The wedding, and other Colorado fun. . .

I do not know where the time has gone.  Our short trip to Breckenridge, Colorado for my younger son's wedding was fun for all of us.  I don't have many pictures yet, but managed to get my hands on these.  It really was a lovely ceremony and reception.

The two dogs are Corey and Ian's babies- she's holding Gizmo, and Ian has Hopper.  They really were very cute in their little tuxes!  Corey was a lovely bride, we are happy to have her in our family.

And while in Colorado, we did some exploring.  Breckenridge has a neat downtown area that we walked several times.  We found interesting hats. . 

and unmistakable evidence that we we're NOT in Utah. . . 

Our last morning there, we went on a tour of a local distillery.  They had a cool looking, Willy Wonka piece of equipment--

and I learned all kinds of interesting tidbits about distilling whiskey.  I got a good laugh from a sign they had posted. . .

.

 We got some whiskey barbecue sauce, whiskey chocolate sauce, and numerous other bottles of goodies.

Right after we got back, it was time to celebrate the groom's older brother's birthday.  I had fun making these chocolate stout cupcakes with maple brown butter frosting and maple glazed bacon.  They were YUMMY!

Believe it or not, I have been doing some quilting- I've started quilting on the tee quilt, and Michelle's pink quilt is ready to sandwich.  But I don't have a single picture of any fiber stuff!

So that's what I've been up to.  On top of all that, I started a part time job a week ago.  It's with a hospice provider, and I think I will really like it.  I hope it turns into something I can keep doing after I retire from my full time job in a couple of years.

I've been absent

with good cause, dealing with needs of my family and child.  I haven't done anything worth blogging about, and haven't had the emotional energy anyway.  Hopefully we have turned a corner on that one--

Chicago

After a week in Florida, I flew to Chicago to spend a week with my younger son Ian and his fiance Corey.  On the last day of my week with them, we took the train downtown and spent the day walking Chicago.  I lived outside of Chicago (not far from where Ian is living now) in the late 70's and early 80's, but I haven't been back in years.  Maybe 1990?  I can't remember.

Obviously, a lot has changed since I was there.  We decided we were going to visit the Shedd Aquarium, and walked there from the train station.  At times, I felt like I was walking through an urban slot canyon!

We walked over the river more than once on our journey through the city.

I'm sure I embarrassed Ian multiple times looking like a tourist with my camera!

I loved the view of the city from the aquarium.  I could never live in this huge city, but the waterfront there is beautiful.

A nice gentleman offered to take a picture of all three of us at Buckingham Fountain.

Just across Lake Shore Drive from this park, we stumbled into an urban garden.  I found it fascinating.

And, I loved stumbling onto urban art as we walked around.  At first I thought this was the plaza in the last scenes of the Blues Brothers, but Ian informed me otherwise.  The building is a post office, not the Chicago city offices.  Oh well, I like the sculpture anyway!!

My favorite urban sculpture, however, was the Bean.

The 'views' of the city in the Bean were fascinating.  I now have quite a collection of city pictures, which I'm sure will provide plenty of inspiration for future quilts.

We were exhausted after walking the city the entire day.  It was nice to be able to sit back on the train, and let someone else worry about driving back to the suburbs!

St. Augustine

I'd told my son I wanted to go there this trip, since they probably won't be living in Florida that much longer.  He's done with school in March 2014, and he's anticipating relocating for a new job when he's done. 

So we left for St. Augustine on Sunday.  I have now traveled almost the entire length of Florida, and I can say it is all pretty much the same- lots of trees, lots of green.  If I didn't have signs, I doubt I could tell the difference between Daytona Beach or Naples.

St. Augustine is an interesting mix of history and tourist schlock.  We got a hotel within walking distance of everything we wanted to see- the old town and the castillo. We walked the old town streets, browsing in some of the more interesting shops.  I was disappointed that a fiber/cloth store I found was closed on both Sunday and Monday.

I loved the sense of history that was evident throughout the old part of town.  The European roots of this city were clear, from some of the cobbled streets to the Place de la Constitucion, the oldest public square in North America.

But the best part was the Castilo de San Marco.  We walked the outside on the first day, but waited until Monday to pay to go inside so we wouldn't be rushed.  It was worth the wait.

This was inside the castilo, in the soldier's bunk area.  This is a bed for four- two up, two down.  They weren't much bigger than a twin bed.

 The park rangers give talks throughout the day.  I got to see their costumes- they are wool.  I can't imagine wearing that in Florida in July.  The one I spoke with said the one concession to the weather was forgoing the big overcoat everyone would have worn in the seventeenth century.

The view of the city from the top part of the castilo was stunning.

 I'll end this with a picture of my beautiful Michelle, taken on the castilo grounds.

Add in a little bit of shopping, good food- it was a wonderful two days.

It's All About the Food

Because that's pretty much all I did this weekend, play in the kitchen!  We had our family party with DH's sisters and their families today.  We supplied scalloped potatoes and salad, one sister supplied a ham.  Another brought pies- and I had to make cupcakes!!

And, just for the heck of it, I also made cookies and bread, although it wasn't out for consumption at the party.

