A Loony, er Lunar-y, Night

When we saw the early evening moon outside our Yee-Haw party shed last night, I was sure to capture it. Then I got totally confident about catching the "deep partial" eclipse later ... with the BLOOD MOON.

Give me points for trying!

Full disclosure: This just my phone. Not my "good" camera. But I could see the "blood red" with the naked eye AND when I didn't zoom in too closely.

When it was close to peak viewing just before 11:12 p.m., it was just (to my phone camera's opinion) a dark side where it was getting eclipsed.

Then the clouds moved in and I don't remember anything after that! 

Thank goodness I do remember our Yee-Haw cast party! It was beyond positive. Everyone reported they'd received countless feedback – all 100% positive, that's for sure! How exciting and also fulfilling that we could give people some entertainment, kindness, humor (sort of), and a teeny bit of inspiration.

We came to the conclusion that – like the rare Blood Moon deeply partial eclipse – some things just can't be replicated!

Please share any decent shots of that darn eclipse last night! 

Life of a Show Girl (the Twins' Era)

Someone asked me how long my twin sister and I have been "performing" (using term loosely) songs and dances. I think this is the earliest documentation I could find. No date on the photo but I'm guessing we were 2 1/2 or 3 1/2. (I'm the chub-ster on the right.) And yes, based on the very short dresses my sisters were wearing in the dead of winter, it was the '70s folks!

Here we are with a group of cousins singing to Grandpa and Grandma Johnson as part of a family Christmas. This has been quite the long-standing tradition! 

Then throughout childhood, we sang at church things, 4-H things, bridal showers and baby showers (our mom would make up the lyrics), and for nursing residents. That pretty much went by the wayside after high school graduation, but we resurrected it in 2000 in the form of an "opening act" at each of our sister weekends.

So yeah, we're not shy and it's always fun to make people smile! Too bad we're not making billions like that other show girl...

But if you are a fan of hers, there's something in Wisconsin Rapids worth checking out!

Every year the South Wood County Historical Museum hosts a Christmas Tree walk with beautifully and uniquely decorated trees throughout the large home.

This year, some creative Swifties paid homage to her latest album. Cute.

Look closer and you can see the "garland" mimics her trademark friendship bracelets. And, you can grab one off the tree for yourself!

Look even more closely and you'll see song lyrics from multiple albums that tie into winter or Christmas. Great job, ladies!

There are at least two dozen other trees to see – plus decorated mantels, wreaths, rooms. All for a free-will offering for the museum. Check it out this season! 

You might just start singing and dancing yourself!

Chilly With a Chance of Par

This morning was a busy one at church for both of us. We each sang in our choirs, plus I had to read at mine and recite prayers. Some how it all fell on the same Sunday. I should have a few months off now – except for writing a column for our June newsletter.

After church, I got my oil changed then sat down to relax – and regretfully saw my Twins' winning streak come to an end. Good thing we had the first week of Couples Golf League to cheer me up.

At least that was my hope. Jim is 10 times better than me. Or maybe 20. But this year, they changed up the format (in the interest of speeding up the pace of play) and we are in a scramble format. If you can call it that with just 2 people. But we played that way and our opponents did, too. 

We play a 9-hole course. The only caveat was that we had to use at least 3 of my drives. They couldn't all be Jim's. Which was OK since 3 of the holes have the women's tee boxes a bit ahead. Frankly, all my drives tonight were decent enough that I hope I can do the same when I have women's league on Thursday!

Still, it takes 2 good golfers and especially good putters to par every hole. We did not. We finished 5 over par. But beat our opponent's score. 

I was just glad to contribute so hubby doesn't feel he has to PUTT up with me. 

And we're meeting new people (yes, there are a few in Rapids that we don't know) since there's 20-plus couples and league is only 6 weeks long.

I just hope we don't need long pants and jackets the rest of the season. For once I want the temperature to be higher than my score!