THE TOWN WE RESIDE IN ~ FOR THE SUMMER

    WHERE WE RESIDE IN THE SUMMER MONTHS

West Bend, Wisconsin is a quaint town in the middle of Kettle Moraine country. A moraine is a land formation, created by the movement of a glacier.
This area is very beautiful, as most of WI is. 

We plan on exploring the Kettle Moraine areas this summer. Starting with the Kettle Moraine scenic drive.

http://dnr.wi.gov/Org/land/parks/specific/kmscenicdrive/

The following pictures are of West Bend's downtown. Of course, not every store/and there are many/just a few places which would entice anyone to spend time exploring the town and stopping for a bite to eat at one of the unique restaurants found scattered throughout the main drag.

The downtown park is very attractive and invites you to "sit a spell," relax and watch the passerbys. On Saturdays the park area and Main St. are abounding with Farmer's Market activity.  The street is closed down and the joys of fresh produce are offered by local growers.

Great, old buildings grace the streets of West Bend and flowers spill out throughout the town.

The town continues and splits as you drive down the street.  Fun shops are here and there just waiting for one to explore. There are several more than I have posted here.  The corks and wine bottle display is featured in front of an Italian restaurant, which has made our list of places to return to in West Bend.

A creative sign on one of the downtown shops. This sign indicates where I am at, with this post, and future posts until I get an update on my aircard.

I feel like the turtle, in the race against cyberspace.  I WILL win ~ just need to figure out the problem with my computer!

BLAH - BLAH - BLOG

TOO BUSY TO BLOG ~ IT WILL CALM DOWN SOON

We have been visiting family and friends since we arrived.  It will calm down, but I've had no time to sit down and even think about blog topics.
The hare and the deer are frequent "visitors" near our camper.  I was very excited to also see an Eastern Bluebird sitting on top of the birdhouse we just put in our yard. I am going to be diligent in getting a picture of my beautiful blue and orange 'friend'. Hopefully he has a mate nearby and soon there will be eggs in the nest that I peeked at today!

YARD WORK ~ GARDEN WORK ~ TWO POSTS IN ONE ~

OH MY ~  IT'S BEEN AWHILE SINCE I POSTED!

Coming back to Wisconsin, in May, has been great!
The weather is so nice -sun, rain, green grass, everything has budded, so my allergies aren't to bad.
We have been working and running since we arrived on May 16.

We did leave Florida on May 9th, traveling to Missouri, to spend time and help out my lovely daughter, Michelle. She was in the process of putting in a new kitchen/which is now in and looking good! We helped out with yard work.  Michelle and I had a great find, of a trellis, that Michelle will soon have vines and flowers on, at her front entrance.

Rueben and Derby watched Michelle and I leave many times during the week.  Joe was a great companion to them as he did the yard work and they ran in and out of the back door.

Three sisters ~ Two days ~ Gardens and Grass

Joe and I did a ton of work on our yard, camper and sheds.  We cleaned, rearranged, planted, etc. etc.
I will post pictures of our yard and my yard art soon.

Spending time with my sisters (Geri and Bonnie) was high on my list of things to do when returning to Wisconsin. 
Geri and I took off early Friday morning.  We spotted a few yard sales, which we just couldn't pass up, on the way to Bonnie's farm.  Reusing, recycling, repurposing items ~ helps the Earth!

Bonnie had her garden planned. Her vegetable garden is much larger than Geri's and mine. We plant a few tomato and pepper plants, along with many flowers. Bonnie plants every vegetable imaginable, with flowers sprinkled here and there. 

My sisters are older, so they have so much more experience with these projects! I just ,had to observe their techniques!  We also went over to Bonnie's mother-in-laws place to plant her gardens.  I mowed grass there and let everyone else plant the gardens.  I love to mow lawns - or maybe it's more driving the tractor around!

 The garden turned out lovely and straight. I did make the rows, with the hoe. The milk cartons and pots are covering the small plants. The heat and moisture will produce a full, green, ready to flourish plant.

