Let me root, root, root for the home team,

I think Steve and I knew just a few weeks after Katie began to walk that she would one day play softball or baseball. She was hunched down in catching position: knees bent, hands touching the ground as if about to pick up a ball...she just seemed to be very comfortable in that position.

Steve and I used to get a kick out of it when she went "for a grounder" Of course, it is in her genes. (Steve and I both played for catcher for years).

Katie started playing this summer with the WeeStars (a Winona league for girls between the ages of 6 and 10). The league focuses on building the girls’ skills - and on having fun.

Steve is helping to coach the team. Here he is working with one of the little ones on her batting skills.

Katie seems to enjoy fielding as much as hitting the ball.

Go, Katie, Go!

A "Prime" Anniversary Party

Steve, Katie, and I had a blast celebrating the 11th anniversary of our friends, Jennifer (above) and her husband Jeremy. This year was especially important because 11 is a prime number! Jen is another geology professor at WSU, and she and Steve have become good friends in the four years that she has been teaching there. The party was celebrated at the Smith Gardens Community Farm (http://www.smithgardensfarm.com/index.html) which is about 35 minutes from Winona.
Here Jeremy awaits the frisbee which will soon loft his way, the farm's dog also hopes to get his mitts on the disc. In the lower right hand corner is the adorable son of the farm's owners. He was somewhat unclear as the the rules of the game of bacchi and frequently picked up the bacchi balls and ran away with them. This added an element of surprise to our games, making it somewhat of an extreme sport!

The 16 acres of this farm are absolutely georgous and guests were free to roam about the property. There are a slew of laying hens, and milking goats which are fun to watch and pet. The produce is raised organically and is wonderful. They also have a wood-fired stove which is used in the preparation of pizza, which was our dinner for the evening. Katie (above) heads back to the keg (of lemonade) to refill her glass.

We also had the pleasure of the company of other WSU friends. Above is our good friend Katie with her adorable daughter Nyah. They make the perfect backdrop to the lovely freshly picked salads.

There was plenty of time to catch up with friends. Above Jennifer and Candice (Another Geo-prof) discuss the perfect temperature for the formation of granite...or are they discussing which wine would go best with the roasted asparagus pizza?

Steve and Peggy have a good laugh - what wonderful smiles, you two!

The bacchi games were pretty competative. Say...who took the other green ball???

What a great evening - great location, wonderful food, and super people. Thanks for inviting us Jen and Jer! Happy anniversary!

Goodbye, Julius C. Wilkie

One of Winona's more notable landmarks has been the Julius C. Wilkie, a replica steamship which for years has sat in Levee Park at the end of Main Street. The boat is named after one of the founders and first settlers of Winona and is even in the book "1000 Places to Visit in the MidWest". Unfortunately, as often happens with old things, the Wilkie had begun to fall into disrepair. The City Counsel has debated for years about what should be done with the ship and two years ago a faction of very enthusiastic town members formed to try and save the Wilkie. Unfortunately, their valiant efforts were not successful.
In its grander days, the ship was an art museum and the upper deck served as a grand salon for musical shows and social teas. Since before we moved to town in 2002, the ship has been closed to the public. Alas, we never got to see the interior.

On July 9th, the ship was demolished and removed from Levee Park. Steve and Katie stopped by in the morning to get one last look at the Wilke before she moved on to that great golden river in the sky....

Have I told you that we have a pirate here in town? ARRR we sure do. Steve the Pirate is one of the town's more colorful characters. He made sure that he was on hand that morning in case anyone wanted a photo op. How could Katie say no to a pirate?

Sniff, the last bit of the Wilkie before she is totalled.

I wonder what they will put in her place?

Tornado Warnings

We have been in the midst of some pretty severe storms lately. Last week, a tornado set down five blocks from my office. I know I've always loved the Wizard of Oz, but I'd rather keep the twisters a long way from me! Here are a couple of photos of funky clouds.

Thankfully, there have been no tornados in Winona, and the one the touched down in LaCrosse didn't do much damage at all.

Have I stayed too long at the fair?

On Friday, July 13th, Katie and I went to the Winona County Fair with her friends Lydia and Augusta (Gussie), and their mom, my friend, Julie. This is becoming an annual event for the five of us. We all look forward to certain aspects, Julie and I both love to see the animals. This year I got my wish and saw a baby calf that was several days old. The cows and sheep were very cool. Katie quickly learned how to tell the difference between a beef and milking cow. We all agreed that the pig barn smelled especially yucky this year.

This year Lydia and Katie were entranced by the historical re-enactments. Julie and I stood in the background watching as the girls sat through a presentation by a "Norwegian Homesteader". It was fun to watch the girls interact and ask questions of "Ollie", then enthusiastically share the facts with us later. ... "Did you know that it took him 12 weeks to come to America on a sailing vessel?"

The girls always look forward to going on the rides. I love seeing their smiles as they roll past us. Katie seems to enjoy being a "big sister" to Gussie for the day.
Here Katie and Gussie ride in a fuschia land cruiser.

Lydia and Katie were disappointed that they were too tall to ride in the planes, but Gussie is flying high! What a sweet smile. Augusta, you oughta be in pictures!

The girls cool off with sno cones after visiting the Mary Kay booth. Apparently Katie applied her eye shadow before the "less is more" lesson. She managed to get several days worth of eye shadow onto those lids. Don't they look fierce and fabulous?
After the sno cones, we caught a marionette show. How impressive. This couple travels around the country with their marionettes, they were amazing!

