Holiday Season 2019 - Shopping with Noel: Squire House Gardens

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Noel and I ventured out to Afton for our first visit to Squire House Gardens of the season. Our visit was later than usual due to my being sick during their holiday open house in November. 

Although it's been the trend the store was quite a bit more scaled back in terms of holiday stock even compared to recent years. 

Richard passed recently so it didn't surprise me that Martin wasn't around.  I can only imagine how difficult it must be for him especially during the holidays. Still, it would have been nice to greet him for the season. I hope all is well. 


Picked up a lovely glass bird and a unique tree ornament.

Holiday Season 2019 - Angel Sightings

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Noel's been downsizing her Christmas tchotchkes quite substantially over the last few years. She gave  me these angels a couple years ago although this is the first year I've set them out. 

Holiday Season 2019 - Setting Out the Nutcrackers

Saturday, December 14, 2019

They're out! These nutcrackers were slowly collected over a 20 year period. The first one was given to me by Mom in 1994 when Dale and I were living over on Fremont. The most recent was bought by me in 2014. I think it's safe to say that Dale regards their appearance as the beginning of the season. 

Holiday Season 2019 - Breakfast with Santa at Jax and More

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Cindi and Maggie invited us to Breakfast with Santa at Jax in Nordeast Minneapolis. We met them and their kids there this morning. The event was held in the upstairs banquet room. 

Dale snapped this picture of me with Santa. 

Cindi snapped this picture of me with Dale. 

Met Noel for lunch and did some holiday shopping afterward. We found some retro glass ornaments from Germany at Tangletown Gardens. Very nice but quite pricey. 

I've started to set out some holiday decor. The first things out of their boxes were the snowmen.

For a nightcap tonight I had some Bailey's Irish Cream. 

Holiday Season 2019 - St. Nicholas Day

Friday, December 6, 2019

Busy week. I'm enjoying the snow that was dumped on us while I was away last weekend. Pictured above is Leo, the lion statue, in our yard.  The snow left quite a helmet of snow on his head.

I really enjoy my walks to and from school every day. 

I especially love the metallic silver/blue skies just before sunset. 

And the bluish light just after sunset.

Warren and I went to happy hour tonight and then he had Dale and me and Gary over for dinner. He has his tree set up in the dining room. 

St. Nicholas

Holiday Season 2019 - Returning Home

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Time to return home today. Pete had us to Dulles by 11:30 a.m. for our 2:00 p.m. flight. When we checked in I was told our flight was leaving in 15 minutes. We wouldn't be able to make it through the long security lines and make our gate in time. I realized I didn't look at our flight info carefully enough and thought our arrival time in Minneapolis was the time our flight was to leave. Oops. The next flight wouldn't leave until 5 p.m. Thankfully the ticket agent was able to secure spots for us on the flight as that was the last one to Minneapolis for the day. 

Mom and I found a restaurant. I got a Bloody Mary and she got a beer. We ate French fries, shared a pizza, read magazines, and talked for quite a while.

Long story longer - our 5 p.m. flight didn't take off until about 8:30 p.m. due to mechanical issues. That adds up to 9 hours being stuck at Dulles. I'm just glad we were able to get back home.

Mom and I were feeling pretty loopy by the time we boarded the plane. I found a seatbelt extender on my seat and decided to make a high fashion choker out of it. 

Our flight landed around 10:30 p.m. After dropping Mom off, Dale and I were home by 11:45 or so. Let's say I slept pretty hard. 

Holiday Season 2019 - A Christmas Story & The Shark's Tooth Tiki Bar

Friday, November 29, 2019

Lunch with cousin Leo today. We had a wonderful time visiting with him. After lunch Pete and Steph had to go to work so Mom and I stayed home with the kids. We watched Christmas Story which Abby, Xander, and Emma had never seen before. They seemed to really like it. 

After the movie we had dinner and then opened up the tiki bar Abby set up. Abby and I made up a tiki drink just for the evening. The beverage was made with about a third of an average sized tub of rainbow sherbet, one cup of Hawaiian Punch, and one cup of pineapple juice all stirred together. We divided it into 5 glasses and then topped each glass off with ginger ale. It turned out great and it was enjoyed by all!

By the way, Emma named the drink the Shark Bite and I named the tiki bar the Shark's Tooth Tiki Lounge.