Today is my sister, Sandi's birthday! I have always told her kids that I taught her everything she knows, but that is an exaggeration. Sandi is five years younger than me so I may have taught her a few things over the years, but certainly not everything. Life gets busy and many things change but I still enjoy my time with my youngest sibling.
I may have taken one too many. . . no, that's not possible! As you can see they may have been finished before I finished. We had fun with the mini photo shoot. When I showed the photos to Ashley she said, "You should blog the whole set!" So I did. 
It was a restful holiday weekend. Personally I think that every weekend should be a three day weekend. Who decided that we should work five days each week? I took this photo on Monday morning when Dale and I went out to use the leftover night crawlers. We spent an hour at a fishing hole close to home. The rest of the worms will live out their days in the luxury of Dale's sunken garden.
The holiday weekend seemed like a great time to go buy our fishing licenses for this year then head out to enjoy the water and sunshine. Two years ago I went fishing for the first time in about twenty years. Dale took me to Q Pond which is about an hour south of here. That was free fishing day in Iowa. I caught a huge bass. It was much bigger than this one that Dale caught yesterday. It really was! My brother said, "That's a helluva fish, Lin!" That's quite a compliment from Dan. Saturday Dale and I headed to Q Pond and it was his turn to catch the big one for the day. It was pretty exciting to watch him pull it in and get to grab a photo quickly before he released it back to the water.
This was my catch for the day! Even a little bluegill can be fun to catch. We have gone fishing every summer but Saturday was the first time we got night crawlers together. I had not baited a hook since my kids were very little. I taught Jay how bait a hook at a very young age, so he took care of that. I could have asked Dale to bait it for me. I knew he would do it, but I figure asking him to take the fish off the hook is enough. Yes, Dale rescued this tiny fish from my hook! But I did bait the hook. Dang, I had forgotten how those worms squirm while being sacrificed for my fishing pleasure. It's pretty gross so I try to do it quickly.
As much as I do enjoy the fishing, the best part is to be outside and near the water. We sat on a little dock at Q Pond and I loved the chance to dangle my feet in the water. The sun was shining and it was so peaceful. We watched the sky as the clouds rolled in and the thunder started. After the thunder got louder, Dale mentioned that it might be time to pick up. We reeled in our lines, picked up the tackle boxes and got in the car just seconds before the rain drops started. It quickly changed to a downpour with small hail. We laughed and enjoyed our excellent timing. After the rain let up some we headed back toward home and stopped to fish at Maffit Reservoir. We caught a couple of very small fish there before the thunder sent us to the car. Again it started to rain just seconds after we got packed up and in the car. We got lucky again. It felt like a kick off to summer. 
Every summer Dale and I enjoy going to Principal Park to watch the Iowa-Cubs play baseball. They are a AAA team for the Chicago Cubs. I really love the atmosphere and enjoy the sounds and sights. I also love a bargain. My nephew, Drew will not be surprised to know that I get excited about dollar night at the ballpark. Hey, if we are going anyway, why not go on dollar night! Thursday was dollar night. I also make it a point to mark my calendar for the food pantry days when admission is just a couple of canned food items. Drew also knows that we walk a few blocks rather than paying for parking. It just makes good sense!
Dale and I tried to find some morels a couple of weeks ago but we were unsuccessful. Wednesday I got a wonderful surprise from my co-worker, Jen. She had a very successful mushroom hunt the day before and brought her harvest to share with me. They were absolutely gorgeous. This photo was a "set up." I propped a few mushrooms up on some toothpicks stuck in the dirt.
We had several suggestions for cooking methods and I wanted to try a couple. The common ingredients were mushrooms and butter so everything tasted delicious. It was great to learn more about morels. I had never experienced cooking them. Although I had eaten them with other things, I had not seen or handled the uncooked mushrooms. They were more sturdy than I had expected. They really are amazing things, so intricate and delicious! Thank you, Jen!
Twenty-five years ago this morning, I gave birth to my baby girl. She had great apgar scores and has continued to excel over the years. Happy Birthday, Ashley Anne!
Congratulations to my nephew, Drew! 
Saturday started out cold and windy but we decided to move forward with our outdoor plans. Travis was off with friends so Ashley and I lounged around in the morning then Dale came to get us. We stopped by the car show where one of my friends and her husband were showing a car. It was a quick stop but Ashley used my camera to shoot some photos of the cars and one of me.
We drove out to see if the lilacs were still blooming and we stumbled on one of the most unique weddings I have ever seen. The costumes were from another century and there were men in tights. I wanted to catch a few photos to show Travis, so Ashley and Dale patiently waited for me. It was a gorgeous day so after I got a couple of shots, I joined them on the grass. The sun was perfect and the park was very quiet even with the wedding in the distance. It was incredibly restful and felt a bit like vacation; the way that Ashley and I vacation! I won't post a photo of the wedding. It just wouldn't seem very nice.
If lilacs smell like Spring, rhubarb tastes like Spring. Thanks to my friend, Jennifer, I now have a rhubarb connection in Des Moines. OK, I know you can buy it in the grocery store but it's just not right. Who buys rhubarb and lilacs?