After the show, they brought out Pinnochio to meet all the kids. Here Katie and Gussie get hugs and high fours from the wooden boy.
It looks like Lydia and Katie have a new buddy.

Thanks for making it such a great day Julie, Lydia, and Gussie!

Bless me Father, for I have sinned...

...it has been three months since my last post. Some of you have even sent me reminders to update my blog.... (hello Matt, Kerri, Steph, Shawn, Mary, and Holly)... Boy, I had no idea that taking on a blog would be such a tremendous responsibility; people check frequently for updates and often feel disappointed when there are none. It's a good thing that I am no longer Catholic; otherwise, I'd have had trouble sleeping over the last three months.

By way of explanation, I should tell you that it was an interesting spring. Part of the reason why I have failed to post is the fact that I spent over 6 weeks between April and May suffering from a constant headache. During that time I went through all kinds of tests, my Doctor and I discussed many possible diagnoses: temporal arteritis, multiple sclerosis, cancer, brain tumors, each one scarier than the last...I had blood work and brain scans. In the end, after ruling out all the horrible possibilities (Thank God), we settled on what my doctor has called atypical migraines.

Of course, for a while the headaches were so severe, that the last thing I wanted to do was to log onto the computer if I didn't have to, then I felt as if it had been so long since I had posted that I would need to make a substantial post and that became paralyzing - hence, the lack of activity on the blog.

One of my favorite quotations comes from Richard Bach’s novel Illusions. He wrote: "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts." I've thought about this quotation quite a bit lately. There was a time, during the worst of it, when I didn't know what the outcome of all the tests would be. They had seen a spot on my cat-scan and wanted to do some more thorough scans to rule out a brain tumor. This was the closest I have ever come to recognizing the fact that one day I will die. Amazingly, I was pretty calm through all of this. I started writing my will and I began a letter to Katie outlining all the advice I want to be sure I give her as she grows into adulthood. Strangely, I felt at peace. If you know me well, you are most likely surprised by that last statement.

Where, you may ask, is the gift in all of this? I believe it is in the fact that as a result of this experience, I feel as though I am living more and experiencing life “in the moment”. Instead of focusing on how busy I am, or how much work I have to do, I take time out to appreciate each day. I notice the sun sparkling on the river, I enjoy watching a mother hawk teach her young to fly, and I look for the good in each day. It amazes me that I always find it. It amazes me that I used to rush by and miss it. I hope I can continue to live like this and that my busy lifestyle doesn't suck me back into the trap of rushing through life.

So here we are. Yes it has been almost three months since the last post, but the blog is back. Steve has been added as an administrator and he will be adding posts as well. We’ve done a ton of work to the house over the last 2 months - Steve built me a screen porch and remodeled the kitchen. Katie is now playing softball and guitar. There will be photos posted soon. Stay tuned…

So much for Spring!

We woke up this morning to be greeted by 3o degree temps and snow on the ground. It's hard to take snow after a lovely weekend of sun and warmth. This was the view in our backyard at 6:00 this morning. Poor Sadie, when I let her outside this morning, she turned and looked at me as if to say: "Are you kidding me! - I thought this stuff was all gone!"
All weekend long I agonized over the fact that I have flowerbeds that need to be cleared. I'm sure that my tulips and irises are much happier today covered in leaves and mulch.

Birthday Bowling becomes Blissful Bash

We celebrated Katie's 7th birthday a few fays early today by hosting her first grade class at the local bowling alley. Boy, 7 year olds are a lot of fun...but once you add cake and ice cream into the mix, it can get quite rambunctious!

This may be the last year (until high school) when it is actually "cool" to hang out with the boys.

Katie's friends are so delightful. Steve and I love to watch them play together because they are truly such a nice group.

If Kate wished for a spare or a strike, her wish came true. After the cake, she bowled 4 spares in a row followed by a strike. Well played, birthday girl!

Riley does her victory dance... Any pin down is a good roll!
Each child signed the bowling pin and Katie was able to take it home as a momento. This was a fun day, and the best part was Steve and I didn't have to clean up afterward!

April Showers Greening the Midwest

It seems as though it has been raining non-stop for weeks. I realize that can't possibly be the case; however, that is how it seems. The river is pretty high and there is talk about floods again this year.

The up side to all this rain is the fact that the leaves are coming into bud and the flowers are beginning to shoot upward. I love this time of year (sorry Steph). I find so much joy in the fact that everything starts all over again. I'm reminded of the Philip Larkin poem, "The Trees":

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.


Such good advice for all of us; nothing beats the opportunity to "begin afresh".

Absent blogger returns

It's been a pretty rough month and I really haven't felt like getting online very much. To those of you who have been nudging me, thanks for the push...I'll try to be more consistent in my posts.

Katie turns seven on Tuesday. It's difficult to imagine, she seems to be growing up so quickly. I know how clichéd this will sound, but it truly does seem like yesterday that she was 6 lbs, 11 oz. Now we have deep and meaningful conversations about truly important things (like how High School Musical was WAY better than High School Musical 2, and about how Zac Effron is really cute, but that Corbin Bleu would probably be more fun to hang out with). She makes me smile and I am grateful for these silly moments that we share. Each one is a gift.

I finished her birthday gift recently - I made her this quilt for her bed...I can't wait to see her reaction when she opens it.