a refreshing weekend at kamp kipa

Jari and I have only attended one Couple's Camp. Ever.
To be honest, I'm not sure I would have gone this year either, but we were slated to do a presentation.
Actually, we were scheduled to do one last year and the camp was cancelled. So, this year we were up.

I am so glad we went. We got to know people we otherwise probably wouldn't have. We were refreshed and strengthened in our mutual faith. The weather couldn't have been any nicer ... there is nothing quite like the crisp morning air. Nothing.

There were a number of day campers on Saturday and this small crowd left for Sunday.

You can almost feel the dryness of the woods. No rain and none expected. The brown is everywhere and it is tinder box dry conditions. Hopefully, the fire danger stays at the level it is and the forests aren't completely closed. It is going to be a very quiet camping season this summer unless something changes very soon.

The ride home took twice as long as it should have due to a brush fire off of I-17. It made a good excuse to stop for dinner on the way home ... better than sitting in traffic needing a bathroom in the worst way! This might just be the look of summer this year.

Now we are on to a busy week. Busy work weeks for both of us. A week with a number of graduation parties .. 'tis the season for that. And ... one just never knows what other kind of excitement might fill our days and evenings.

Have a great week!

food prepping

For the most part, there are two of us who live here and eat. Once in a while, there will be an adult child at the table. However, I still sometimes tend to cook like I'm feeding the Finnish army. Usually it probably tastes better tho. That is when I cook. Somedays after a long day at work, I could care less if I eat a piece of peanut butter bread. In reality, I'm a bring leftovers to work kind of gal. Several years ago I made a goal to not buy lunch in the cafeteria at work and typically I manage that pretty well.

Crafting season is here and if I could get my buns in gear and get busy ... I'd rather be crafting than cooking. So ... I bought a package of these little pans the other day, came home and filled them. They are labeled and in the freezer! Lasagne is good to go. I just need to pop it into the oven, whip up a salad and dinner is ready! Now if I could just figure out how to heat it up without cranking up the heat in the kitchen .. I'd be tickled pink.

I've also had a hankering for some peanut butter cookies. I don't know why I did this, but I doubled the batch. Not a good idea. I don't make cookies anymore. Haven't made any since Christmas. These might be hanging around until then ... just like my prune tarts are still hanging around from December. Argh! All I really needed was a few spoonfuls of cookie dough and my craving would have been satisfied. Go figure.

Have a fantabulous day! Fill it with a little sugar and chocolate hey?

peaches ... already?!

It feels like we just finished with pounds and pounds of peaches, but the canned peaches are long gone. The freezer has been empty of frozen peach slices for a while and it was Peach Festival Weekend at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek.

I really wanted to go Friday morning as it was the only morning free. Jari looked at me like I had lost my mind. We've gone before and it's not exactly peach picking in 70 degree breezy weather. Tia agreed to go with me. My intent was just to purchase boxes of picked peaches. Good thing we didn't ... they were sold out of picked peaches before we got back from our short trip to the orchard!

We took our boxes and off we went to pick. It didn't take long and the boxes were filled.

Just because I'm a numbers kind of person .... I had to figure this out. I paid more to drive over an hour away and pick these peaches than I do for Colorado peaches that are delivered to me ... if I purchase a 38 pound box. Mind you ... the price of the Colorado peaches also includes travel for the peaches and fundraising benefit for the congregation delivering them. At least these will tide me over until the others are due to be picked!

We came home to play several games of Settlers so I could gracefully lose them both ....

and bury myself under a blanket for a minute or two before starting peachy business.

Have to be honest here. Fred (in town for golfing weekend) and Frans (with kidlets) came over Saturday evening and I whipped up a fresh as you can be peach cobbler. Frans said it was the best cobbler he had ever had .... right up there with some camping cooked in the dutch oven prepared by a Johnson (if you know they're cooking skills .. you'll understand) cobbler he had years ago.

Sigh. I will show up in Queen Creek earlier in the day next year and be almost first in line.

