"It is in the wild places, where the edge of the earth meets the corners of the sky, the human spirit is fed." Art Wolf


Monday, October 2, 2017

Down by the Riverside

No dog shows this past week. Several of the dogs and I headed west to meet up with some of my friends from the WomenRV.com forum.   The trip out was uneventful but brought be past fall fields of corn and soybeans with their muted soft yellow.  Between the color and the occasional harvested field it even smelled like autumn.

And then we arrived at Thomson Causeway COE campground on the Mississippi River.  Definitely a good place for birds.


Bottoms up!


There was a Escape GTG on the other loop.  Escapes are small Canadian made trailers and very nicely made. Anyone looking at Casitas or Scamps should at least look.  I didn't look up prices on any website but we are thinking they are expensive but high quality.  They group had Open House and we all wandered in and out of many rigs.  They come in 17', 19', 21' and a small 5th wheel. 


Back to the water front.


Eileen's house on wheel.


Cheryl's new digs.


Sue's trailer with Molly and Piper.


Our visit to the nearby Wind Mill.



No picture of Lyn's rig (my excuse is she came in after my rig photo urge) but here is Ms Lyn!


Prepping to a little sun protection.


Cheryl's Zoro and Punkin were not terribly amused.


But some of us were.


Eileen's river side view.....


Back to birds....





Stopping at the scenic view on the way to Galena.  Need to ask Cheryl about the dance interpretation.


Cheryl, Sue and Eileen waiting on the porch for our tour of General Grants home in Galena.  Lyn stayed behind to read and watch out for our rigs and read....





Steep streets that used to be.


Store dogs.




Another store dog....



Found one of the eagles.


Way up there on the left of the big trees.





And my usual finds. Two creatures for one.


Ravages of the river.


There be monsters in the water.....paddle carefully.


Hornbeck on the Mississippi.


The second eagle but much farther away up the river.


Our campsites from out on the water.


The beaver lodge out in the causeway.


Another evening gently falls and tomorrow we will find another adventure or two or three.


Monday, September 11, 2017

The Gayden & Allen Wedding

These are the pictures from a most important recent adventure!  The wedding of Sarah Gayden and Ben Allen. They were married this past Saturday on the grounds of their new to them home in Brewster, NY.  Some of the pictures have people identified and some don't but friends of Sarah and Ben will know who they are even if I don't remember their names but mostly their smiles.

We drove all day Thursday so that we could rest up and have energy to visit with Kate and Lucas who were flying in from Charlotte on Friday.  I would say that we offered to help get the house and grounds ready and we did but I noticed that they had a small group of friends who were much younger than us and had most everything under control.

On Friday we drove to Beacon to meet Lucas and Kate at the DIA:Beacon which is a museum that specialized in large sculpture and art pieces from the 60's and 70's.  Some of the rooms held only one exhibit. Or in the case of the basement one long barrier of green lights.


This room had multiple pieces of crushed metal...


The Pottery Man tries to escape web of the spider.....The spider being made out of welded metal.


Friday evening we headed over to the house to visit a bit before the extra craziness of Saturday.   There was time for visiting, house tours and watching young men enjoy themselves. Though I have no pictures of the couch cushion fort that was built in the other room.....

Nick



Dory dog guarding the door and being very good for all the people that were invading her home.




Saturday morning daughter Kate, her husband Lucas and I headed out to find a hiking trail.  I loved the boulders and stones.





Then after cleaning up a bit we all headed off for the main event.....  The ceremony was held in the side yard.  As you can see by the architecture of the house it has been standing on the ground for awhile. The original house was built in 1750 and has had a few additions here and there.



The quiet before the food and dancing. 


And the children's table.  The barn behind and to the left was set up for a movie for after dinner if chasing each other around the grounds got too tiring.



Folks start arriving by car or by a shuttle van that picked up many from the nearly hotel.


Kate and Lucas with her Aunt Sue. Kate wishing her mother would quit taking her picture.






But before we wandered over to find our chairs there was "what to do while the shuttles arrived." There were snacks and drinks available and an opportunity to meet and greet strangers, friends and family. But that only begins to describe the options. 

While waiting for folks to arrive there were fairies dancing in the garden.





And some folks sitting quietly.



(Some photos were borrowed from my sister Libby. I am not as talented as my friend Liz who can set up her camera to take shots of herself.....)



And few of us will forget the garden pond.....how thoughtful was it to have its share of frogs. 
Luckily one of the fathers intervened when one of the attempting frog catchers figured out that the pool skimmer might be a useful tool.   








And then it was time for the wedding part of the wedding.....



Ben and Sarah with Drew standing up for both of them.  (Nick watched from the porch....and let his big brother represent him.  But then we are still not sure how, when or where Sarah and Ben found their rings later......)


Then it was time to celebrate and party.   The view of the back of the house.





Drew after his responsibilities had been successfully completed.










Ben dancing with girls from the garden......





The kids table with the kids.


The faces....I think there is some Norman Rockwell in there.





My big brother Terry, my grand niece Marin and her dad, Jamie.


My daughter Kate and her husband Lucas and my brother Terry.









The Nick