Major League Baseball Parks

I do love ball parks. The atmosphere is wonderful; the sights, sounds and flavors! The game is entertaining and so civilized. It's just a great place to be. I started out in Minneapolis visiting the Metrodome when the kids were little. Then when traveling I would check out the baseball schedules. I took the kids to Yankee Stadium and Busch Stadium; both gone now, but I have added the new parks to my to-do list. We saw the Colorado Rockies play during their inaugural year but haven't been to their current ball park. Now when I travel, I try to find opportunities to visit more. Dale has been very willing to visit ball parks with me so we have seen quite a few together, three this year already. The baseball collection started out as Jay's. I would buy him a baseball and buy Ashley a team teddy bear at each park. She lost interest in the bears and Jay lost interest in the ball parks. He finally told me that I could keep his baseballs because I liked them better. So I continue to buy myself a baseball at each new ball park and will continue to collect more baseballs. I would think I was getting close to visiting half the teams but then they build new ball parks and that means more on my to-do list. I do love my baseball collection and display them at home. They are fun souvenirs.

Old Friends

It's been more than four years since I sold my house in Cedar Falls and packed up my belongings. At that time I thought this West Des Moines home would be a short chapter in my life so I left some things packed in storage. I have moved a few things out of storage and passed some things on to the kids but there are still some boxes and furniture in that space. Today my friend, Tammy asked me about those boxes and it reminded me that now would be a good time to sort and determine what I still want to keep. I recently heard that you should only keep what you find to be often useful or very beautiful. I like that philosophy. I want Grandma's Fostoria, but there is no room in the kitchen at this time. I do not want the box of telephones. Those will land in the dumpster. I decided to open the box of Hummels and found that it was like seeing old friends again; seventeen old friends. Yes, I do want to keep them, for now at least. They hold some precious memories and I still find them to be beautiful. Most were meaningful gifts from my mother-in-law, Betty. I remember which one was my first and I remember the occasion marked by others. She brought me the one in the front with the buggy the day that I gave birth to my first child. It's nice to see my old Hummel friends in my living room again.

Pool Time

Ashley came to visit!
It did not turn out like we planned but it ended up being a very nice visit. She was going to have a couple of photo shoots but one got canceled. I was going to take Friday afternoon off to hang out but ended up going to a funeral out of town and leaving Ashley at my house. There were plenty of clouds and a few rainstorms but we made it all work. We ate good food and relaxed lots. We went to the Farmer's Market and even took a quick trip to the mall. The sun came out and we got to spend time in the pool all three days. We exercised in the water and lounged on the chairs with icy drinks. I wanted to document our weekend and took my little camera down to the pool. With plenty of water and sun neither of us felt camera ready. We each took a few shots thinking that foot photos might be the answer and then decided which ones could be blogged. These were the two that passed the test. I always love it when Ashley visits but often do not have any photo documentation of our very relaxing time. This visit was relaxing too and it felt a little bit like vacation which is a good thing.

Fishing Weekend

Once a year Iowa offers a free fishing weekend allowing people to fish without a license. Since Dale and I barely used our fishing licenses last year we thought this would be a good weekend to get out our fishing poles without the expense of two licenses. We fished on Saturday and we fished on Sunday. We went to Mine Pond, Q-Pond, Lake Ahquabi, Moffitt Reservoir and Water Works Park. Sadly this was the only fish that we were able to get on a hook. We had some nibbles and sacrificed a few nightcrawlers but did not catch anything until the last hour of fishing on Sunday. It may be a tiny little fish but I was thrilled when I reeled it in to the shore.


I thought we would fish just one day but after coming up with nothing on Saturday I was motivated to go again on Sunday. I lost a couple of lures on snags. Dale even climbed out on a dead tree to find the right spot, but no fish! We did see some turtles, dragon flies and butterflies. We got to watch storms roll in and back out on Saturday. Sunday we got a beautiful sunny and breezy day. Finally I did catch my tiny fish and felt content with my fishing weekend. As always, I was grateful that Dale was there to take the poor thing off the hook for me. We set it back in the water to swim off but it may never see out of its right eye again. That may be the extent of our fishing this year but we did enjoy some beautiful areas on a nice June weekend.

Minnesota Twins

The initial motivation for Dale
and me to go to the Twin Cities
over Memorial Day weekend was to visit Target Field, new home to the Minnesota Twins.
I do love to visit major league ball parks and this one was extra special. Back in the late eighties Jay, Ashley and I were big Minnesota Twins fans.

