Claire's, at last!

My welcoming committee at the Bismarck Airport Fri. evening

Claire is sharing her room with me on my visit!  What a comfortable bed she has.

She loves her trampoline!

Sabbath morning in the dress I got her at Shipshewana this summer

A minute in the hammock Sabbath afternoon

Grandpa Randy isn't answering Skype!  He did finally come home and we Skyped for quite awhile.

We played a long time on Daddy's carmat.

a girl of many faces!

Trip with Karen to Boise, Idaho

It was so good to see Uncle Henry again and to walk into his room, a total surprise!

It wasn't easy saying good-bye.

I flew from Boise where I'd traveled to over 3 days with Karen Ross who was moving from C'dale to College Place.  We had a great road trip, all 2100 miles.  She'll go on home after a few days with her brother and nephews in the Boise area.

The sunset was colorful on the flight into Bismarck from Denver.

Our 39th Anniversary

Sept. 14, 1975 - one very blessed bride!

Pioneer Memorial Church was the scene. . .

with my very handsome groom

And 39 years later, on our anniversary evening, after a tasty meal at the Acropolis, we took a short boat ride to enjoy the sun going down on calm Harrison Bay.  

Karen's Farewell Gathering

Chic ordered this beautiful and delicious German chocolate cake for the gathering.  There were 15 of us there at Terrie and Brian's house on the lake to wish Karen well as she moves back west.

Stan's boys enjoyed the hot tub.

We brought some home-made vegan ice cream and others brought fruit or nuts, finger sandwiches, etc. to enjoy.

I will miss Karen - she's been here for 15 years and was CA's librarian and Freshman English teacher, but most of all, she was my good friend.  She's moving back to "God's country" in Walla Walla, WA where her mom lives.  I'll be driving out with her - we leave Mon., Sept. 15.

Fruit of our Labor Day

Look what we did on Labor Day - 3 bushels of Jonathan apples @ $15 a bushel from Apple Valley Orchard in Cleveland. This was taken before we had the first ones even cooked to run thru the strainer.  We love having a basement canning kitchen for this job.

Now there's a real apple chopper!

This is how we push the cooked apples through the hopper!

We had lots of fans going to keep it bearable - two on the table to cool the sauce in the containers, one in the window taking the hot air out, and one on the floor blowing on us.  I'm glad we started it at 8 a.m.  We had it finished before 3.

The best part is tasting it.  It always makes me think of Dad - he was the official taste tester for this job.  I love the pink color of the sauce with Jonathan apples and having good sauce with NO sugar!

Our Smoky Mtn. Visit

Our picnic lunch at Cades Cove 

It was very busy with cars circling waiting for a parking space - we lucked out our first time around!

We enjoyed the hike to Laurel Falls

We were surrounded by Indians as this picture shows

Just before the rain started on our way down

And this is why they're called the Smokies!

It started raining on our hike back down.  We coulda' sold our umbrella several times!  We were the only ones who came prepared.  The paved walkway is nice to avoid mud, but it got slippery when it rained, which I found out all of a sudden.  Fortunately Randy kept me on my feet somehow.

Driving through Gatlinburg after our picnic and hike - the sidewalks were crowded with tourists.

We stayed at this Inn of the South in Sevierville - we loved its ante-bellum southern design!  The staircase in the lobby was really gorgeous that went up to the 3rd floor - with an open view down to the lobby and 2nd floor breakfast area.  We would have stayed at our favorite Governor's Inn but they required a 2 night stay to get a reservation, like several others did we learned.  We were thankful to find this Clarion Inn would let us reserve for just one night, probably since it was just 5 miles south off I-40, so further from Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg.

If it hadn't been so overcast, we would have enjoyed the pool and lazy river Sat. evening.  

The room was large with two comfortable side chairs by the table that we used for Sabbath supper (thanks to the microwave and fridge) and had a balcony overlooking the Willow River.