Fun With The Niece-To-Be

When a Sunday drive is about 9 hours on the road, it helps that it is worth it. Hit the road at 7 a.m. to attend the bridal shower for my nephew Eric's soon-to-be wife. Due to so much road construction it ended up taking about 4 1/2 hours to get to Grantsburg. but I still got there in time to set up the welcome poster (above) that I designed and many more decorations.

My sister Romey (mother of the groom) outdid herself but is was all a wonderful theme of sunflowers, chickens (which they raise) and a tribute to the bride's mom, who passed away from cancer earlier this year.

I especially loved the center pieces because I immediately recognized the chicken salt and pepper shakers to the right of the vase as something my Grandma Flossie had. (She had hundreds in her collection!)

Bride-to-be Stephanie is in the center flanked by her daughter on the right and a foreign exchange student (left) they're hosting for the upcoming school year.

The soon-to-be mother in law and aunties!

Regarding gift opening... I was thrilled when the bride gushed over my blanket, wrapped it around her shoulders and said she loved it. Multiple times. Long live personal off-the-gift-registry gifts. Ha!

After the shower, I had a chance to visit with Dad and Mom. The gravestone finally has Mom's "end date" which was a bit jarring. As I said in my convo to them "I still don't think it's fair I'm this young to have no parents!" Every time it's refreshed grief. As one of the babies of the family, probably won't get over that. Ever. 

In the last hour or so stretch of the trip home, I noticed I was going into some very darkened skies to the east. But then I caught sight of more than one rainbow.

I actually pulled over and took a picture on the side of the road because I could see hints of purple – not always the case. Or as I say it, the IV in the ROY-G-BIV color scheme!

It did help guide my home. And to be fair, I went a completely different than I did on the way up. Still road construction, but for way fewer miles!

When I got home I learned my hubby's team – the Reds – ended the Brewers' win streak. Sorry about that. I say with fake sincerity since we all grasp for a win – even at a word scramble game at a bridal shower!

Game on!

Recovering in Dark Mode

I felt much better today. Pretty weak from lack of food and hydration, but I could work from home so that helped me take it easy.

What didn't help was just when I was feeling a bit energized, I swear it was getting dark out already. Looked at the clock and it 2:17 p.m. WHAT?

It wasn't my imagination. The rain started and stayed – and those dark clouds won't break up for days, I don't think. Uff da. 

Good thing I don't always count on the weather to lift my spirits. That's pretty much off the table from November to May. But if tomorrow goes even better and I survive all day at the "real" office, I'm hoping to join some church folks at the Best Christmas Pageant Ever movie after work.

Even if there's rain, my friend Kermit the Frog above knows it's often followed by rainbows. In whatever form you want! 🌈 Let's find our Rainbow Connection this week – for lovers and dreamers and Christmas-movie-junkie ME.

Last-Minute Write-In :: Mother Nature

I gotta hand it to Mother Nature. After 3 days of rain, she gave quite a show of color as the "after work" crowd headed to the polls. At least in Central Wisconsin.

First were the streets of gold or the yellow brick road path west from Plover to the town of Grand Rapids. Sun finally peeked through for the first time in days and did it in style.

And she brought on the ol' double rainbow (of promise, perhaps?). I mostly missed it because this was behind me in the eastern sky.

But my girlfriend Sharon captured it nicely from her office in Wisconsin Rapids. Still, the crazy thing was that while I headed south and looked left at the rainbow, this was my view when I looked right (west).

So vibrant and pretty, Mother Nature. Well done!

However, I did notice several geese going the wrong way. Maybe course-correct for them so they're heading south to warmer climes.

At the end of the day, I did end up in the correct place. I did my part to support my candidates and perhaps keep moving the community, the county, the country forward. 

Not sure how late I'll stay up tonight or even watch the results coming in. I still have PTSD from the 2000 election and the damn hanging chads that kept me in the newspaper office almost till sunrise with the only headline we could go with at the time: Too Close To Call.

I'm happy to just be a participant and spectator for now.

May we all continue to love and respect each other in the morning!

Different Kind of Fall Colors

I'm ignoring the sporadic fall colors popping up before it's even mid-September. But today I got to enjoy some different fall colors. First it was the 44-degree wake-up temperature accompanied by fog on the way to work.

Fog and a sunrise that is. So that was pretty cool!

My mid-day color was a bit more conventional. As part of our two-week United Way campaign, King Cone made an appearance in our parking garage. Yes!!

After work, the clouds were a dark gray before opening up just about our tee time on our last night of golf season! So we commenced to meeting at the 19th hole and enjoyed a little time together. When the rain stopped, we all headed home.

And there was more color on my way home. Just over the businesses on Division Street in Stevens Point. 

Then, when I turned onto Deer Road to make my final leg home, there was more color.

When I got home, I thought I'd share one more color scheme from my visit to my hair artist last night. Definitely can't compare to nature's beauty. But also definitely not boring.

Find the color in your week, my friends!

That's Promising

Seeing a rainbow that's trying to be a double rainbow is a pretty good way to end the weekend. Hopefully an omen of good things to come. More of God's promises.

Although the rainbow means it obviously rained – on and off all day – there were still bright spots today.

I had my first meeting with a confirmation student who I'm going to mentor over the next 6 weeks until confirmation. We'll meet once a week and go through some guided study and, if it's like today, a whole lot of conversation. You never know how it's going to go with a teenager. This girl is refreshing. Deep in her faith already and smart as a whip. This is going to a good thing to do. I'm feeling good!

