This Really Is My Father's World

I love this weekend each year in August because we have our "Worship in the Park" combined with our church picnic. But when I was awakened by thunder this morning, I realized this wasn't going to work out as planned. 

At the same time, of course, a lot of people were saying thank God for rain!

So we used our plan B and had worship and picnic food in the church basement – not because of the rain, but because of the lightning! When we're talking about Jesus walking on water this week... you kind of don't want to press your luck. Even if the message was all about having faith to do so!

But because we are normally in a park setting, we sing hymns like "This Is My Father's World" and " For the Beauty of the Earth."

So after eating way too much good food and having some really good visits, I decided to detour on my way home to our downtown park. 

Because of the rain, I saw a puddle for the first time in ages and captured a reflection.

And then a few more blooming flower photos... 

My conclusion was that life is not a "walk in the park" but we can purposefully take a walk in a park and find the beauty amongst the ugly.

And by weird happenstance, this was the daily quote from one of my daily guides...

So fitting. It's been a tough weekend for friends and loved ones. But even if your heart is breaking, shattering even, believe that beauty is there. Somewhere.

It's Not Nice To Fool Mother Nature!

Some of us of a certain age recall a TV commercial for Chiffon Soft Stick Margarine in the late 1970s – one of the memorable ads with "Mother Nature" uttering her famous line, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!" 

This was back in the day when you had no choice but to watch the commercials. So we all new the popular ad slogans whether it was "Madge, you're soaking in it" to "Please don't squeeze the Charmin!" And we all were intimidated by Mother Nature.

Let's just say I forgot about her power.

I've been staging a silent protest. Obviously, a fruitless one. I decided that if she doesn't do her job of giving us rain FOR 23 DAYS IN A ROW then I don't need to do my "job" (ha) of blogging.

I surrender! This is our crispy crackly yard! She wins. Dang. 

We have finally gotten a teeny tiny bit of precipitation. In fact, Friday night when I was getting steps around the neighborhood, it started sprinkling and I kept walking. It was refreshing! Also I hadn't showered in 2 days so you know... two birds, one stone.

Today in church when we heard the familiar 5 loaves and 2 fish story, I thought maybe that's a sign for a miracle. The Weather Channel does not agree. And when I went out to try to resurrect my flowers – time of death was called last week – a snake slithered under the deck. So now I have to deal with satan AND Mother Nature! 

Our couples golf league finale tonight didn't lean the way of miracles either! Still fun though! And the grass was green! 

These days that's winning.

More Cake? Well, Sure!

The question isn't will I turn older next week. The question is whether I'll gain 5 pounds before my next birthday. Because I have the best coworkers!

OMG. Steff created the most tasty 3-layer coconut cake I've ever had the privilege of tasting! So good!

A little back story on how I fell in love with coconut cake. 

Throughout my growing up years, my mom and her sister Virginia would visit each other quite often. I felt like it was weekly. Taking turns at each other's homes. It always required some bakery items to go with the coffee, of course. Occasionally, when Mom was "hosting," she'd buy one of those Pepperidge Farm Classic Coconut Layer Cake. Could not get enough of that flavor! So good. So that was a lovely treat today!

My almost birthday twin Darcey and I felt spoiled yet again! We had to pose one more time by my ice cream light (my real twin gave me a few years ago) before I unplugged it and brought it home. 

Tomorrow's the last day in our current digs. I said loudly this afternoon, "OK, is anyone bringing treats of any kind tomorrow? Otherwise, I'm packing up my little plates and bowls." 

No response so I think the party's over. I mean I guess we're still pre-gaming!

After work, our team went to Guu's on Main in Stevens Point because our Nashville team member is with us this week and they have at least 6 flavors of deep-fried cheese curds. She was suitably impressed. Even though it's funny sometimes how we want greasy, gooey goodness to represent our state!

Go, cheese!

P.S. Unrelated to anything... my friend at work and I went to the Herrschners warehouse sale at lunch today. Holy million people but also million deals. Get there! I think it goes through Sunday.

P.S.S. It has rained all day. Apparently hubby still had golf league. Probably wearing his long underwear. Yep, mid-June and temps in the 40s and 50s. Be careful out there!

Early Signs of Aging

Even though my birthday is not until the end of next week, my coworkers surprised two of us today with early birthday wishes since we only have two days left in the office before we're sent home for a spell as office renovations kick into high gear.

My coworker Darcey (who just got back from Italy) has a birthday a few days after mine so she also got decorations and cake. Frosting for breakfast always works for me!

