Dually's Gone, and Ruby Comes Home to Roost

After two months of discussion, we ended this year -- and this DECADE -- by trading in our favorite truck: Dually. Dually served us loyally for ten full years, taking us from Alaska, to Maine, to North and South Dakota; to Arizona, Texas, Florida and many points in between. Dually hauled clay to our studio, hauled mulch to our gardens, and hauled firebricks for our new kiln. And, Dually was still in top shape...but we have grown older, and have less need of such a workhorse of a vehicle. So Dually was put up for adoption at Car Max in Tinley Park today.

We were saddened to leave Dually with strangers, even the kind strangers at Car Max. Rich brooded all last night, and I reminisced about all the good times we had together. But the time came at last to say our goodbyes.

At first, we were unsure if our 'new' vehicle could ever replace a good, solid, working truck like Dually.

We had chosen a Chrysler Town & Country Van, and after looking at various T & C vans since the beginning of November, we felt we had found the one for us at this Car Max in Tinley Park. It was burgunday red. We wanted red. The interior was tan leather/suede. Just what we wanted. It had low miles, and all the bells and whistles that would keep us happy on the road or driving locally. When we saw it, we decided: This is the one. But the transition from an old love to a new flame is not without its bittersweet moments. We comforted ourselves with the knowledge that we were giving this orphaned auto a really good, caring home.

About 5 miles into our ride home in the Chrysler van, Rich's face was creased with a HUGE grin. I was having a geek's holiday with all the electronics. The seats were heavenly, and the van handled inpeccably.

"Let's name her Ruby", I said, as I played with the built-in GPS.

"Ruby Thursday!", added Rich, an impish grin on his face.

And Ruby Thursday she is. Ruby proudly took her place in our garage next to Maxine, our 2001 Ford Taurus, also adopted from Car Max.

December Walks

I took my daily walk outside again today. Friday was rainy, and I had used the treadmill. Satuday we exhibited at an Art Show, and, although we walked the little city of Ottawa, taking in the Ice Sculpture Show, it was an 'urban' walk. Today, I was back to MY walk, which always takes me down to the Illinois River.

What is it about walking outside that soothes and cleanses me so much? Is it the always magical seasonal changes in flower beds and trees? The look of tree bark after a rain? The changing cloudscape of the sky? A mushroom bursting out of the ground?Or is it the contrasts of sunny days and gray days...both of which have their own beauty?

And the Illinois River puts on a different persona every day. Some days, it's color is blue, with a gentle current driftin waterfowl along as fish jump flashing silver. And there are cold days, when it is almost black, and the little whitecaps indicate the biting wind that drives fish deep. The river is so opaque where it is the deepest, and, after a drenching rain, it's edges are tinged with roiled mud, outlining it in brown.And, on rare, perfect days, the river is a shimmering mirror reflecting the sunshine.

Today, the river is peaceful. It is Winter, so there is no pleasure boat traffic, and no barges go by today. All I find is a mallard watching me from beyond a washed up log.

Egrets, and Turkeys and Squirrels...OH, MY!

Today, Wednesday, dawned wild and wooly and wintry. The winds howled, the snowflakes began to swirl, and our local wildlife came to our yard for solace. The turkey in the photo is eating all the corn that the ravenous (but messy) squirrel drops!

\

Here's the SURPRISE of the day: this is an EGRET! Although egrets migrate up here for the summer months, they are usually LONG GONE by winter. Actually, they are one of the first migratories to leave for the warmth of the South. Due to our warm Autumn, however, we believe this bird dallied, and the strong winds today blew him severely off course.

Snowy Tuesday

I am supposed to be throwing pots in the studio, but...it's too tempting to check outside in the pretty snow.

I found that the Illinois River looks really neat today...ducks and geese were paddling away.

And...I found our first TURKEY in our backyard! Right now, it's only one, and it is very, very wary. I remember that last year, we had 13 or 14, including Testosterone Tom!

Maybe they will ALL be back. We are putting out extra corn!

