We enjoyed a “Mother’s Day Eve” dinner at the Hillside Fish House in Wisconsin. A favorite for batter fried Walleye!

Mother’s Day Brunch was served with beautiful (and edible) orchid blooms!

We visited the old family cemetery and found the gravestone of the family patriarch, Wessel Louw. He survived a cross country trip from upstate New York to the wilds of Wisconsin on which his only siblings, 2 brothers, died. He helped his parents establish a farm and eventually saw his own son William off to the Civil War. William survived and with his wife Mary Jane raised a large family. He helped many of his children with home purchases around Winona, MN. One of his sons was my grandfather. On our scenic drive back to Winona we stopped to take in a view and Mavrik met a new friend. Mavrik wasn’t too impressed though, the canine was rather stiff, like cement!

We have a bucolic campsite on the banks of the Mississippi River (actually a slough off the main channel, so we don’t see the barges chugging by). I heard a bald eagle and saw a Baltimore oriole this morning!

We headed north to Minnesota and saw the ‘X’ in the sky just across the border into MN. Same place in Dec. 2010 when we were heading south! Check it out; X Marks the Spot

A chance to exercise my inner design & craft diva! Sand and clean up the chairs and table, spray paint a vibrant red (until I got a blister on my finger and decided the chairs could stay black), cut out new seats and upholster with a colorful floral print! Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of the finished product, but I’ve been told they look great!

No hair update pictures, but be assured that it is Natural and Light (colored)!!!!!

We started the month of April traveling to visit friends. We had an early Spring Celebration with shiny egg decorations.

Our travels took us through the Ozark Mountains which we explored on a gravel road “auto tour” route to view Winona Lake in the valley below us.

Back at our friends place in Hiwasse, we did some chores around the house including painting the front room we refer to as the sunroom. The many windows let in lots of light for the house plants that look great with the new light green background, bringing the outdoors in!

If I could transmit the fragrance over the internet you would enjoy the sweet flowery scent of the honeysuckle that is blooming all around us now! Summer is on the breeze!

On our way to visit friends.

Camping under the dogwoods.

We went to Joplin, Missouri for Sunday Brunch and were shown the damage from the tornado of May 22, 2011. A whole section of the city was literally wiped out, including a 600 bed hospital. Most of the debris has been cleared away, but some structures were still standing, showing the destruction that occurred. It was amazing to see the line of delineation, trees intact on one side, stumps or gnarled, branchless trunks with scraps of debris wrapped around them on the other!