It’s Only Twelve Weeks Long…

Here in Minnesota we celebrate summer after the long winter.  The problem is how to pack as much as you can into the summer.  It was a few years ago when our kids were graduating from high school that we came to the realization that the summer is only 12 weeks long and everyone tries to pack everything into those 12 weekends.

It starts with Memorial Day weekend with the parades and local remembrance services and directly into the graduation parties for the recent graduates.  Now in a small town of 400 no one wants to miss each others parties so the last of the parties may well be into July.  Spring and summer are traditionally wedding seasons here as the brides hope for the perfect spring or summer day.

July brings the Fourth of July activities with parades and local town celebrations.  We are surrounded by several other small towns each having their own celebration and then our town celebration of Heritage Days is the second weekend of August each summer.  This year is the biggie, 100 years since our town was incorporated.

Summer is the traditional time for vacations and camping when the kids are out of school so those of us who don’t have kids in school or our kids are grown work while others take their vacation with their kids.  Its okay with me because I prefer to duck out of town in the middle of winter for a little warm weather elsewhere.

Before we know it the back to school shopping season is upon us and Labor Day.  The boats are off the lakes and put away and everyone wonders what happened to summer.

My response lately is that summer is only 12 weeks long.

That being said we have already packed so much into the spring/summer season already it feels like it should be done but I am delighted to realize that we are not half way through yet.

We’ve been up north to Two Harbors to work on my brother’s new land he purchased to develop into a rustic retreat.  We’ve been to San Francisco to celebrate our nephew’s wedding.  We’ve attended several graduation parties and helped host a family reunion for my mom’s family from all over the United States.

Our most exciting news is welcoming our first granddaughter to the family.  We’ve welcomed two more grandsons to the mix since I last blogged and will be adding a daughter-in-law to the family in January.  Life is good…but short…celebrate accordingly.

 

Serenity

Today was one of those days.  You know the one.  It’s the one that at the end of it every thing just feels right.

It wasn’t a day of vacation.  It was a normal work day for me doing the normal bookkeeping stuff, visiting with customers, answering phone calls and cleaning up cars.  It wasn’t extraordinary in any particular way but it felt right.

After work I took the top off the Corvette and drove a half hour through beautiful countryside to meet friends for dinner.  Wires must have been crossed because when I got there no one was there that I was supposed to meet but it was okay because it was a beautiful evening for a ride.

When I got home I stood outside taking clothes in off the clothesline and just listened.  In the distance I could hear the kids singing from the local bible camp across the road, loons calling in the distance, and an occasional fish jumping in the water.

I watched the changing colors across the lake as the sun was setting and a bat swooping down to the surface collecting bugs for its dinner.

It’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to appreciate all that surrounds me.  It’s beautiful and serene.

 

The Project

It’s been over two months since I lasted posted on the blog.  Life happens, especially in Minnesota in the summer.  It seems that everyone tries to cram everything into the twelve weeks of summer.  We have been busy with life, work and “The Project”   Throw in a few weddings, birthday parties, reunions and we are already back to shortened days and cooler temperatures much sooner than expected.  My to do list still has too many items left on it.

Below are some before and after pictures from our project.  It has been fun seeing it take shape.  There is still much to do both inside and out.  There have been a few bumps in the road and distractions along the way so progress on our part as been slow.  The carpenters working on the project have been awesome.

 

I hope to get back to posting more often.  I had to put the camera down for a few months after breaking my collar-bone the end of June after tipping my motorcycle.  It has slowed me down a bit but I am finally back to having some strength back in my right arm.  The good news is my left arm is getting so much stronger since I’ve had to use it instead of the right.

Hope summer is treating all of you well. Jeanne

 

Afternoon Delight

Each spring we help my Mom and Dad put in their Catalina sailboat in the lake for the season and then in the fall we reverse the process.

Life has been full the past few years so we haven’t had time to actually go for a sailboat ride during the summer, just partake in the launching process.

This spring we vowed that this summer would be different we would actually go for a ride on the boat. Several years ago we went for a ride on Dad’s last sailboat, a catamaran. It was a beautiful Fourth of July weekend. We turtled the boat and ended up spending a bit of time floating in the lake with lots of boats zipping around us until another boat stopped to help us. We formulated a plan to upright the boat and were on our way again. I was hoping we wouldn’t have a repeat of the previous experience.

