Surprise Birthday Party for Helen S.

Helen's three "children" surprised her with a Birthday breakfast this morning with all of the WT's at the Abbie Pub. It is a milestone birthday tomorrow, but we won't say which one. Her son gave her the shirt that she is wearing: "Helen" on the left side (as you look at it) and "The Walkie Talkies" on the right.

Everyone had a wonderful time. It's pretty difficult to keep a surprise in a small town and there was some confusion with Helen calling the Abbie to say that she was paying and the kids had already made arrangements to take care of it!

L to R: Mark (from Michigan), Mary Ann (from Illinois), Helen and John (from Connecticut).

A large contingent of the WT's today.

The WT's plus Helen's kids.

We love to celebrate birthdays and this was even more memorable since Helen's family was able to join us (plus there was food!).

Catch Us! We're Falling!

It's that time of year again: pumpkins are sprouting on doorsteps, winter coats are already out, and we get an extra hour's sleep by resetting our clocks (Remember? "Spring forward, fall back").

While the change officially takes place at 2:00 a.m. tonight, most of us will turn our clocks back an hour before going to bed tonight--perhaps, some of us even did it this afternoon (For some, we need the daylight hours to read the manuals to see how to change some of those pesky clocks!). Some might forget and arrive early for church tomorrow. It has taken us since April to catch up on that hour of sleep! Of course, most of us are up at the crack of dawn anyway. It just means we will be up even earlier now!

With the clocks turned back, it will be lighter (or, at least, less dark) in the morning. Unfortunately, it will be dark earlier in the afternoon and where we live the days will be very short soon enough!

At any rate, we hope that none of the WT's will be late for church or whatever else is happening tomorrow. For sure, we don't want anyone to be late for walking and for coffee on Monday!

Saturday Shopper News!

It's been awhile since we have had any of our local news from The Shopper. Why now? Well--none of the WT's have had any other news to share with your loyal blogger, so here goes . . .

The Pumpkin Fest was a great hit despite the horrible weather. The kids were all bundled up for the carriage rides and there were even some vendors outdoors in the parking lot. Obviously, there were plenty of us indoors--kids for decorating pumpkins and adults for the craft sale and the FOOD! We never miss food! There is a big thank-you from the committee for all the help and participation.

The local computer shop now has a sideline business called "Click It's Gone" for those locals who are not computer literate but still want to sell their goods on eBay. Sounds like a good idea and we hope it works.

Interesting event coming up: On November 11 the PTO is hosting a Crafters Retreat: $15 will get anyone some table space and pizza from 8:00 a.m. to midnight. The ad says that it is a great way to get away from all the interruptions and spend an "adult" day/night "actually getting something done." Since it will be the middle weekend of the firearms deer season, it sounds like a great diversion. Of course, some of the hunting "widows" won't be able to get away from their children, but perhaps they'll attend anyway.

School Parent/Student Conferences for grades 7-12 are coming up on October 30. Drum roll, please: They can also pick up the first quarter report cards at that time!

For the past couple of years the Lions Club and the Leo Club (high school kids) are hosting a Halloween Monster Bash for the kids up to 6th grade. This has turned out to be a great event and keeps some of the kids off the streets. The young ones can also try Trick or Treats at the local nursing home, which is something the Elders really look forward to.

There are ads telling us how we can pick up absentee ballots for the November 7 election. There has been some talk about what we might be doing for the election--perhaps just voting "No"???? The local candidates also have plenty of ads--in fact there are some terms where there are more candidates running than there are openings! Might be an actual election for some of them!

It must be getting close to the holidays because there are several craft shows coming up. Great way to get some gifts early.

This Monday--the 23rd--there is a book sale at the local Public Library from 10:00 a.m. to7:30 p.m. These will be the books that are left from this past week's sale--A buck a Bag! Such a deal!

The local Lutherans are having their annual lefse sale on the 25th. The cost will be $3.50 for three rounds. Another great deal! Those Lutherans really know how to make it!

The Methodists are selling pasties (Cornish meat pies) for a fund-raiser. They are pretty delicious also and at $3 each, it is a great deal.

The arena is now open for public skating and practice. Right now, it is almost cold enough to make ice outside! Back in "our" day, we skated outdoors. Many of us remember where the rink used to be and the old Slovenian women who used to work there and would help us tighten up our skates. Who can forget that smell of wet wool as we dried our mittens on the stove? Who can forget how we would have to quickly remove them when they started to smoke??

Can't forget the Buck and Doe Contest at the sporting goods store. For $10 folks can get a ticket and win prizes when they weigh in and register their deer. They are giving away some interesting prizes. There will be plenty of activity around that place beginning on November 4th! They will soon be putting up the ramp and pulley system for weighing the animals. Of course, some folks get upset with the hunting season, but some are happy that some of the deer are harvested so that there aren't as many around to eat our flowers and vegetables and to run into our cars. This time of year is particularly dangerous as they have only one thing on their minds!

The local bank is reminding us that it will soon be time to put up their "Hat and Mittens Christmas Tree." They will be looking for these items to make donations to various organizations in the area.

We have had our second snowfall and there are ads for tune-ups on our snowblowers. Hate to think that the time for using them is coming up quickly!

