I borrowed their engagement announcement to use here. The picture on the left was taken last summer when they were in Paris. Paul took the picture on the right when they came for dinner last Sunday.
It is wonderful to see one's child so happy. We love Josh dearly and look forward to calling him our son-in-law. They are hoping for a wedding date in Fall 2013.
I'll keep you posted!!!!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
I have started a project I am calling a
I am reposting all of my Mom's recipes to a new site. I shared in my last post that the old one no longer exists.
Just going through the recipes is a great experience. I can hear her laugh and smell the great aromas that came out of her kitchen as I work.
I have been absent from this page since our travels ended in May.
We've been occupied. Work, knitting, watering plants, the usual exciting stuff.
We haven't travelled because Bauxite Betsy has been at the dealership since the end of May, having warranty work done. The anticipation of her return has been an exercise in patience.
We hosted our dinner group last Saturday and had a great evening. We served a southern menu. We love those evenings with these dear friends.
I am faced with the job of converting the files I had published online of Grandma McDougall's recipes and my own personal collection. Access one of those sites and you will find this greeting;
In Apple's shift to iCloud, the capability to publish those collections on personal websites through MacGourmet disappeared. I had hoped there would have been an alternative provided, but it does not appear that will happen anytime soon. My first concern is Mom's recipes. I'll get them back online for the family, it will just take some time. I am presently in the beginning stages of a new site.
I have had good intentions of completing the last posting of our trip home.
As Willie says:
Onward.
Doing this helps us remember our
It was a long one!
We moved from Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park to Meramec State Park for our last stay in Missouri.
This destination was determined by our obligation to judge BBQ in Washington, about 30 minutes north from where we stayed.
We had a nice spot in the river bottom campground.
We hiked in the park
enjoyed the spring flowers,
and checked out a few of the local caves.
We poked around the nearby wine country
and tasted a few to decide what we "needed" to bring home.
We toured Daniel Boone's Missouri home,
where he lived during the last years of his life.
They told us after this picture we weren't supposed to take pictures of the interior. Oops.
Washington, Missouri, where we judged BBQ, is the "Corn Cob Pipe Capital of the World. So, of course, we had to visit the Meerschaum Corn Cob Pipe Factory. The factory has operated in the same building since the 1880's. How many chances does one get to view pipe art?
We spent a fantastic day at Washington's Main Street BBQ & Bluesfest. We heard some good music
and although we couldn't visit with the cooking teams,
we met some great people and tasted some fantastic BBQ.
We made one last overnight stop in Iowa and enjoyed one last sunset view from Bauxite Betsy.
It's good to be home. I can't tell you how good it was to see our kids.
We left Florida Thursday, April 12 and stopped just for the night near Jasper, Alabama
to stay at Sleepy Holler RV "Resort". We spent a quiet evening indoors. You can see by the picture we were anxious to leave.
Our next stop was Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where we spent the weekend.
The threat of bad weather hampered our exploration, but we did manage to spend a great afternoon at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, which contains over 21,000 acres of wetlands and habitat for migrating and wintering water fowl.
It was spring in the Ozark Mountains. Although we missed the blossoms on the dogwoods, we still enjoyed other spring flowers. I am still trying to identify this beauty. They were plentiful.
Mingo has a series of canals to control the water levels within the refuge.
There was an awesome boardwalk through a cypress swamp.
We saw quite a few of these guys from the boardwalk. He was over two feet long.
There is an 18 mile drive through the refuge. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.
It was difficult to comprehend the vastness of the acreage.
If we're ever in the area, we'll return for another visit.
From Poplar Bluff, located on the very southern edge of the Missouri Ozark range, we moved north to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park.
The park receives its odd name because the east fork of the Black River, which runs through the park, is confined in areas to narrow channels or "shut-ins"
forming a natural water park visited by thousands of people in the summer months.
In December, 2005, there was a breach in the dam above the park, causing a catastrophic flood which wiped out the park's campground and many if its facilities. You can see the rebuilt dam here as well as some of the scoured area below.
Huge boulders and tons of debris were carried down the valley in seconds. Amazingly, no one was lost in the disaster.
It took several years, but with a good settlement from the electrical company, a state of the art park and campground now replaces the one that was ruined. This is the nicest state park campground we have ever seen. See the big cement patio? Even the "primitive" campsites have them!
There are beautiful details throughout the park's facilities.
We spent some time on the Ozark Trail, which runs through the area.
It's hard to beat a spring day spent hiking in the woods seeing hundreds of butterflies,
Ozark Swallowtail
spring wildflowers
Phlox
Wild Geranium
Spiderwort
and beautiful overviews.
We went to nearby Taum Sauk Mountain
and set our feet on the highest elevation in the state of Missouri.
Each evening we returned to Bauxite Betsy
enjoyed our evening meal
and sat outside by our own private "babbling" brook.