Summer has come and gone here in Minnesota and no sailboat ride until yesterday. While at a birthday party for my sister on Saturday evening my husband made plans with my Dad for our sailboat ride. Yesterday afternoon after church we headed over to Mom and Dad’s for our ride. It was just a quick ten minute ride to their home.

When we arrived Mom was already had treats ready for our ride, a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers. We walked down to the dock and started getting ready for the ride. we motored away from the dock and about a hundred feet from shore and Dad started putting up the sails. First the main sail then the jib and we were off.

We tacked back and forth across the lake with the sails full under clear blue skies. It was a perfect not too windy day. We could see seagulls gathered on the lake as well as the loons as we sailed with fishing boats here and there.

The afternoon brought back many wonderful memories of Dad at the helm and family times spent together on the boat.

 

Dance of the Hummingbirds

This morning I was reading a daily devotional of the Proverbs 31 website.

http://devotions.proverbs31.org/2011/09/beauty-and-meaning-in-unlikely-places.html

It was talking about taking time to notice the ordinary in the midst of our busyness. This afternoon as my husband and I were heading off for a motorcycle ride I glanced over at my garden.

These days there doesn’t seem much new or special about my garden. There aren’t any new flowers blooming and a lot of the flowers that have bloomed profusely have all but stopped. Flowers are fading with our cooler night temperatures as fall approaches.

I saw something move above my garden that caught my eye. I had my camera in my hand but didn’t have my preferred lens on it. As I focused my camera on the movement I noticed not one but two hummingbirds flying around the Phlox in my garden.

It was a brief visit from the hummingbirds but an exciting one as they danced around the Phlox. As quickly as they appeared they were gone.

Even when everyday things seem ordinary they often deserve a second look……

 

It Doesn’t Get Much Better

Friday evening my husband and I took our daughter and her son with us to the racetrack. My husband hasn’t raced much this summer but he had his truck ready to go and we went.

When we arrived at the track after an hour and a half drive first thing on our list was to unload the truck and get something to eat.

My grandson’s favorite is a corn dog which I knew they had at the food stand. And yes, that little guy did eat the whole thing although it took him awhile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we unloaded the truck we headed over to the pit grandstand to watch a couple of heat races before my husband’s turn to race.  Jack didn’t take his eyes off the track for a minute and was concerned when they had to send a tow truck out to take a car off the track that had spun out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack’s favorite movie is “Cars”.  This was like seeing “Cars” in person. He pointed at everything and talked in his two-year old jibberish about everything he saw and every other word that came out of his mouth was “race car”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Squeals of delight were heard as the racecars turned corner number four. Our night was cut short by storms rolling in. We ended up running to the truck in pouring rain and driving in torrential rains home. We will head back to the track on Thursday for  “King of the Dirt” night.  Hopefully he will get to see Grandpa race.

 

 

 

We All Start Small

For weeks I have been watching my garden and waiting.

I planted many flowers over the past few years to attract butterflies, specifically Monarchs.

This past week I managed to catch a Monarch on one of my Echinacea.

Last evening after my grandson’s birthday party was done and all the guests and kids had gone home I walked out to the garden and found signs that caterpillars were present on my milkweed plants.

I searched the bottoms of the leaves until I finally found a caterpillar. The first one I found was medium-sized from what I have seen in past years, about an inch in length.

I continued my search in hopes of finding more caterpillars. Next I found this tiny caterpillar eating its way through the plant.

A little perspective on the size. The caterpillar is at most only a 1/4 inch in length. I had to use my camera lens to magnify it to make sure what I was actually seeing. Probably not necessary for someone with good eyes but mine needed help to see it.

I heard an interesting comment on the radio yesterday about caterpillars, butterflies and moths about their brains. It said something that the caterpillar has two brains. The first in the caterpillar is designed for eating and then through metamorphosis its old brain is made into a new one designed for flight that is needed for a moth or butterfly. Two distinctly different brains.Signs of the first are gone after metamorphosis I thought it was interesting. Why not just one capable of both? I still am in awe of the metamorphosis process.