Playing at the re-opened theater: "Lady in the Water" at 5:30 p.m. and "Clerks 2" at 7:30. "Ant Bully" is tentatively scheduled to start on Friday. Wonder what "tentatively" means. Sounds a little ominous! All tickets $2.00 for a great deal.

Let's hope that the WT's get some more exciting events going so that we can entertain you with our own antics!

Winter's First Volley!

We have had some snow in the past few days. It was quite miserable this morning with the slush and the cold and the wind. Despite all of that there were several in the group that made it for coffee--in fact, several even walked!

Looks pretty cold for visitors to town!
Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Fest. We are hoping that there will be plenty of people who brave the weather to attend this annual festival.

The Craft Show from 10:00-3:00 will take place in the Community Center. There will be activities for the kids--Design-a-Pumpkin and Design-a-Cookie. Of course, we will enjoy the food (that'll be enough to draw in the WT's!)--hamburgers, hot dogs, sloppy joes and, of course, Homemade PUMPKIN pie! Don't know what will happen to the outside vendors, etc. There will be a free Blood Pressure Check at the Firehall and hand and face tattoos and a movie. The Annual Quilt Show will take place at the Library and that is always a popular event.

There will be Carriage Rides from 11:00-2:30 on Main Street.

It should be a great event! And we are hardy folks!

It might look cold, but visitors will still enjoy a very warm reception in our town! So do stop in to visit!

Know When to Fold 'Em!

Today was our big poker lesson. There were twelve of us that showed up for our salad lunch, but not everyone stayed to play.

Our instructor for the day, Tonya, only started playing last February and has since won many prizes. She was so much fun and made the afternoon interesting for all of us.

She brought two table tops, cards, chips and even prizes for us!

We like to think that we are "Superstars" and it was neat to know that someone else felt the same way (or, could it be, that it was the name of the table top from the tournament where she won it!).

The usual group photo: Seated L to R--Helen S., Mary, Jo, Joan, Pat, Irene, Jodie and Lorraine. Standing--Lil, Nancy, Tonya and Tee (Tee and Nancy were on their best "photo behavior" today and didn't hide).
Tonya explains a little about the game before we start to play.
Pat doesn't look so sure that this is better than bridge.
Ooops! Did we do something wrong in our betting? Should we have bet more? Less? Tonya was a great teacher!
It looked as if Mary was going to be the big winner! She had stacks of chips in front of her!
Lorraine also won and rakes them in!
But Tee was the big winner for the day (Mary came in second)!
Most of us will never play again. Some might play occasionally. At least, we now know what it is all about so that we will at least be able to understand what others are talking about when they discuss Texas Hold 'Em!

We found out that Tonya plays every Wednesday night at the local resort and invited us to come to play or to watch! We laughed about that because Wednesday night is typically saved for church activities. We decided that we'd better get out there before Lent, when our Wednesdays are tied up!

Sounds like another field trip!

Know When to Hold 'Em

Our group is always up for something new. Tomorrow we have two events:

A woman who is a professional poker player is going to teach us what this whole Texas Hold 'Em is all about. One of our members decided that she wanted to know more about it but did not want to get a computer game and did not want to watch it on TV. So--we all decided it sounded like a fun thing to do and then tell our kids and grandkids about. Of course, we also will have lunch beforehand. Then the pro will tell us what the game involves and we might even play a little. It looks as if ten or eleven of us will be there. We are always "up" for any event that includes food!

We are going to the movie tomorrow evening: The Devil Wears Prada is playing at our local theater (the one that closed and then re-opened with $2 tickets). We will do our share to try to keep it going. We might also have a pizza or something for a snack after an afternoon of playing poker!

Bad News Turned Good!

Our readers might remember that our local movie theater--aka "The Showhouse"--quit showing movies a few weeks ago. There were articles in the paper about the poor economics of showing first-run movies and the lack of patrons at these movies. There was even mention of selling the big silver screen and the seats! We were so sad to have this happen. Attending movies in that particular theater is quite an event--with the bistro tables in the back where we could eat while we watched the movie.

WELL--something happened and the owners changed their minds. Last night they started showing movies again. The movies will not be right "out-of-the-box" movies; instead, they will be movies that have had their run. They will charge us only $2 to see these movies! We are all pleased that they have had a change of heart. We thank the local leaders that perhaps helped them realize that there was "middle ground." Now we will schedule ourselves to go to see movies on a regular basis. Perhaps this was a wake-up call for all of us to patronize our local businesses!

Autumn's Last Hurrah!

We love autumn! Unfortunately, it is of short duration here in the northland. With the dry summer we just had, we were afraid that it would not be that pretty this year. It has been spectacular. The reds and yellows of the maples, the yellows and orange of the poplars and the birch, the orange of the tamarack--all with the evergreens in the background--have been gorgeous this autumn. This is probably the last week, but we have enjoyed it for the past several weeks.

The sky is so blue in the autumn. It is fun to look straight up through the trees (at our age, we must be careful so that we don't fall over!).

Jodie shot these two photos at their cabin in Minnesota. Above: It was a beautiful autumn morning with the reflection on the lake. Below: The lakes are as deep blue as the sky in the autumn.
A beautiful sunrise in Minnesota's lake country!
Lorraine returned from Michigan with this spectacular photo of their lake. The blues of the sky made everything look so beautiful and serene.
We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves because not all of the leaves are down yet. However, some serious raking will soon be in order! It surely beats shoveling snow!