Minoqua

 Saturday, September 5, 2020

We had our breakfast outdoors at Denny's on Hwy 100. On the road on a cloudless sky reaching 70 degrees.

2:00 p.m. Back on the road after stopping for lunch at Sara Park in Tomahawk.  We had a picnic table right by a lake with nice facilities.  It was quite breezy off the lake, which we can expect for the next few days.

Our cabin is cozy, but confusing to find, since we shared a driveway.  We unloaded, put things in place and sat on the pier. There was a lot of activity on the lake. We did major shopping at Walmart that should hold us pretty well through the week.  I had beef barley soup that I made at home thawing and it hit the spot with Texas garlic toast.  There were no hot pads, which was really strange. I played with the TV to get it working. We have to work the Roku channel.

Sunday, September 6, 2020

We went to the 10:00 a.m. mass at Holy Family. 

The parking lot was pretty full, and I was reluctant to go inside the church.  It was huge. All the ushers had pale yellow sports shirts and directed people to their pews; we sat in the last pew to the side. 

Two musicians provided the entrance hymn; there was no sung Gloria.  There was one Eucharistic minister besides the priest. The ushers directed rows to proceed to Communion with proper distancing as we processed. The ushers also directed people by rows at dismissal.  I was very impressed with the organization.

After church we picked up V8 and dish cloths and hot pads at Walmart and a newspaper at Walgreen's. We drove north to Boulder Junction and on the way back we turned into a road that said Trout Lake.  Many bikers and a few hikers were on the road hugging the lake.  We found a little turn-off where we parked near a park bench and took in the view. Reading the paper was a lost cause, because we were fighting a stiff breeze.  

I tried getting the TV to work, but to no avail. It's going to be a long week if we don't get it working. I put a couple of fish lines in the water; that was a waste of time. Worked on the TV again while the pizza was in the oven and almost ruined it if Peter didn't come to the rescue, but it was still edible. I think the oven is hotter than the setting.

Labor Day, 2020

It was a beautiful day, sunny and mild. We took a walk on our road and noticed some whimsical creations using logs and other findings. 

Peter went to the second house from ours and asked Lois if she could tell us what we were doing wrong with the TV. We really weren't doing anything wrong, but we had to make the right selections with Roku. The large remote was really useless. We sat on the pier until it got chilly.

 I made chicken breast with red potatoes, corn from the cob and a salad.  We played Dominoes, but not the entire numbers; I am winning

Tuesday,  September 8, 2020

Overcast and cool, we won't see any sunshine today. I made portabella mushrooms filled with spinach,  cherry tomatoes and eggs for breakfast.  I had an Osher Zoom at 10:a.m. on Maverick Writers. We drove into town checking out beer gardens, the Wisconsin Cheese Board, where I bought cheddar, Swiss, a spread and a small jar of jam, mailed a Birthday card to Maureen and filled the car with gas. We bought a loaf of bread before heading for home.

Wednesday, September 9

Cold and raw. Peter walked around the cabin, but not for long, reporting that it was a very bad day. I zoomed Mavericks in Cream City, read some of Aloft, and started Michael Cohen's book. I did not leave the house at all. We played dominoes in the evening. 

Thursday,  September 10

What a difference a day makes. The sun was making an effort and we took advantage of it; we were not disappointed.  We headed north, stopping at Mercer to take a picture of a giant loon, as Mercer is the loon capital of the world. 

We also picked up a couple of sandwiches and water. I never thought we'd be able to have a picnic, so we left everything in the cabin. We passed Hurley and landed at Saxton, where Peter had some acquaintances. We then went to Saxton Harbor right on Lake Superior.  We found a picnic bench right next to the water. It was perfect, hardly a breeze and a very calm lake. 

On the return, Peter stopped at a bar to inquire about the people he would like to visit. With such a small population he was able to get his information. There was no response at the first house, but we were in luck with the second. We were greeted warmly and talked a lot about the man's family and his involvement in community projects.

On our return, we drove through St. Germain and Eagle River, hitting some construction that slowed us down. We had leftover chicken salad and ham sandwiches for supper. The sunset was obscured by trees, but we sat on the pier for awhile before starting to pack for our departure tomorrow. 