IDOT CLEANUP #2

THE DECEMBER IDOT CLEANUP...MORRIS AREA GARDEN CLUB IS ON THE JOB!

The Morris Area Garden Club (www.morrisareagardenclub.org) was on the job again today ...December 5, 2009. With 6 intrepid volunteers, our 2 mile area on Route 47 in Morris was thoroughly cleaned up! We hope we have made a difference in the world with this effort!

IDOT CLEANUP #2

Mushrooms

We have harvested our very first HOME GROWN MUSHROOMS! Just look at them...perfect examples of fungus delight.

They went along perfectly with our salad and steak tonight. Yum.

Baby Mushrooms

Hooray! We have itty, bitty baby button mushrooms from our 'mushroom kit'. More to come...we are going to monitor their growth...the dinkum darlins.

The Morning After

What do you suppose our intrepid Seniors were doing the morning after they feasted on the best Thanksgiving EVER at their son & daughter in law's? (Phew...awkward sentence!). Well, they tested their new RAKU KILN!

And they are REALLY HAPPY with the results!*

*Note: No seniors were harmed during the execution of this process.

Cleaning the Pond for Winter

Two ... no three...of the Goldfish.

Jesus

Jesus with Rich's hand to show size.

Lazarus

It's time. The pond needs to get ready for Winter. It really needs a thorough cleaning. So...what to do with the fish (Jesus, Lazarus and the Goldfish...)?

We put them in our spare 55 gallon tank in the garage as the pond gets clean! Are they confused? You betcha!

A Quick Visit to Dublin, Ireland

We made it to Dublin! After our GREAT stay with our cousins in Norway, we took a short flight on SAS from Oslo to Dublin. We stayed at Clontarf Castle hotel(where they served Guinness) on the North Side of the ciy. We walked all over our area. Everyone walks in Europe...did I mention that! We were near a park and the Bay of Dublin, so we did a lot of walking there, too. And we got one more item checked off the Bucket List: Golf in Ireland. We played 18 wonderful holes with some of the all time oldest rental clubs in our experience. Deer Park Golf

Course, in Howth, was where we had the pleasure of testing our skills against an Irish course. It was great fun, as was the Guinness in the Clubhouse after the round.

Dublin is a GREAT little city, with so much rich history. We almost didn't know where to start, but we began with public transportation into the City Center, and we walked and walked and walked. Except when we had lunch in Fitzgerald's Pub, with Guinness.

We felt so lucky to have seen Trinity College, The Book of Kells, Oscar Wilde's birthplace, the Bank of Ireland, the Temple Bar area, the River Liffy, O'Connell Street, Dublin Bay...just to name a few of the things we experienced. And we ate new foods, too: Black Pudding, White Pudding, Brown bread, lamb stew.

Did I mention: we drank Guinness?

It was an awesome trip. We want to go back.

The Seniors Do Norway

WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY IN NORWAY.

Driving through Oslo with my cousin Sue at the wheel, leaving the airport gratefully behind, we were at once struck by two facts: 1: Norwegians all drive small, fuel efficient cars. 2. All signs were in Norwegian.

We were impressed with the squeaky cleanliness of Norway, the length of the tunnels we drove through on the way North to our cousins' house, and the totally uncountable number of sailboats in every harbor on the way! Also impressive, and scary, are the innumberable 'turn-a-rounds in Oslo. Not a lot of traffic lights, just traffic circles. Our cousins had no trouble negotiating these at lightning speed. We were glad they were driving.

The rest of our afternoon was spent getting acquainted with our new surroundings and with our cousins. The views from the deck of our cousins' home were breathtaking. We were on a rocky hill, overlooking Oslo fjord. It was magnificent. After a great dinner of (what else?) Swedish meatballs (!), some wine and some GREAT conversation, it was time for the weary travellers to crash out. And we did.

Dawn on the deck of our cousin's house was amazing.

After a walk down to the beach, where my cousin Sue ACTUALLY WENT SWIMMING IN THE ICE COLD WATERS OF THE FJORD, we logged many wonderful, memorable experiences.

