Family and Floods

Here's a picture of my fun Sanders family from Frazee. The Princess in the middle is Miss C who just won 1st runner-up in the Miss Becker Country Fair contest. An enjoyable evening was had watching the pagent, reliving 4-H memories and laughing. Of course, we had to have a beer in the beer gardens! (what's the fair without a beer, right JJS?) Last Tuesday in PR, it rained...and rained...and rained!! It was almost ark-building time! At one point the downtown area flooded, which was a once in a blue moon occurence. I'm pleased that God is doing the watering of the flowers this summer, but He/She might have overdone it on this day!

This was the view coming across the lake at 645 am on the day of the big rain! Nature is so beautiful..especially in MN!

Happy Birthday Davey!!

Here's wishing my husband 51 more years of good health, happiness and love.

A couple of favorite shots to honor him

David and I in Petra, Jordan
David and his mom, Maxine, on the shores of some beautiful water spot in Puerto Rico circa 1961?

I Stand Corrected

Although I have travelled a lot in the world, I'm not the brightest chick when it comes to actually knowing geography. When I made a post a couple days ago about David's family travels, I INCORRECTLY had a picture identified as Jeresh, Jordan. I truly believed this picture on my father in law's collection was where we were in April. Big Charlie notified me that I had made a mistake and that it's Pompei Italy.

I'm going to place both of them below and you tell me if they don't look alike!!!

David's comment was "well after you've seen one Roman Ruin, you've seen them all. Sorry for the misguiding information and thanks to my favorite father in law for straightening me out!

Pompei Italy

Jerash, Jordan

How I enjoy spending my summer vacation

I love driving through farm country and I love Barns. This is one on the way on the Otter Tail /Grant County line. Here's a couple members of my "other Family"...the Sanders family. Recently David and I joined Gary and Jimi for a fun night of golf and fine dining. Pictured in the center is Papa Gordy, the patriarch of one great family. Not bad for 95 years young. I should have also included the picture of him flirting with the waitress.

During my trip to Austin, it was our anniversary as you know from reading the previous blog. I didn't have a card for David, so I had someone take this picture. The significance of it is that Orchids are the traditional gift for the 28th anniversary. (In case you're wondering, David got me a book with the title "Orchid" in it.)

This one time at Drama Camp...

I went to Austin Texas recently for additional training in International Baccelaurate Drama programming (what I teach to 7th and 8th graders)It was a fantastic workshop where I learned a lot! But i also managed to have some fun.
In Austin, the big thing to do is to go to South Congress Street Bridge and watch the 1.5 MILLION bats as they leave each evening to catch their fill of mosquitoes. I went to the bridge and saw bats, but decided that after an hour, I had given enough of my time to standing waiting for the bats to all let go. So here is an artists rendition of what it looks like. I liked the picture so I took a picture of it in the airport.

Pictured above is a photo from Pete's Dueling Piano bar on 6th street where we laughed and sang and had a fantastic good time. I was very impressed with the talent and knowledge of the piano players plus their wit.
Below is Brock, the bike hunk. He has a business where he gives rides on a cart attached to his bicycle. He was a sweetie.

Still the One

Dedicated to my DOB who, 28 years ago today, was smart enough to marry me. Or, better said, I was smart enough to take you. Happy Anniversary Honey!!

STILL THE ONE by Orleans

We've been together since way back when. Sometimes I never want to see you again .

But I want you to know, after all these years

You're still the one I want whisperin' in my ear

You're still the one I want to talk to in bed
Still the one that turns my head
We're still having fun, and you're still the one

I looked at your face every day
But I never saw it 'til I went away
When winter came, I just wanted to go
Deep in the desert, I longed for the snow

You're still the one that makes me laugh
Still the one that's my better half
We're still having fun, and you're still the one

You're still the one that makes me strong
Still the one I want to take along
We're still having fun, and you're still the one

The Future is Built Upon the Past

One of the things I've been doing this summer is organizing pictures from David's mom. She was great at writing names down on the back's of photographs. This has helped tremendously in identifying unknown family members.

But there were also 9 full trays of slides from the Browns travels around the world. Some of these David remembers, some he does not. We've been playing the "Where in the World are These Pictures from" game. It's a fascinating testiment to their amazing life.

Here are a few of my favorites...

