A Lasting Friendship Is A Treasure

I was excited last week when I got a phone call from my Phoenix friend Jo, telling me she would be in the area over the weekend - and I was even more thrilled when her daughter Beth (who lives in Denver) offered to drive Jo down so they could both see our new house!

Jo and I go back a LONG, LONG ways! Back to the days of Dana College where she met her future husband (that I grew up with in school) who was a cousin to my first husband! We all ended up in Ames, Iowa and it was there that our real friendship began!

One thing that I admire about Jo is her EXCELLENT memory! She remembers more things about those years in Ames than I could EVER hope to remember! The 4 of us were inseperable (I hope that's a word!) - even though we all worked or were going to school, we would eat meals at one another's homes - I'm not talking about once or twice a week - this was ALL the time!

And I distinctly remember going with Steve and Jo when Raiders of The Lost Ark came out - Steve wanted to see it and I thought the movie would be dumb but said we would go anyway! Wow was I in for a surprise! I was on the edge of my seat during that whole movie!

Of course, we eventually went our own ways but Jo and I stayed in touch all these years - my oldest daughter's middle name is Jo, after my friend Jo. She has been a wonderful friend all these years, even when we were unable to see each other! Distance just didn't matter and still doesn't!

We had a great time visiting on Sunday - and Jo STILL remains the same - gracious, caring, supportive, honest, and most of all, genuine! I absolutely love talking with her not only about the old times, but the current times - and she is a true listener! That's a quality you don't always find!

It's my turn to visit her in Phoenix - and I made her a promise that I would do just that whenever I can - Phoenix and San Antonio are on my list!

Thanks Jo for being a "true" friend all these years - you have no idea what an impact you have made on my life!

The Evan-Miester

Don't ask me where little Evan got that name - I have a feeling that Papa thought it up one day and it has just stuck!

Evan and Jessi came to visit this weekend! Gary had to work so wasn't able to come but hopefully next time..............

It was a fun weekend playing with Evan and TRYING to keep up with him - he loves the outdoors, especially being with Papa. Papa was organizing the garage - sorting all the "junk" brought out from the basement - looking through container after container of nuts, bolts, screws, nails and whatever other small objects happened to be in there. Evan was a big help - he loved dumping whatever containers he could find! He was looking through a box of blind knobs and before I knew it, he had popped one of the small ones in his mouth! He's a fast little bugger!


Evan loved playing in the sandbox too - the best part was scooping up the sand and dropping it over the side of the sandbox! Typical child! And he learned a new word this weekend - deer - Papa pointed out a deer in the yard so the rest of the weekend was spent "looking" for the deer - and of course we saw deer a couple of times so he was excited!

Coffee of course is always a given when Jessi is around, so we got some coffee to go at Florissant and then took Evan to the play park - I think he enjoyed walking in the parking lot more than the actual playground equipment!

Jessi and I basically ate most of the weekend - I made this yummy peach cobbler from a new recipe and it's definitely going in the cookbook! My, it was good! And of course we played bananagrams with Jessi beating the pants off me!

I'm always sad to see them go home - but know it won't be long before I see them again!

Down History Lane

My workplace is the best! I'm not stuck in a tiny cubicle in some large office nor sitting at a desk looking outside at high-rises! I work in a historic log cabin that used to be somebody's home - and that's still what it feels like!

Gary (my boss) bought the cabin 10 years ago, did a little bit of remodeling and soon it became our Farmers Insurance Office! My desk sits in what used to be the dining room and Gary's office was the prior living room! Our views out the window are of Pikes Peak - it just doesn't get much better than that!

But the whole reason for this blog is that Gary did all the necessary paperwork to put the cabin on the list of historic homes in Teller County and last Friday was our "Open House" to formally present the cabin and to display his plaque!

We had several people from the Historical Society attend and after a ribbon cutting and the presentation of the plaque, refreshements were served! It was a nice ceremony and Gary did a great job telling us the history of the cabin which was built in 1922!

Even though I'm not into antiques, I really enjoy the cabin as Gary has filled it with his "treasures" from the past! He's done a great job of preserving the cabin's history and is to be commended!

What a great place to work! Not many people can call their work, their second home!

Room Requirements!

After spending a night in a hotel room on Sat. night, I decided a great blog would be to write about what constitutes a GREAT room when you're away from home!

We don't stay at too many hotels or motels - most of our stays are in cabins in Colorado or "casitas" on the beach in Mexico! But wherever we stay, I have 3 MAJOR requirements on my list in order to make a room a GREAT place to stay - and of course, a lot of the time my list isn't fulfilled!