Here are just a few:

Walking in Norway: There is NO flat land. Up and down hills. Does wonders for the body tone. No wonder Norwegians are thin! Pick and eat wild lingonberries, blueberries, rose hips.

Sights to See: Kon Tiki Museum, Downtown Oslo, Gadeland Glassverk, Oslo Harbor.

Things to Do: Sail the Norway Fjord in the Cousins' Sailboat, fish the fjord. Watch Glass Blowing at Hadeland Glassverk.

Try New Foods: Whale Beef, Dried Cod, Norwegian chocolate (wow!); Norwegian Coffee (wow!)

Have a Rural Experience: Farm stands, barns, Norwegian corn on the cob

Watch the birds: Magpies everywhere! Variety of gulls. Wild swans.

Watch the people: bicycles and walkers everywhere!

That's all for today. We'll write more and post more pictures soon.

The Seniors Europeon Vacation 2009

DAY ONE: GETTING TO OSLO, NORWAY.





It was upon a lovely Tuesday that we were scheduled to leave our little farm village and fly to Oslo, Norway to visit our cousin and her family. Oh, the excitement! We were packed: one backpack apiece, one 'purse' apiece, and thin 'fannypacks' for our passports and cards. No checking luggage for US! We travel light and are very low maintenance.

And...the Benefiber tablets were in my backpack. We don't leave home without it.

A final check on the house, and we were out the door ... ridiculously early, but, after all, it's a long drive to O'Hare Airport. A drive made a bit longer when I discovered I had left my cell phone at home.


After backtracking and restarting...a 45 minute delay...we made our way to our big Chicago Airport with no further incidents.


Remote Parking just does not do justice to how far away from ANYTHING you have to leave your vehicle. We took copious notes, hoping we would be able to find the car when we returned; we slung on our backpacks (made heavier by all the M & M's we were carrying for my cousin...a treat apparently lacking in Norwegian stores) and trudged to the train that would take us to: The International Terminal!


With a few hours to spare, we verified that our flight was on the boards, and we zipped through Security with no problems. We found our Gate, found a seat, and ... waited. But we were happycampers...better early than late, we always say!


Promptly at 7:15 pm, after a really efficient boarding, our British Airways flight to Heathrow lifted off. Oh, my, what a great feeling! On our way. I didn't really even mind that I was in the middle seat on a very full flight with a skinny, nervous, sweating, fidgeting twenty-something in dirty jeans and bad breath sitting to my right. Almost didn't mind. Almost.


BA knows how to treat overseas passengers! Even in the 'cheap seats' we had movies, audio or whatever with individual screens and headsets. Pillows, blankets, socks ...all at no charge. Best of all...FREE WINE! And a dinner that was actually edible! We wondered: what was going on in Business Class, eh?


Through the night's 9 hour flight, after watching a movie, we managed to doze on and off (despite my fidgety,oderous seat companion), and we were delightfully surprised when the Cabin Crew brought us: BREAKFAST! Also quite edible! And, almost before we knew it, we had landed at Heathrow, Terminal 5.


There is no way to describe the sheer magnitude of Heathrow .... especially Terminal 5. In case you think you are missing a session of cardio, try walking from the plane to the gates in this terminal. This task was made a bit trickier by the fact that we had to land at an outlying terminal (God knows where!) and deplane on the old stairways that rolled up to the doors, then wait on the tarmac before taking a bus to Terminal 5.


By the time we found the 'common seating area' for BA, and found our flight on the Board, we were well acquainted with the Terminal. There is shopping EVERYWHERE, and this one terminal is, I believe, bigger than all of O'Hare. We had a Starbucks each (5 British pounds for two coffees...sheesh!) as we watched the Departure Board. You are not allowed to run to the Departure Gates until your Gate shows up on the Departure Board. Then, you have 30 minutes to hoof it or train it to your Gate. This makes for interesting flows of humanity through the Terminal.


