Casa Blanca: September

One of my more recent projects was the 18 year-old bench on the front porch. It was faded and rusted, so I prepped it and painted it. Then I made a coordinating cushion.

...and I had a new sign made for my garden.

Love the fall colors!

We celebrated Lindsay's 41st birthday at KOEN Japanese BBQ and Shushi.

Jeff, Lindsay, Celeste, Di, Rusty

Celeste is pretty good as using chopsticks!

We had some fun at "The Hub and Soul" with live music and good food.

Longtime friends, Rich and Susan.

My Just Sayin' bike group had about 40 people at our end-of-season picnic.

Di, Kristi, Ellie

The evening ended with a beautiful full moon.

My Loveknotter's group enjoyed a lovely brunch on Chris's deck.

Jan, Linda, Chris, and special guest, Mom.

Dar and Tom came for a visit and brought Mom with them.

Tom whipped up a nice big breakfast of steak and eggs.

Dar was the sous chef.

Dar helped pick cherry tomatoes.

We took everyone to hear Big Band Jazz at Che Sodo.

Enjoying the music: Rusty, Mom, Dar, Tom

Mom is not a huge dog-lover, but Gretchen convinced her otherwise.

Gretchen played rough tug-of-war with Tom, but was very gentle with Mom.

It was so great to spend time with my Mom!

Mom and I spent a half-day touring the State Capitol.

Afterwards we stopped by locally owned bookstore, Francie and Finch, so Mom could see my new postcards for sale.

My favorite evening with my Mom was when I was able to help her take a bath. Her independent living quarters only allows for showers, and she much prefers a bath. I was able to get her in and out of the tub safely, give her some soaking time, and then wrap her up in a fluffy, white, robe. "I feel like a princess!" she said. A special memory for me!

Not a great picture, but we were thrilled to spend an evening listening to the St. Louis Symphony.

ANOTHER TRIP TO THE BWCAW

Day 1, suuny, warm, no wind. Perfect!

Guide, Steve, and special guest, Kate.

At the start of Little Indian Sioux River, the foam looked like small icebergs.

This is the same campsite we shared with Dar and Tom a year ago.

I can't remember all of our many trips and the many places we have stayed, so I always refer to specific places as having...

Trees

Rocks

(some pretty moss on these rocks)

and Water

Lorvey, I'm working on my pano technique.

We had plenty of fish every evening, and usually leftovers for breakfast, and sometimes lunch.

Kate is depositing fish guts on a nearby rock. It was fun to watch the eagles come in and snatch them.

This picture shows the distance from our campsite to our view of the hungry eagles.

Me on the portage near the rushing waterfall.

Lunch on Heritage Lake. (Rusty, Steve, Kate)

Kate and Steve on the portage to Shell Lake.

I'm preparing a Boletus Mushroom that I found (looks a lot like a giant hamburger bun) for dinner.

Chef Steve always prepares wonderful meals!

On the third morning Steve was preparing the fire for coffee when he saw a bull moose swimming across the opening to a portage on the other side of the lake.

Conversations around the campfire are special, engaging, and informative.

I took this picture just to embarrass Rusty. After dropping me off at camp, he paddled the tandem canoe from the stern out to get fresh water.

Promotional pictures often show the bow up in the air, but it is not a desirable way to paddle a canoe.

We had several storms in the evening, so the canoe needed to be flipped in order to avoid being filled with water, and snuggled in the trees so as not to be blown away.