Anniversary Trip

Eugene and Lorraine continued their 50th. anniversary celebration by going to Jordan and Israel. It was a learning and study trip with a tour group. The first view of Jerusalem from the top of a hill, left them standing in quiet awe. The tour guide distributed bread and wine as an Old Testament welcome. Every historical, Biblical site was a moving spiritual journey--from the grooves in the cobblestones of old ruins created by chariot wheels to sailing on the Sea of Galilee. History became a living experience.

Eugene thought Lorraine should ride a camel on top of the Mt. of Olives. He said that the grand kids would be impressed. (They were.) Lorraine thought a person could get seasick, swaying back and forth, riding on the "ships of the desert" for a long distance.

The journey in the Holy Land was inspirational and safe. They would recommend it to anyone. Most surprising, was the multitude of buses and crowds of people.

MISSING JOAN!

Joan found out in late October that she has esophageal cancer. She's been at Mayo since early November when she started her chemotherapy treatments. She is now staying at Hope Lodge and keeps us posted about what/how she is doing--and she is very busy between treatments, appointments and socializing (even got in some cleaning!)

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She spent Thanksgiving with family in the Cities and had a nice weekend. No trip to the Cities would be complete without checking out the new American Doll store at the Mall of America (after all, Grandma Joan took a granddaughter to Chicago for an American Doll trip).
She said in an update that now "Grandma has the necessary items from American Girl."

She met with her radiation oncologist's PA recently. Joan was told that she is doing much better than many patients and she told Joan, "You are a tough lady!" We can all agree with that.

It sounds as if she is VERY busy during the day and there are many activities going on at Hope Lodge--music presentations, pot luck suppers and lots of socializing. Of course, all of this has to take place after watching Jeopardy for Joan.

She has about a week left in Rochester and then a month off before another round of scans and medical decisions to make.

She will be with family at Christmas--perhaps even going to Indiana to visit her son and family! She hopes to spend a week or so at home where we hope to have her come to coffee with us--perhaps we'll have to plan a party (after all, we do have wine glasses!).

ON THE ROAD AGAIN WITH MARY

Mary has had a busy autumn so far (with winter knocking on our door!). She's had seminar trips to Castle Rock (Colorado), Madison (Tennesee) and West Franklin (Illinois). She is off to East Aurora, New York, on November 14th for a Saturday seminar at the Aurora Sewing Center. Her last trip of 2008 will be to the Pittsburgh area.



A new item for her this fall is a pattern called "Table Toppings," which is a felt-based table or shelf runner with large appliques--six in the pattern for all seasons and celebrations.



She has also recently published two new sweatshirt books: Sweatshirts For All Seasons and Sweatshirt Makeovers For Kids. Both of these will be shown on "Sewing with Nancy" starting at the end of November--just in time for Christmas gift sewing for both adults and little kids. The sweatshirt topic continues to be a good one for Mary (it's how she got her "start").



For the coming year she is working on two new reversible apron patterns and also a "sewing green" topic for television with Nancy.



She will be posting her 2009 teaching schedule (See the link for her website--Mary's Productions--on the right) soon, and she will be VERY busy in March, April and May. The Midwest YaYa Sisters will be teaching in Florida at the end of March. Mary says, "That's a great time to leave winter behind" in Minnesota.

A LONG-AWAITED UPDATE!

It's been quite awhile since we last updated any news about our group for our loyal readers. We have been busy and it's hard to find the time to get the information out to everyone.

Mondays continue to be big attendance days for ouus at our "clubhouse." We had a good crowd for coffee this morning!

The Walkie Talkies also increased in size: Linda has joined our group since she moved back "to town." She is living in the former school superintendent's house. A completely new person is Darlene. She is the interim pastor's wife and they live in an old towns person's house. We are intrigued by the fact that we still label houses by their FORMER owners' names and we wonder how long it takes for the house to take on the identity of the new owner! They seem to be enjoying the WT's and are still sort of trying to figure out who we are and what we are all about (we are sort of strange but we are fun-loving!).

Dorothy brought a book from her cousins' reunion this past summer. One of the relatives made a book at one of those online places where you drop photos into templates and then you can order a hardback book of the layouts. Very cool.