The Insect with Two Brains | Creation Moments.

 

I’m still looking for the elusive butterfly eggs to photograph.

 

Three Kinds of Sweet

Each year in my garden I wait for the milkweed plants to start blooming. I love to watch the butterflies and bees that come for the sweet nectar.

This year in my yard I have three different kinds of milkweed plants. Only one of the plants I purchased and planted as a perennial. The other two have grown wild in my yard.

I purchased this plant a few years ago to attract butterflies. I wanted Monarch butterflies to come and lay eggs and then collect the caterpillars for my classroom to show them how they formed the chrysalis and then hatched into butterflies which we later released.

Last year I found Common Milkweed growing in my garden on it’s own and I decided not to pull it up like I would have done many years ago before I discovered Monarchs. I let it grow and go to seed. Now I have several plants to attract the Monarchs.

The last milkweed plant is the same kind of milkweed plant as the first only it is one that I found along our lakeshore this past weekend. It grew there naturally. It is a Swamp Milkweed.

This plant is in it’s happy place and I was excited to see it growing naturally. This past weekend I saw my first Monarch flying around the garden. I wasn’t able to get a shot of it with it’s wings open but only hanging on to the higher branches of our pine tree.

I’ve planted a lot of flowers over the years to attract butterflies, especially the Monarchs. These three plants along with my Butterfly Bush that isn’t blooming yet are sure to attract the Monarchs. The butterflies also like my Echineacea plants,Phlox and Monarda or Bee Balm as it is sometimes called. It’s been a treat to see the butterflies visit the garden each year.

Hopefully some butterfly pictures to follow over the next few weeks.

 

The Old and the Young: Eagles

Earlier this summer while out on the boat I spotted a  eagle next to a nest. This past weekend I went in search of the same eagle hoping to catch another glimpse while we were out on the boat. I was not disappointed.

The adult eagle that I saw was not next to the nest where I saw it earlier but in a tree just to the north of the location I first saw it. I’m assuming it’s the same eagle but not sure.

As we went a little further south in our boat, just a few feet, to the location of the nest and this is what I saw.

This young eagle was sitting in the location where I first spotted the adult earlier this spring. I was reading another blog this morning, one of my favorites Naturally Curious with Mary Holland http://naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/bald-eagle-nest-update/

and learned that it can take up to four years for the young eagle to gain its white head and white on its tail. The young eagle was sitting and flapping its wings.

When we were travelling home just two days ago near the Mississippi River I saw an eagle soaring in the sky. Such a beautiful sight. I haven’t seen the eagle on our lake soaring overhead but I guess they have been busy tending to their young ones.

 

I Think I Am Down A Pint…

This evening when I finally got home I decided to take my camera and walk down to the lake in hopes of getting a picture of the very vocal loons that I heard last evening.

It was a very still, humid evening. Just perfect for mosquitos and not so much for me. (Yes, That is my arm being sucked dry by this mosquito and many others.)

As I wandered around my yard to check out what was new blooming in my garden I was already swatting mosquitos but wasn’t intimidated enough to head back in yet.

I walked out on our dock in search of the loons but they weren’t around our dock area and I couldn’t hear them in the near vicinity.

As I was walking I continued swatting mosquitos. I could have used spray but I don’t like to because that means a shower before I head to bed.

Down by the lake the grass was moving with my every step. Here is what was on the move. Hundreds of them. They were really quick and it was very challenging to get close enough to one and get it in focus before it moved.

If you look at the size of the frog compared to the clover you will notice that they are only about one inch in length now.

Today on our drive home from a funeral we saw this wildflower growing along the roadside. It is the first I have seen of its kind this spring/summer season. It is a Cow Parsnip and it is a very large and tall plant. It was about four feet tall in the ditch where we stopped.

The Cow Parsnip plant reminds me a bit of the Dill plants that grow in my husband’s parent’s garden.

There is not much blooming for color in the wildflower department lately. Mostly yellow or white flowers. Soon some pretty pinks will be added to the mix. Can’t wait to share them.

Heading to bed in hopes of being sung to sleep again by the loons, frogs, and the waves on the shore but not the buzz of the mosquito.