Archive | October, 2010

{ pot of chili } & { wine tasting }

4 Oct
Saturday was a gorgeous second day of October.  Jeanette, Nathan, and I packed a picnic lunch and drove east to Stillwater for an afternoon at an apple orchard/winery with hundreds of our closest friends. We could not believe how busy Aamodt’s was – crazy families and people and cars all over the place!  We found ourselves a picnic table to eat our PB & Js and then joined a tour of the winery, which is conveniently right next door.  We learned about grapes and fermentation and concluded our tour in the tasting room.  Wine tasting.  Check.  Raspberry dessert wine?  Delicious. 

It kinda looks like we don’t even like each other in the above picture but really, we do.  We enjoy each other’s company so much that we returned to campus, prepared a pot of chili (with compromised noodles AND brown sugar), delicious biscuits, and yummy apple crisp.  We slaved and invited four fellow seminary friends to join us in enjoying the perfect fall feast that evening.  (Okay, so it’s not beer bread, as dictated by the fall list.  But I’m going to take it as checking it off the list.)  The night continued with Bananagrams (with the added lynnkjernes/kylemyhre twist) and many episodes of The Big Bang Theory.  Good day.  Good night.
{ get lost in a corn maze }
{ bake a pie }
{ prepare a pot of chili, beer bread, invite friends over to enjoy }
{ step on the crunchy leaves }
{ sew a baby quilt }
{ homemade pizza on the pizza stone }
{ attend a wine tasting }
{ make and share these }
{ 10k training – the hiatus is over – it’s back on }
{ find a fall festival }
{ cabin weekend. a hike to the fire tower }
{ scarves.  puffy vests.  boots. }
{ read a for-fun book }
{ cheer on the twins from target field }
{ take a stroll around a lake }
{ pick my own pumpkin.  carve.  light. }

the trip westward.

3 Oct
A week ago, I drove westward on the roads I know well – the ones that lead from St.Paul to Dawson.  I was making a quick Sunday night venture to gnomeville to give Karen, admin extraordinaire, a HUGE hug.  That really was my only object; everything else was extra.  Karen’s father had passed away suddenly and my heart goes out to anyone with that experience or any kind of sudden family death.  The hug was delivered to Karen at the visitation.  Check.  And then I was blessed with lots of hugs beyond that.  It was wonderful to see many of my former coworkers, though under such icky circumstances.
It was sad.  It was wonderful.  It was weird.  Dawson is no longer my current home.  Grace is no longer my church.  There is a new intern.  It felt a bit strange … which in many ways was a good piece of closure for me as I continue to move forward in my school year, but in other ways the grief continued as a reminder that it is different, over, and never will return.  Please don’t misunderstand me – I love it still.  I felt welcomed.  But it’s … very different.  (As is only to be expected.)
I spent the night in Dawson and was greeted at the place of my stay by four giddy girls, jumping up and down, yelling, “Noodles!” to every car that passed that wasn’t mine.  These four girls greeted me with a cheer, with hugs, and by making me run through the banner they made me —
It was super sweet.  The banner now hangs on the wall of my bedroom.  I love it.

{ cheer on the twins from target field }

3 Oct

Luther Seminary bought a block of tickets to Friday’s game for students to then purchase at a discounted price.  I went to the game with the Gieseke’s, my Stillwater family.  We enjoyed ballpark food, the city view, the cold breeze coming from behind us as we sat in the very top row of the park, and mugs of hot chocolate to keep us warm.  The Twins unfortunately didn’t pull out a win but conversations about bow ties, Phoebe and Mike, Ben Franklin, and 7th inning karaoke made it a great night.  The gnome came too.

{ get lost in a corn maze }
{ bake a pie }
{ prepare a pot of chili, beer bread and invite friends over to enjoy }
{ step on the crunchy leaves }
{ sew a baby quilt }
{ homemade pizza on the pizza stone }
{ attend a wine tasting }
{ make and share these }
{ 10k training – the hiatus is over – it’s back on }
{ find a fall festival }
{ cabin weekend. a hike to the fire tower }
{ scarves.  puffy vests.  boots. }
{ read a for-fun book }
{ cheer on the twins from target field }
{ take a stroll around a lake }
{ pick my own pumpkin.  carve.  light. }
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