Family photos

 

A few snapshots from my recent so. Cal. visit. Finally got to meet baby Asher, and see what Dylan and Stacey have done to the Oakbrook Street house. 

 

Two of my favorite ladies!

And two lovely young ladies!

Rachey Ray

John and Rach decided to come to work with me this week!  Besides catching a slew of fish, she is taking two classes at the local community college-- Calculus and Accounting and working full time as a paid intern at an event planning company in town.  She's putting her toe in the water to find out if this is what she wants to do when she graduates (event planning-- not fishing).  She's something!  : )

John's backyard birding!

We have a bluebird family reside in the house he built for them-- you can see if you look real close in the woods-- they love the worms he provides.  When friends come over for some porch time,  the conversation always starts with stories about the birds.  Wow, life is much different here!!  Wonderful!

Chickering Lane

A year or so ago I finished our little courtyard-- it's happy right now with the Annabelle Hydrangeas just about ready to bloom.  I wished y'all could be here with me having a cup of coffee and enjoying the birdies sing-- speaking of birdies, I'll post a picture of John's back yard birding contraption. : )

I so enjoyed seeing Joan's Alaska pictures (I didn't realize anyone still signed on to this blog)-- so I'll update some of the recent goings on with these Perrys.  For me...Jeff's farm still has me busy these days-- it's grown and filled in so nicely, and those pesky weeds always provide job security.  He's thinking of having some weddings there so I've been doing extra work.  I'll take some pictures next time I go.  Here are a few pictures from a job I did a year or so ago, and I'm just now taking some pictures.  It was a new construction home with all kinds of challenges-- but the owner was happy with the outcome, so i'm happy.

Alaskan Cruise

 

Gene and I went on an Alaskan cruise the first week of May. These pictures are in reverse order, still can't figure out this blog! We went in/out of Seattle and spent a night there each time. At the end of our cruise we had a full day to sightsee in Seattle so we went to the Space Needle and the Chihuly Gardens. A little known fact about me, I'm quite taken with art glass and Dale Chihuly is a living legend in art glass. He's from the Seattle area and my pictures don't do his work justice.

 

 

 

Now we're in Victoria, BC at Fisherman's Wharf. It's a lovely old city, we walked from the ship to the wharf, ate fish and chips and looked at these funky houseboats. Water taxis will take you most anywhere, so we rode over to the Empress Hotel and walked around the capitol building before walking back to the ship.

 

This is Totem Park in Ketchikan. That building is used for regular tribal meetings. There is a large collection of totem poles in this park.

 

Creek Street in Ketchikan, pretty cool, very touristy but we liked the river running through it.

I just thought this was funny. Probably not funny if you live there and you have a tsunami! That's our ship in the background. Holland America-Westerdam, she carries 1,800 passengers and is considered a mid-sized ship.

This is Sitka. The city only has 14 miles of paved road. I liked it!

 Now we're in Glacier Bay and that's Margerie Glacier behind us. The ship spent hours here, in a slow spin so you could see everything. Most everyone was out on deck.

 This is the John Hopkins Glacier, also in Glacier Bay. I thought the rugged mountain peaks in the background were fabulous.

 Our first stop was Juneau and the ship literally pulls up in town! All 3 of the towns we visited are only accessible by boat or airplane.

 Saw this at the Juneau Rainforest Gardens.

Mendenhall Glacier at Juneau.

 

So there you have it! It was a great 7 day cruise, I think we both liked Alaska and I'd certainly go back again! Cruising isn't a bad way to travel either.

 

Joan

Family photos

Sorry it took me so long to get around to posting these. There are some good ones though!

3rd Friday Music

 

Back in February, I started a monthly jam session called 3rd Friday Music, which coincidentally falls on the 3rd Friday of each month! Each month, I invite 2-3 local/regional musicians to come play. Generally, these are musicians I've not played with before. It's held in the grocery store/café in Olsburg, and the young owners sell beer and some food. In June and July we moved outside, under tents. This month, it rained, so we used the American Legion Hall. Each month, more people come from all over and it's become quite the happening! And the best part for me, is I get to meet and play with all kinds of musicians and make more musical connections! It's a win, win!

 

 

Camp Nelson

Every summer, Gene and I host "Camp Nelson" for the little kids (and some big kids too!). It's a time to play in the creek, chase lightening bugs, fish, swim, boat, feed horses and go on nature walks. Kid heaven. First group was Maddy & Kate (Carole's girls), ages 15 & 13. In addition to the above mentioned activities, this summer included driving lessons for Maddy in my old Jeep. I mean, what could go wrong? She'd drive off into a pasture? Anyway, she did just fine.

This is Gene's new, old boat. So now we have 2, 40 year old boats. Anyway, this one is more family friendly than his bass boat and it has a swim ladder.

The next batch started out with Gene's son, Andy and his wife Kristin driving out Saturday morning with their son Brody, daughter Hadley and Carole's youngest daughter, Sofe. Andy, Kristin & Hadley stayed until Monday morning and Gene's daughter Jenna showed up Sunday evening. A houseful. Aunt Jenna stayed the rest of the week, giving Gene and I an extra pair of eyes and hands.

As always, a good time was had by all, and Gene and I were exhausted! We're really glad we can do this, give them lifelong memories, and not just for them!

Level Best

Level Best is the name of my new band. Here are some photos from recent events. the first one is at afunky little steak house near Fort Riley, called the Tyme Out. We played there this past Thursday night and had a very appreciative crowd. The middle picture is at Acoustic Junction which is held at the C.L. Hoover Opera House in Junction City. It's a quarterly showcase that typically involves 4-5 acts. I've played there several times and it's always a lot of fun. The bottom picture is from the Flush Picnic. I just like that name! The town of Flush, KS is home to St. Joseph's Catholic Church, where band member, Steve Seitz and his wife are members. Every July, they put on a fried chicken dinner that draws over 2,000 people. So we set-up outside the doors of the family life center and entertain people as they stand in line. All collected tips are then donated to St. Joe's, and this year we collected $247! It's the only time we can honestly say we played for a crowd of 2,000! Tomorrow night, Sunday, we're playing a concert in the park at my church, in conjunction with a pig roast. It's a fund raiser for the youth fall retreat. We did it last year and had Presbyterians dancing in the grass! So, that's what I've been up to!

 

 

Yesterday, the tree trimmers were here, taking down a big, white ash tree that was damaged in 70 mph straight line winds a few weeks ago. It was quite a job! That's why you pay the professionals.

Washington, DC

Gene and I took Maddy (15) and Kate (13) to Washington, DC last week. Maureen and Brent Hanson own a condo on Capitol Hill, near Lincoln Park that they use on weekends, and they let us stay there. It was formerly an Episcopalian church called St. Monica's. After sitting vacant for 3 years, a developer turned it into 9 condos. This first photo is the main entrance, next one is the master bedroom, complete with original stained glass windows, followed by an interior shot. It worked out great for the 4 of us!                                                                

 

Our Senator (also a member of our church) suggested we let his office prearrange tours for us, and they did a great job! Now days, the only way you can get into the White House is through your congress person. We visited the Capitol, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, White House, Kennedy Center (attended the Lion King), the Holocaust Museum, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial and the Viet Nam Wall. I'm sure I've forgotten something...Anyway, we saw a lot!

 We rode the Metro, walked, bicycled, walked, took cabs, walked some more and gave it our best! Yes, that's Kate, photo bombing our bike photo! Our last night, Alan & Kim Kelly had us all to their home in Bethesda for a BBQ. Brent, Maureen & Cameron were there as were the Kelly kids. It really was a great trip, and we are SO glad to be home!