This is a photo of Jay, Ashley and their dad is at the Metrodome in 1988. I never loved the Metrodome but I think it gave me a real appreciation for outdoor ball parks. We were familiar with lots of players back then but Kirby Puckett was a favorite. That's me above by his statue at the new park. Don't Jay and Ashley look cute all decked out for a Twins game? Ashley's Kirby Puckett doll still lives in my guest room. I had the doll's uniform made especially for Ashley after finding the right Cabbage Patch Doll to be her Kirby Puckett. Jay wore his Twins jersey often and was ready to photograph the players on the field that day.

I was quite impressed by Target Field. It has a very unique appearance from outside of the park. Its a great place to watch a game and we got to see the Twins beat the Rangers who we had just visited in Texas last month. Minnesota seems to be embracing outdoor baseball. The game was sold out. The scalpers were charging three times face value for tickets. We chose to buy standing room only tickets because that was all that was left at the ticket counters. The atmosphere was great. Its a beautiful ball park. I hope to go back again, maybe with the kids next time!

Como Zoo

I have always loved Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota. As a child I remember sitting on the large turtle when my parents took us to the zoo. I took my children to the Como Zoo many times. They no longer allowed children to sit on the turtle but we always enjoyed the zoo. This photo of Jay and Ashley is from 1987. Last Sunday, Dale and I visited Como Zoo and although there were lots of changes, I smiled when I saw this same gorilla sculpture still in the same spot. My disappointment was that the polar bear display was closed. It reopened a couple of days after we were there. The polar bears were always my favorite, so I guess I will need to go back again.

The zoo was very busy on Sunday with lots of small children and many strollers. It really made me smile to remember that I had pushed a stroller through the same zoo over twenty years ago. The people crowded in for the Sparky show just like we did in the 80s. It was so fun to be in the Twin Cities again after so long.

Happy Birthday, Ashley Anne!!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful daughter! So many wonderful things have happened since your first birthday! Look how cautious you were with your cake. You have gotten brave enough to start your own business. I wish you a very happy birthday and a fabulous year! Love you, MOM

Texas Food

Dale and I are foodies and it's an important part of our travel. We research ahead looking for local eateries that are landmarks or favorites. Of course we always focus on the specialties of the area. This trip we got lots of Tex Mex and BBQ and it was very good. This is a photo of Dale enjoying the big bacon cheeseburger at Kincaids in Ft. Worth. This was a very unique stop with a great story behind the business. We even got fried okra. You certainly don't get that in Iowa

Joe T. Garcia's was amazingly good food in a beautiful setting. The food was just incredible. We even got cloth napkins!! As much as Dale and I love good food we often hit the diners, drive-ins and dives when we are exploring and love those places also.

We spent part of a morning at the Dallas Farmers Market. We were quite impressed with the beautiful displays of produce. We had thought it would be more of an event, like the Des Moines Farmer's Market but this one was much more about the produce and less about entertainment and atmosphere. We didn't buy any vegetables but we had lots of samples. We also ate lots of ice cream on vacation after we discovered Braum's.
Their ice cream was so good that it may be worth a trip South.

This was a very interesting stop in Oklahoma! The huge sign says just "Fried Pies." The woman at the rest stop insisted that we must stop at exit 151 so we did! It was a very unique experience and well worth the calories. I had the chicken vegetable which was like a very good pot pie then the blackberry for dessert. This place was as local as it could be!

All this food and chili tamales, ball park hot dogs, sausage, brisket and more made for a good eating trip. It was my hope to not gain any weight on this twelve day vacation. I was thrilled to succeed! I was not as thrilled to find out that Dale lost six pounds on vacation. WHAT? How could that happen? OK, so I was happy for him but really? He lost six pounds!!

Congratulations, Molly!

On Sunday I headed to Mason City for my niece, Molly's graduation party! Molly is the youngest child of my youngest sister. Our family is growing up very quickly. It was fun to celebrate with Molly and see lots of family. I am excited that Molly is going to UNI and will be living in Cedar Falls. It's a great town.
I got to town early and met Jay and Briana for a walk in East Park. It's a gorgeous park where I spent time as a child and lots of time with my children when they were little also. The park has been improved and well cared for over the years. It is a gem in Mason City!

Waterloo Weekend

I had a great weekend visiting Ashley and Mowgli in Waterloo this weekend. Travis was gone for a motorcycle weekend so I didn't get to see him but it was a fun weekend anyway. We went for lots of walks and Mowgli was happy to go with us. We also ate great food and got to go some of my favorite places; Brown Bottle and Pablos. I got to see a couple very good friends, Linda and Larry. I love the opportunity to catch up with my Cedar Falls friends!

Linda gave us rhubarb from her yard. Ashley had mentioned strawberry rhubarb pie recently so we found a recipe and made a yummy pie for dessert and breakfast the next day! It was so fun to hang out with Ashley, walking, eating, talking and just lounging around together! Mowgli cried when I left. . . how sad. I will be back soon!