 Friday, September 11, 2020

8:54 a.m. Leaving Loon's Nest. We were up at 6:30 a.m., had Cheerios, hard cooked eggs, bananas and coffee for breakfast.  We got the cabin spic and span and are leaving on a beautiful sunny day, 47 degrees and rising.

12:38 p.m. We are on our way after having lunch at a rest stop on Hwy 51. It was cool, but tolerable. 

Overcast skies and intermittent mist followed us home. We stopped at Pick 'n' Save for my stock up of groceries and fried fish, potato salad and cole slaw for our at-home dinner. We relaxed with cheese, crackers and beer/wine, then warmed up the food. We really avoided human contact this whole week.  As a whole, it was an enjoyable outing, and we took advantage of every opportunity 

Now to put things away.

A Very Sad Day

 August 24, 2020

At 1:15 pm I got a phone call with the caller ID Nathaniel L. Shorty from Flagstaff AZ.  I ignored the call; another spam.  I retrieved my calls, which I neglected to do for a long time and the last call was from Eric.  We exchanged short pleasantries, but I'm sure he would not call to find out how I am.  He was calling about his dad.  Don has stage four pancreatic cancer.  He and Masako are with Rachel and Troy.  Apparently they abandoned everything in Japan.  He got the diagnosis in Japan, then came to Wisconsin on Tuesday.  He will be getting treatments, but with the cancer spreading to his liver and lungs, the prognosis is not good.  He has maybe a year to live depending on how he responds to the treatments.  I am just heartsick.  I felt bad that he wouldn't be coming to the states this year because of the pandemic, but here he his, under the most terrible circumstances.

End of June

 Where did June go?  It seems I did nothing noteworthy; I feel so useless.  Reading, knitting watching TV mostly occupy my time.  Osher has filled some of my time, also Jean Martyn that I find very enjoyable.

I ordered groceries from Pick 'n' Save this time; they were out of Cheerios!  There must have been a special sale.  I ordered chicken breasts and got a huge family pack.  One breast was more than enough for one person.  I halved each and planned my Friday dinner for Peter and me using one chicken breast using a recipe I discovered on Facebook. The only place that I was able to find a jar of roasted red peppers was at Fresh Thyme, which I picked up after my hair; they also had Boursin garlic and herb cheese.  It's a very nice specialty store; it does not have as many items like cereal as big food chains. I put some spinach, a few strips of baked red peppers and garlic and herb cream cheese on each breast, then wrapped a bacon strip around, securing it with tooth picks.  I made salad and used the cauliflower from last week that I roasted with garlic and a bit or red pepper flakes.  Peter came while it was raining pretty hard, so he parked in the garage.  The meal was delicious; I don't know when I enjoyed cauliflower more; I wish that I had more.  We watched some prerecorded programs in the evening.

I made a fritata with spinach, garlic and peppers topped with guriere cheese, blueberries and yogurt for breakfast.  After breakfast we went to Home Depot for mulch for me, some plants for Peter.  Since we were in the neighborhood we paid a visit to Rudy.  He made coffee and we talked and he told me countless times how good I looked.  I'm glad I never bought one of those single serving coffee makers.  What an abuse of plastic, and each serving is barely a cup. 

Peter unloaded my three bags of red mulch and was on his way.

I went to 4:00 pm mass that was sparsely attended.  I had a delicious chicken breast sandwich and salad for my supper. 

Sunday, June 28th

After breakfast of a leftover fritata, I spread two bags of mulch on the garden and did a thorough watering.  Mostly relaxed the remainder of the day.

Blood Donation

 June 23, 2020

The last session of Spirituality and Justice was much better than the previous ones; I almost was not going to attend as were a lot of people, only nine in attendance.  Laurie asked Jackie about her personal involvement and that sparked a lot of Jackie's background as an activist.

The Blood Center sent an appeal for a desperate need of blood, so I thought I'd give it a try after almost two years of low iron counts.  I've been taking an iron supplement for quite a while and it really paid off.  My iron was way above the required count; the required level is 12.5, mine was 15.5!  Blood pressure was also good.  The only problem was that my right arm, which I generally use, was not cooperating, so I had to get stuck again for my left arm.  Everything went well.  I rested for the rest of the day.

