Goodbye, August

This month was a blur. Literally, ha! I purposely blurred out my calendar for privacy, but you get the idea. I was booked. And now I'm bushed.

Managed to knock off 19 of my 23 non-blurry senior photo shoots! Now that is an accomplishment! And what a fun time. I still have 4 more to go in September and have flash drives of photos to deliver, but I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with the turn of the calendar page.

You know what else I'm seeing?

Ope! I meant to give you a spoiler alert! I'm not ready to capture that image either!

I hope Mother Nature will at least give us a full long weekend of summer as we approach Labor Day. I'm also not ready for that. Time just flies and we keep plugging along.

Hope you did something you enjoyed this summer! And remember... it's not too late! Summer still technically here 3 more weeks. Own it!

She says, looking her tee time September 1st.

Goodbye, my blurry August!  

Rocky Mountain Hi and Hello

Had a very nice past 24 hours. The kids traveled from Colorado to Wisconsin this weekend and got up to our place last night around 7 p.m. So nice to hug my boy after 3 months!!

And Mamie, too, of course! We pretty much just sat in the living room and talked and caught up for 4 hours. It was just so nice! This momma's heart was smiling! 

They're around to visit family since Carter just finished up his contracted job with the study abroad company. And Mamie could take a few days off. We talked about next steps since their lease in Denver is up in late October. There is plenty of uncertainty since Carter was waiting to hear about a job he interviewed for with the same company.

This morning he got the good news! They're hiring him in a full-time position – like real adult one with benefits and everything! We're so excited and so relieved! It continues to be fully remote so we'll see where the dart lands on the U.S. dart board next. 

Late this afternoon, we said our goodbyes with some extra-long hugs and they headed south to the Platteville-Potosi area to see her family. This should hold me awhile.

Unless I get the urge to see fall colors in the Rockies. Not unheard of.

Such Language

I can't believe we're deep into August – known anecdotally for its hot nights – and the weather dudes are using words like "cold front." Not good. Not good. Do not like that four-letter word!

Although I really was cold today. After church it was chilly with all the rain. Put a sweatshirt on and warmed up. While Mother Nature was simultaneously having a hot flash.

When I got out of my car for a senior photo shoot later, I was immediately sweating. So muggy!!! Ditched the heavy layer and proceeded to have a very nice shoot. I captured at least a dozen action shots of this kiddo during the football game Friday...

But it's always nice to see the handsomeness under the helmet too...

Yes, if you were asking, it IS a prerequisite to be a GQ model to play football around here. At least according to my senior photo shoots this season! All great kids too.

Glad we had enough time to get our session in before Mother Nature turns the A/C on. I can't keep up with her moods. 

And you know me. My electric mattress pad is ON anyway!

Have a great week!

Saturday Night Lights

My Saturday night lights definitely had a different vibe from Friday night lights. Not as much action and certainly no yelling or cowbell from spectators!

It rained all day until about 3 p.m. Thankfully the first half of the day was indoors.

Went to a baby shower for our neighborhood grandma-to-be's daughter-in-law. The grandma graduated with Jim so I saw a few of his other classmates there, too. Was at a new event space of sorts called Rooted in Red – you guessed it, cranberry country. It's a nice place. And it was a fun time!

Also, I won a give-away basket, which brings my total to three baskets this week! Here's my pile of goodies that I haven't had time to go through yet! Just when I thought "I never win anything!"

Tonight I was hired to take pictures at a 100-year anniversary party for a local golf course. Was so glad the rain stopped before the 5 p.m. start since I wanted to take some of the pictures outside. Rain held off and we even got fireworks off and stayed dry. This time I could actually see them from our river view!

Now it's definitely past bedtime and I need to say special prayers for NO RAIN just between the hours of 11-1 and 5-7 tomorrow! Amen.

Friday Night Lights Return

While most schools aren't in session yet, that hasn't stopped the fall sports schedule from commencing. Assumption did start classes this week. And returned to the home gridiron tonight. 

Since kickoff was at 6 p.m., I figured I'd get some pictures in the "daylight" hours. Second half was usless for capturing anything. We'll see how they turned out. I'll get to sifting through those in a bit. 

It was a back-and-forth game against the strong Pepin-Alma team. (Yes, definitely nonconference.) We'd get within 1 point and then they'd score and we were catching up again. In the end, right after the timeout pictured above, we just couldn't catch 'em the last time and fell 34-27. Dang.

Pretty decent game to watch, though. However, we had one too many (or 5 too many) false-start penalties. Grr. On the plus side, we had great passes and receptions for our usually strong running team. And our two senior running backs Nick and Cade dominated per usual. Will be a fun season to watch! 

If you can't see them in person under the lights, you can watch the livestream on Zaleski Sports. Let's have a season, Royals!

Smile and Say Rain Delay

Now that my golfing marathon is done, I'm back to my senior photo shoot marathon. With no room in my schedule for rain delays. Yet here we are again!