Once again, after boarding, our BA flight took off on time, and we reached Oslo in 50 minutes flying time. By now, we were into Wednesday afternoon in Europe, and learning about jet lag, but we were too excited to care.


Landing in Oslo, we cleared Customs, and got our very first stamp on our new passports! And Cousin Sue was waiting for us, waving and smiling, as we left Customs.


Part 2: Oslo and Norway, coming soon.

The Cleanup Crew from Morris

KEEPING THE HIGHWAYS OF MORRIS CLEAN

Today, Thursday, heralded our newest adventure! Our Garden Club, Morris Area Garden Club (MAGC) has officially adopted a section of busy Highway 47 through IDOT. We volunteered, as a Club, to get out there 4x per year to keep our section beautiful.

Today was our first day! Our IDOT signs were up, and we had a proud moment eyeballing them. 'This section of road maintained by Morris Area Garden Club.' Our six intrepid volunteers, now decked out in full IDOT cleanup gear, met at Morris Municipal Airport, ready to take on roadside trash. It was 9:30 am. We were sure we would finish by 10:30. It's just a mile or two of rural highway, after all.

Three of us covered the North side of 47, and three the South. Before beginning, we folded down the orange "CAUTION: ROAD CREW" signs that IDOT places on the posts under our 'adoption' signs. These signs, as you know, direct drivers to slow down and be careful!

Hubby took the area right along the road. I took the next section down, where the drainage ditch runs through, and our conciencious MAGC past president took the area closest to the corn fields'

Bit by ugly bit, we speared detritus and placed it into the bags.

We all had worn heavy gloves, long sleeves and caps to protect us from any and every thing we could think of. Except the temperature. It kept getting warmer and warmer. We began to sweat, and being aware of the nasty, evil condition of some of the garbage we were spearing, we were unable to use our gloved hands to wipe off the perspiration. Wetter and wetter, hotter and hotter, we trudged on.

And hubby, being by the road, had dust that covered the sweat. We were an ugly bunch. An ugly, sweating, smelly bunch.

By 11:30 am, and only halfway done, we stopped to rest by a bridge. A general agreement was reached that we would come back one more time to finish the second half. We had filled at least 12 bags with trash, and the two members who walked the road shoulder proper were nearly shell-shocked from roaring semis blowing by them and the backdrafts almost knocking them off their feet. Those of us working the ditch were the smelliest. The muddy ditchwater was truly evil. Six pooped volunteers called it a day.

Here are some bullet points we would like to share:

Caution Signs: NOBODY EVERY SLOWS DOWN. EVER! EVEN SEMIS

Top 'Throw Aways': Plastic bottles, and metal Cans. Especially BEER CANS

Unusual Finds: One LARGE pillow
Two FULL beer bottles

Part of a CAMO jacket

A LARGE blown apart truck tire (okay, not unusual, but BIG!)

Various unidentifiable car parts (also, not unusual, but interesting)

We'll be back out there soon to finish our second half. After all, there must be a stray bag of money laying around the side of the road, right?

Tuesday Dinner

It was an ordinary Tuesday, so we decided to 'jazz it up' with a fun dinner. Dessert was homemade peach pie (not in photo). A dinner for two, with yummy leftovers!

Our Deck...More Visitors

Still Monday! After the 'Bat Incident', it was time to get out the vinegar and wash tables and windows. The day was perfect for cleaning up those water-spotted jalousies!

Windows done, I turned my attention to the little table in the corner by our grill. It sure needed some cleaning, too! And while I was at it, I decided to open the table umbrella.

Plop! Something popped off the table umbrella!

Slowly, a surprised katydid began its infinitel deliberate and graceful progress across the table, wondering how the heck it took such a drop in gravity off that umbrella! Within 10 minutes, it had moved about 2 feet to the railing of the deck. Silent as the grave this morning, I could not coax a 'katie-did' out of it. Perhaps, it was as resentful as the bat. I would not be surprised.

I am rather reluctant to open ANYTHING on the deck for the rest of the day.