As I wrote on my previous blog, the place we stayed on Sat. night was a little "iffy" on the outside but turned out to be just fine on the inside! The set-up of the units was a long string of rooms hooked together, about 1/4 mile above the hot springs. Great views came with this room, not a requirement but certainly a plus! The room was huge with a tall king bed covered in 6 white pillows covered with a heavy white duvet! There was the standard TV sitting on a table, a leather couch and coffee table and also this entryway room which housed the small frig, a desk, a wardrobe and a table with a coffee maker on it!

Off the entryway room was the bathroom which is my first requirement on the list - a SPOTLESSLY CLEAN BATHROOM! I don't want to see any hair on the floor or in the tub - just shiny surfaces everywhere! This bathroom exceeded my requirements - extremely clean with a great tiled shower, good water pressure and one of those nice curved shower curtains that gives you extra room! It also had something I had never seen before and was impressed with! I have stayed at several hot springs hotels with girlfriends and there is NEVER enough places to hang your wet suits and towels - this bathroom had a towel rack completely encircling the sink, kind of underneath - it was great for hanging our wet suits!

Requirement #2 on my list is GOOD reading lights! I always bring a book with me, prop myself up in bed and read! This room had probably the best reading lights I have ever seen. They were bolted on each side of the bed with a swing arm so you could bring it close to you and it had a bright halogen bulb! PERFECT!

And of course everyone likes requirement #3 but we don't always get it - thick insulation in the walls so you can't hear every move your next door neighbor makes, especially flushing the stool in the middle of the night! Our room lucked out in this aspect also as we heard NO sounds during the night!

One thing I thought was quite strange about our room was there was absolutely nothing on the walls, except the bedside lights and the light above the TV - no pictures whatsoever! Not that decor matters to me but it made the room feel even larger! The cedar ceiling was at a slant with large beams so it was an open aired feeling - the best part of the room was sliding glass doors that opened to your own little patio with a table and chairs and awesome views of the chalk cliffs!

I love to travel and stay in different and unique places! I'll keep everyone posted on the next spot!

Listen To The Rhythm of the Falling Rain

One year ago today we closed on the sale of our house on Edlowe Road! ONE YEAR AGO! WOW!! It's easy to remember the date because I was NOT here for the closing! I was in Michigan watching my niece get married! (Happy 1st Anniversary Emily and Jeremy!) I signed the power of attorney papers before I left and Glenn received that wonderful job of signing not only HIS name, but MY name, at least 100 times and passed our house onto the new owner!

Our realtor then gave us a gift for using her as our realtor - a gift certificate for a nights' stay over at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs in Buena Vista! And can you believe it took us an entire year to use that certificate? About the time we started talking about making the reservation, I broke my leg. And we all know how busy the summers get so I FINALLY told Glenn we HAD to work in our night's stay or the certificate was going to expire! And that's where last night found us..........

I never like to complain about the rain but it has rained for virtually every day this last week - and unfortunately the weekend was no exception! We drove over in the rain, we sat in the hot springs in the rain, and we drove home in the rain!

In spite of the rain, we had a great time! The drive over was beautiful and as I am ALWAYS in control of the CD's we play, the music was wonderful! (Especially since I had downloaded another fantastic group of songs from ITunes!)

The hot springs has had some major renovations the past 3 years! I was quite impressed! Our room was up by the cliffs and as we drove up the road to them, I thought they looked kind of shabby on the outside and was secretly praying they they looked a whole lot better on the inside! Not to worry - it was a very nice room!(more on "hotel rooms" in another blog!)

We donned our swim suits and headed down to the hot springs! There is now 2 large hot pools to swim in, along with the creekside springs and dozens of tables and chairs and recliners to just hang out in! Because it was a balmy 56 degrees when we got there, we didn't spend much time just looking around - it was INTO that nice hot pool! Soon there was room for us down at the creek, and we found a great spot to lay in the sand and rocks! Sitting in the creek, surrounded by rocks that form little mini pools, is always challenging because of the change of temperature. Your buns might be sitting in extremely hot water while your toes are freezing! Needless to say, I was moving around a lot trying to keep my buns from getting burnt! And of course it started to rain while we were in the creek - oh well, what's a little MORE fresh water?

After our fingers and toes were shriveled and the hunger pains started attacking, we dressed and headed back into town to eat at the "Coyote Cantina". Great Mexican food!

Did I forget to mention there was a wedding going on when we arrived? There's a beautiful spot down by the creek with lovely flower beds and the bride and groom were having their pictures taken! What a sight!

After a great breakfast in the lodge and a short drive along the creek, we headed home - this time with caramel mochas in hand and again, some great tunes! In the rain of course!

Olympic Woes!

My ONLY complaint about the Olympics is that they are on past my bedtime and I'm losing sleep every night by attempting to stay up and watch them! I LOVE watching them - my favorite is gymnastics and wouldn't you know it, they don't even get started till after 10:00 mountain time and by 11:00, I just can't keep my eyes open any longer!

