A Beautiful Day at The Garden and Other Happenings

I’ve been away for a while again. Nothing exciting, just life has been happening. We have been so busy every day and I just haven’t had time to sit down and do a blog post. I’ve tried to comment on blog‘s every day, but usually it’s one or two at a time as I have a minute here and there.

Dennis’s uncle and two cousins were here from Minnesota from Thursday of last week until Sunday. That kept us busy visiting with them and not being home much at all. One of the things we did was go to the Lauritzen Garden here in Omaha. Many of the flowers were gone for the year, but there is still a lot of beauty to be had, as shown in the following two beautiful beds.

This is Mom enjoying a walk around after the tram dropped us off for a break to enjoy the beautiful shrubbery. She just turned 87 last month. Her brother Al is over her right shoulder and he is 90. He is a bundle of energy. He still walks a couple of miles every morning and does his own house work and cooking. The tram was a great way to get around the entire park because it’s very large and there’s no way Mom could have walked the entire thing.

There is a huge display of jungle type flowers and plants in this greenhouse. They also had a huge display of flowers that they called the wicked display. There they had all kinds of poisonous plants, spiky plants, poison ivy, etc. on display for Halloween.

There is a beautiful Japanese garden that we didn’t walk around. I just took photos as the tram drove by. It’s usually much prettier in the summertime, but as it’s getting cold out, the grass is starting to die out.



We had a lovely time with them all during the visit. They drive down about twice a year so Uncle Al, Mom, Aunt Joyce and Aunt Jean can all get together. They are the last of the siblings and spouses. There were 11 children in the family, so 22 aunts and uncle’s. The four of them are the last of that generation. Mom is the very last on the Queen side, out of 9 siblings, so 18 aunts and uncle’s!

Shifting gears to today. Dennis and I went to Pipers Halloween parade at school. This was the picture I got of her as they all walked by very quickly! It was 36°F and a north wind at 15 to 20 mph. It was cold! So when we got back to her house, I took a better picture for you all. 😍 But first, isn’t her tail cute! I love it!

There she is! My beautiful Cheshire Cat, from Alice in wonderland! Look at that smile! Isn’t she cute? I was sure glad she had a costume like this on today, instead of the skimpy princess ones that some of the girls had on. And some of them refused to wear their coats for the parade around the school. They had to be freezing. I had a coat, hat and gloves on, and I was still cold.

On Wednesday of last week, there was a funeral for a soldier who has been gone for over 70 years. He was a prisoner of war in Korea. The government received the bones of several POWs several years ago. After they were released, two of his fellow prisoners had told the government approximately where he was buried, and what he died of, which was pneumonia and malnutrition. He was 23 years old. Before they passed away, his mother and sister had both done one of those DNA things that were so popular a few years ago. They were able to identify his bones through a DNA match with them!

Now, how did we get involved? There is a gentleman that we have known for over 50 years, since before we were married. We went to church with him until we moved to Spokane. We attend the same church again now and sit next to him and his wife every Sunday. He is the nephew of this soldier. He was only four years younger than his uncle, they were more like brothers and played together as children. Guess who else played with them? Dennis’s dad! Ted the nephew, asked Dennis to be a pallbearer. Ted is 89 years old now. Dennis has actually known Ted much longer than I have, as his first girlfriend was Ted’s daughter! The service had full military honors, and many military service members were there to honor him. Ted and Donna are so happy to have him home and as his last living relative, Ted had his remains placed in a grave next to where they will be buried. There wasn’t a dry eye at that service.

I have been crafting when I’ve been in the car and in fits and starts here at home. I finished all of the Christmas ornaments for the family about midnight one night. That was a big relief. I definitely will take a picture so I can show all of you after Christmas. I’ve also been crocheting on the same shawl I was working on last week. Since I’m still working on the same shawl, it gives you an idea of how busy I have been. I’m also trying to finish a diamond painting that I’ve been working on. I’m almost finished with it and then I will have one finished for each season of the year. I plan to switch them for each season using the same frame.