And my gift is so appropriate since we'll be working from home the next 6+ weeks before we come back to an every-other-week schedule in a different office building in Point. I will not mind being in close proximity to Mr. Deck Chair in July!

Another perk today was seeing an old friend who was covering a golf event at SentryWorld.

Rob and his family live out in Arizona but when he comes to Wisconsin for work it's usually a multi-week thing. Glad it was a nice day to sit down and chat a bit. 

The rain definitely came later! Uff da what a drive home! Needless to say, no one in this house is golfing tonight. I'm doing a quick design project then really really need to get some speed crocheting done!

Building a Mist-ery

Last night was so weird. As I exited work, I could see crazy dark clouds to the north – heading south quickly. As it turned out, two neighbor friends had come up to Stevens Point to meet me for a little experiment.

We got to be treated while taking very serious participation in a "test run" of a new upscale restaurant experience. (Hey, hubby and I know our share of restaurant owners and managers! And he had golf league. His loss.) So here we are indoors and we missed the whole storm, which did end up reaching Rapids and sort of flattening my flowers – and also took down walls of the new Pizza Ranch under construction. Gasp!

The important thing is that my friends have adventurous appetites so, following their lead, I tried new things, too. For the good of the experiment.

The super delicious salad I had was just the beginning with its blueberries and toasted almonds with... kohlrabi (first time trying – new fan), white balsamic vinaigrette (this typically ranch girl is a new fan of this, too), and... goat cheese.

What the heck have I been missing for... ever? OMG. It's so good and light and creamy and wow.

To defend my lack of adventure with the goat cheese... Who among you siblings and Hedberg cousins recall when we'd visit Grandma in her apartment, she would not let us have one of those pecan cups she always made "not until you have some goat cheese."

I don't even know if we ever had to eat it. But my mind saw it as disgusting punishment. 

Oh, Grandma Minnie. Sorry I disappointed you. It's good stuff!

The rest of the dinner – off the charts. When we stepped outside it was sunny. So who knew while we were indulging that things were twisting and turning and down pouring?

The weird thing was that because the asphalt was so hot during the day with nearly 90 degrees again, the cool rain created a weird, fog-like mist to drive through on the way home to Wisconsin Rapids. Some of it was pretty thick. But we all made it home.

Today my foggy mist was my brain and body working together to remember how to golf.

First night of Ladies' League at TriCity. My friend Molly and I were shaking off the rust but had a blast because, well, what's better than golfing with a friend? It's the one thing I am not competitive in because I know my limited skill set. And I don't want pressure. Just fun.

I saved our scorecard so we can see where we go from here. We can only go up... while our score goes down, that is.

I just re-read this all and realize... there's Robyn... typical 24-hour span of life... so much. And I didn't even mention I got to King Cone for the first time in 2026 as a welcome-our-intern social after work! 

#livingthedream #ifyousayso

Soggy Sunday

Today was the extreme opposite of our sunny and 85-degree Saturday. It was rain all day and maybe a high of 55. Welcome to "spring" in Wisconsin!

So we did indoor things. Went to church. And I plunked down on the recliner under a fuzzy blanket and watched golf and the Twins-Brewers game (yay, Twins)... and perhaps napped here and there. Not a bad life. Ha.

Tonight we went to a meeting at TriCity golf course for our upcoming couples league. That should be fun again this summer as long as it's nothing like today's weather!

Now I have time to watch at least one mindless rom-com before going to bed. Look at me being so agile with Mother Nature's moods! Hope we all can do the same in the coming days!

Chilling Out Not What It's Cracked Up To Be

No April Foolin', the darn weather dudes were right. We were in the heart of a wicked ice storm. I took this picture at 8 a.m. and realized it doesn't matter how little ice it seems to be, most of us were not driving to the office.

Especially since it just kept accumulating all day.

I fired up the laptop and was able to work for 3 hours. The lights had flickered a few times and then, at 10:44 a.m., they went out. Without electricity, our wi-fi router wouldn't work, so not more work for me. I shut down my laptop to conserve power. Our lovely cellphone provider wasn't providing great signals all day either. Add to that, no running water or use of indoor plumbing.

I forgot what it was like to live like Laura Ingalls!

Most of the day I kept an eye on our bunny ear trees, which normally stand pretty straight up. This was early in the morning before even more ice accumulated.

At their lowest point, this was how close it looked like at least the right one would break.

But then the ice stopped coming and it warmed up just enough for us to witness an ice rain as the ice broke up and fell from all the trees. At the end of the day, the trees hadn't parted ways but they put some distant between themselves like fighting siblings.

