American Players Theater

We went to the American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wisconsin, last night. What fun! 

Yesterday began with strong storms at home and in Spring Green. On our trip north, we saw lots of flooding including water on the highway at times. We wondered if the "show would go on" since the theater is outdoors. We decided not to picnic prior to the performance since we did not know the lay of the land and the weather was so questionable.

We enjoyed dinner at a 50's Diner right across the street from our motel. Then, before heading to the theater, we grabbed the insect spray and our raincoats. 

W. Somerset Maugham's Too Many Husbands was performed in the Up-the-Hill Theater. We hiked up the hill to the theater and passed many patrons picnicking. There is a great picnic area - which we will remember for next time! 

The theater was a pleasant surprise with comfortable padded seats. I think every seat was a good seat! The stage looks much further away than it is. This picture is from the last row - just as you walked into the theater.

The play was wonderful - that great British comedy with many one-liners and a zany plot! And no rain! Except for maybe 10 drops!

We woke up this morning to more heavy rain and storms - ugh! At least there was no rush to do a few errands and head home.

A Stunning Japanese Garden

We spent Thursday night in Rockford, Illinois. Isn't that the destination everyone chooses for their 43rd anniversary?!! Actually it is where we spent the first two days of our married life prior to out 3-year honeymoon in Florida. Ray has always called our time living in Florida, our 3-year honeymoon.

On Friday morning we went to Anderson Japanese Gardens. The day was absolutely gorgeous and the gardens are stunning!

Their website says "In our hectic and stressful world, Anderson Japanese Gardens opens minds to a different culture while offering guests a place of peace and tranquility where they will find healing, renewal, inspiration, and a re-energized soul." What a perfect description!

One can spend hours - there are many places to sit and the views in every direction are serene and gorgeous. Notice the reflections in the water.

We met a docent, Michael, and he shared some interesting facts about the garden. We found that the trees and plants are not labeled because this would then be considered a Botanical Garden. He said Anderson Japanese Garden is the top-rated Japanese Garden in North America! 

There weren't many people in the garden - it had just opened - so Docent Michael offered to walk with us. He gave us plenty of time to take the photos we wanted and he even suggested certain shots. He shared his knowledge of the gardens and really enhanced our visit.

We loved the waterfalls.

Docent Michael was kind enough to take out picture.

Here is my favorite photographer taking a picture of the raked gravel.

We had a wonderful visit and hope to return to the gardens in the fall. 

Civil War Quilts @ Illinois State Museum

I enjoyed the Civil War Quilts at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, Illinois, last week. I thought I would share some with you.

Exquisite embroidery.

 

Sunbursts were about 6 inches across

Signature quilt

Exquisite quilting.

 

The Seven Star quilt is a design I have never seen. Of course, I've never done research about Civil War quilts. The quilt intrigued me. Each star was made of 6 diamond pieces - I think you can see that in the center grouping below.

Seven Stars

 It was very uniform. 

It looked very utilitarian.

I put my hand right next to the quilt to help with the scale. Such tiny pieces!

My fingers were NOT touching the quilt!

If you are in Springfield, this is a great museum. We didn't even know it existed! There are lots of neat attractions in our Capitol, including the Lincoln Museum. Last week, thanks to Emily, we found a hidden treasure! In case you missed the last post, the Illinois State Museum is also free!

Illinois State Museum - fun!

Last Thursday, while in Springfield, we went to the Illinois State Museum with Emily, Mack, and Griffin while Brent was working. What fun we had!

Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois

We wandered through the first floor with everyone enjoying themselves. Although Grandpa probably would have enjoyed going much slower, he kept up pretty good!

Drawers pulled out with more things to see.

Dinosaurs are always interesting!

There were phones to hear information.

Then we went to the Play Museum on the lower level. The boys had their coats off immediately and started excavating for dinosaur bones!

On a dig!

Eventually more help arrived and the boys stopped long enough to 'dress' for the expedition in explorer vests.

Uncovering big bones!

The boys played in a jeep, packing it for an expedition; they went through a cave, they used a microscope, and more. They enjoyed putting together the baby Mastodon.

All done!

Dismantling a tusk.

Our last stop was to the 2nd floor to see the Civil War quilts. 

This time Grandma would have enjoyed going slower but I got to see each quilt so I'm not complaining. The 2nd floor just didn't have much to entertain little guys. 

I'll share some quilts in the next post.

I'd love to go back to the museum sometime and did I mention - besides being wonderful, it was free!

Hockey and Cheeseburgers

Last Saturday night, we went to a Rockford IceHogs hockey game with a bunch of other Lions. Ray is a Lion. The IceHogs haven't had the best season since the NHL strike was settled so I thought it would be a so-so game. Wrong!

GOOOAL! Yes the IceHogs scored early and often in the first period! Five goals in a period broke the franchise record! And they weren't done yet. They beat the Abbotsford Heat 7 - 2. 

One really fun part was that when the 4th goal was scored, everyone got free frozen custard from Culver's. When the 5th goal was scored, the frozen custard changed to concrete mixers. And when the 6th goal was scored, the concrete mixers changed to cheeseburgers. Yes, all 4300+ people could claim free cheeseburgers at a local Culver's the next day! The player that scored the sixth goal cost Culver's a lot of money and it was his first goal this season!

Now the sad part - we weren't in the area to claim our cheeseburgers the next day. And in case you are wondering, we didn't win anything with the 7th goal except a great IceHogs victory!

Oh, What a Night!

Oh, What a Night and other great music!

Tuesday night we were at the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin to see the Jersey Boys. It was fantastic! It truly was Oh, What a Night!

