Mother's Day

5-8-10 gratitude brain

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and unfortunately I won't get to spend time with Mom until Memorial Weekend.... so I'm sending her this special blog with pictures of her through the years.

The first picture is Mom with her Mother, my Grandmother Cora.


This picture is about age 6.


This is a college picture, around age 20.


This picture is what I remember Mom looking like in the late 1960's, so Mom would be maybe 40.... (I'm guessing here)


This picture is Mom with grandson Christopher in Florida. From the age of Chris, I would guess Mom is in her early 60's. I hope I still will be willing to wear a swim-suit when I turn 60!


This picture is Mom taken this spring, standing by her Birthday Tree, planted a few years ago for her 80th birthday.


I'm so grateful for my Mom.... I'm really at a loss for words to express my love, respect and adoration for her. I know not everyone can say this about their mother, and that fact only makes me even MORE grateful for her.

Closing pictures of Spirit Lake

5-7-10 silly brain

Here are a few closing pictures from the Mini Cooper adventure on Saturday.
I'll let you use your imagination on what was happening.... but there was some shopping, dinning, and just plain silliness throughout the day.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Even more on Spirit Lake

5-6-10 reminiscing brain

Next stop on our Saturday adventure in Spirit lake was a stop by the memorial site of the Spirit Lake Massacre which happened in March 1857. Also close by was the burial grounds of these people.




There is the high memorial tower you can see in the tree, a cabin, and this monument at this site. I remember learning about this in 6th grade Iowa History class. As an adult, the story is not so black and white as I had learned in childhood.



Then we had a few more stops in our drive around the lakes, several were in State Parks. Last was a trip to a winery just east of Spirit Lake. This was called Swan Lake and this place also had, a buffalo herd, besides the obvious grapes.



The sky was incredible on Saturday, as you can see in this picture. I love puffy clouds and took many pictures for future reference of painting landscapes of Iowa.

Rock in Roll in Iowa

5-5-10 reminiscing brain
Another stop on Saturday was the famous Arnold’s Park (amusement park- version 2), which was not open yet for the season, but we still were able to visit the Iowa Rock and Rock Hall of Fame and the Maritime Museum in the Welcome Center.

I was happy to see that Tommy Bolin, an Iowa musician who I had discovered in 1979 had been inducted into the Iowa Hall of Fame and had a display.


Tommy Bolin was a talented guitarist and played in bands like the James Gang and Deep Purple back in the early 70’s. He was born in Sioux City. Unfortunately he died in 1976 at age 25. He did have a few solo albums out by then, and during college I loved the album called “Private Eyes”. He is definitely and Iowa treasure many have never heard about. (Yes, Ann I will make you a CD of this) My all time favorite song of Tommy Bolin is “Post Toastee”…. You can find some Tommy Bolin on YouTube if you are curious.


Then of course was the display about Buddy Holly and his death which happened in a corn field in Iowa, after he had played at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake Iowa in……..



Then Greg and I took the stage.... Thanks to Daryl for capturing the moment! Greg did start drumming after I left the stage. Guess he knew I could upstage him ? or he was just waiting for his drum solo.

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More on the Spirit Lake Trip

5-4-10 reminiscing brain
The purpose of the trip to the Spirit and Okoboji Lake area was to have a fun Mini Cooper drive around the Lakes, but actually we ended up spending more time out of the car looking at the sites and learning about the area from our knowledgeable guide Jon, another Mini Cooper guy who lives in the area.

One of the first stops was the Art Museum, which I loved. It’s called the Pearson Lakes Art Center and there were three major exhibits, all I found worthwhile. HERE was my favorite. Also the Center itself is in a beautiful setting looking over a wet-land area.



Here are Jon's two gal's who went along for part of the day's ride.

Mowing Meditation... and MORE

5-3-10 weekend recuperating brain

(PS: Happy 4th Birthday to nephew Brennan)

Sunday late morning, I had to break Sabbath and mow the Des Moines yard while I had the chance. I actually enjoyed a leisurely and mindful mowing, and this was good for me to reconnect with the home front, since lately I’ve been spending most of my time in the car, it seems, and hardly here in Des Moines.

I arrived in Des Moines Wednesday night after being in KC for a week. Then to turn around this weekend and get in the car again (this time WITH Greg) and we headed up to NW Iowa to the “Iowa Great Lakes”: Spirit Lake and Lake Okoboji. Sad to say, this was my first time ever, in this part of Iowa.



So the weekend was a whirlwind, just the opposite of last weekend. Last weekend there was a Mini Cooper event in KC, many people showed up, but we were rained out and I was then bored.

This weekend, Mini Cooper event in Iowa, only a few showed up, the weather was great, and I saw and learned so much in one day, I won’t even be able to begin to tell you all about it. First, up front, I will show you the silly pictures of Greg and I…

It was really WINDY... thus I had to keep my ears covered.



Fun House mirrors from the original Arnold's Park (more on this later in the week)



We toured the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (more on this later in the week)



And this is where we stayed. Lake front, older motel called Four Seasons. I can’t really recommend it. We enjoyed the “lake side” part of it, but otherwise it needed a good cleaning, new mattress, and they need to include shampoo and hair dryer in the room if they want to at least earn 3 out 5 stars of Judy’s rating.



BUT the sunset view from our room was very nice!

Happy May Day

5-1-10 spring-time brain
I didn't have much time to think about creating "May Baskets" this year... so instead I just quickly made some Toostie Pop May flowers to hang on the doors of some of my special neighbors!