A Yellow Flower Filled Hodgepodge

 

Hello Friends, it is Wednesday and that means it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 

 1. Do your goals and dreams energize or exhaust you? Elaborate. 

My husband and I can feel both. We are currently working on a goal right now. It is feeling a bit exhausting because of several hiccups we have experienced along the way. 

 2. July 23rd is national lemon day. Are you a fan of this flavor? What's a favorite dish or beverage you enjoy that calls for lemons? 

 I love lemon. I love a good lemon bar, lemon bread, lemon pie and I even tried lemon ice cream and loved that. 

 

 

 Lemon Poppy Seed Cake ... yes please!!

 

 3. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"...is this something you're pretty good at managing? Have you had to do this recently? If so tell us about it. 

Yes, I am pretty good at making lemonade out of lemons in life. 

Yes, we had to do this just last week. We had our beach day planned on Lake Superior. The smoke from the fires came rolling in. We made the best of the day.   

 

 4. Something you love that is lemon yellow in color? 

Flowers!! Flowers!! Flowers!! 

 

 5. How would you describe your attention to detail? 

 

I do notice things. I usually will point out the detail I am seeing to my husband. 

 

  6. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

 I must have flowers, always, and always.

Claude Monet 

 

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

 

Hello Friends,

Our 52 dates continue... our kayaking beach day was our # 29.  

It was a good plan. We were going to kayak to the Siskiwit Bay and enjoy the beach.

 

 It was a good plan until the smoke from the Minnesota Boundary Water fires and the Canadian fires began to roll in. 

 

 

Our kayaking and beach day was cut short. 

We planned to try a new place to eat, The Corny Fish Shed. We drove on over to Cornucopia to eat. The meal was very good. Several people were there with the same plans we had as the smoke continued to roll in.

 

Once again on our adventures we came across some sayings and a duck. 

 

The Duck

LIVE FREE OR DIE

AN OWIE TO ONE IS AN OWIE TO ALL

 

 

We enjoyed fish tacos, made with Lake Superior Whitefish.

Guac and Chips.

 Praying for all in the firestorm. The evacuations of the those in the Minnesota Boundary Waters of those canoeing and camping, once again show the love and support we have for each other.

Praying for rain.

Praying for those who have lost so much in this firestorm.

 ♥

Carla 

Heading North

 

Episode #17 

We went to our favorite place on earth for our day date #17, Lake Superior.

We enjoyed doing a lot of stuff this day, it was a full day.

We visited Tetzner's Dairy.

Visited Houghton Falls.

Stopped at Siskiwit Falls.

Enjoyed dinner with my parents. We met up for a smelt fry.

I pressed spring flowers along the way.

It was a fun, full day up North. 

We purchased fresh smoked fish. Fresh from the waters of Lake Superior.

 

Siskiwit Falls 

 

Visiting Tetzner's Dairy

We came home with fresh ice cream!

We enjoyed a homemade ice cream sandwich.

I was picking spring flowers and pressing them as we traveled.

Thank you for coming along with me on our day date #17.

How do you like the added art work to this sign? I am finding a lot of additional touches to the signs on our adventures.

 

We Made it to Seven

 

 

Valentine's Day 2026 was Episode 7 of 52ish Day Datn'. 

We headed to our favorite beach, Wisconsin Point along the shores of Lake Superior. Wisconsin's winter has been cold, cold, cold, I know I have mentioned that a few too many times here, but I have to share it again as you look out at Lake Superior you see a frozen shore, you get the idea of what the days and days of negative temperatures can do. This was the first time that we have visited and the water way out on the lake was frozen.

 

 

 If you look close you will see a man walking out on the ice of Lake Superior to go fishing. It was very foggy on our Valentine day visit to Lake Superior, making for some unique photos.

 

 

 

The storms on Lake Superior can become very strong, making for high waves. You can see in this photo how the power of the water pushed this beach sand up on the boardwalk.

 

 

Our pal Ernie came along with us too. He loves visiting the beach.

 

 

After our hike on the beach, we visited Anchor Bar, Superior, Wisconsin.

My husband had wanted to visit for awhile, but it is a busy place. The other times we planned to stop in there was a line outside. This time we were able to get two seats at the bar. They have a simple menu, burgers, all kinds of toppings for your burger and fresh cut fries.

Lake Superior memorabilia to look at throughout the bar.  

Work Like A Captain

Play Like A Pirate

 

 

Our next stop was to find a ski resort for our son's.

The ski resort  is located in Wisconsin, but you have to drive into Minnesota to get on the road that leads you back into Wisconsin to get to the ski resort.  

 

 

 

I wanted to take a peek at the St. Louis River, the river that gives Wisconsin and Minnesota the up north border.

 Time to head back to home sweet home.

It was a fun adventure. 

 

It is a Winter Wonderland Hodgepodge

 

Superior Falls ~ the border of Wisconsin and Michigan

 

Hello Wednesday and that means it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun!  

 

 

1. What kind of winter person are you-snow lover, fireplace snuggler, winter adventurer, or indoor hibernator? Elaborate. 

Winter Adventurer, that is me. I am an outdoor person. I need to get outside. If I could wave a magic wand my ideal winter temperature for an outdoor adventure would be 25 degrees, no wind and some sunshine. The wind really is the issue. Even on a cold, cold, cold day, if we do not have wind, it will feel nice.  I also have found that if you wear the proper clothes, no problem with the winter weather. We just purchased some new thermals and they are so cozy, making our winter hikes more enjoyable. 

 2. The Pantone color of the year is cloud dancer, described as a gentle, billowy off white shade. The color symbolizes 'peace, clarity, quiet reflection, renewal, and a soft reset'. Of the terms just listed which do you need most in your life this winter? 