Dennis has surgery on his thumb again next Thursday. We have several appointments before then to see doctors and have x-rays. To put it simply, they’re going to basically saw his thumb off and reattach it with screws and plates. The first surgery went well, but the splint they put on it afterwards allowed the pins to move around and now he’s in worse shape than he was before. He has no strength in that hand, and he can’t grip anything with his finger and thumb together. Please pray there are no “mess ups” this time around and he does well in surgery.

I hope you are all doing well. I’m sorry this is so lengthy, with so many photos and stories. Take care and stay safe.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Beautiful Days And A Bit Of Traveling.

I have been absent for a few days. More about that down below, but first I wanted to show you this house that’s across the street from Brad and Mandy’s. Look how tall that skeleton thing is on the left side of the garage! I can’t believe how many houses are decorated up for Halloween these days, and the money that must be spent on all of the decorations.

Dennis and I decided to take a little trip to the Amana colonies. We had reservations during that terrible heat wave a while back, but decided to reschedule. We had a wonderful time. The photo below shows me sitting at a table in the Ox Yoke Inn in Main Amana. They serve the most fantastic German food you can imagine. You can choose to order just a plate like you would get in a regular restaurant, or to have it served family style where the bowls of food are unending! We used to come over here about once a year when our kids were small. They would stay with Dennis’s parents, and this was our weekend getaway for the big people. 😍 The seven towns that make up the Amana colonies are located just a short distance from the Iowa/Illinois border, just north of interstate 80.

There are lots of shops, museums, furniture, bakeries, workshops, and even a woolen mill there. The streets are all very walkable, and each village is located just one days drive away from each other by ox cart. Although the villages are called the Amana colonies, the people who settled there are not Amish. There are Amish people living, not too far away though.

This was our room in our bed and breakfast. I absolutely loved the bed. Both of us said it was the most comfortable bed by far, away from home, that we’ve ever slept in. Isn’t it pretty? We were able to have the window open all night long and you couldn’t hear a thing. I never heard a car drive-by or anyone outside walking. So different from living in the city.

This bed-and-breakfast has 15 rooms, each decorated completely differently, and with their own private bath. We highly recommend it if any of you are interested in a trip here. Marc and Julie are the owners who are about our age. They are getting ready to retire for the second time. In his former life, Marc was a mechanical engineer! The bed-and-breakfast was just put up for sale for only $650,000. That is a steal! The Inn is booked solid on weekends all year long, and in the spring, summer and fall it’s almost always full. Also around the holidays. It is immaculately kept, and I love the way they had it decorated. Name of the bed-and-breakfast is Die Heimet it’s located in Homestead, Iowa.

Here is Dennis taking a break before we went out to visit the shops again!

He must have really been concentrating on his breakfast this morning when I took this picture. Doesn’t he look serious? The breakfasts here are amazing. This morning was an egg and cheese frittata with spinach and tomatoes, a fruit cup, (that we had already eaten), homemade cinnamon rolls, and fresh squeezed juice. Everything was homemade. Even the cinnamon rolls were made by June early this morning. 

Last night I took this photo of the sideyard our bedroom window looked out onto. If it hadn’t been so chilly, we would have gone out and sat on the double swing for awhile. Got down to 37° last night though.

Dennis found me a sweet little sheep at the Woolen Mill store. This was made from wool right there in the colonies. He knows I have a special place in my heart for little lambs.

I’ve been working on the Christmas cross-stitch ornaments for a few weeks. I’m almost done with the actual cross-stitch of the sixth one and I have seven to make in total. I chose a more intricate design than I usually do. After that, I have to go back and do the outlining on each one, and put the names and year on them, and then sew them into the actual ornaments. Lots of work left to do! They will eventually be Christmas ornaments for our kids and grandkids.

One of the ladies at the over 55 apartment building where we lived last year, asked me if I would make her a scarf. She’s very tiny and so the scarves she buys at stores are always too wide and too long for her. She asked for a scarf between 30 and 36 inches long. This one turned out to be 33 1/2 inches. I use the “Dudester” pattern which I think is free on Ravelry. Dennis picked it out because I made him a scarf several years ago with the same pattern, only much longer and one with repeat wider. I used I love this yarn in the color “purple gradient”. It used exactly one skein.

