Cliff and Stan

Here finally is an entry for our much adored boys Cliff and Stan. As you can see Cliff loves being held and Stan loves beer and then napping on every cookbook I try to read.

Prom Pictures

Well, as promised here are the prom pictures. It was such a lame waste of money and time, but it sure is fun laughing at these pictures years later. Pictured are our my friends Candee, Jessie, and Jonathan. Now everyone has to post their prom pictures!

My first banjo tune

Ok...I'm putting myself out there for the world to witness my banjo prowess. Sit down now...keep yer shoes on and rest your ears awhile to the sweet tunes of none o'ter than yours truly. You'all come back now...ya hear?

Come on Cliffy! Go Fetch!

Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you the handsome and talented Cliffy! I must say that some cats have it and some don't...this cat's got "moxie".

Ken and Carol's Alaskan Halibut!

Ken and Carol went to Alaska and all they brought us...was a freezer full of Halibut! Boy is it some good eatin'! So fresh and delicious!

Old pictures of our hometown, Ladysmith, Wi.

I was recently exploring the Wisconsin Historical Society site and found some neat old photos of Ladysmith back when it was indeed a logging town.
The Flambeau River which snakes through our county (Rusk) and town is prominently featured in these old pictures. It is odd to think that the river I grew up swimming in was once all completely covered in logs.


Logging in Ladysmith: the industry that built our little town. Here you can see the Flambeau River.


The Carnegie Library which was kitty corner to the left from our restaurant, Audrey's Spot Cafe.


The mighty Flambeau River. Many a time Dave and I canoed up and down stretches of this river. Many times with girlfriends did we "go tubin'" starting at the dam by the paper mill and float all the way to the hospital. What fun! Oh, what our parents did not know we were up to those long, unsupervised summer days.




I grew up across the street from this very pretty school built in c.1908. It was first the High School, but was the junior high in my life time. It was surrounded by gorgeous sugar maples that were all ablaze with color in the fall.

Our Beautiful Bagels

Dave and I were looking for a new bread baking challenge this winter, so we decided to give bagels a try after overcoming flashbacks of our respective factory jobs from hell at Bagels Forever in Madison, Wi.!
We turned to our trusty source for bread baking, Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice (http://peterreinhart.typepad.com/) Dave quickly came to realize why this dough is known as the stiffest dough of the bread kingdom: he had to throw his whole weight into kneading it! It was quite a workout. Even though this recipe required a good number of steps, the bagels were not that difficult to make--it was in fact pretty fun especially the boiling and sprinkling of toppings. The results were well worth the work--they tasted amazing!
Anyway, here are some pictures of our first attempt. We hope to make them again soon!

Dave's purty new suit

Dave really needed a new suit and we recently found a great deal on a snazzy suit at Bloomies. After Dave's fitting we headed over to Forty Carrots where we enjoyed a splendid lunch of carrot soup, yummy sandwiches, and the most amazing soft serve frozen yogurt ever!!! You must try this yogurt!!! It was very Seinfeldian this yogurt--it's too good to be true!

Maiden Voyage!

Here we are sitting in the Arlington Heights Starbucks on a cold President's Day looking wistfully out the window wishing it were nice out so we could be outside playing. Alas!
So, instead I am learning to blog so we can post for the interested few our musings, travel adventures, and other happenings.

For example, brave Dave is expanding his musical knowledge beyond playing the tuba and violin to include banjo picking. Check back soon for a picture or youtube of Dave playing the only song he knows so far "Cripple Creek." (I'm sure Cherryholmes will be recruiting him once the word gets out about Dave's picking!)

This New England winter has been particularly brutal forcing us to stay indoors for most of it, so naturally we took to the kitchen! We have had fun learning how to make bagels! Our first batch looked so professional: puffy and lovely golden brown, but our second batch was not quite as good due to my own mistake of not making the dough stiff enough (live and learn). We hope to make them again soon--they are the best bagels we have had since moving to Boston where it's simply impossible to find a good bagel.

We are very much looking forward to visiting Dave's folks in Palm Springs! Look forward to hanging out with Ken and Carol, hiking, playing some tennis, watching some tennis at the BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells) http://www.bnpparibasopen.org/1/home/
We already have Rubios and In and Out Burger on the intinerary too!

Well, that's all for now, but check back soon for pictures!