Over the 4th of July weekend, my daughter, 10 year-old grandson and I went on a road trip together to visit family and friends.
As we were making our way up to the “Northland”, my grandson was immersed in playing games on his tablet in the backseat. After a while, I could hear the voice of one of those young adult “gaming bros” on their YouTube channel going on in their annoyingly enthusiastic manner about whatever game they were playing.
The grandma in me decided I had enough of that business. I suggested, with no actual confidence that this suggestion was going to be embraced by the kid, that we could play the “alphabet game”.
You know this one, right? I can’t imagine it was just my family (actually, me and my Mom, Bonnie) that played this on long car rides.
Anyway. It’s a simple game. All you do is start with the letter “A”. You “spy with your little eye” that one simple letter. You might find it on a sign. Or on the license plate of the vehicle that just passed you. Then, of course, you loudly exclaim “I found an A!” and proceed onto the letter “B” and so on until you get to “Z”. The first person who gets all the way through the alphabet wins.
Thankfully (or perhaps not, as it became a bit of an obsession over the course of the weekend), the kiddo latched onto this suggestion of mine with gusto.
Playing this game with him on this road trip was a huge highlight of this grandma’s summer. The “Alphabet Game” did the following wonderful things: it gave this bright boy a mental challenge. It gave us an opportunity to interact with each other for a sustained period of time. It got him off that obnoxious “gamer boy/man” YouTube channel so my daughter and I didn’t have to suffer through it any longer. It gave me a great memory. My hope as this boy’s grandma is that he was imprinted with a great memory too.
My new reality began yesterday, as I’m back in the workplace after a sweet hiatus (aka Gap Year). I prepped myself ahead of time for a few days by setting my alarm for earlier and getting my butt in gear within a more reasonable amount of time. My closet has been over-hauled as a new job means work appropriate clothes needed to be excavated.
I get to wear my nicer clothes again! One of the simple things to be grateful for.
I think this job is going to suit me very well. My new co-workers welcomed me with open arms. I was given a new magnetic name tag which made it more real. I’m excited to go back tomorrow!
Fall doesn’t “officially” begin until September 23rd. Yet, with the leaves beginning to morph from green to gold and reddish hues here, along with starting my new job, it is starting to feel like fall to me.
All of the time I got to hang out with family, friends, and neighbors these past few months made for a great summer.
I’ve been aiming to include more photos in these blog posts. Due to struggles with getting our internet to comply with my frequent “save to drive” attempts, I don’t have as many photos as I’d like for sharing. Just a little downside to this country/lake lifestyle. But here’s a few showing the highlights from our first full summer here in Minnesconsin.
My Splashing Strawberry from a “Sip and Paint” experience at Dragonfly Winery
Mr. “None of the Above” (formerly known in this space as “Hubs”) and me riding the bus to the Minnesota State Fair
Weird Barbie at the Minnesota State Fair
View of our lake on our maiden voyage with the new pontoon
Five frightened baby raccoons climbing a tree in our backyard
Floating and Motorboating with the fam, Labor Day weekend 2023 (Jimmy Buffet was on repeat all day) #RIPJimmy
My daughter and I will be meeting up with my sister and one of our cousins next weekend to visit family in central Minnesota. We’ll be staying overnight at our uncle Jim’s cabin. This has been an annual trip for my sister and cousin. Every single year, as we were always living too far away, I was envious of them for getting to go. No more!
There’s other things happening in these parts over the next several weeks as well. Namely, a couple of fall festivals to check out. I’m looking forward to enjoying these with my family and neighborhood friends.
A few blog posts ago, I mentioned that I was making a list of all of the local places I want to check out here in Minnesconsin. I got a good start on that list and intend to get cracking on it ASAP. Cross your fingers that I will be able to capture great pics and memories to enjoy and share in future posts!
And now, I present to you my favorite, well one of my favorites, Jimmy Buffet songs.
This is merely a test. A test of my ability to use my scant photography skills to tell a story.
One of my personal blogging goals is to improve my photography skills. Truly.
So, here I go!
Top left: a picture of our present day, imperfect, life. As you can surmise, no acrobatic moves were employed to capture this scene.
You see my very plain, cheap looking kitchen countertops (which someday before long will be replaced with something that actually looks cool). There’s the bunch of lavender I bought because I was at a Lavender Festival a couple of weeks ago with my best Colorado friend, Adrianne, and it seemed like the thing to do. My original intention was to google what to actually do with this lavender; I overhead the lavender selling lady at the booth where I purchased this telling another customer about hanging it upside down and waiting for the oil to drip off of it. But I ended up getting distracted by life, per my usual, and 14 days (give or take) later the bunch of lavender remains on the top shelf of my kitchen counter. I guess I’ll have to toss it soon, but I certainly am up for suggestions if you have any.
Speaking of the Lavender Festival, Adrianne and I had a very relaxing time chatting and listening to tunes on the way home. I shared with her my new favorite summer song.
Adrianne informed me that this particular song was actually a cover of “Doin’ Time” by Sublime, which came out in 1996, so of course we listened to that version as well. I would have known about Sublime’s version of this tune had I not been busy mothering my spawn, who were 3 and 4 at the time. The genre of music I listened to at that time was “new country”. It was a phase of mine that thankfully passed.
What’s in the orange bowl? It’s a “rustic” bread salad, a recipe that came highly recommended by my beloved sister, which was surprisingly not a hit. But more than likely, I used the wrong kind of salad dressing. Then there’s the half pint of vodka, which has become our go-to liquor (on those days when we are craft-beered-out) along with the Mio stuff that you add to said vodka for flavor (another suggestion by my sis, though this one was enjoyed much more than the bread salad thingy).
In the brown bag, there was a delectable cinnamon roll that I scarfed down the morning after taking this picture. It was purchased at the Farmer’s Market closest to me. Someone’s got to support small businesses-bakeries included, right? It would have been rude to do otherwise.
Then there’s a selfie taken in our “en suite” (‘scuse me, I’m feeling fancy and I’ve probably consumed too much HGTV). In case you were wondering, this pic is very much not inspired by a Kardashian.
Then there’s the picture from ye olden times (resting atop my sister’s much nicer looking kitchen countertops), featuring my Grandma Pearl (one of two, not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this) as a child with her wacky hairdo. Youngest spawn has a mass of thick hair with a number of cowlicks.
Check out that tongue! You got some competition Gene Simmons!
Of course, being the obnoxious human that I am, I texted the photo to alert them that their hair is indeed genetic.
So for the actual beautiful pictures: the skies at my sister and brother in law’s place (aka my happiest place to be) in far northern Minnesota, when we were there last month visiting the fam. These pics capture the moments when we were sitting around the campfire, shooting the shit on a warm July night.
Then there’s the two pics of Hubs and I enjoying our first experience at Red Rocks. In the middle bottom pic, we are tailgaiting in the parking lot prior to the show. Good times.
The pic next to that is of my new pedicure. One of my self-care “quirks” is that my feet need to look nice and pretty at all times. I don’t know where this comes from. Probably because sandals are my very favorite type of footwear and I don’t believe in showcasing them on gnarly looking feet (or seeing others showcasing their gnarly looking feet in sandals for that matter). I love that the nail lady (there’s a proper term for this, right? Technician perhaps?) offered to add a flowery design on my big toes. She did it free hand, using three different colors. I found this quite impressive. I’ll be back to see her again for sure.
Me with Ray-darling. Yes, I’ve become one of those people who shops online for fun bandanas for my dog to wear.
I invite each of you to share your imperfect, weird, real-life photos that tell a story about what you’ve been up to this summer.
Pollyanna's Path 