Nice day in Clear Lake!

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We have had a wonderful weekend!!! Chris was supposed to get in around 3 on Friday but of course the flight from Toronto was 2 hours late making him miss his connection. It just hardly ever works to fly out of or back into Mason City! There are always delays and cancellations and they book you on the next flight to Mason City which is usually not until the next afternoon. So he ended up waiting to get his luggage, renting a car and driving back from Minneapolis. What a drain but at least he made it! We have spent a weekend totally with each other which was needed after 3 weeks apart (even tho he came to Lakeside and Lima it wasn't really a lot of time together!). We went to see "Pelham 123" which was very good---love John Travolta as an evil guy with a tattoo!!! Ate a yummy chicken dish I made with fresh herbs from my little herb garden and just had a great time!

Today we lazed around and then headed to Clear Lake to have a picnic at the State Park there. We talked about how the last time we had gone there Chris had gotten a call that his mom had passed away so we kind of wanted to go and make some happier memories there. We unpacked our lunch by the little beach and it was really blowy!!! I mean to the point you had to hold your plate the entire time. Our chicken and pasta salad took on a bit of a gritty taste....but it was still good and fun and nice to be outside. After that we went to a little garden in Clear Lake that we have always wanted to stop at to try out my new camera that Chris got me for an early anniversary present. It is RED! The selling point! I need a lot of practice with it for sure but it did pretty well and we were amazed at how many people were there in this little garden. It is a beautiful place and everything was flowering and so pretty and it made me really want to have a really nice flower garden in the next place. I just have things in pots here since I really don't want to invest a lot into this yard but the next place I hope we will be for awhile ...we shall see!!!

Anyway, great weekend and it is going to be hard to have Chris go back to work tomorrow! Finally getting my windshield replaced tomorrow and then we are off to Canada on Thursday so I will be using my camera and pretending to know French! HA! That will be interesting as I know none whatsoever!!! I may be eating a lot of baguettes---I can say that!

Lima pics!

Bryan and Meredith--Father's Day 2009

Colleen, Dad, Carlton and Chris---Father's Day 2009

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Buddy

Just a few pictures to share today of the family ----both the human and furry ones! Having a good stay here in Lima with Chris' family and am happy to be here. Went for a fabulous walk today and am hanging around the house reading and playing on the computer today ----I am enjoying this week as I know when I go home I will have plenty of work to do there! Laundry, cleaning, and all that fun stuff! So the plan is to totally enjoy this time and not worry about anything---so far that is working pretty well!

Happy Father's Day!

For those of you who did not know my Daddy this is him!!! I think this was taken probably when we lived in New Concord and he was on the Conference Staff but whenever it was taken it was a good picture! I miss him a lot---I was blessed to have had him in my life as long as I did and am happy that I have such great memories ! Not everyone can say that about their parents and I have been so blessed with both of my parents that it is unbelievable!

I guess on Father's Day especially I get a little emotional thinking of how much I wish I could share with him each day what is going on. I am blessed that my mom is still living and doing so well and we had a great week together last week at Lakeside which I will continue to do as long as I can!!! There is just nothing like the chance to be with those that you love and that love you and have been the support you have needed over the years. I know I will never be able to thank them enough!!!

But anyway-=-Happy Father's Day to all out there with fathers who played an important role in their life and to those who have others who stepped in and filled that Father role for them!!!

And they have arrived!

They have arrived----the much anticipated Canadian Soldiers/Mayflies/June Bugs! They were covering the cars this morning when I went out for an early morning walk. You may ask why I still love to come to Lakeside when these creatures normally arrive during our week here---well--it is part of the charm. I mean really----what is more charming than taking an early morning walk and hearing the crunch crunch under your feet as you tred down the street. And I haven't even begun to mention the wonderful odor that is part of the entire experience. The lightposts are covered and look furry and as they fall off they accumulate in huge piles which begin to smell very odiforous as they decay. On the dock one of the duties of the lifeguards is to hose the place down in the morning, thus ridding the dock of the nasty creatures for a minute before more hatch out and start landing. Eating ice cream is an experience in itself---sometimes your Buckeye Bites end up with Mayfly Bites right along with it. Gross---yes---but one does the best he/she can and perserveres to insure that the experience is pleasurable!

So as they have begun to arrive and swarm on cars, light poles, houses and park benches you grin and bear it and laugh at the reactions of those who have never had the pleasure of experiencing the critters and are thankful that they are only here for a short time. And also thankful that they are a sign that Lake Erie is healthy once again --healthy enough for them to be here!!! A good sign in our times of environmental concern that at least one thing is going in the right direction!

More from Lake Erie!