The bread is a Christmas stollen I make every year.  It's a yummy sweet yeast bread full of almonds, dried cherries, apicots, and blueberries.  Not the traditional fruit, but it's what I like.  I got an early Christmas present of an electric cookie press, so I had to try it out making lemon butter cookies.

I ended up making three kinds of cupcakes.  Gingerbread, because Jaden specifically requested them (and he doesn't request my food very often!).  I also made tiramisu cupcakes, and lemon blackberry cupcakes.  The last ones were the biggest hit.

They all tasted fantastic, but I definitely need practice with the decorating tips.  Fortunately drizzled blackberry puree and cocoa powder can cover a multitude of sins.

We did an inexpensive gift exchange- I ended up with kitchen towels and a fabric bread bowl.  Seems fitting, somehow, doesn't it?

We drank, ate,  played games and just enjoyed the time together.  A lovely way to end the weekend!

Good Eats- In Person!!

Although I don't blog about it often, I think I would qualify as a bonafide foodie.  I love to cook, and raised three children who also love to cook.  Food TV didn't exist when I was growing up, but Shannon got addicted to it early on and turned me on to it.  One of the first Food TV personalities I watched was Alton Brown on Good Eats.  So when Sean told me that we were going to a book signing he was doing in nearby Branden, I did not argue!

Ignore my fisted hand, I have not a clue what I was doing or thinking!  

Unaware that the bookstore had been handing out numbered tickets for the event starting the evening before, we showed up at Books a Million at 5:30, and hour and a half before the signing started- and were handed number 287.  Oh joy!!  When Marly realized how many people were in line, and how long we would be there, her only comment was "Too many foodies in one place!!"

Staff arranged us in lines snaking around the store.  I had plenty of time to read several quilting magazines, and find a copy of "Where the Wild Things Are" for Michelle.  We talked to the people around us in line, and the three of us took turns staying in line while another walked Michelle around.  A two year old has limited patience for slowly moving lines!

At nine pm, the store closed the doors to the mall.  We were able to see Alton by this point.  A few minutes later, he strode away from his table and into the crowd, saying, "Where are the little kids?"  Next thing we knew, staff we going down the line, telling anyone with small children to move to the front of the line.  We didn't argue!!

I asked him to sign a book for a Christmas present, Sean made a special request for his.  Although it was brief, I can say that Alton Brown is pretty much the same in person as he is on TV- real, and funny!  It was a fun way to spend my last night in Florida, and to leave with a one-of-a-kind Christmas present.

My Dolphin Tale

Well, I may not have made it to St. Augustine, but I did get to meet a couple of celebrities while I was in Florida.  Sean has lived in Tampa for ten years, and tells me he never heard of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium until I asked him about it after seeing the movie.

Monday afternoon we packed up the Michelle and my camera and headed over the bridge to Clearwater.  We found it easily, it was behind a fancy seafood restaurant where Sean took Shannon and me to dinner on our first trip to Florida in 2002.

If you've seen the movie, the aquarium is easily recognizable.  There's now a ticket tent in the parking lot, and there has been some remodeling inside, but it felt familiar.

Photographic proof of my presence there!  What I wouldn't give to be in 85 degree weather again. . . 

We wandered around the pools, wondering what we were looking at.  This is a rescue and rehab operation, not a place where the dolphins put on shows.  I finally asked  one of the staff where Winter was, and she pointed to a dolphin in the tank I was looking at.  

I learned that they would have a session with her later on, so we wandered around.  I watched a training session with a young rescue dolphin, saw some river otters, and stood entranced by a tank of sting rays.  I had no idea those creatures were so graceful when they swam.  Finally, we decided to snag our seats for Winter.

I thought she wore the prosthetic tail most of the time, but that is not the case.  Staff put it on her 3-4 times a day for about fifteen minutes, and run her through a series of exercises to strengthen the muscles that don't get used with her side-to-side swim motion.  It was fascinating to watch.

 

This is one of the exercises they did with her after the tail was attached.

It was so interesting watching the staff interact with the dolphins.

 

For those with deeper pockets than we had, you could meet Winter up close and personal.  I don't think this little boy knew quite what to think or do!!

I bought some tee shirts to help support the aquarium programs, and took tons of pictures.  It was a fascinating afternoon, one I'd gladly do again.

Orlando

We did make it to Orlando on Sunday- Michelle was feeling much better.  We met my sister at her timeshare, then decided to head out to some outlet malls.  I won't bore you with the details, other than I scored some shoes and a few clothing items at Coldwater Creek.  I now know that Orlando is a place I don't need to visit again- it is definitely for the tourists.

After eating a late lunch, we took Carol back to her digs.  The rest of us decided to hit Disney Main Street before heading home to Tampa.  That's about the only time I took photos during the day!!

I saw amazing creations with Legos--

 

We walked and enjoyed the music and the lights--

We posed in front of the Irish pub--

Sean tried to get Michelle to sit on top of the pumpkin, but she would have no part of that.

Marly and Michelle had fun with this mime artist- he moved around depending on what the people in front of him did.

And that was our day ih Orlando.  Fun, but don't know that I have any great yen to return there.