Happy Mother's Day

So many blessings to be thankful for on this Mother's Day.

The beautiful woman who is my mother

and the children who call me theirs.

Happy Mother's Day

cinco de mayo

friends (urban dictionary of all places)

people who are aware of how ridiculous (I took license and replaced the original word) you are and still manage to be seen in public with you. people who make you laugh till you pee your pants. people who cry for you when one of your special items disappear. when you don't have enough money to get a ice cream, they chip in. knows all of your internet passwords. who would never make you cry just to be mean. She doesn't have my internet passwords either but even if she did .... she wouldn't have time to do anything with them. She's a busy momma.

I do not celebrate Cinco de Mayo. I don't even eat at restaurants that serve Mexican food by choice. I'll go if we are meeting someone and that is their choice, but me? Not really. Bring on the seafood. So ... we celebrated by visiting with friends who were in town for a quick weekend. Friends who we see all too infrequently and who became dear to our hearts while we lived we shared time living in Alaska together. 

This little guy, and his big brother, spent the afternoon with us. He celebrated in his usual fashion. 100 miles an hour ... one thing after another. He is one busy, busy boy.

He also peels his own apples.

One little nibble at a time.

And empties my kitchen drawers (the ones he can reach but not see into) as fast as he can. 
That 100 mph thing again.
He's got that covered.

May Day

May Day:

May 1, celebrated in many countries as a traditional springtime festival or as an international day honoring workers.

The other kind of May Day derives from the French "m'aidez", pronounced "mayDAY," and means literally "help me."

We had our first experiences with Uber recently. My first solo experience was on May Day of all days! A whole lot cheaper than renting a car to get to and from work when sharing a car was impossible on some days. All cars are now out of shops and back where they belong ... keys in the hands they should be in.

My driver was most responsible and a very good driver. I can't recall when I've ever been in a vehicle that doesn't go one mile over the speed limit. Not even in the HOV lane. He couldn't find the address I had requested he pick me up at but I walked to meet him. He was a kindly young man and it worked out well.

Do have to say that I texted hubby enroute (because we share the app) to ask him if he could track my progress. He got a little nervous until I assured him it was sort of like googling a question ... just curious.

I'm baffled that people will pay this kind of money to drive across town to see a movie. Will hire Uber to move them 10 houses down the street because they're too drunk to walk. On the other hand ... hats off to the drivers who will drive the drunks home and keep them off the roads. Serious hats off to them!

Now that it's a week later .... should have taken the May Day driver to deliver May Day baskets!

Happy May!

celebrating 90

We traveled to Minnesota ... the land of not only lakes but so many people we cherish ... to celebrate Pappa's 90th birthday. It was a very short weekend with many events going on. I wish we were able to just beam from one place to another and attend them all. 'Tis not the case, so we stuck with our original plan. Celebrate with these dear ones.

Happy 90th Birthday Pappa!

Heikki & Jean are dear friends from Arizona and they traveled as well. Pappa has been losing his eyesight for a while. In pure Heikki fashion, along with a priceless presentation of the days Pekka has lived, he made a card that was big enough for Pappa to read.

My own parents, who had a bus weekend of travel to celebrations around the state, came to celebrate this milestone with us!

Pekka and Laina along with their five children.

My mom relating a story that everyone in stitches. She says that when dad said "I do" he probably didn't know he was saying: I will do the dishes, I will do the grocery shopping, I will do the cooking, I will do the cleaning ....
That is the way their life is today ... and he so lovingly serves her.

Friends for so very long. I'm thinking their hearts can speak to each other without words.

We left the birthday party in time to Facetime into a baptism on the road. This is where the digital age has led us. We now have the ability to attend functions and celebrations when we aren't remotely close to them. Anna & Wylon's baby, the Princess Paisley, was being baptized in Williston, ND. What a blessing to be able to attend!

One more stop and it was home again on Monday morning. Back to the work week, sweatshirts and jackets tucked away somewhere until a few weeks from now we will be able to wear them again for a weekend.