Friday afternoon I braved the drizzle to pull rhubarb before heading home from work. My son-in-law loves rhubarb and he was heading to town. Although I considered other recipes, I ended up making rhubarb pie. Pie is such a beautiful process. I love mixing the crust, rolling it and crimping the edges. Rhubarb isn't so pretty but it is so yummy and truly tastes like Spring!
What a wonderful Mother's Day for me! Ashley and Travis invited Dale and me to their house for a cook out, so we drove to Waterloo to spend the day with them. The food was great and it was fun to sit in their yard and even do a little gardening with Ashley. After lunch Travis suggested geocaching which was a great excuse to be out in the woods. Most of the caches were on steep hills so we got a bit of a workout while getting dirty and enjoying the sunshine.
Mowgli came with us geocaching and loved running up and down the steep banks on both sides of the trail. When he went down by the river he was discovered by some curious Canadian geese. The geese seemed to line up and challenge Mowgli and did not retreat until he went into the water. They were honking loudly at him and he seemed to want to herd them but it was his first experience with a river so he was a bit cautious. We had so much fun watching him and photographing the event. Dale was the only one who had his camera. He took some shots then handed it to me. I took a couple, including this one then handed the camera to Ashley. Because we all have the same camera we were able to shoot easily and make our own adjustments. I am so glad that Dale's parents taught him to share so well. Thanks, Dale!
We got back to their house with a very dirty and damp dog. He did smell a little like river water but still wanted to snuggle in the car. I was almost as dirty as Mowgli but not nearly as wet. Ashley and I ran to Wal-mart where we bought a "bathtub" for Mowgli. The neighbor kids noticed when we brought out the hose and were thrilled when Ashley said that they could help. He was well scrubbed and so cooperative even though he was obviously very cold. It was fun to photograph the bath and the shaking of the water afterward. It was such a wonderful day with family on a gorgeous sunny day that I wasn't ready to head home but it was getting late and it was a "work night" so Dale and I headed back to the big city. Thanks so much for a great Mother's Day, Ashley, Travis and Mowgli!
Saturday was a gorgeous day for a treasure hunt. Dale and I started off looking for morel mushrooms and ended up with killer sandwiches!
Walking off-trail through the woods did create a hunger for lunch. Recently we had talked about trying B&B Grocery, Meat and Deli which is the home of the "killer sandwich." It is a south side icon but neither of us had ever been there. Walking into B&B was like waking into the past. Not much has changed over the decades. We selected carefully and headed to a park to enjoy our lunch and another gorgeous May day. As you can see it was another opportunity for me to play with my new camera also. I love Saturdays!
I have been without a "lilac connection" for three years. In the past I always had a spot that I knew I could find a lilac bouquet for my table. In Rockfalls the neighbors would share. In Mason City I could get them at the old Asbury farmstead. In Cedar Falls, Linda and I found a great lilac display where we often walked. Since I have moved to Des Moines I have been without my connection. I still do not have a bouquet for my home but Dale did take me to Ewing Park on Des Moines' south side where they have an amazing collection of lilac bushes of every color.
Dale and I had so much fun photographing the goslings on Saturday. When we got to a computer to look at the images we were pleased with the photos and excited to try a few new things on the same family of geese so on Sunday we headed back to the pond with our cameras. I spent some time using Dale's zoom lens so I could get closer shots.
I played with the aperture some and created the first image with the focus on the baby and the parent a bit blurred in the foreground. I do like the look but often would prefer both subjects to be in focus. The reason for my study is to learn how the numbers on my camera create the one that I want for each particular shot. One good solution is to shoot just one object like this adorable gosling enjoying his Sunday breakfast. It was such a pleasure to enjoy time with Dale, the sunshine, cameras and geese.
Saturday was the second day of May and it was a gorgeous sunny day. After a week full of rainy, cloudy April days, Saturday was a treat. Dale called in the morning to say that it was gorgeous and invited me to go exploring with him and our cameras. We drove to a nearby small town, admired the beautiful trees filled with blossoms and stopped by the pond where I knew there would be geese with new goslings. It was a fun place to photograph Spring and enjoy the sunshine. I feel sure that the geese and the water are well focused but goslings are so cute and fuzzy, its hard to tell if the photo is crisp!
I am not a bird expert. My knowledge is very limited, but I do appreciate and enjoy watching birds. This week a new bird showed up at work. Jennifer, a coworker was sure that it was quite rare in our area. That night she got out her bird book and confirmed her first thought.
It is a first spring male Summer Tanager. They rarely come this far north but do venture into the southern parts of Iowa. I promised to bring my camera to see if we could catch a shot of the bird. These were taken through a window and I am obviously looking down on the bird. He was not willing to pose in the branches so that I could get a better shot, but I was glad to be able to catch his color as he foraged through the sunflower seeds that had dropped to the ground under one of the bird feeders. Maybe I will become a real birdwatcher someday.
