It's All Relative

It was a weekend on the road seeing family and cousins on both Dad's and Mom's sides of the family tree.

Not all smiles and laughs, but we still found occasion to sneak in a little of each. And hugs. Lots of hugs.

Saturday we headed to the Twin Cities for a celebration of life for my late cousin Dan's son Andrew, who died at age 34 in a motorcycle accident. He served 10 years in the Navy and has two children. Yesterday would've been his 35th birthday.

So tragic!

For context, my dad's brother Ray was Andrew's grandpa. So we had a few Hedberg cousins there obviously for support and sharing. The two love ladies seated are 2 of our 3 remaining aunts. That's all that's left of the OG Hedbergs.

So we treasure any and all time together.

Naturally, since we were in the Metro, we made plans to connect with COOL son No. 1 for COOL treats on such a hot day!

Casey met us at a little ice cream and burger joint called Dream Creamery on Minneapolis' north side.

My kind of place!

We all had ice cream and their homemade Scotcheroo was delightful!

After an all-too brief visit, we headed north to Luck, where we stayed the night at my sister Rachel's place.

Today was my mom's side of the family to get attention. Jim and I met my cousins Laryn and Lydell for a 7:10 a.m. tee time at the Frederic Golf Course just north of Luck.

Early but that was fun. We somehow managed to get 18 holes in by 11 a.m.! That gave us time to get back to Luck to Rachel's and pick her and our potluck food items up and get to Siren for the Johnson family reunion.

This year, in Mom's absence 💔, my siblings and I were the hosts. I sent most of my stuff ahead so it could be there for setup while only 4 of us took part in the morning golf outing. It's a great thing to pair with the reunion!

It was one of our biggest turn-outs (over 50 people) but was due in part that it was combined with a celebration of life (yes 2 in 2 days) for my mom's cousin's son Lamar.

By strange coincidence, two of our high school classmates were there. I say "strange" because last night was our Luck Class of something a long time ago reunion and Raylene and I didn't make it.

So we took a "mini class reunion" picture of our own. Rhonda (left) was there because she's related to Lamar on the non-Johnson side. And Jordan married our cousin so we see him more often than he'd probably like. Ha.

After reunion cleanup, Jim and I got Rachel home and were on the road around 3:30 p.m. Traffic was strangely light compared to Saturday's commute to the Cities. And we were OK with that.

Side note: Temps were warm but tolerable. And same with the air quality – not too bothersome. Thank goodness or some of my family/cousins might not have ventured out.

Hope you all enjoyed a good, safe weekend too!

CR Withdrawals

OK now the wildfire smoke is impacting my new "work from home" routines. Yesterday, due to air quality concerns, they canceled our downtown farmers market. Today, citing the same concerns, they canceled the big one south of here in the town of Rome.

What does this mean?

No crab rangoon for me!

It's become a new random summer staple for me. And yes, I know, I am weird. But they're so good! The ones in Rome were top of the line – but I can't recall the vendor. My bad. I think LK Cuisine or something like that.

The good news is that the air is clearing a bit. And oh, while looking for an image, I found a recipe link for a crab rangoon dip! Say what?

I might change out a few things, but this is something future Robyn is going to tackle. Here's the link if you want to check it out: https://www.thegraciouswife.com/crab-rangoon-dip-recipe/

I wouldn't be drawn to a "warm" dip in the summer necessarily, but hubby and I do like our crab meat. And dips! 

I'm overthinking it!

Hope y'all are still able to get out and do your normal things. Just keep praying for the firefighters, homeowners, and wildlife!

Just Breathe... But Indoors Only

 

It's insane that wildfires from Way Up North, Minnesota, can impact us here down in central Wisconsin. But we can see it. And probably worse, we can smell it!

It's just enough haze to think you're about to drive into a thick fog. Crazy. 

But as for Duluth... our neighbor's brother who lives up there took this photo. Crazy. 

Our favorite new Duluth residents, Carter and Mamie, can no longer see the big lake they call "Gitche Gumee" from their apartment. And they can't escape the smoke smell. It's outdoors, indoors, everywhere. I'm just grateful neither one of them has any respiratory issues.

Hubby and I are planning to go up there next weekend. His first time "seeing" Duluth might not be what I built it up to be!

I did manage to get out for a walk at lunch and realized the smoky haze was not blocking our view from everything...

I could still see this wild daisy where I swear the flies were lining up to create a smiley face for me!

And of course, there is always something purple on my route!

Or a more "artistic" purple! 

The only downside for me is that they canceled golf league tonight, citing "outdoor conditions." Probably a combination of the 90-degree heat and the air quality advisories. There's nothing boring about Wisconsin summers!

Be smart and be safe, my friends!

Something in the Air

Between pollen "dust fairies" and the smoke sneaking down from Canadian wildfires, it's not a great time to spend lots of time outdoors. 

But well, that was pretty much our weekend! 

Saturday we went to a cancer benefit for our friend Jeanne, then went to a graduation party, and then I went down to Lake Arrowhead to watch the Shermalot Water Ski Show Team perform. Since they were short quite a few team members, they didn't do the show they plan to do this summer. But still there was plenty of jumping, twisting, and pyramid building!