I managed to get a shoot done last night and was done with things late so skipped blogging. Tonight I was an hour into the shoot and it was sprinkling. The senior's mom held my treasured Prince Purple Rain umbrella over my head so I could shoot her son's baseball pictures without getting my precious camera wet.

But then it moved beyond sprinkling! 

And one look at the weather apps on our phones told us we were done for the night. So now I hopefully can squeeze in two rain delay shoots on SUN-day along with a regularly scheduled shoot that evening.

Sorry to be selfish, farmers and fish and whoever else needs water! It was just momentarily inconvenient.

Probably good to be home one night where I can't go out anyway. I have plenty of things to catch up on around here. Haven't even gotten a chance to look through my golf scramble swag from Monday! And I heard I won two raffle baskets and a gift card as well. So the sun is still shining on some parts of life! 

It always is.

Find your sun – externally, internally, or both – and have a great rest of your week!

Swinging Fore a Good Paws Cause

Mondays get a bad rep. Mondays are awesome when you're not working and you're swinging FORE a good PAWS instead!

Today was the inaugural fundraising golf scramble event for the Wood County K-9 Fund. It was cleverly called Swing 'Fore' Paws.

And we were swinging for guys like Ace here and other fur buddies in the department. I knew a few of the organizers and they've been working on this for about a year and frankly, it showed. We could tell by all the sponsors and volunteers and crazy amount of raffles and other prizes that they put a lot of hard work into this.

And one pretty big sponsor as well.

My foursome today was Sue, Pam and Jackie – who I golf with on Mondays when I sub for the ladies league at the Ridges. So last Monday we had a scramble. Then I had scrambles Wednesday and Saturday with league in between. Yup. Fifth time swinging in the past 8 days. 

And shooting.

Oh yes. On one of the holes we could shoot our drive out of a cannon-type gun. Let me tell you, that's the way to get decent yardage! Can't say I've ever done that before but I definitely would do it again!

And the weather was super gorgeous, too. Just a really fun day off, that's for sure.

I didn't stick around long enough to see if I won any raffles since I had book club at 5:30. (Priorities!) Pretty sure I didn't win anything. Also pretty sure I've never shelled out more 20-dollar bills in a week's time than this one with all these scrambles and raffles and stuff. Good causes, but dang. I need to spread them out more.

On the plus side, I bet I'm gonna sleep good tonight! 

Probably dream about big slobbery sweeties! 

Out West and Back

After a 522-mile round trip in the past 24 hours, I'm a bit tired. But it was worth it, as always. This was our view last night heading west about 8 p.m. Because of course we had a golf outing first!

Hubby had the unenviable task of carrying us three women in Assumption's annual football scramble. We're pretty sure that he didn't mind too much since we were all singing his praises after just about every shot on every hole. At one point he said, "I don't need groupies!" 

Good thing we were there for fun and not to win it. And it was a blast. And we were all super thankful that the predicted rain stayed away all afternoon! 

After the dinner, Jim and I stopped at home to clean up a bit, feed Sylvester, and hit the road. We knew our family reunion/Christmas in August was 4 1/2 hours away so we wanted to try to get more than 3 hours into the trip so we didn't have to do all 9 hours of driving in one day. Not that we haven't before. Made as far as Taylors Falls, Minnesota, at about 11:30 p.m. and stayed in a dive hotel there. At least it only left a one-hour drive to Mora this morning!

So my sister Rayna and I – the two long-distance ones – co-hosted family Christmas 2022, timing it when she's at the tail-end of her Midwest summer tour (away from the AZ desert heat) and when my nephew Tim and his family were visiting from South Dakota. We had it a restaurant in Mora (a Swedish city) where we had our December celebration last year. It's convenient to have a private room with a buffet and no on has to haul food.

Very excited that every sibling of mine and every niece and nephew – including a great-niece and great-nephew both less than a month old – were there today EXCEPT the two 24-year-olds: my son Carter and my great-nephew Anthony. Whoops. So glad to see everyone, especially meeting the new ones!

I'm Kloey and I can smile!

I'm Nils and I can sing!

I'm Millie and I just turned one year old yesterday!

Here's a few group pictures of the people you've seen a time or two or 22...

My brother and 6 sisters and me. I literally am the black sheep of the family. Ha.

Adding Mom to the mix. 

And here are Carter's cousins – my 10 nieces and nephews. All grown-ups now! Not necessarily mature, ha-ha, but adults. And I love them fiercely!!

And here are my GREATS!! 10 great-nephews (one missing) and 6 great-nieces. I am soooo blessed!

I've mentioned before there's a town in Sweden also called Mora. So there is a Swedish presence in the Minnesota version. This flag and a much larger-than-life-size Dala horse!

After our lunch, we all went over to the park next to it to horse around. (Had to say it!)

Got a picture with my twin and travel partner to Sweden 4 years back!

And it was just a beautiful day in the park! Lots of places for the kiddos to play.

And the rest of us to try and visit a little with each person there. Never quite works that way. I think I got some nice pictures with my real camera too. But it's bedtime and I'll check those out tomorrow.

