Erickson Day Lily Success

Back in May, I was lucky enough to get 5 clumps of day lilies from Gary & Mary Erickson, who have an amazing flower garden in memory of their son.  This week, to my delight, one of the lilies bloomed and there is at least one more clump with a bud.  Gary tried hard to give me 5 different colors so it is a surprise to see what each of the clump of lilies produces.

 Here is the first to show a flower to me.

 The next of the lilies is this beauty, very light yellow.

The tiger lilies that were in my yard when I moved here, have really gotten to be big healthy clumps of plants.

 This year has been a particularly good year for these orange lilies.

A visit to see Bryce and his Mom

Dad & Ev and I drove to Menomonie on Thursday to see new baby boy, Bryce and his Mom, Kaija.  I like to see the babies when they are 'fresh', so we thought it was worth a quick drive down.

Bryce got kind of upset with us that we interrupted his lunch.

But he got glad again on Mom's shoulder.

He seemed interested in his thumb...

or fist...

or sleeve.

He is a sweet baby boy and sure has a full head of hair.

Bryce Lawrence.jpg

Kaija and Mike have a baby boy born on July 13th. Welcome Bryce Lawrence Vanasse!

Born at 10:37pm on 7/13/2011 

9 lbs 2 oz

21.75 inches tall

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

A lot of sewing and a little photography

Mural on the wall of the Fire Station in Mason, WI

On Thursday I headed for Mason, WI to spend a couple of nights with my high school friend, Mary & her husband, Rick.  We had signed up to take a sewing class all day Friday in Cornucopia, WI.  

We spent Thursday afternoon in Bayfield, visiting Mary's Mom and shopping for fabric in a quilting store.

Thursday evening was happy hour and grilled supper at Rick & Mary's and it was delicious.

The chickens are quite friendly there, but to see Kelsy jump up on Mary's lap, now that was a surprise.

Kelsi, she lays green eggs, but not everyday

Friday we headed to Cornucopia and spent the day sewing a large tote for quilting supplies.  It was a busy day and the project was too complex to finish in one day, that was disappointing, but when/if I finish it, I think it may be quite useful.  It was fun to spend the day sewing with Mary & Sharon again.

Friday evening, Rick, Mary & I had Friday Fish Fry at a supper club in Iron River, WI.  Excellent fish, cold beer.

Back at home, we had a fire in the outside fireplace and enjoyed the evening visiting and listening to the birds.

I think chickens are fun to take photos of and this black chicken is a classic.

The dogs are so sweet.

Ripley is a very sweet dog and loves to lay near the grown ups when they are chatting.

Esty might be a little deaf but she still likes to scout around the yard.

I am looking forward to my next trip to Mason for a quilt class in August.

—wwboottoobww

I left Mason on Saturday morning and headed to Grantsburg to Crex Meadows Wildlife Refuge for the monthly photo club meeting where the group reviews and critiques the photos submitted by the members.

These are my photos for this month.

I ran across this snake at Crex Meadows the day I was there to take my wild flower pictures for the meeting.

In the afternoon I attended a beginners DSLR Camera class that was excellent!

Practicing with shutter speed.

I learned several new tidbits and hopefully they will help me with my photos.

On the way home from Grantsburg, I took a county road from Siren to Shell Lake and saw much of the tree damage from the recent storm.

I also ran across this hen with her brood of chicks.

I think she had 7 or 8 chicks with her.  A busy Mom.

It was 3 days of lots of driving but fun.

As always it is nice to be 

Home Sweet Home

Happy the 4th of July

It has been non stop since the folks arrived on Thursday evening.  Friday evening a major storm ripped through Northern Wisconsin, we were so lucky to have only wind here in Rice Lake, but only 30 miles North there was devastation to many homes & severe injuries due to the storm and even a death.

Saturday and Sunday we spent some time at Glenn's cottage on Big Moon Lake near Turtle Lake.

On Sunday all of Glenn's kids were there as well as Cam & Ryan and girls.  The kids had a blast tubing and swimming.

There was a boat parade in the afternoon with a prize for the best decorations.

Glenn and Kathy worked all day Saturday on the decorations and it paid off.

For the second year in a row, the $20 grand prize was won by the Johansens.

A 'wood' hull was added along with sails to make a ship out of a pontoon boat.

The ship of pirates was towing a dingy of prisoners.

Ev and Dad were amazed at the boats I guess

Nephew Ryan, Lois behind him, Mark and Gus barely in the photo.

Argh...Pirate Dana (no worries Johnny Depp)

Michelle and  her Captain Andy Johansen

Kathy and Glenn on their pirate ship creation

And the big first prize cash!

Andrew, Michelle, Erin & Dana...what a crew.

Andy, Michelle, Dana, Erin and the pirate boat in the background.

Dad visiting with Gus.

Jumping off the dock was quite a challenge for the younger kids, more than one managed to do it for the first time ever, here is a video of photographs of Charli getting ready to JUMP.

Just click here --->>> Will She Jump?

Hot hot hot

Dad and Ev arrived from Iowa last evening and are settled in to stay for 6 weeks.  The weather got crazy hot just in time for their arrival.  Today we have had high 90's for temps and humidity is very high as well.  We decided to have a restful day and stay in out of the heat.

I happened to look out and see a couple of birds in the birdbath and snapped a couple of photos.

The focus is not too great because I was shooting through the window.

Just after the bath

Talk about a bad hair day

Then back in for another swish

Shakin' the booty

Busy in the other bird bath too.

Happy 4th weekend to all, we are headed to Glenn's lake cottage for visiting with the family over the weekend.