Our Deck: Full of Surprises

Monday: a great day to tidy up our big, upper level deck. The weather was perfect this morning, and I couldn't wait to get going. I checked all the planters, pulled some weeds (how can you get weeds in planters that are 10' above the ground?), and began getting ready to cover our big grill (a bad chef left off the cover last night).

I picked up the grill cover, shook it out, and began easing it over the grill, when something BIG dropped out of the cover onto the deck.

A VERY confused bat was spread-eagled on the deck boards. Now, everyone who knows me knows how much I like all things natural, and you all know that I am really not afraid of 'critters' of any kind. Well...startled is startled. I screeched. Yup.

Hubby came out quickly. I said: "It's a BAT!" (Intelligent, right?)

We both looked at the bat, who was twitching in the sunlight. Then we took photos, being careful not to touch it. I was sure that it was okay, just confused and be-thumped.

We went back into our Great Room. I looked out about 10 minutes later, and the bat had flown off, recovered.

Recovered, but - I am sure of this - resentful! After all, if you were curled up inside a safe, cozy cover, sound asleep, and someone DUMPED you onto the ground, you would not be happy!

I hope the bat forgives me.

Peppers by the Peck

Last Sunday, we served up a side dish of sweet peppers stuffed with a polenta/cheese mixture and grilled outside. Yum!

In fact, that was such a success, that tonight, we experimented with our larger peppers, stuffing them with a mixture of organic ground beef, onion, garlic, herbs, homemade salsa and homemade tomato sauce. Topped with mozzarella. And...we grilled them outside, again. YUM! (they are served with their 'tops' on, but we took the tops off for the photo)

We have enough peppers to go on like this for a while.

Peppers rule!

Gentlemen: Cover Those Knees!

Last Friday, my husband was entered in the annual Father/Son tournament with our son in law. The tournament is sponsored by our SIL's church, and the two men have been playing this outing together for a few years now. Both enjoy the outing, and SIL's church always makes sure that everyone is well taken care of.

Hubby and I set off early in the morning to be sure to arrive in plenty of time. In fact, we were a little early. This turned out to be a very good thing.

Our SIL, despite all his wonderful qualities (and they are many!), occasionally forgets to communicate little details.

Like the fact that all participants in the Tournament were required to wear long pants this year.

And Hubby was in his favorite Golf shorts.

The extra time was used to get a suitable pair of long pants for hubby to wear.

The field was spared the sight of these potentially offensive knees.

And we found the situation very amusing!

The Boats That Sailed to The New World

Last Friday, my daughter and I took a tour that made history come home to us. We went to Michigan City, IN to see the exact replicas of the Nina and the Pinta: two of the boats that sailed to the New World under Columbus' command.

These replicas, built to the exact standards of the 1400's, and faithful to the original plans, were crafted with the tools and made from the woods that were used then. They are works of art.

But - they are SMALL! It is difficult to imagine, by today's standards, how 24 young men (average age was between 14 and 19) could exist on a boat that was less than 75' long, with no sanitation, sleeping on deck because the hold was full of provisions. What a tale!

To walk these replicas is to realize how utterly difficult that voyage must have been (again, by today's standards, which are all we really know and understand).

Here are some photos to share with you all.

JAVA JARS

After a talk with the owner of the LaSalle Street Coffee Company, I found out that keeping my coffee beans in the freezer or refrigerator was not the great idea I had always thought it to be. Sean encouraged me to put my coffee beans in a tight-lidded container on the counter at room temperature. Since all Sean does is coffee, I figured he knew his beans!

Being an amateur potter, I threw four Java Bean containers. I am now using one of my own home made containers, and I love it.

Raku Session

In Joliet, at our friend and mentor's studio (Talent Zone) we gathered for another Raku pottery session a couple of weeks ago.

All the pieces came out really good. As you can see from the photo, our setup is in the alley behind Juanda's gallery. We did our best to set the ivy on the gallery outside wall on fire, but were not successful. This is a good thing.

In the photo of finished pieces, you will see raku by Juanda, Rich, and Linda. A great time was had by all, and we look forward to the next session.