I'm sure anybody reading this is going to say "So if she can't stay up to watch them, why doesn't she just record them and watch them another day????" And you are SO RIGHT in saying that! But to me, 1/2 the fun is actually watching it "live" and judging each event myself, trying to determine who the winner will be. And I love the anticipation of getting to that final event or final person and then watching to see who will actually win that gold medal!

So last night the women's all around gymnastics was going to be on - By 10:00 I was exhausted and they hadn't even started it yet! I had no choice - I had to record! But of course when the radio goes off at 5:45 this morning, what do you think is the first thing I heard? Right - the gold and silver medal winners of the gymnastics event! When you're surrounded by TV, radio and computers, it's really tough to NOT know what's going on in the world!

Even though I know the outcome, I will still watch my recorded event from last night. But it just won't be the same.................

08/08/08

I just couldn't let this day pass without a quick blog - it's Friday, special coffee day, the Olympics start and it's 08/08/08!!!! My favorite number! This morning's paper had an article about all the wedding ceremonies being performed - it also wrote how the Chinese consider the number eight fortuitous. Well, I had to look that word up in the dictionary but it does mean what I thought it SHOULD mean: lucky, occurring by chance or accident.

In China, people pay extra to get eights on license plates and phone numbers! I'm not sure I would go QUITE that far! But I do enjoy days that have the number 8 in them!

Have a wonderful "EIGHT" day!

South Church Memories

One of my favorite things to do when I return to Iowa is to go out to the South Church. The majority of the people that live in Soldier, now population of 207 (I think it was around 250 people when I was growing up there) are Lutherans. And the reason for that is because the only church in the tiny town of Soldier is a Lutheran church. But there's not only a church in the town, but also a beautiful old church in the country that is always referred to as the South Church.

The South Church sits on a hillside out in the country, surrounded by the cemetery. It's a wonderful place to visit with its beautiful stained glass windows, its bell tower with the old type rope to pull the bell, and best of all, the old pump organ. Just so you know, the above 2 pictures are very OLD pictures that I scanned in - didn't want you thinking my photography skills are on the downslide!

I used to play that organ - yes, one of my best friends, Sandy Olson, and I used to play the organ for church. Most of the year we played the organ in at the town church but during the summer, services were moved out to the South Church and we both learned how to play the pump organ. The keyboard was basically the same as the town organ but instead of pushing down certain keys to get the desired music effect, you pulled out knobs. But oh my, did your legs ever get a workout! For those of you that don't know what a pump organ is, you put both of your feet on a separate pedal and push up and down, alternately between each foot. If you didn't pump, the music didn't play! It was quite an ordeal to play that organ - luckily the songs were kept pretty short during the summer and I remember the hardest times were during communion when you played continually!

I even played for a couple of weddings out at the South Church - it was a popular spot for old-fashioned wedding ceremonies and you just couldn't beat the scenery - inside and out! I distinctly remember playing for one afternoon wedding as a dog came running down the aisle during the ceremony - his leash had come untied outside the church! And it was quite warm that day too - the bride fainted at the altar and the groom had to carry her back down the aisle as I was pumping away at the organ, playing "On Our Way Rejoicing".

Memorial Day Weekend was always a memorable time at the South Church - a special service was held and for many, many years, the ladies served a lunch down in the basement. Unfortunately it was always a struggle to bring dishes and such out from the town church - and it finally got to the point where they just couldn't do it anymore and they moved the luncheon back into the town church! But I'll always remember the menu: loose meats, potato salad, and PIE! Those Lutheran ladies could certainly whip out some mighty fine pies!

And a tradition that still continues to this day, is decorating graves on that weekend - the cemetery is always beautiful that time of the year and I always loved walking around the different headstones and reading the names. It's sad to think that so many of the congregation are now laid to rest at the South Church, including my grandparents, parents, and a host of friends!

Yes, I revisited the church last week and walked all around, admiring once again that old pump organ, the stained glass windows and the cemetery - some things never change - and I would be sad if they did!

No Calories - Really!

There is NEVER a shortage of food in Iowa - after all, they can grow about anything in that state with their hot, humid summers! So we certainly didn't go hungry on our trip to Iowa - in fact, I'm sure Glenn and I both gained some weight while we were there between all the great food and drinks!

Ever had a piece of "Better Than Sex Cake"? Oh my, imagine a rich chocolate cake dripping with whip cream, caramel syrup, chocolate chips and toffee bits on top! Wow - Patty outdid herself on THAT dessert!