Throughout the day we could just hear the snap, crackle, pop as tree branches (mostly pines) were falling everywhere – in the woods around us, in the neighbor's yard, a few in our yard, and all the way down the street.

This is typical of the destruction everywhere in that darn targeted purple area. No surprise about the power outages. In the early evening, many of us on our street were notified that power was restored. We're all like, "No, it's not." So we all had to resubmit our outage reports. And think that put us to the back of the line – of thousands of customers without power.

When we went to bed in our dark, chilly houses last night, the last we heard was that our power would be restored by SATURDAY afternoon. Ugh! 

Somehow managed to get a little sleep – even without my electric mattress pad. First World problems, I know. But dang. We do take a lot for granted! This morning, I went to the office to be warm and productive since yesterday was a lost cause.

Suddenly I was getting texts that there were Alliant trucks in the neighborhood. Would I dare get up my hopes?? Jim texted my a picture of our dining room lights on at 11:50 a.m. (25 hours without power). So I raced home and showered and made it on time to church for 1 p.m. Good Friday service. I guess God really does answer our prayers on His time.

Here a few "cool" shots from yesterday...

Poor birds falling victim to fake spring and looking for anything to eat. Icicles weren't doing it!

I hope this didn't kill off any of our budding trees!

And how safe our these power lines in our yard?

I was happy to learn, though, that there are things you can do when it's a daytime power outage.

Mind out of the gutter! I meant practically completing a whole baby blanket! 💗

Want to send a special shout out to all those offering up generators, water for our toilets, and a place to stay. We have the best people in our lives. Take care of your friends and loved ones, too! 

And we've potentially got more of that freezing rain coming tonight. Be smart and be careful out there, friends!

Purple Rain, Sleet, Snow, or All?

 

I hate when they make my favorite color purple look evil. But sure enough, we are in the heart of the worst of the ice storm warning starting at midnight tonight. I with this was April Fools, but it's not!

Let me translate what this particular purple means... up to an inch of sleet and up to half an inch of ice. In other words, travel is not advised early Thursday.

So since my home and my workplace are both the purple zone, most of us who have a commute are working from home tomorrow!

The one purple that did me joy today was a I sort of kicked bunny tail in our department egg hunt. I don't know if I found the most since not everything was tallied yet, but I snared 41 of them! Me, competitive much? Not a surprise at all.

Hope you'll be safe tomorrow no matter what color in the map you live in. Make smart choices!

The Eagle and Fake Spring Have Landed

As a purely self-proclaimed photographer, I am the sort of person who is beyond irked when I see an eagle while I'm driving – and I don't have my good camera. Just my phone. So while I realize I should just enjoy the majesty of our national bird and (for me) a sign my daddy's watching over me, I still get a bit ticked. 

They are just so majestic and beautiful. Of course tonight on the way home from work there were two of them and one was flying while this guy was parked for a minute in the field. First photographer thought: OMG this will be awesome to catch them both! First eagle thought: What is that lady thinking? I'm flying off and out of here!

Still for me, when I hear random birds in the early morning hours, I have false hope that spring is near!

Of course when I got home, the warm temps and rain (not snow) today had my front yard also thinking spring is here. Sorry, yard, it's fake and this is just a reprieve. There's a meeting at 6 tomorrow night in our living room. We can all grieve together.

The weird weather thing is that it's supposed to snow Friday a.m. when Camp Crop-A-Lot commute time happens. Obviously nothing will stand between me and my scrapbooking weekend, but I will continue gathering my stuff tonight so I am ready to heave-ho at 8 a.m. Friday. Top priority!

It's Ash Wednesday. Never forget your priorities this Lenten season. 😄📖

 

Possible Guest Appearance :: Vanilla Ice!

Last night's ice and sleet didn't impact me much. I mean I work from home on Mondays and had no place to go until my late afternoon chiropractor appointment. By then the main roads were in pretty good shape. 

But now we're getting Round 2 of Vanilla Ice, Ice, Baby tonight. 

Most of our work writing team is in that little raspberry beret-colored oval in the middle. We commute to Stevens Point from Wausau on the north, Wisconsin Rapids on the south, Marshfield on the west, and Waupaca on the southeast. So yep, a good half of the team who don't reside in Stevens Point proper.

Per usual, if we head out in the morning and it's an ice rink, we can just turn around – slowly and carefully – and work from home. But it just happens that we have a two-day meeting set up with our whole team, which includes co-workers traveling in from Madison and Milwaukee and beyond.