Jersey Boys is a musical where "the story dramatizes the forming, rise and eventual break-up of the original four members of The Four Seasons".(words from Wikipedia) Of course the music is phenomenal!

We had a gift certificate to the Overture Center and decided on this musical. We had never been to the Center and it is wonderful - we'll definitely go back! Our seats were in the Mezzanine. Notice on our tickets - one of us was in the Left Mezzanine and the other in the Right Mezzanine - that means we were sitting dead center right next to each other! Our seats were perfect!

Before the show, I took a couple of photos. The stage wasn't nearly as far away as it looks in the photo! This was our view to the right 

and to the left. I could not take a picture straight on - the lights messed with the camera.

We stayed at The Inn On The Square in Madison, right by the Capitol. That means we were 3-4 blocks from the Overture Center and could walk.

 I took these pictures on our walk 'home'. 

It was about the time of night when the Northern Lights were seen in parts of Minnesota and Illinois but not in downtown Madison ;(

Even without the aurora borealis, it was a wonderful evening!

A great few days!

Our son Brent called early (for us) on Thursday, my birthday. It was one of those days where he and his wife both needed to be at work and the babysitter was ill. This is very unusual and they called to see if we could help out. So I got a Griffin for my birthday! What a fun day with a 2-year old. Grandpa had made cupcakes and Griffy helped with the frosting.

 He also helped himself to the frosting!

It is the first time Griffy came without his big brother. We understand most things he says but every so often...  We were talking about Halloween and he patiently told us over and over that he wanted to be "Carry a Sword". When we picked up big brother Mack after school, we found out Griffy was saying "Curious George"! 

That evening Brent, Emily, Mack, and Griffy took us out to eat. After dinner I went to my quilt group and celebrated with the other birthday girl in our group - she is 91!

On Friday, Ray and I went to Dubuque, Iowa, to see the play - Hallelujah Girls. It was good and we had some laughs. We got up to in Dubuque to a beautiful day Saturday. First we drove to Sundown Ski area since we had never been there. Then Ray suggested we go to Monona, Iowa. My neighbor said a coworker told her about a quilt shop there.

We had no trouble finding Suhdron Fabrics.

It is three floors of fabric and other things - wow! They have been in business for 40 years and some of the inventory might be that old! 

It was rather fascinating to look around - polyester knits, double knits, new clothes that are many years old, craft items, plus some 'today' fabrics and notions too! If you are looking for something that used to be easy to find, I bet they have it! The lady working was really nice and we had a good time looking. 

A customer and the clerk both suggested we eat at Jodi's just a block down the street. We had a great lunch and even left with a loaf of wheat bread!

It was a pretty drive home. Some of the leaves are still on the trees and with the sun shining, it was nice to enjoy what is left of our fall colors.

This might change everything...

I watched this video this morning. It is worth the 12 minutes it takes to watch. It might just change everything…for the better! Thanks Erin, over at One Piece at a Time for showing it to me.

A Great October - so far!

Saturday, October 1, was a really gorgeous day. Mr. R and I decided to spend most of the day outside. After dropping a carload of electronics off at the Super Recycle Fair, we headed to Galena. It took a while to find a parking spot and then we enjoyed shopping and had lunch at Benjamin's in our favorite window seat - just love to watch the people go by.

We hiked across the river to Oktoberfest. Our goal was to see the Wiener Dog Races. Our neighbor Jack was racing. That's him in the airplane outfit - cute goggles! He undoubtedly had the best outfit in the wiener dog parade!

We sat in the bleachers for almost 2 hours before Jack's heat came up. There were about 120 dogs - all wieners! Anyway Jack decided to race diagonally on the course instead of straight. He came in second and didn't advance. ;(


While we were at the races, our North Carolina son and his family arrived at our other son's home. So we headed that way shortly after Jack was eliminated. We were able to meet our newest granddaughter at last! (Of course, she is adorable!) This week we are enjoying some time with our children and grandchildren. 


It's been a great October so far!

A couple of days in Madison

On Tuesday, we enjoyed another 1-to-1 class at the Apple Store. Of course our class was 1-to-2. The instructors remind me so much of guys I used to teach. And in a 1-to-1 class, the structure of the class is up to us so we get lots of questions answered and still learn more new things. Dwight was an excellent teacher!

We enjoyed a fantastic dinner at The Melting Pot. We had a gift certificate from some special people and decided to use it. 

The Big Night Out 4-course dinner was wonderful. 

We couldn't finish all of the 1st course - the cheese fondue with bread and apples. (There were also veggies but there was broccoli - we forgot to say anything. She offered to bring other veggies but we said no; we already knew there would be too much food!) 

We both finished the salad course!

The 3rd course with all of the meats and vegetables was delicious but there was so much food - strip steak, filet mignon, shrimp, ravioli, chicken, duck, red potatoes and mushrooms! 

Then the 4th course - we had the flaming turtle chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, rice krispie treats, brownies, pound cake, cheese cake, and marshmallows - we ate it all!

We were two well-fed people!

We booked our motel through Choice Hotels using our Farm Bureau discount for the first time. We had stayed at the motel before but this time we had a 2-level room! This shot is taken near the door. You can't see the bathroom by the door or the microwave and fridge on the right. 

The chair that Ray is sitting in is just like our new chair!

Upstairs there was a king-sized bed and a bathroom with a 2-person jacuzzi tub and shower!

 The windows were great but I couldn't get a good picture.

Wednesday was not nearly as exciting - lots of doctor appointments and tests getting ready for my surgery. I also got my brace fitted.