Hiking and a Hotdog

I had a great Mother's Day!

The kids were not here but they will all be down in two weeks and I look forward to that.
Dale and I went hiking at Ledges State Park in the morning and went to an I-Cubs game in the afternoon. How great is that? Hiking in the woods and a ball park hot dog for lunch?


I hope to get to a good hiking spot often this summer. It is great exercise and much more pleasant than a treadmill at the gym. The trails were quite steep and we did make it up to the crow's nest lookout. It was a good workout. I love that the creek weaves through the park with the waters running over the roads in several places. We didn't get to all the trails so I hope to get back to Ledges again soon. The I-Cubs won today too. It was a good day. Now I look forward to seeing Jay, Ashley, Travis and Briana in a couple of weeks.

I Love Being a Mom!

I am very grateful for the privilege of being a mom to Jay and Ashley. It was wonderful to have them in my life as babies, children, teens and adults! Mother's Day is a reminder of that wonderful blessing.

On rare occaision when they were little one of them would call me Linda. I would remind them that everybody calls me that but only they got to call me Mom. I thank God that I get to be their Mom!!

Farmer's Market Season Openers

My favorite farmer's markets
opened for the season this week.
I always love the event; the music, sights, sounds, smells and the people. On Thursday Dale and I got some amazing flax seed bread and some very fresh asparagus at the Farmer's Market in Valley Junction. Those purchases created this wonderful Saturday lunch along with some fresh mozzarella from Graziano's, one of my new favorite markets.

Last Saturday Ashley, Travis and Mowgli went with us to the Downtown Farmer's Market along with thousands of other people. I love the market and the music. We got some very tasty things but the crowd made it hard to move around. It was opening day and the weather was perfect so lots of people came. I took this photo when we took a short walk downtown to get a break from the crowds at the farmer's market. It was fun to take Ashley and Travis to the farmer's market and it fit in well with our dog friendly weekend.

Texas Events

In Texas we saw some great events.

I have enjoyed visits to Major League Baseball Parks throughout the country on my travels. When I met Dale I found out that he did the same thing with Nascar tracks. On this trip to Texas we were able to include one race, two baseball games and a rodeo.


Minute Maid Park in Houston was a fun ball park. The train high over the outfield was a great way to mark the home team home runs. That was the most unique thing about that ball park. Houston Astros played a good game against Florida. It was a beautiful evening so the roof was open and I enjoyed the game as I watched the sun set over the city. We didn't see much of Houston, this was our only stop in that city.

We saw the Texas Rangers play a great game against the Detroit Tigers. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was more enclosed on the sides than many of the parks that I have seen. There wasn't a view of the city but it didn't matter because it was a very interesting game. We even stayed for the fireworks after the game. I think we will have good memories of both ballparks.

Our trip timing was based on the Nascar race held at Texas Motor Speedway. The forecast did not look good and we ended up experiencing our first rain delay. We traveled to the track on Saturday and spent a couple of hours under the bleachers due to a continual rain. The race was postponed to the next day so we found some fun in Ft. Worth, then headed back to the track to see the race on Monday.

I was very excited to see a real Texas Rodeo. We got lucky to find that the Real Texas Festival was being held in conjunction with the Mesquite Rodeo while we were in Texas. Dale and I had been to several rodeos in Iowa and were pleased to see that the Texas rodeo was very similar. It was a fun evening in Texas and we were pleased to see that Rodeo is good in Iowa or in Texas.

I still have some more vacation photos and plan to post them soon, probably mixed with current posts also!

My Photographer

Sunday morning Ashley and I did a mini photo shoot to TRY to get a good photo of me. When she requested the session, I was game. I had certainly put her through many photo sessions and taken thousands and thousands of photos.

We didn't find the perfect lighting and I didn't have time to color my gray roots, but we got a photo! Jay didn't like my old facebook profile picture, so this one will work better and is more up to date. I have aged a couple of years since the old shot was taken. I wasn't her easiest subject. I laughed and looked goofy lots but it was fun to play around with it.

Ashley takes lots of portraits and is doing very well with her photography. You can check out her work on her blog or on her website.

Weekend with Mowgli

It's been a very fun weekend and there is still one more day to enjoy! Travis and Ashley brought Mowgli with them for a visit. The weather was perfect and we have enjoyed many fun outdoor activities. This is a shot of Mowgli joining us at Snookies for his first "puppy cone." We also took him to the farmers market and the dog park as well as a picnic with our favorite B & B deli sandwiches. It was a perfect weekend to find outdoor activities. I just love being outside in this weather and Mowgli adds to the fun!

Texas Wildflowers

One of the things that Texans seem to be very proud of are their wildflowers. We hit the season perfectly and found roadsides covered with wildflowers of every color. We pulled over several times to stretch our legs and photograph the flowers. Bluebonnets seem to be the favorite for good reason. They are very striking. We were very fortunate to visit the state during bluebonnet season!

