Family Time

Yay! Niece Pam fixed Word for me while I was at DOM so when I open the program I get a blank page. How I managed to make it so it didn’t is a long story. DOM is another story that I will explain later. The other good news is that it does happen very often for us in this lifestyle that we are in exactly the right place for the weather and today is one of them. We are back at brother Dick’s house near Brainerd, MN and today it is breezy and cool with a high predicted about 80. I saw on the news yesterday that my friends back in Springfield are suffering with highs in the 100s. I wish you were all here and I would rent a big pontoon boat and take you out on the lake of your choosing for a party but, don’t forget your bug repellent and you may need a light jacket this evening.

The rainbow after the big storm
on July 12 in Brainerd. Camp Host
provided good shelter.

The last time I wrote was on July 10 and we had just arrived here. Since then we have had numerous family dinners, took a vacation to the Atlantic Ocean with the kids and I went to the sister’s retreat known as DOM while Don went to the cities to help nephew Andrew and his wife move to a new house. Before we took our vacation, I picked up sister Elaine in Elk River and brought her back to spend a weekend in Brainerd. Good thing because she couldn’t come to DOM with all that is going on in her life right now and moving her firstborn to his first house. We took her home and then stayed a couple of days with brother Ludwig in Minneapolis before we flew off for our vacation.

On July 16, we flew to Philadelphia where Kelly met us and we joined Peggy, Greg and Edie for one night of camping on Assateague Island at the National Seashore where the wild horses roam free. It is off the coast of Maryland. We all slept in tents, cooked hot dogs on the fire and listened to the ocean on the other side of the dunes while we slept. We saw the night sky with an amazing number of stars and walked through deep sand down to the beach with waves crashing on it. We saw herds of wild horses grazing along the roadsides and evidence of horses all over the place. We followed park suggestions and put our food in the car overnight so as not to attract horses into our campsite as that is not really a good thing to have happen. And we played with Edie. Thanks to Kelly for making this all happen for us. She was able to get one night there.

Edie & Aunt Kelly with Daddy in the wave

When we left Assateague, we went up the coast to Ocean City MD where we had reserved a condo at the Marigot Beach Suites. Here we enjoyed beach living and playing with Edie at the ocean to our hearts content. Everyone turned a darker shade of tan even though we went through 3 tubes of sunscreen. We ate wonderful meals together and laughed a lot. We flew back to Minneapolis on July 21 and came up to Brainerd the next day.

DOM at the Rose Garden

We had time to get our laundry done and eat some more family meals before DOM and Andrew’s move. Now I will explain DOM which stands for Daughters of Marjorie. Marjorie is the saintly woman who gave birth to me and my 12 siblings. Besides my 3 sisters (Jean, Kay and Elaine) and myself, anyone can be a DOM who is a woman over 18 and descended from Marjorie or has the fortune (some might question this) of being married to any man who is descended from Marjorie. That currently amounts to 18 potential members though since participation is voluntary some have opted out though everyone is always welcome to opt in.  During the last 19 years that I lived in Springfield, people traveled from Minnesota and we normally gathered in April which tends to be a good time to be in Illinois.. weather-wise. There were times when we had as many as 10 people gather for the weekend which starts on Friday afternoon and ends on Monday morning. This year there were just 5 of us and this was the first year that Elaine was unable to attend. See my earlier comment about her busy life. Jean, Kay and I met at my brother Mark’s restaurant, Wings Café at the Brainerd Airport for lunch before heading up north to DOM. This year and last, we’ve met in Jean’s daughters, Pam and Deb’s ancestral home in a small town just south of Duluth, thus the field trip to the Rose Gardens overlooking Lake Superior. Kay came up from the Cities a day early so I got to spend some time with her both before and after the weekend.

Best Camp Host Ever

Which reminds me to write about my brother Dick who we have nominated and selected as the Best Camp Host of The Year. His election was sealed when he made a pork roast on his Weber grill for dinner while Kay was here. He has very generously allowed us to upgrade the wiring in his garage, tap into his well water and leave tire tracks in the yard all the while letting us enjoy meals and keeping us company at his outdoor table in the front yard. Thank You Dick!

This morning, Don went with brother Mark fishing leaving me in the camper by myself. Welcome solitude for me. Dick is off on a sailing trip with his brother-in-law on Lake Superior and will be back later today. Tonight I am looking forward to fresh pan fish for dinner.

We’ll be taking it easy here until Sunday when we leave the camper again and head to Minneapolis to babysit on Monday and Tuesday. We’ll come back on Wednesday to get it and move down to Clearwater where we hope to spend a night with an old friend before heading to the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival at El Rancho Manana near Richmond, MN. This will mark the anniversary of our first use of our camper when we took it to the festival the day after we brought it back from Greenbay (8/7/14). We were very green then. After the festival, we plan to stay a month at the Mississippi Riverwood RV Park in Otsego, MN. It is near Elk River, MN where we will be just down the road from Elaine. After that we plan to go to the Jug Band Boogie at Deer Lake Charlies near Effie, Minnesota where we will see brother Ludwig play the mandolin and maybe the banjo before we head south on I-35 on about September 16. Anyway, that’s our plan.