Brother-in-law sent this to me today.

Was a real surprise. Just over 46 years ago. :)

Hubby, me, my mom and dad. Was nice seeing my dad again. 

You all be safe and God bless. Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to us all. 

Since it's already August (Picture heavy)

I guess I should do a post.

Last month we went to Michigan to visit my Mother. She'll be 86 the end of this month. It rained the two days we were there; but we had a nice visit.

Then we went to the Shipshewana Flea Market in Indiana and spent a couple days there, too. Here are some pics from the flea market. I believe if you click on them, they will get bigger. It's hard to look and stuff and try to remember to take pictures.

A popular bulk sale grocery store had some interesting displays, also.

And with Shipshewana being an Amish area, traffic was always interesting.

On the way home, we took the Natchez-Trace Parkway for a good bit. One rest stop was this one.

It was a nice trip overall, really, because hubby was willing to take his time on the drive.
New shocks helped too. ;-)

You all be safe and God bless.

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Doesn't seem like 45 years. :)

Thank you, Mom!

So my Mom sent us some money for Christmas and we used it to take everyone to lunch.
We did not go to the Paragon Casino again. As much as I love their buffet, hubby does not like driving all the way to get there.
I did some thinking and we decided on Noodles and Grill Asian Cuisine. It's right in town and has something that everyone can eat.
They were really

Youngest son Patrick.

He has several health issues, among them being that we never know what is going to make him sick. It is a problem we have been chasing for several years now and is still ongoing. We know a lot about what it is not, but not what it is. Spice of any kind and most seasonings, too, are a definite no no; as are potatoes in any form. So he got the beef fried rice.

Fried rice is pretty much always safe for him. This place doesn't make theirs with soy sauce like a lot of places do, which is also a plus.

One thing we like about this restaurant? Bean sprouts. It may sound picky, but a lot of Asian restaurants around here don't serve bean sprouts. Even the Tao restaurant in Lafayette doesn't. But they do here and we like bean sprouts.

Middle son Robert.

He did two tours in Iraq and has PTSD. He likes things spicy, so he got the Penang Udon.

He said it wasn't as spicy as it looked; but was still very good.

Hubby ordered Wonton Egg Noodle Special.

I ordered the Pepper Steak. When it came out it didn't look like pepper steak, but I tried it anyway and it was really good, with just a bit of a bite to it.
When we got the receipt, it turns out it was Triple Meats with spicy Garlic Sauce.

All in all, a great lunch. THANK YOU, MOM!

God bless you all and Merry Christmas. ♥

Better late than never?

The end of last month, I went to visit my Mom in Michigan. She turned 85 last month and I hadn't seen her in a couple years, so I was overdue for a visit.
Most of the trip was a blur of drive, sleep, drive some more; but there were a few highlights -- of which seeing my Mom was the best!

We brought about 15 pounds of frozen smelt back with us. :) No we didn't catch it. I am not one for getting up at 2 in the morning any more, and they only run once a year in Michigan that I am aware of. I would have to be in Northern Michigan in the spring to dip them out of whatever stream they were running in. Did dip netting in Alaska when we were stationed there, that was enough for me.
Now what is so great about smelt? My dad used to fish for them. They are a little fish, averaging about 3 - 4 inches, I think, though there are bigger ones also. They look like this:

Picture from Wikipedia.

They are hard to clean, being so small. (The ones we bought in the store were already cleaned!) But when you are done you use a light breading and deep fry them and eat them bones and all! Yes. Good stuff. My dad used to fish all the time and I do like to eat fish. :)

I thought I took a lot of pictures, but the camera photos tell me that I did not.

Something that struck me as unusual was this:

I can honestly say I never saw anything like it growing up.

We also went to Shipshewana, Indiana. It is an Amish community that one of my brothers always shops at. They do have a lot of nice furniture there, but we weren't looking to buy that. We went for the flea market!
It is a really big flea market (roughly 40 acres). Unlike most flea markets that are open on the weekend, this one is open on Tuesday and Wednesday May through September 26th. They also have an indoor market from October through mid December on Fridays and Saturdays. You can find out all about it on their website.
I walked about two-thirds of it. Hubby had a cart and went through all of it. It has something for everyone. And we found one vendor outside one gate that was more like what we like to see in a flea market. :) (I think if you click on the pictures, they get bigger.) We got there just before opening hours at 8 AM, is why so many of the vendors weren't open yet.

And when I say something for everyone?

Yes. A Trump flag.

And we have one in our living room now. ;-)

We saw a lot of these on the road.

But there were a lot of bicycles, too.

We had dinner at The Blue Gate Restaurant and Bakery. (And yes, I forgot to take pictures.) It was a two level building with restrooms on the second floor. A lot of Amish were eating there and one older gentleman got on the elevator with my husband; but didn't know how to make the elevator work.

Another highlight besides the flea market was Yoder's Meat and Cheese. They put out plenty of test cups to try the different cheeses. We ended up buying a couple types of Swiss, Butter cheese and Colby cheese. I also grabbed a package of Bacon Cheddar Brats. I should have known with that name that they would be really good; but I didn't and only bought one package. They are really good. None of that burning or reflux associated with so many commercial brats. I wish I had bought more. They also have grass fed and grain fed meats. Definitely worth a stop if you are ever in the area. Check out their website to learn more.

There is more to tell about our trip -- well, a little, anyway; but I think I have shared enough for now.
You all be safe and God bless.

Time to do a post, I think, if blogger will let me.

So the end of September we drove to Florida with our little RV to see a great-nephew Baptized. I think he was a great-nephew? I have always had trouble understanding these. Anyway, it was his nephew's son.

We were able to sit through part of the service - which was Catholic. I have only been to Baptist churches before, so the differences were really quite interesting.

It was a very pretty church, with a lovely stained glass window.

The ceremony was one I had not seen before.

Liam wasn't feeling well, so a blessing was said to make him feel better soon.

There was a lot of family there I had never met before.

I don't remember exactly what this part was, but it had something to do with family members taking responsibility for religious teaching.

And then it was over. A very nice ceremony.

There was a first birthday party afterwards, but the only picture I took, apparently, was of the roast pig --which was very good.

We also went fishing while we were there, but I will share that later.

Be safe and God bless.

So I haven't been posting much.

Now that we are retired, it is hard to share stuff. Partly because we are mostly private people. Partly because what makes us... happy, is just the usual daily stuff that I don't feel a need to share. But I will try to make a post anyway.

The end of June we went to Michigan to visit my mother. She will be 84 next month. Her knee was bothering her, so we just visited. We did take her a perch dinner from a favorite seafood restaurant. Whitlow's Forerunner Restaurant.

I should add that this is not my picture. I forgot to take one. This is from their Faceless Book page.

We thought about trying to do some fishing, but they have some sort of vehicle license you have to purchase now to fish certain places, and the fish weren't biting in the Muskegon channel. It was pretty windy, so we just chalked that part of the trip up to not this time.

We stopped in to see one of my 5 brothers and his wife, too. Was nice to visit with them.

As we were leaving Michigan, we stopped for brunch at an interesting little restaurant.

Log House Restaurant. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't a real log building; but the food was fantastic! Hubby had breakfast and I had lunch and it was all great. I can't recommend it enough. If you are ever in Argos, Indiana, stop in for a meal. You won't regret it.

The only other part of the trip I took pictures of, was our stop at the Grissom AFB (or whatever they are calling it now) Air Museum. I will probably do that in another post as it is very picture intensive.
I will share one picture though.

Be safe and God bless America.