Joan was to start chemotherapy at Mayo today. We haven't received an update yet, but we know that we soon will. We hope to get her address soon so that we can start to send her some cards to help speed her therapy and radiation sessions along!

In one week in September we had the centennial celebration at the Catholic church here in town, the dedication ceremony for the new school building, and a speaker at the library. The activities of the week illustrated that it's not boring here and that there are positive things happening. The Pumpkin Fest in October was well-attended and the weather cooperated to make it a great success.

The mayor is now in charge of the revived Holiday Heritage Festival. Our own Mary did a Postal cancellation design of a Swedish candle holder. She did many of these throughout the years and they have become real collectors' items. Local residents try to finish their holiday cards so that they can get them off in the mail with this special cancellation. There will be a light parade on the Friday night and a tree lighting at the community building, a home decorating contest, the usual craft sale and a kids' Christmas shopping store. The mayor also wants to have a baking competition, maybe with ethnic specialties. There will also be a dinner and dance at the local Legion Club on Saturday night, December 13th.

There is more happening, but this should do it for now--just to let you know that we are all still around and kicking. We will do some updating of the many travelers in our group and also keep you posted on what Mary (see link for her website) is doing.

Enjoy!!

NOT QUITE THE USUAL AUTUMNAL EQUINOX CELEBRATION!

In the past, the Walkie Talkies have celebrated the autumnal equinox by watching the sunrise over a nearby lake. This year we decided to find a quick geocache (see the geocaching link on the right) and then have lunch at Four Corners. There were eight of us that found the cache and then we crossed the highway and met the other four at the restaurant.

Tee, Irene, Jo, Linda, Janet, Mary and Lorraine at the cache site. We forgot to bring any "swag" to trade so we just signed the log and left for lunch.
Getting ready for a great lunch:

Mary, Janet, Linda, Lorraine, Irene, Tee and Jo.

"A good time was had by all," as they say. It was certainly nicer to celebrate at a decent hour rather than getting out to the lake at 6:00 a.m.

Yes, we do know that the Equinox is tomorrow, but who would dare to question a group like ours?!

We did miss the mimosas. Next time we'll have them!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO LORRAINE & EUGENE!

Happy Anniversary!

Lorraine and Eugene's family surprised them at the end of June. They were supposed to go to Duluth to ride on the Vista King with supposedly "free" tickets from their daughter. They went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream first and one of their sons and his family were already there. Suddenly their grandchildren from Albuquerque walked in. Lorraine and Eugene were in shock, especially when the kids said they had come by themselves! Then their parents parents walked in. They all got together to celebrate Lorraine and Eugene's 50th anniversary early (it is really in September). Their son from New Mexico hadn't been "up north" for five years. (They did go for the boat ride!).

Looking good (and young) and happy after 50 years!
The family (color coded): Steve and Lori's family in black, Jim and Sue's family in white, Mark and Sandi's family in turquoise and Lori in red.
Front: Logan Austin, Rachel, Sammi and Steve.
Middle: Lori, Kristina, Lorraine, Eugene, Marissa, Erika, Lori and Sue.
Back: Jim, Mark, Sandi, Michael, Tanner and Andrew.
Missing: Davin (Lori's son who is in the Navy and was home earlier in June).

Lorraine says, "Eugene is an only child and has enhanced our population by 25 people!"

While Mark was there the guys went out geocaching and found one of the Walkie Talkies' geocaches plus others in the area.

What a great surprise and neat get together for everyone!

PINE GROVE 2-STEP

The annual Relay For Life was held today. It has changed since we first participated beginning in 2001. This year it was called the Pine Grove 2-Step: Pine Grove is the local park. The "2-Step" stands for the fact that the money raised is going to two different groups: the American Cancer Society and Care Partners, which is a regional organization. Both are great causes.

The local committee decided to honor a person or a group that had given to the event in the past and the Walkie Talkies were the group that was chosen. We were involved in the first Relay For Life as committee members and a team. We participated for several years and decided to let other groups take over. We were the first Bronze Team and the first Silver Team, which means that we raised a lot of money for the cause!