And on Thursday I helped her make "Strawberry Trifle", the above picture - if you like fresh strawberries buried in whipped cream, cream cheese and pound cake, then you'll like this dessert too! It not only LOOKS good, it tastes good! Forget about that Iowa corn fed beef, just bring on the desserts!

Patty also researched some drinks we had drank in Mexico the year before called Miami Vices and before we knew it, we were drinking those specialty drinks, pretending we were on the beach! The easiest way to describe a Miami Vice is a combination of strawberry dacquiri and pina colada in the same glass! YUM!! They went down mighty fast and were out of this world!

Just in case you're drooling by this time, I'll let you know that the "sisters" and their daughters are going to put together a family cookbook and the above 3 recipes will definitely make it into this book! My niece, Amanda, has graciously offered to compile all our family recipes and put them in some type of a notebook cookbook for all of us to have! But I can't wait for the cookbook - I need those recipes now!

Sisters

I am SO lucky to have the best 2 sisters in the world! The three of us are close - very close - and although we live in 3 different states, we stay in touch via phone calls, emails, and lots of pictures on Snapfish!

SO whenever there is an important occasion in the family, you can bet that the 3 of us find SOME way to be there together! Between the 3 of us, there are 8 daughters - yes, you read that right, no sons, all daughters! And the 8 daughters were all born within a 13 or so year span of each other so were pretty close in age! And yes, you can assume that there have been 8 weddings in the last 10 years or so and you can bet that us 3 sisters were there to support and help each other!

I was much closer to my older sister Patty because we were just 18 months apart and really grew up together! But as we all know, once you get out of high school, age just doesn't seem to matter much and it was then that I got much closer to my younger sister Teri! Now Patty has lived in Iowa all of her life and since she STILL lives in the town we all grew up in, numerous trips have been made back to Iowa. Teri, on the other hand, was not content to stay in Soldier, and has lived in more than one state! And of course, I have lived in several states also! But no matter where we hang our hat, we STILL get together whenever we can!

Besides the numerous weddings and other occasions, we always know we will see each other on "vacation" in February! When our dad died and left us his farm, we formed a corporation and as everyone knows, corporations are REQUIRED to have at least one meeting per year - our meetings just "happen" to take place in exotic locations! We do have a brother also so the 8 of us have our yearly trip to look forward to each February! It's just a great way to connect with each other and stay in touch! Of course 1/2 the fun is planning the trip!

Every time the sisters get together, we take a "Sisters" photo - how fun is that to look back over the old pictures and point out how much younger we're getting - ha ha!

Our most precious times together are reminiscing about our growing up years and it's amazing how DIFFERENT our memories are! Since both of our parents are gone, it's vital that we keep the memories alive and pass them on to our daughters!

Since all the daughters are now married (and I have to brag that all 8 of them finished college and over 1/2 of them have masters degrees!), grandchildren are becoming abundant so the main topic of conversation has moved from the happenings of the kids to the grandkids! We have fun comparing notes!

Last week's Iowa trip was a great excuse to get together once again! Even though our time was short, we made the most of it and even had time to have a short farm meeting about our upcoming trip next year!

So this blog is for you - Patty and Teri - who are there whenever I need a shoulder to cry on or to celebrate the birth of a new grandchild! I couldn't ask for 2 better sisters! Thanks for ALWAYS being close when I need you, even though you're far away!

Green Green Grass of Home........

I was Iowa bound this last week and just returned home today! Pretty good flights, great weather (for Iowa in the summer!),WONDERFUL food, and most of all - FAMILY!

We went back for my nephew's wedding reception which was held out at my brother's place - it was a beautiful night and the humidity stayed under control just for us! Of course there was lots of good food and drink, a great band playing under the stars and lots of old friends to visit with! Now any other time I would have been out there dancing on the grass but there were just too many people to visit with that night so the dancing will have to wait until another time!

Most of the nights were spent at my sister's house and I posted a picture of her neat old house above! It's a classic IOWA home that yes, could use some more work on the inside but I love it just as it is! They just don't make homes the way they used to and this one has loads of character! I love their huge tree in the front yard and their even larger tree in the back yard!

We had lots of family around to visit with and of course all 3 of my siblings were there which made the trip extra special! My sister Teri was all prepared to accept the award for coming the furthest till our aunt and uncle brought THEIR son and his wife who are here from Africa! More pictures - More visiting!

I brought back my usual August souviner from Iowa - TOMATOS!!!! Nobody can grow tomatos like Iowa can - so in turn that makes the humidity there bearable, knowing the result is those huge, red delicious tomatos! I specifically packed a special bag in my suitcase to bring some home and they made the trip just fine! It's BLT's all week!

More blogs to follow on our trip - but in the meantime, a big thank-you to Glenn's folks and Patty and Leonard for their wonderful hospitality!