THE HONEYMOON

You've seen the wedding showers, the wedding...

now here's the honeymoon!
~~~

Wendy and Darin started out in South Beach, FL but spent

most of their time in Key West (a city & an island).

Key West is the Southernmost city in the

continental United States.

It's only a little over 100 miles from Cuba.

~~~

Isn't this beautiful?

Wendy and Darin during the day.

Key West is a very laid-back place.


In the evenings there were lots of good restaurants.

This photo speaks for the climate.

The rooster on the roof is an example of the casual style of the

island.

This is Wendy standing in front of Ernest Hemingway's house...

now a tourist attraction.

~~~

Tennessee Williams was also a resident of Key West.


There are lots of cute shops.

I love Key Lime Pie!!!

I adore the red and white of this shop. So inviting!!!

A typical sunset viewed across the water.

They followed up this week with a jaunt to

a ranch in Colorado where Kristin and other friends

joined them... including their 2 dogs.

~~~

Will share photos another day!

~~~

Make it a wonderful weekend!

Love you,

Joni

WHAT'S UP AT MY HOUSE?

Well... this afternoon I created a new look for my blog and

finally figured out how to make a header/banner.

I've been trying all different approaches and nothing was

exactly right. So... now I've got it mastered & I can

change the seasonal look of my site.I'm working on a scrapbook album for Emma, the little

flower girl at Wendy's wedding.

She keeps asking Wendy, "Where's my Princess book?"

A bit of pressure to get it completed!!

This is my work table in all it's messy glory!

This is Luke (middle), Ben, and Sam. The photo was taken at

The Maritime Museum.

They are my friend Chris's little boys.

Luke is coming to our house tomorrow to spend the day.

It's his mom's first day back at school and Luke wanted

to come spend the day with us.

Kids go back to school on September 2nd.
He and Boyd have a good time together playing cards...

and maybe seeing the new Star Wars movie tomorrow.
Wendy just emailed her honeymoon pictures to me & I'll
share some of them with you on my next post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bye for now!
Make it a great day!

Love you,

Joni

BACK TO GREEN LAKE

This is the hill that leads from the house to the lake.

Going down: EASY

Going up: STEEP, STEEP, STEEP!

However... there was this great hammock up on the patio

that was never used unless I hopped on.

And here I am with a lovely view... no, not my feet!

Comfy, quiet, peaceful and a great spot to read.

So, I took full advantage of this opportunity

and read some good books.

Gail Tsukiyama is my current author-of-choice.

I like her writing style, her story lines, and the

wonderful cultural and historical info. I gathered as I read.

Great characters!!

Women of the Silk covers 20 years in the life of Pei, a Chinese girl sent to work in a silk factory during the first decades of the 20th century. Her parents consign her to the factory for the wages she will send home. Initially terrified, Pei soon settles into the communal routine, and finds the 12-hour factory day made bearable by the kindness of supervisors and fellow workers. Along with her best friend, Lin, she decides at 16 to go through the hairdressing ceremony, in which girls pledge to dedicate their lives to silk work instead of marrying, and move into the peaceful milieu of the "sisters' house." Details of the process of spinning silk, the close bonds among the sisterhood, and contrasts between the tradition-steeped existence the young women enjoy and the upheaval attending the new communist regime create a compelling narrative. Tsukiyama's simple, elegant and fluid prose weaves a vivid picture of rural China.



Language of the Threads is a sequel. It continues the story of Pei's life
in China and onto Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation.

The Samurai's Garden is the story of a young male student

who is sent to Japan to recover from TB.

The story is about his relationships with several

characters... one being a female leper.

~~~

I just bought 2 more books by this author and I can't wait to begin them.

They are hard to put down... my kind of a book!

~~~

Love you,

Joni

I'M BAAAAAAAAACK!!

We have just returned from 3 weeks with Boyd's family

and it feels WONDERFUL to sleep in our own bed.(Below)This is my little scrapbook album corner of the lake house.

I bought a great small portable HP photo printer to take with us.

I love, love, love it!!

I printed photos each day and put them on a scrapbook page.

Therefore... I came home with a completed album

and don't have to spend time working on it now.


Here are some of the pages. There are many more!

The flag was a great marker on the mailbox so we

knew which driveway to turn in when we arrived.

That great cup of morning coffee!
Tastes even better at the lake!

Boyd's mom and sister in the lake.

His brother Dana... aka: King Neptune

Boyd with his creepy webbed swimming gloves.

Boyd's family.

Shopping was a regular part of the day. I loved this little

bookstore.

We put together lots of jigsaw puzzles. There was always someone

sitting on the sun porch working on the current puzzle.

My niece Annie. She is adorable and fun. I really

enjoyed my time with her.

Boyd's sister Mary is a great cook just like the rest of the

family. We ate some terrific dinners together... some at

restaurants and some at the house.

That's all for now... the Packer game is on and I need to support our

team even without Brett Farve.

~~~

I'm anxious to read your blogs and see what's new with everyone.

~~~

Love you,

Joni

SUMMER VACATION

Boyd and I are off to Green Lake, WI for 3 weeks.

Boyd's family used to live on Green Lake year round.

Now his parents rent a home there each summer so that we can all spend

some time together... his parents, Boyd and I, his brother Dana,

his sister Mary (& John) and their 2 kids Annie and Henry.

~~~

This is a picture of last summer's house.

This year's house is supposed to be "lovely" and huge.

OK... twist my arm... I'll go!

Green Lake is great for swimming, sunning, and lots of reading.

Great memories of this float!
Lot's of time is spent playing in the water.

Steps from the water to the house.

But the climb is worth it.

The town of Green Lake has wonderful shops and restaurants.

It's quaint and cute.

There's a big art fair while we're there.

This is the ice-cream shop that my diet won't allow this year...

well maybe once... a week?
~~~

And I've packed a bag of embroidery projects, a stack of books,

scrapbooking album and supplies and my NEW little

portable HP photo printer.

~~~

And my girls??

Never a wasted moment!


Wendy, Darin, and Kristin are headed to Breckenridge, Colorado

mid-August to spend some time in the mountains where

Wendy met Darin... and Kristin used to work.

They never lack for something to do or a place to go.


Wendy and Darin are on their honeymoon for a week.

They went to the Florida Keys to an island to do some scuba diving.

This is Wendy snorkeling... I don't have a diving pic yet.

So......... "GOOD-BYE!" until the end of August!

See you then...

Love, Joni