Front: Emily, Jo, Lil, Mary, Helen S., Lorraine, Jodie and Dorothy.

Middle: Pat, Helen J. and Joanie.

Standing: Sharon, Tee, Janet, Irene, Elsie and Laurie.

We are kind of the "walking wounded," as Tee says. Joanie and Dorothy were recently hospitalized and many of us have some aches and pains!

John and Louie played some lively music and the Walkie Talkies took the first lap of the Relay.

Emily and Laurie do their own version of the 2-step to the music.
There we go--the committee gave us a special color t-shirt with our team name on the backs.

Jo wore earrings that were the same color as the t-shirts. She models them plus the scarves that Mary made for members through the years. (Jo was upset because it wasn't her "best side." We think she looks great!)

We do love to eat. Helen and Tee help the cause by buying lunch after our trip around the paths.

Pat, Helen J., Emily and Jo do their share.

We were all pleased that the committee decided to honor us the way that we did. It gave us a chance to get together as a group and to remember some of the great Relays that we enjoyed in the past.

WE WILL MISS HER!

We lost one of our own:

Anna passed away at the nursing home on Thursday, April 24th. She was a spark of laughter and reason for all of us through the years. We celebrated her 80th birthday in 2006 at Giant's Ridge (photo below). We will all miss her but will celebrate her life as we remember all of her antics and know that, because of her deep faith, she is in a better place!

It is still our loss.

ANOTHER FANTASTIC ROAD TRIP!

A great time was had by all!

Our road trip turned out bo be great fun again. We last attended the Plymouth Playhouse (see link on the right for the play) almost exactly two years ago; we saw the first "helping" of The Church Basement Ladies then. When we saw that there was a second "helping," we decided that another road trip was in order.

We left around 10:00 a.m. in three vehicles for the nine WT's from "up north" (Sharon and Tee drove, Joan drove herself because she was heading to Brainerd afterwards for a Knowledge Bowl event, and Jodie, who now lives in the Cities, met us there). We stopped in Hinckley to eat; the service was a little slow and we were afraid we would not get there in time for the Happy Hour at The Green Mill. Our intrepid (and fast) drivers made it there and we arrived around 2:30, which gave us plenty of time to check in, get settled, get changed and meet for a drink in the bar.

The waiter in the bar said that ten of us would not fit at the table. Little did he know what we can do--especially, when challenged! This was the same table that we occupied two years ago. Clockwise from the bottom: Pat, Elsie, Janet (hiding behind Pat--usually Tee is the one hiding!), Mary, Jo, Naomi, Joan, Jodie, Tee and Sharon.

After drinks, some of us went back to our rooms to change and the rest waited for the others to return. We got our aprons from Mary and headed off to take some photos and to eat.

Elsie (left) and her daughter Nancy. Nancy moved from out East to the Cities and works close to where we were staying, so she joined us for dinner. She was even gracious enough to wear an apron with us!

Mary, our "apron lady" (see the link for Mary's Productions on the right), does her best Vanna White impression before dinner.

Nancy also took our traditional group photo:

Seated L to R: Mary, Pat, Naomi, Elsie and Tee.

Standing L to R: Jodie, Joan, Janet, Sharon and Jo.

We had plenty of people coming up to us all evening to ask about the aprons. We gave out several of Mary's business cards, so we hope that they all look at her website and purchase books or something else from her.

The play was very enjoyable and everyone in the audience seemed to enjoy it--Lutherans are able to laugh at themselves and the Methodists and Catholics laughed the loudest! It was a little more poignant than the first "helping." There were two actresses listed in the playbill for the same character--the one that had played Mrs. Snustad in the first "helping" had a kidney transplant last November and an insert indicated there is a benefit coming up on April 21 for her. The character of Mavis was played by the same actress as the earlier play and she is still a riot!

As with all of us, the characters undergo some "life changes" during the course of the four acts. All of us can relate to these changes on various levels.

We even had time (and energy) after the play to have a "nite cap" in the bar!

The group had to get back for some evening events (we had already missed the Salad Luncheon on Wednesday to raise money for the Fourth of July): Some were going to a sloppy joe dinner followed by a town meeting, some were heading to Eastern Star, and others had still other meetings. We are still a VERY busy group!