Got home after our meeting in time to see the pathetic purple come from behind to beat the Lions. Ohmigosh, the Vikes looked awful. But ugly wins till count!

Tonight I finished going through the football pictures from yesterday. A few favorites...

A stocking-footed touchdown! Second time this season, I think, that he's lost a shoe. Hey, the score still counts.

Nick is a beast of a running back. Love when he leaves defenders lying in his wake.

Gotta love it!

Manny is another tough running back who's hard to take down.

And a fan (and team) highlight...

Our 6'1" 301-pound lineman intercepts a pass and takes it to the house!! Who knew he could run that fast?! It was awesome and his teammates and the fans were loving it! Way to go, Kenny! 

Rainbows, touchdowns, victories, and promising teenagers. Find what makes you smile and hold it close this week!

Like Labor Day

I've heard there's no comparison to the pain of giving birth. That's why people think women are tougher than we are. I was reminded today, though, of my low threshold for pain. Yes, I've done the whole labor thing. But yes, I am a wimp.

First, my back and right hip area have been bugging me in a painful way for days. I might have pinched my "psychotic" nerve again or something. So I will try to get in tomorrow.

Still, despite that pain, I wanted to nail those freshly painted lattice pieces in place. Just started positioning things this morning when I apparently awakened some long-legged wasps. There was not a nest in sight but boy, one them got me quickly. It was buzzing by my head and went in for the kill.

I don't know if it was one or two stings. I just know it hurt like hell behind and above my ear and I screamed. For those keeping score at home, the Summer Sting Count is: Wasps 3, Robyn 0. Ow, ow, ouch!

Got ice on it right away and took a Benadryl. I am mildly allergic to bees but I didn't want to press my luck with the yellowjacket or whatever it was since this is the third time this summer! Needless to say, the neighbor helped with the lattice and thankfully there were no more stings – especially for hubby, who is deathly allergic.

I ended up sending Jim to the races at Golden Sands without me. I was too woozy and with my back "out," I did not need to sit in a bleacher seat for 5 hours.

Since I was home, I got a few things done inside and even got to see my twin sister and her family. They had come down to bring some items to Tony, who just moved out of here and into his own apartment. They picked up the trailer he used to haul big stuff and headed back Up North. No time for visiting when they were on a mission to find King Cone and fight holiday traffic!

After they left, I headed up to Marshfield and the fair to pick up my entries and ribbons.

It was very windy and threatened rain, but I got my photos back to the car before anything happened. Was also treated to a rainbow on the way home! Guess that's a positive sign that even though summer feels like it's over, there are good things to come.

Including good treats I'm taking to work tomorrow. Ha.

I made a trip to Wal-Mart today to replace my trifle bowl. Moonlighting as the Office Birthday Fairy is serious business. Since two co-workers had birthdays today I figured I better invent / make a good treat.

With my love for coconut, this might be my favorite concoction yet. Layers are chocolate cake, coconut cream pudding and crushed Samoa (chocolate, caramel, coconut) cookies. I know. I also hope it tastes as good as it looks.

I don't mind a labor of love on Labor Day. The pain, though, I could do without. Gotta toughen up so I can carry the heavy dessert bowl into work tomorrow!

Noah Dea How Much Rain

I have Noah Dea how much rain we got today but it was a lot in a short amount of time. Was nice most of the day but when I left work, it started. And kept going.

A friend from work and I were headed to the Community Picnic downtown. Parked and grabbed our umbrellas and went to wait in line for the free food. Last year it was set up so that you could check out the multiple vendors and see which line you wanted to stand in for food. We're talking everything from sno-cones to eggrolls to pizza. This year, it was just a few long lines for the same food offerings of either corn on the cob, pulled pork or hotdogs. After we were getting soaked in line – despite our umbrellas – we decided it wasn't worth it. And went home.

Well, I stopped at Wal-Mart, where I got rained on on the way in and poured on on the way out. Wow. Everything I carried was wet. Thankfully nothing was melt-able. Not really a word.

On the way home I did see a rainbow, though.

Snapped this pic out the car window as I neared The Ridges. Fitting that the rainbow ends at a golf course. That's where you always find the Putt of Gold, right?

C'mon. Groaning to death will be a grave mistake, too.

Hope for Farmers

After rain last night and this morning and again this afternoon, I couldn't believe the headlines. Wisconsin farmers are being asked to help North Dakota farmers struggling with the drought.

A drought?

Apparently, when we have chances of scattered thunderstorms, Mother Nature takes the "scattered" part to heart. Drought in the Dakotas and saturated earth in Wisconsin. A mixed blessing, depending who you talk to, too.

When I saw the end of a rainbow after this evening's shower, I grabbed my camera to see if I could do anything artsy by the nearby farm field. I really must have spied it too late.

You can see there probably was something resembling a double rainbow. Or maybe it just never fully developed tonight.

I was hoping by finding the angle that put the end of the rainbow on the farm, it would bring good luck. I was talking to ladies who run it and they hope so, too. They don't mind rain if it could spread out a little bit more. They mean days, not hours.

While we were talking, I just kept clicking away, capturing the culprits who wake us up at the crack of dawn.

Maybe earlier.

When this guy sarcastically muttered, "Oh goody. She's got a new camera," I decided it was time to moooove on. (You know I couldn't resist.)

That, plus the mosquitoes. If the rain has brought one thing, it's a bumper crop of skeeters. I sure hope the rainbows are a promise of good things to come for the farmers who have more important crops to contend with.