Texas Vacation

Dale and I recently returned home from a twelve day vacation in Texas. We did a pretty good job of exploring some of the cities and rural areas, but it's a big state and we did not see all of it. We were impressed with many thing and had a great time. Texans are obviously proud of their state for good reason. I finally got my photos from the camera to the computer and I will be posting more very soon.

April in Iowa

It's absolutely gorgeous in Iowa this week! We have had enough sunshine and warmth to open many blossoms. The daffodils have been just perfect the last couple of weeks. After the warmth this weekend the magnolias and many tulips have come to a full bloom. The magnolias smell wonderful and my favorite place for a magnolia fix is the Drake University campus. Tulips are my favorite flowers of all and the best tulip beds in town are blooming this week. Last week when I drove past Anderson Erickson dairy the tulips were all closed but after a perfect weekend, the flowers were opening quickly on Monday. This is just the most gorgeous time of the year. Well, this and October are my favorites! So although I am very excited, I am asking myself why we would leave Iowa for a vacation this week. It's so beautiful here! Of course I am looking forward to exploring new areas on vacation and plan to take lots of photographs of all sorts of beautiful places and things.

Birthday Weekend

Dale's idea of a birthday weekend was fantastic! Sunday was another gorgeous day. I met my friend, Jackie at our neighborhood coffee shop for a leisurely latte outdoors in the sunshine. Dale and I spent the afternoon at the I-Cubs game. It was a beautiful day to be at the ballpark. We saw Ryne Sanberg, the new manager and we ate hot dogs and peanuts! Too bad that the I-Cubs didn't win but we thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. To make the weekend even better Dale got a device and successfully got all of my documents off the computer that seemed to crash a couple of months ago. Now the documents and all my photos are on my brand new computer and I did not have to deal with the hassle! I just love that!! The birthday is officially over and now it's time to get ready for work on Monday. Just four more days of work before our next adventure!

Fifty-One

I just love birthdays! This was a very good birthday. So many people were so wonderful. I got lots of cards in the mail. Since I have been developing some self control I actually saved them to open on my birthday. I got off work at 2, came home and sat on a lounge chair in the sun to open my cards.

I work with the best volunteers! They are wonderful people all year round, but they were especially nice to help me celebrate my birthday. They brought flowers, cards, candy and balloons. Gladys baked my very favorite red velvet cake and it was yummy! I got lots of hugs and birthday wishes reminding me of how fortunate I am to work with such wonderful people.

Dale did a beautiful job of helping me celebrate my birthday. He took me to my favorite spot for artichoke dip and Merlot. He even told me about it a couple of days ahead so that I could look forward to it and answer my friends when they asked what we were doing. We took a sunset stroll at Gray's Lake after our dinner which was wonderful! He brought me flowers and wrapped presents too. I have to admit that I told him after the first couple of years that the birthday dinner didn't count as a gift. I guess that's part of my history with birthdays. I love the celebration and I think I have passed that on to my children. They probably have higher birthday expectations too. . . thanks to me! (Sorry about that, Travis and Briana! But it is fun, isn't it?)

Dale suggested that it be a birth-weekend rather than just one day and I thought that sounded like a wonderful idea! When he asked what I wanted to do on Saturday the answer was easy. I wanted to go hiking in the woods, preferably at Ahquabi Lake near Indianola. It was a gorgeous day near seventy degrees and perfect for hiking. Tiny flowers were blooming on the floor of the woods and the trees were budding beautifully. It felt so good to be in the woods and near the lake. The trails up and down hills were also a great workout after the birthday cake and wine!

Last Week

Last week was wonderful with visits from both of my kids! Ashley was in town for two nights during the work week. I took one day off and we had lots of time to hang out, shop, eat and enjoy the perfect weather. We went for some walks and to the gym. She was registered for a photography seminar and because her friend ended up home with a sick babe, I was Ashley's partner for the seminar which was very fun.

The day that Ashley left Jay and Briana arrived for two nights. We

had a great time hanging out at the house and exploring new places. The photos are from our Saturday trip to the zoo. After the zoo we played a few holes on a disc golf course that was new to us. Jay got to try two foods from our list of 100 things to eat in Iowa, Claxon's ribs and Tasty Tacos! All four of us also made a trip to the gym. It was fun to learn some things from Jay's experience at the gym.
It was wonderful to have the kids around the house for several days. Having family in the house is one of my very favorite things. I love waking up in the morning and remembering that the kids are here! Jay and Briana brought birthday gifts too and that is always fun. I have to admit that it felt awfully quiet around here when the visits were over but the sheets are clean and I am ready for the next visits!