Got home at 8:30 tonight and it already feels way past our bedtime. Will have sweet dreams of the sweet blessings in my life. That's for sure!

Friday Focal Points

My mind has been out in the weeds this week like this old car blooming with the wildflowers north of Rapids. My schedule remains busy with photo shoots and all those golf outings (sorry, nor sorry). And today I needed to squeeze in a senior session and the remains of another.

All before the rain.

Mission accomplished! 

Got one full session done and finished another one that just needed sunflower pictures. About the time I got home, it was starting to rain down in Necedah, where our Royals started their football season tonight. They called the game just before halftime and we'll take the W since we had a 35-0 lead. Yay, Royals.

The two young ladies I was photographing tonight are also winners. One is coming up on 10 years cancer-free after beating childhood leukemia. The other suffers from Friedreich Ataxia, which attacks the nervous system and requires wheelchair use. Such horrible diseases but both of these girls smiled and laughed. 

They laughed!

How inspiring. May your focal point this Friday and every day be to find the blessings – no matter how small – that can make you smile and even laugh. Here's their pictures for inspiration!

Keep fighting, girls. And shining. I count it a blessing to know you.

Have a good weekend, everyone! 

Blind Squirrel League

Wearing glasses since kindergarten, I can confirm that I was close to nearly legally blind when I had lasik surgery years ago and my eyes went from 20/400 to 20/20. So it's no surprise I have since gone on to prove that even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Yes, of course I'm talking about my inconsistent golf game. Which surprisingly has been on the up-swing this week. Pun intended. You know me.

My game is inconsistent except for the consistent double-bogey theme which keeps my 9-hole score in the 50s. However, my blind squirrel side gets pars now and then and tonight in league I finally broke the seal and dipped down into the 40s. Doesn't matter how far down, just that the first number is a 4!

Did a little happy squirrel dance over that.

Hope I can keep the momentum going for my 4th golf outing this week, which will be the Assumption Football Scramble on Saturday – which also happens to be the day they predict rain and thunderstorms, darn it. 

Mother Nature, you should know not to mess with the squirrels!

Be careful out there.

Spoiled with a Good Walk

Golf is not always a good walk spoiled. Sometimes we're spoiled with such a wonderful walk – or ride! 

First our team had a great walk around our work grounds yesterday morning. Our boss told us that instead of a meeting we had to do something that was NOT work. So several of our team walked our nature trail around the grounds and managed to get a nice team selfie in front of our building.

What a nice alternative to a meeting! I'll take that any day. I also spend time in nature last night taking senior photos up in Vesper and a few in Rapids. My computer mouse was dead by the time I looked at pictures so I skipped blogging.

Today was round two of beautiful walks around work. This time across the street at SentryWorld for the United Way fundraising golf scramble.

This is our foursome – Mister Mulligan and the Nice Misses – plus two of our co-workers who were volunteering at the event. It was a long day in the hot sun and it was awesome! So fun and we even finished 4 under par, which doesn't even compare to the groups finishing 12 under or so. Yeah, we were definitely in it to just have fun for a good cause.

And it's always a treat spending time on the gorgeous course. 

Especially hole 16, our famous Flower Hole with some 30,000 flowers planted around it. 

Tomorrow night is our regular league night there. For sure I won't finish anywhere near at or below par. But I'll still feel spoiled! 

Hope your week is going well! 

What a Big Bang Blast!

The Big Bang Boom tour bus rolled into town, bringing with it my favorite singer-dancer-sweetheart extraordinaire! My "niece" (as I call her) Megan. Oh, and the rest of the KIDS from Wisconsin crew.

This her 6th and final year with the program and I've seen her perform each year – including when she first auditioned during high school! She's had talent since she'd sing in church when she was young. And tonight was no exception.

I'd have to say this was my favorite program yet. I think because I was familiar with almost all the music. The focus was different genres of music that influenced the music of today. So I got my fix of Motown, the British Invasion, some '80s music (oh yeah!) and even musicals – where Megan got to sing Fame. Super awesome!

Didn't bring my camera. Just enjoyed the show and only took a few snaps with my phone.

And of course I got her autograph and a hug and a picture. Keep shining, my Megan girl. Your smile can light up a room. And when you sing, we ALL smile.

Horsing Around?

After a serious start to the day – going to church then a funeral visitation way up in Stetsonville for our friends' dad – if was good to horse around a bit. And by horsing around, I mean an impromptu stop to get delicious ice cream on the way home from Stetsonville and shooting pictures of this Mustang.

Who also had a senior attached.

It belongs to his father, actually, but every teenager gets to drive his dad's car once in awhile, don't they? And every photographer gets to sit in it after their shoot, don't they? I did!!

It was a perfectly cloudy day so I got to stay on schedule and get one of my seniors done! 

Nicholas has gorgeous blue eyes and has always been such a cutie! Had a great time this afternoon and evening. All these handsome boys and awesome cars. It's a tough job!

Glad I'm the somebody who gets to do it!