I want to see them, but, no offense, I won't risk my life to do so!

And due to the widespread nature of this projected freezing rain, most of you – my friends and family – are in the circle of raspberry to pink to peach.

No one needs to be a hero. Make smart choices and be safe tonight and tomorrow! 

I mean we're already 5 days into a new year... the weather dudes are due for a wrong forecast anyway. Right?!

Mommies Seeing the Mummies

 
Back in the days when hubby and I commuted to work in Iola, nearly an hour drive, we listened to the Bob and Tom Show on the radio in the mornings. Their often close to R-rated programming format is showcasing lots of comedians and bands that also could pass as comic relief. 

That's when we first heard Here Come the Mummies. We immediately liked and were entertained by this eight-piece funk-rock band of 5000-year-old Egyptian mummies with a one-track mind. So this summer, when I saw they were playing in Wausau at The Grand Theater this fall, I bought tickets as a birthday or anniversary gift for Jim.

Fast forward 2 months and he scheduled his guys golf weekend at the same time. So I had to find a backup date in short order. You know who works well for that? Golf partners who also share an occasional raunchy sense of humor. So it was Molly and I – two mommies – off to see the Mummies tonight!

It rained all the way up there but it stopped so we could walk around near The Grand and get something to eat. Ended up eating at The Limerick, an Irish pub a couple blocks away. Good stuff.

The concert was almost like a micro-music festival with opening sets from TWO (very loud, rock-heavy) bands – Platinum Moon and Lachy Doley. It after 9 p.m. before HCTM took over and we could party like it's 1999 B.C.! 

It was impossible to get a decent shot from the upper balcony, especially since lights were constantly changing colors or flashing. But you can see they ARE dressed as mummies! And they played until 11 p.m.

They are such a talented and entertaining group. I'm glad one of us could enjoy our anniversary. Ha. And Molly did, too! Now to get the funky dance tunes out of my head so I can sleep fast for church choir in the morning. 

30-Minute Rule

The good news is that I finally have a weekend at the homefront so I can attend and photograph multiple Royals sporting events. The bad news is that Mother Nature did not get the memo.

As much as I hoped the weather forecast would change for tonight, this is the current radar and we are 3 minutes from the alleged kickoff. I decided not to even chance it with my photographic equipment. Even an umbrella and rain jacket wouldn't give me comfort.

And since I'm still hearing constant thunder (which rules require calls off action for a required 30 minutes), I have doubts there'll be anyone else along the sidelines either.

Tomorrow isn't looking much better.

With hubby out of town and out of state on a guys' golf weekend, I figured I'd knock off football on Friday, cross country Saturday morning and tennis Saturday afternoon.

I figured.

Right now it's looking like the only plans I'll keep are a Saturday night concert and Sunday church choir and school BINGO. Fun still, but grrrr. 

I thought a good backup plan would be Hallmark tonight. But then the remote (which I rarely have in my hands) didn't work. Are you kidding me? Thank goodness just perfectly timed dead batteries. I swear. This is going to be a long weekend alone!

Hoping for a little sunshine for all of us! 

Young Love

Had a great Friday and Saturday in Minnesota to witness and experience young love. And it had nothing to do with any sports teams!

Yesterday we drove to our hotel in Eagan and took a shuttle to the Genesis Ranch in Rosemount, MN, for our nephew Eric's wedding. Despite a lovely weather drive over the Cities, the rain hit right when we arrived at the venue!

It was a gorgeous venue and they had to move everything under the rain protected pavilion where we were to just eat and later dance. It all worked out fine. And to see my nephew Eric so happy and in love was worth all of our rain-drenched hair for a family photo!

Everybody's looking at a different camera here but groom Eric and his momma my sister Romey are smiling so it's all worth it!

Here's my date and I after initial rain but ready sit for the ceremony and dinner.

And my other better half. My twin. Rainy hair. Don't care.

It was a great time. And this morning we got to meet up with Casey and Emily (who are about to celebrate their 2nd anniversary) for brunch at the Stray Dog in Minneapolis.

What a treat to see them and spend some quality time with them and...

See and snuggle and pet our number one grandpup Rey! She is the bestest!!

After seeing Casey and Emily's nice apartment with a clear view of U.S. Bank Stadium 💜💛💜, we got a nice escort back to our parking spot! 

After that is was just a 3 1/5 drive home and trying to catch what was an unusual summer-like day. Hoping Sunday is a repeat!