A calf was born shortly before we arrived on the farm.

Isn't it just so cute! Only knee high, with a very symmetrical face marking. Oh, isn't nature wonderful!

So many activities were going on while we were on the farm.  The Amish came to check out the roof, measuring for reshingling.  It was very interesting talking to the wife of the Amish man on the roof.  His oldest and youngest sons were with him.  The youngest was smiling ear to ear/he turned six on the day we were there.  How exciting for him!





We spent the night, had a wonderful time; thinking about returning for another "sleep-over" later in the summer.

                                                                          

THE GATEWAY ARCH

From the highway you can see The Arch, in St. Louis -on your left when coming up from the south.  Curvy as the road is - it's on the right in no time.
We've been to The Arch several times, so no need to stop on this trip.  Fun taking pictures of it through!

The Gateway to the West, a St.Louis icon, the symbol of western expansion~how THE ARCH is referred to. Designed in 1947 by architect Eero Saarinen and structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel.  Construction started in 1963 and took two years.  It is 630 feet (192 m) wide at its base and stands 630 feet (192 m) tall. More information is available at this site.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Arch
If you plan on going to St. Louis, stopping at The Arch is well worth it.  It features a museum and a ride on a slannty (egg-shaped)elevator to the top.
Looking out, when exiting up on the observation deck, you will find it is simply breathtaking. Plus...you get to see and walk along the Mississippi River!

THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS

Driving around in Scottsboro, AL we discovered a unique downtown. The courthouse being the main attraction; with the one-way streets we drove around it several times.
Before getting into the town Joe was trying to search his brain/the history part/as to what he remembered about The Scottsboro Boys.
Signs in front of the courthouse refreshed his memory
to the drama attached to this town, so many years ago.

  The gist of the story~~nine black teenagers were accused of raping two white women, on March 25,1931.  The controversy of the trials went on for years.  In 1976 it finally came to be that the boys (now men, some having spent many years imprisoned) were pardoned, by the Governor of AL.

To this day ~ were these boys guilty? 

To jog your memory further, you can copy and paste the address below to learn more about

The Scottsboro Boys.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html

IT'S A BIRD ~ IT'S A PLANE ~ IT'S SUPERMAN!

Tired of driving we figured a little diversion was in order. 
We followed our GPS to the little town of Metropolis, IL.  Yes!! That is the town Superman called home.  Believe me, the people of this town have capatialized on that little tidbit!  

 Clark Kent and Lois Lane walking to their jobs, at the Daily Planet. Opps, here it's called the Metropolis Planet.

Superman dominates the main drag of this old town. He is standing guard in the center of town and flying from buildings.

Superman Joe posed for a picture in one of the put your head on me bodies.
Hmmmm...just isn't the same, is it?!  Wonder what his buddies will say about this picture!

Murals of Superman cartoons and other characters of the times were painted on the buildings downtown. http://www.supermuseum.com/

Betty Boop~this one's for you Andrea!

UNCLAIMED BAGGAGE CENTER

Overnight in Scottsboro, AL had us at the Liberty Restaurant early in the morning. After a tasty, "like Mom would make it" breakfast, we were at the Unclaimed Baggage Center when it opened at 9:00.  There, along with several other snowbirds, on their trek to the North. Many "Snowbirds" must have seen the Travel Channel show about this place!

 We split up at the entrance. Joe went to what interested him and I was off to the electronics section. I left there quickly and went to browse the hundreds of books. Picking one out I met Joe and we took off, discussing the prices of some of the items we saw.
Joe saw watches ranging in price from $10 to $9,000.
I studied a diamond ring that was going for $17,000, 
thinking that if I had a ring worth that much, I'd make sure it was on my finger! Now, these are reduced prices/the actual appraised prices are much higher. 
The rest of the store was basically a glorified thrift store.  Nothing much tickled my fancy today. 
The book I  purchased is THE TECATE JOURNAL by: Keith Bowden. (Seventy days on the Rio Grande.)
Glad we stopped ~~ now we've been there.