north of Redfield where there were three historical markers in a little pullout area.

Redfield is known as the Pheasant Capital of the World

that may be debatable by other communities

but it is an area with a Native American history

Then it was onto Clark. I have written and posted about the metal work that is on display on the west side of the community along Highway 212. On this trip I noticed a road that got me closer to the art on the north side of the highway. Since I was by myself, I took it and all the photos I wanted.

the line of cars was the first noticeable display years ago

I don't know the make or model or year

I just think it is cool to have a collection 

of the same color, make, and year

I wonder if people thought this was just a 

dumped pile of discarded culverts?

I know I did for several years

and then there are the rusted tanks

and until you see there are added features

then the realization sets in...art

this was a new sculpture this trip

then art work began to appear on the south side of the highway

this big red bike was one of the first

and hard to miss

two other bikes have been added

and the display of augers

very appropriate for a farming community

 stacked metal spools

at first I thought they might be metal rake wheels

but they are definitely metal spools

this sign is new, also

I don't know if the artist, Kenny Bell is responsible for it

but seeing his creativity always puts a smile on my face

and I'm glad I have a name to go with the metal sculptures

I wonder what his next creation will be????

***Remember, you can click on any photo to get a larger version***