Summer 2020

Friday, June 19th

After viewing an informative nutrition Osher program, I decided to make a completely meatless meal for our Friday dinner.  I never heard of Farro, so this was going to be an adventure.  I cooked the Farro, which looked like barley but a little larger.  It took about 30 minutes to cook.  I prepared cauliflower, red onion, red pepper, zucchini, and summer squash and grilled them in a vegetable basket.  I made the sauce that really finished the dish and gave it life.  I toasted some garlic french bread to complete the meal .Peter and I really enjoyed it. For dessert, Peter suggested a trip to Leon's.  There weren't crowds of people, but with the spacing it took longer to be served.  It was worth the wait.

Phone story: Peter's phone was not taking a charge, after numerous attempts.  He was so disgusted that he asked Terry to order a new phone for him.  She gave him a link and he ordered one.  In the meantime, Terry wanted to check the phone out herself.  She worked on it, put settings in order and it took a full charge.  She also told Peter not to activate the new phone, because this one still had life.  When he came over, I gave him the box with the new and old phones.  The old phone was dead again, most likely because it had been sitting idle for a few days with the power on.  But I started charging it and it started charging up to 1%.  Peter thought he'd continue charging it at his house.  And he left.

Saturday, June 21st

Peter was totally frustrated.  His old phone still didn't take a charge.  As a last resort, he activated his new phone.  He wasn't getting that one to work either, and somehow the old phone started charging to 100%.  He came over with both phones to see if I could help.  I called Track Phone technical support and eventually got his service in order.  With my difficulty hearing and Maria's accent it was amazing that I understood those directions.

We needed a break and headed out to Mariachi's for steak fajita and Margaritas.  This would be our first venture to a restaurant since the pandemic. The staff were wearing masks and tables were separated.  We were very satisfied sharing the fajita with 6 tortillas.  

We stopped off at ECU's ATM to get some money, then drove to Warnimont Park and sat near the edge of a grassy area looking out at the beautiful lake.  We stayed until the black flies started to bite.  We took a detour to avoid the Black Lives Matter march that was going down one of the South Milwaukee streets.

Sunday, June 21st

I went to 10:30 mass, which was sparsely attended maybe 30 people.  In Romans 5:12-15, though sin is not accounted when there is no law, I compared it to there is no COVID-19 when there is no testing. 

Purple Heart is coming for a pick-up tomorrow, so I had to get my discards together.  I looked at the drawers with all my craft supplies that I haven't touched for over ten years, and don't anticipate any crafting urge in the near future.  Instead of separating the items, and there was plenty, I left them all in the drawers and donated it as is.  I managed to get both drawer sets upstairs, regretting that I didn't invite Peter to help me.  Then I looked at the sewing machine that I touched maybe once since 2001.  I sorted things out and then thought Peter could come over and we'd carry it upstairs to donate that also.  After calling him and trying to lift one end of the machine, I didn't think I'd be able to be much help.  He thought Purple Heart might be able to take it upstairs.  Peter brought his old phone with over 1500 photos that he wanted transferred to his computer.  I was able to do that.  It took some searching to find the phone file, then the pictures.  But he's happy to be able to see them on his computer. 

We headed out to the Rock, sitting high up overlooking the landscape on a beautiful breezy afternoon.  Peter went back for our steins to pour our beers into.  We ended up at Point After on 76th and Rawson for a Reuben sandwich that we split and beers.  Somehow the computer registered two Reubens, but we paid for just one and we each had a take-home.  That was pretty filling.

Thus ended a lovely first day of summer weekend.

 

Breakfast Visitors

June 4, 2020

The day was so lovely to have my breakfast on my patio.  But it is getting very difficult to balance my tray and keep Hello Dolly indoors at the same time.  She is determined to run out the door.  As I'm having by breakfast, what should stroll by on my lawn but two sandhill cranes.  Fortunately, I had my phone with me.  I gasped, slowly raised my phone and took a picture.  What a thrill!

 

Gift Plant

 June 2, 2020

I attended the first of three sessions on Spirituality of Peace on Zoom. We discussed Little Fires Everywhere in Book Club via Zoom.  Then I picked up my groceries at Festival Foods at 3:00 pm.  I was almost finished putting them away when Peter came over with a hardy Mandavilla.  I couldn't let him stand outside in the heat, so I invited him in, first time we got together since the March 15th Founders Day Dinner; except when he dropped over to check on my landscaping. 

He really misses our togetherness.  We visited for a while and he thought not getting together was my excuse.  I think he almost fainted when I told him to stay longer.

I think hummingbirds should like this.