This is David and his father in front of the Schronbrun Palace in Salzburg Austria circa 1965 (approx). David and I visited this exact location twenty years later.
Lil Davey in Puerto Rico with a hybiscus tucked in his shirt. Way too cute for words.
We visited this exact site in Jerash, Jordan this past spring. Somehow it looks cooler in my father in law's photo.
David doesn't remember where this is but I think it's the coolest picture ever.

News from Lake Lida

...which, btw, is CLOSE to Lake Wobegon from Prairie Home companion.
One of the cool things about Minnesota is that if you don't like the weather, just wait a few hours and it will change. We've enjoyed beautiful skies and gorgeous 70-85F days here. Which was a great relief from our 120F last 10 days in Kuwait. Recently there's been some "activity" which has given the local weathermen (no women) a chance to earn their keep. This picture doesn't capture it, but we had some doozy rain and wind storms. Fortunately the only "loss" was to a few tree limbs.
Hanging out with the Wagner fam...something I miss about my life in the desert.

Another "someone" that I dearly miss while in Q8 is my beautiful lab dog, Angel. She stays with us in the summer. Last week she gave us a scare when she decided to get her tongue caught in a can which resulted in a very fast trip to the vet. Fortunately for her (and our pocketbook) she worked the can off before we arrived at the Clinic. Love and Hugs to Doc Dave who calmed us down and waved us off without a bill.

These lil' ducks seems to have taken a fancy to our boat lift. They arrive a couple times a week. I'm almost tempted to put the boat lift up next year just for these quackers (we're selling the fishing boat).

All Smiles for the new Grads

These are two of our all time favorite PRHS students. They began "working" with us while in 3rd grade in our first community theater production of Charlotte's Web and continued being our most talented members of the class of 06. AR just graduated with his nursing degree and ATD just graduated with her international business/communications degree and is off to Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship next year. They make us so proud!!!1

What Does a Teacher do in the summertime?

When we lived in Pelican Rapids full-time, we hardly got out to the Lake Lida cabin at all. We were "busy"..with the soccer teams, with work, with community events, etc. Now that we're living at the cabin during our summers home, we are enjoying the lake life more than we ever did. Here's a couple shots of David on his first sail of the summer. Here's to many more ventures on the high seas of North Lida!

Funny Children

We are blessed with unique children. Maybe it's nature, maybe it's nurture, probably a little bit of both. Anyway, they are interesting individuals who never fail to make me laugh...most of the time. Last night, when Anna asked where the duct tape was, I had no idea that she would be making herself a skirt. Quite fashionable, if I do say so myself.
This summer, Ben is employed at a local bigbox store (A chain which I won't mention to protect their innocence). He's currently working as a greeter, which is sort of asking for trouble as my son often thinks faster than his brain can process. Sometimes things just come out of his mouth. Like when the customer walked into the store and said to him "Peace be with You" and (as he says) before he could stop himself, he replied with the standard Vulcan greeting...Live Long and Prosper. Below Ben and my secondson PSL, demonstrate the greeting for those of you who don't remember your Star Trek.

By the Grace of God

Wadena, MN recently endured a tornado which destroyed the high school and over 150 homes. David's dad, Charlie, has a house in Wadena, but the tornado missed it by two blocks (Personally I think my mother in law was having some words with the Big Guy upstairs and saved the house!) So much of our summer has been spent with Charlie getting the house ready to sell. We've enjoyed the bonding time and have probably learned a thing or two. In this picture, David is being supervised by Charlie. Although the school was destroyed, the sign tells the spirit of the community... School WILL BEGIN on September 7.

Amazing

This one tells it all.

Lovin our Life Here...Continued

Here are a couple photos of our life here this summer. Things are good, people are great, everyone is healthy (mash'allah) and we are content just to "be" here in MN. Enjoy!! (Uncle doug...these are for you...hope to see you soon!!) A family of ducks decided to pay us a visit.

Seeing Mr A and his lovely wife S made our summer complete! (This was David's high school theater teacher in England!) They personify what it means to be good teachers, mentors and friends.

Ah, sunset on lake lida. It really doesn't get any better than this.

The only thing better than sunset on lake lida is hearing the call of the loons who give their nightly visit. The other night we were blessed with a visit from SIX loons, which is highly unusual this time of year. Didn't have my camera handy but it's been captured in the Kodak of the Mind.

Friend PSL raises chickens and wildflowers, which is just a small part of the charm of our home away from home, Sasso de Lago. We are so blessed with good people here in PR who make us feel at home the minute we arrive in town, who greet us with "Welcome HOME" shouts across the street and who just accept the fact that we are only with them for three short months.