Renewal ... we will be resuming a project we started in October and took a break from during the holidays.

3. Every cloud has a silver lining, on cloud nine, head in the clouds, storm clouds gathering, or cloud of suspicion...which 'cloud' idiom do you most relate to currently? Explain. 

 Silver lining ... we had a lot of closed doors in 2025. I am looking at the silver lining for the reason behind those closed doors. 

4. coconut, cauliflower, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, onions, ranch dressing...of the white foods listed, which would be the hardest for you to give up? Do you like all or any of the foods on the list? 

I like coconut, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, onions. It would be very hard for me to give up onions. I cook a lot with onions. We grow our own. Last year we just about made the year without needing to go to the supermarket for onions. Our harvest is holding so far for this winter season. 

5. Thomas Wentworth Higginson is credited with this quote-

"How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year." 

Agree or disagree? Tell us why. 

I agree. Back in 2012 I had a very difficult year. There was a person in my life that was so toxic that I eventually had to walk away from that person.  After all the pain, the lesson remained and I can now say the entire situation made me a stronger person. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.

Rainar Maria Rilka

 

 

 

Edmund Fitzgerald

 Lake Superior is a favorite place for our family. We love to spend time on her shores. We enjoy exploring the areas around the lake. And we enjoyed many adventures around and on the mighty lake. 

Our family enjoys learning history about Lake Superior.  

50 years ago today.. November 10th.. 

Leaving port from Superior, Wisconsin, on a sunny November day, the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald is looking forward to a routine crossing of deep Lake Superior.

 

 

Heading for Zug Island, Detroit, Michigan, the giant transport ship is loaded with ore that will be used to build cars. But disaster is building in the wind as a storm begins to track after the great ship. 

 

 

The bell rings forever where heroes are found, for the soul of the sailor is held in its sounds.

 

 

There wasn't a sound except for the bell - Some say it rang out when the mighty ship fell.

 

 

The Edmund Fitzgerald was found later, lying broken and twisted on the bottom of Lake Superior, only 17 miles from the shelter of Whitefish Point.

November 10th, 1975

29 men aboard

Boo to You and it is the Hodgepodge

 

Hello Friends, it is Wednesday and that means it is time for the Hodgepodge. 

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

1. What do you like most about your family? 

When the going gets tough, we will rally to help one another. Some of our family is spread across the miles, my one uncle and aunt living in Texas. This past year my Texas aunt had hip surgery. The Wisconsin families rallied to send care packages and made phone calls to check in with her. 

  

2. What's something nice that's happened to you recently? 

 

We were given a bunch of apples,  organic, fresh from the apple orchard. I made apple butter and apple sauce with some of the apples. Other are in our cold storage for fresh eating and making other apple treats.

 

  

3. Do you like the color orange? Besides a pumpkin and an actual orange, what's something orange you love?

 

I do like the color orange. Our son Atticus who is sporting that bright orange colored stocking cap below, he would wear bright orange stocking caps all winter long during his growing up years. This started when he was just a little guy, he would pick out an orange stocking cap as his new hat for winter.  

He is holding a bluegill he caught ice fishing in the below photo. 

I love all my photos of him sporting his orange stocking hat! 

 

Below he is older and yep, still sporting an orange stocking cap.

We are on the shores of Lake Superior in the below photo. 

 

4.  What's something you have now you couldn't have imagined having five years ago? How does that make you feel? What's possible now because of it? 

 My husband and I worked very hard to become debt free. We are going on year number three, and it feels so good. What is possible? We feel that if any changes in our life were to happen we have the freedom to make decisions that we may not have been able to do if tied in debt.

 

 

5. Let's wrap this one up with an October this or that...
pumpkin bread or apple cider donut ~ apple cider donut
cozy sweater or cozy hoodie ~ cozy sweater
apple picking or pumpkin picking ~ pumpkin picking
scary movie or Hallmark movie ~ Hitchcock movie
hay ride or corn maze ~ hay ride
twinkle lights or candles ~ candles
autumn hike or autumn bonfire ~ autumn hike
 
 
 
 
 6. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

 

It will be two years that we adopted Ernie. He is our first rescue dog. Golly what a journey we have had with him. I would not trade it, it has been a fantastic lesson for us. Watching a scared dog who lived over six months on the streets of El Paso, Texas, with gentle care and training turn into a true best buddy.

 

It is a Blue Hawaii Hodgepodge

 

Footprints on the beach

Hello Everyone, it is Wednesday and that means it is time for the Hodgepodge. 

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

 

 1. When does time pass slowly for you? When does time past quickly for you? 

 

When I do not feel good time will pass slowly for me.

When I have time to spend with our kids, the time goes too fast.

 

 2. Do you have a favorite beach? What's your favorite 'beach' activity? Tell us what we'd find in your beach bag.

 

Wisconsin Point,  Lake Superior is my favorite beach.

I love to walk the beach looking for treasures.

In my beach bag you will find..

two beach towels, a bag for keeping treasures, water bottle, snacks and my camera.

 

 3. Your favorite book or movie with a beach setting? 

 

Blue Hawaii with Elvis Presley

I watched this movie the first time with my grandparents, my grandpa would sing along, it was great fun and fantastic memories.

 

 4. What's a food you love, but find it's a pain to eat? Is it worth it? 

 

Crab legs ... oh yes it is worth it. 

 

 5.  Do you like roller coasters? What's the best (or worst) roller coaster you've been on? 

 

I do not like roller coasters, I have never been on a roller coaster.

I know, how can I say I do not like roller coasters if I have never been on one. LOL!

 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

When two people love each other, they don't look at each other, 

they look in the same direction.

Ginger Rogers