I’m also working on another prayer shawl using more of the Baby Bee Sweet Delight  in the color “naked”. It’s the same pattern and yarn I used for the baby blanket in my last post. I’ve just adjusted it to be more narrow and I’ll make it much longer. It was a convenient project to work on in the car during our trip. We drove all the way across Iowa and back again, so I got a lot of crocheting done. On the way home today we stopped in Atlantic, Iowa for lunch. We like to find small local diners to eat in when we’re traveling instead of the big chains. We ate at the Farmers Diner and it was wonderful! We both got huge bacon cheeseburgers for $5.99! Unbelievable!

The world does give us a lot to worry about these day doesn’t it? I’ve been spending a lot of time with the Lord in prayer for the situations happening around the world, especially in Israel and Gaza. My heart goes out to the innocent people on both sides of the conflict. But, since I am a natural worrier, I have to remind myself often of what the following photo says.

The following made me smile when I saw it. You better believe I would have the door open very quickly!

Wishing you all a very wonderful and blessed Wednesday and all the days following.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Busy Days of Fall

We’ve had a busy few weeks here. Guess who turned 11? Gosh, it’s so hard to believe that she is 11 years old. We had a small party with just the grandparents and Brad’s brother Bill, last Friday night. We had a fun dinner and then had cake. Piper loves sea turtles and I think Mandy did a great job of drawing the sea turtle on this cake. Piper was thrilled with it!

Of course, she very much enjoyed the opening of her gifts. We were the boring grandparents and bought her a gift card to Barnes & Noble. We just talked to them and she went there today and found some books she wanted. She received some fun things from Grandma and Papa Krumel. Nail polish, a sea turtle light, and a few other fun things. But from her mom and dad, she received her dad’s refurbished iPad. She was thrilled. They had pre-loaded it with things appropriate for her age. Look at that smile. It says it all. As for me, I loved her blue and white polkadot dress. She still loves to wear dresses and the sweaters I make her.

My peace lily is blooming for the third time this year. It must really like this window.

The gardens are gradually getting torn out as things finish producing. It was a bumper crop of tomatoes, pumpkins, eggplant, and acorn, squash, and cucumbers this year. To the left of the sidewalk is a patch of zinnias that are absolutely gorgeous right now. I’m too far away to get a good photo of them.

I finished another baby blanket using the diamond pattern and the same sparkle yarn. I made this one bigger at 38 x 38“. I still have six skeins of the yarn left….

So I began a prayer shawl for the hospital, using the same pattern, but making it narrower and it will be longer.

We were supposed to be on our way to the campground by now. We were going camping with our minister and his wife and Curt and Barb until Wednesday afternoon. We have been having major camper issues this summer. To make a long story short, when we went to pick it up a couple weeks ago to go camping, the electric jack didn’t work and the handle had been broken to crank it manually. Of course the repair shop said they didn’t do it. So, we had to order a new jack and they installed it. Oh, and did I mention the batteries were dead too? We have never had an issue with our batteries in the two years we’ve owned this trailer. Dennis is pretty sure they wired the jack wrong, which drained the batteries.

He went out to our camper storage last Thursday to put some things in the camper for our trip today and the batteries were completely dead again!  He took them off and to an auto shop where they tested them and said they were toast. He had to buy two new batteries, which was not cheap at all! After church today, we came home, loaded up the truck and went out to hook up the trailer and the batteries were completely dead again. We have no idea what’s going on. Right now I’m at home and Dennis is there trying to figure out what’s happening with it. If he can figure it out, we may try again tomorrow. Right now, I’ve about had it with pulling a trailer. Honestly, I would love to have a van that we could just drive and have everything right there. We don’t want a class A motorhome because we’d like something small enough to park in a regular parking place. But we both want a bathroom of some sort.

It’s been an expensive year for the camper and we’ve only been able to go camping two nights so far this year. Yikes! Plus, we were really looking forward to the time this week with our friends. Dennis’s patience is wearing thin and we have lost all trust in this repair place. They still have to fix the spot where a truck threw one of the construction cones into the side of the trailer on our way home from the Black Hills.

So this is sort of how I’m feeling!😂🤣😂

I hope you’re all having a lovely weekend. We have a stunning day today with clear blue skies and 65°. Absolutely perfect. I’ll talk to you all again soon.

Blessings and love, 

Betsy