I don't know how they do any of it. But it's fun to try to capture. I kept looking over my shoulder, too, because the sun was setting behind me and it was getting colorful. The top photo was taken at the end of the night.

This was earlier in the evening. I call it "Smoky Sunset at the Ski Show." Crazy, right?

I took so many pictures that I got to bed well after blogging hours. Sorry.

Today was another day outside. We both sang in our church choirs (indoors) but then we went to a potluck year-end choir gathering (my choir). It felt like summer. Thanks for finally showing up on June 1, nice weather!

This afternoon/evening we had couple's golf league. We have to use at least 3 drives from each player in our two-person couple scramble format. Thank goodness I had enough that worked. I felt like a good contributor. And even did a par dance when I sunk the par putt on the par 5! 

Fun afternoon but it took us nearly 3 hours to get done so we grabbed pizza at the clubhouse and got home after 8:30. I'm beat. So much fresh air (not quite fresh) so I should sleep well. 

I did hear there be Northern lights tonight but I don't know what the smoke will have to say about that. I'm sure I'll check it before my head hits the pillow. Just because I hate to miss out!

Have a good week and be careful out there!

USSO :: Day One

Well the U.S. Senior Open week is finally here! Literally 2 years of planning and promoting and words, words, words, and it's finally starting. Today was a private practice day so no members of the public were allowed – just volunteers and staff, of course.

Woke up to chilly, windy, smokey skies – and we could actually smell the wildfire smoke this time! So weird. Today was the only day Laryn, Lydell, and I had the same schedule – volunteering from 1-4 p.m. We decided it should be nice enough by our shift that we didn't need to bundle up too much. And we were right. But it did take 'til 1 p.m. to feel warm enough and comfortable enough. Silly Wisconsin!

We left my house at 11 a.m. to get there in plenty of time to park, shuttle over, and check out the lay of the land. I knew where everything was since I've been there a dozen times in the past two months, but it was nice to show them.

Lydell is on the knee scooter since he broke his leg and foot a few months ago. He really wanted to still volunteer so they're making work. The brothers on the the gorgeous par 3 hole 16 – our famous Flower Hole. Lucky them!

I'm on the 9th Hole, which we purposely chose since it's so challenging to play when WE play that we just want to see how the pros handle it. 

A little windy all day so yes, hat days from now forward. But the 9th green is behind me.

My view for much of the day. You might be able to see the winding rocky creek before the green. Should be a fun hole to watch. Today it was anyway...

We had some fox twins as entertainment. Please don't confuse my foxy twin and I as entertainment. That's a different event!

Scratching that itch! So cute! And yes, I've told our friends at NBC this would make cute coverage.

Then watching the action.

And his twin (or maybe they're girls) about 8 rocks over, sunning themselves!

As volunteers, we can't take pictures while on duty. But I did catch a few before my shift. Maybe you can help me identify? I mean I know SEVERAL, but not all 156 players...

Here's Lee James from England. I got to chat with him in person late last week when he arrived at SentryWorld and he's super friendly and was so excited to be here.

Here's Stephen Ames from Canada on the practice green. He ranks second right now in the Schwab Cup if you follow that. (I don't, I'm sorry. But I guess I should.)

Because then I'd know for sure who these guys are...

Faces are not matching with names in me pea brain right now. Though that could be Woody Austin on the right. I mean I have to memorize Austins!

All in all, it was a fun day. The rest of the week will be a lot longer days for me but the bonus part is that I'll have a tee time schedule of sorts so I can identify some.

Every comment I've heard. though, is how the course is in amazing shape. For the marketing side of my brain, I sure hope they mention that somewhere. For the personal side of my brain, I'm saying, yep, played that. Love it. Good luck.

Not sure when I'll check back in but hope you can stop on out. Practice round tickets for Tuesday and Wednesday start at $25. Cheap thrills!

Hazy Shade of Weekend

Good grief. It's a pretty nice day/evening. I hope you have something better to do than read my blog on a Friday night. Obviously one of us needs a life. Well, maybe two of us! And I love you for it.

I'm having difficulty sleeping lately – stress related, perhaps? – so at lunch today I thought I'd "rest" with Mr. Deck Chair. Just for a minute. Good plan, but I was coughing before long and I was thinking pine pollen was so last week. Then I remembered all the air quality advisories. And even though I wasn't SEEING the smoke, it was there. 

And according to local news stations, will be here all weekend. To quote my StormTrack9 friends: We had more hazy skies today due to wildfire smoke drifting into the state. While we are expecting sun this weekend, similar levels of surface smoke will likely linger into Saturday.

This explains why my photos tonight at the Legion baseball tournament just weren't as clear as I liked. I mean, it's never the photographer. Always the smoke or dusk conditions.

I literally thought I was a failure though, and headed home in the second inning. My camera did OK despite what I was seeing in the view finder, so there will be three happy moms. Yay!

Just be careful out there this weekend. Find a way to relax without deep breaths!