Now we have to plan another adventure or two. Stay tuned!

Another Field Trip!

We (nine of us from the northland are meeting one who lives in the Cities) are off to the Cities to see the play The Church Basement Ladies: A Second Helping. Two years ago we had a similar field trip when we saw the first one. We had a great time and look forward to another adventure for this sequel.

We are heading out around 10:00 and will stop in Hinckley for lunch. Then we head to the Plymouth Playhouse where we will be checking into the "Play and Stay" package--staying at the Kelly Inn, eating at the Green Mill and then attending the play (and we will also do some "playing" to keep with the Play-and-Stay theme). We are sure there will be many stories to tell after this trip!

Of course, we will share them with our faithful readers!

President's Day

At coffee this morning we lamented that it was another miserable day and besides there would be no mail, no bank open, and no library open......so what to do? Well, anyone who knows the Walkie Talkies knows that it is time to go out for lunch. And, why not visit an old huant that we haven't been to in ages. So with that thought,, eight of us decided to head up to Four Corners for some comforting grease.

The road was a bit iffy, but we all made it just fine. A bonus.....it was Senior Citizen discount day......did any of us qualify? We'll never tell. We soon settled on hot tea with lemon and honey for this cold day. Then a variety of 'grease' to satisfy our tastes....au gratin potato soup, hamburgers and fries, patty melts, or deli sandwiches. Even a shrimp salad by one of our more diet conscious members!

Joan remembered her camera and just as she got up to take the required photo of everyone at the table.... another surprise! In walked Connie and Cal Maki. What a coincidence as we had just discussed how we always came here with Margaret before she died. (Connie is Margaret's daughter). We also talked about the birthday parties we used to have in January for Lorraine's doll Molly. We had a nice chat with Connie and then asked her to take our picture. She accomodated us and then Joan took one of the group with Connie and Cal.

So, here is our latest set of photos of the group doing what we do best.....eating.



Clockwise from back left: Janet, Irene, Nancy, Mary, Joan, Lorraine, Elsie, Naomi



Another shot with Cal and Connie standing in back.

Apron Day at the Bakery

Hello everyone. I bet you thought the Walkie Talkies froze to death in the snow and ice up here in the frigid northland. Well, I am here to tell you that that did not happen and we are alive and well.
We did have a hard rain on last Monday evening followed by a big drop in temperature, so we had a solid sheet of ice around everywhere. But, our city did a good job of sanding and salting and now the streets are pretty good for driving, and the sidewalks downtown are not too bad. Some residential streets are still pretty icy and many of us still have pretty icy driveways.
So, of course, what do the Walkie Talkies do when the going gets tough? They get going. Since Mary has a display of her apron collection in the Bakery in town, we decided we should all go for lunch one day and view the display and give our new bakery a bit of business. The date was set for last Tuesday, Jan. 29th but since that was the day of much ice, we postponed it until Thursday, Jan. 31. Thirteen folks showed up for lunch, including Becky who is visiting Mom Pat. Mary who orgainized the event was unab le to attend because of an emergency at her house.
We enjoyed the apron display and many of the Walkies wore old aprons of their own to lunch. Most of us could look at the display and comment that we had an apron like one of them. We also enjoyed our lunch, with many of us having a wild rice with mushroom soup and various types of sandwiches. Also popular was the 7 layer salad.
After eating, Pat announced that she was buying our lunches. They had finally received a settlement from their accident and she felt there should be some kind of celebration. We were all very happy to hear that the settlement had been acheived and thanked Pat for her thoughtfulness.
Naturally, we took pictures. Lorraine took a picture and then Becky took a picture so Lorraine could be in it. Emily arrived after pictures were taken. Bill Ojala also came to take our picture.



Clockwise starting bottom left: Lorraine, Elsie, Joan, Dorothy, Janet, Nancy, Tee, Sharon and Pat, Laurie and Helen





Clockwise starting bottom left: Elsie, Joan, Dorothy, Janet, Nancy, Tee, Sharon, Pat, Becky, Laurie and Helen