Lakeside Lakeside Lakeside

Can I just tell you how much I love Lakeside???? I am totally in love with this little place and since it has been a part of my life for almost every single one of my blessed 49 years it is a good thing. There were a few years when I missed when Chris and I lived too far away to really make the yearly trek but whenever we could we came.

To those of you unfamiliar with the charms of Lakeside I will be posting some pictures over the week and you can judge for yourselves! We obviously always come the week that East Ohio Annual Conference (of the United Methodist Church) comes since my daddy was a preacher and now my sissy is a preacher! But it is more than that---to me it is the one place that has really been the constant in all my life. As you know I have lived somewhat the life of the nomad--not really but I have been blessed to be able to live a lot of different places over the years. And Lakeside is the one place that is always the same and feels like home silly as that may sound.

So it is a tourist town---quaint with a few little shops and the most important one---the ice cream place. And the coffee place now! Yippeee! During this week and last week when the UM folk converge on the town it is pretty crazy but so much fun because these are the people that I grew up with and a great time to catch up. Of course since I have nothing to do with the conference but do go to worship services when I can!

But the beautiful part of Lakeside is just the charm---lots of great little overpriced cottages and beautiful scenery. The dock where my brother and I used to fish, the gazebo where my beautiful niece got married a few years ago, the Marblehead lighthouse which I have probably a zillion pictures of, etc.... So this week I will post some pictures of some of the beautiful scenery and maybe some family shots!!!

Mishawaka, Indiana

Sounds exotic, doesn't it?? Well I am not sure how exotic it is judging from the view out my hotel window---I see a Sam's Club, an Arby's, a Culvers, a mall.....etc. I left early this morning on my trek to the lake and made it just fine and dandy to my designated stopping place. It is really too far to go in a day without getting in late and being wiped out so I am splitting the trip up in 2 days and the drive today was easy other than encountering the normal amount of stupid drivers. Made it through the Chicago traffic fine and dandy---hit the tolls in the right lane which was different from when we went through a year ago!!! I was following Chris who just never shifted over to the right lane and guess what---they catch up with you when you try to go through those IPass lanes and you don't have an IPass!!! It took about 5 months but they did!!!

Lots and lots of construction---it is the season of construction and people just act like idiots when they can't go go go!!! I sat for about 30 minutes of I 80 E and watched numerous cars risk life and limb to go around barriers in order to turn around and go west so they did not have to sit and wait. I was expecting to hear a huge crash but every idiot who tried it managed to make it as far as I know.

Chris is in Canada this week and next and sounds like he is doing fine and getting the plant up there all evaluated and scoped out. He sounded tired tonight when we talked so I think he having some long days but hopefully Sunday he will get some down time and be able to do a little bit of touring of Toronto and surrounding area. I will have to see if he got any gravy and fries.....my niece's husband told me about those and I looked it up and while it looks disgusting-----fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds----I guess it is a Canadian thing.

Not sure what my internet access will be in Lakeside this year but I plan to really take a ton of pictures. It is one of my favorite places of all time and I have a zillion of the same pictures every year but oh well!!!!

Scenic Iowa

We tried to do a little get away to Butler County today to see these quilts that are on the sides of barns but the weather did not cooperate at all. It was gross and rainy and we saw several and decided to call it quits on the whole barn tour----it was miserable and by the time we found the barns we were past them so it is definitely a trip for another day!!! I really wanted to see them all---I think there are about 25 of them but they aren't really marked so you have to just kind of figure out which barn it is while you are driving. But it was good to get out of Mason City and do something different for a change and we will go back and do this some day but it was not to be today! We did see some pretty neat barns and homesteads---just couldn't photograph a lot of them.But at least here are a couple to look at!!!

Backyard Friends!!!

The little things!

So the plumber came yesterday and I realized how it is those little things that really make a difference! Having a kitchen faucet that you don't have to stand on one leg with your tongue to the left side of your mouth and your right arm at a right angle before it will shut off correctly is wonderful! And when Chris was shaving this morning it was the first time since we moved here that the sink held water! Not a major thing in the big world view but one of those things that when it works you are grateful!!! Kind of made me think of how we just kind of let things go.....let down our expectations and then just accept the less than perfect things in our lives. Not that that is always necessarily bad but when it comes to our spiritual life and our faith we need to not just "settle" and let things slide. We need to be diligent in our pursuit of seeking God and His will in our lives. We can't just settle for being less than what He has made us to be.

My life lately has just been so wonderful and I am so blessed and it makes me realize that God is there through it all-----I mean I KNOW that but when the blessings keep coming it makes it easier to acknowledge His presence in my life. How did I ever get to this point ? I don't know! I just feel like my life is filled with so much and I certainly do not deserve any of it but that is where GRACE comes in, right? My cup runneth over for sure. Hope some of my blessings spill over to you!