the fruits and flowers of friendship

This morning I woke and a former student employee from UWRF had asked if my lily that she had gifted me back in 2009 was blooming yet--so I responded with this photo:

 

The maroon ones are from this morning and the orange ones are from last week. The torrential rains of yesterday stripped the flowers off orange. Both lilies were gifts from Amanda--I planted the bulbs and look at the result!

The second gift was a raspberry bush from our friends Teri and Jeremy Odegard. They are friends and former neighbors who shared a little outgrowth of their raspberry bush nearly 15 years ago... Just enjoyed raspberries in my yogurt and granola this morning. 

major flooding!

This morning, I woke  in the middle of the night to some pretty heavy rain falling in River Falls. I really woke this morning to hear that we had a wet basement from my charming husband. Then, the texts starting coming through. Our dear friends, Jesse and Angie Bond were battling the Kinnickinnic River that flows through their backyard. 

 

All the belongings from their home were loaded up on trailers and now they are living with some friends here in town...

Our basement smells a little musty, but all the water has stopped flowing. Anders' room was the hardest hit--he had to do some cleaning, I did his bedding laundry. He spent the rest of the day sleeping in our bedroom and then had his six month anniversary with Lindsey this afternoon. Then it was off to his shift at Cardinal. 

The girls helped me in my classroom and then this evening Brad, Osten and I went for a walk to assess the level of the river. It had gone down since this morning...thank goodness.

Glen Park Swinging Bridge in the morning

The Dam in the morning

Veterans Park in the morning

the bridge in Veterans Park in the morning

Glen Park Swinging Bridge in the evening

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Checking out the dam and the White Path in the evening

Veteran's Park bridge in the evening

grad party note taking

After our beach day yesterday, Brad and I went to a graduation party for a friend of mine's son. We took lots of notes about how they were practicing safety with our new reality of being safe in the time of COVID. The servers wore gloves and masks--people helped themselves to soda/water/beer from coolers and they had really nice little bar height tables and also sit down tables. Nick and Stacy said they would lend us the tables for our party--SCORE!

Got to visit with some more parents of new grads and we compared notes. It was very helpful!

After the party, we went to the Andrea family's home for a grill out, yard games and a grand finale of fireworks. What an amazing day!

beach day!

Today we are planning a beach day on this hot and humid day. So eager to spend some time soaking and relaxing on the St. Croix river with Katie and Siri. 

Update--we tried Pemble's beach first and was thwarted by lots of other people wanting to spend the day on the river. Then we tried Troy beach and we were the last car admitted. Purchased a St. Croix County Park pass and soaked in the sun...the girls floated on donut floats and I got a little reading in. It was a lovely day!

the girls in the background floating on donut floats

me on a beach blanket and reading a little Rilla of Ingleside

farewell Samargia-Grivette's

Last night, we had a farewell party for the Samargia-Grivette family at Hoffman Park. We all brought our own food and there was quite a substantial group of people gathered to celebrate many years of friendship. One friend wrote it perfectly in a text. 

"After it concluded last night, I had this thought: if Sharyl & Alex had not been moving, we would't have made an effort to search out those pictures and put it all together. The whole thing was SO full of love & laughter!!What an amazing tribute to all our friendship but also the 2020 Seniors! It was like a replay/wrap-up, come full circle of them from K-12th grade!! Oh so bittersweet! So exciting for their next adventures but then sadness that this part of my life is over" Gretchen Stoffel whose baby Joe is moving on to play football at NDSU

happy anniversary and check out the hair transformation!

27 years ago, two of my favorite people were married to one another. Happy anniversary Kyle and Kim!

Today, Katie made a big change in her look--trimming about 10 inches of hair and now she is adding a few streaks

I'll take another photo when all done!

the big reveal--we went to Woodbury Lakes after the coloring and window shopped and drank bubble tea. So fun!

the girls camped out

Last night, Katie and Siri camped out at the office. I stayed in the house, but the girls were outside all night long. It rained just a little bit during the middle of the night. They are looking good today, so it must have been a good night in the tent ;). 

resets starting and to come

This morning, I went to work to empty a few boxes for my friend Sharyl who is packing a few last boxes before her big move. My coordinator stopped by to remind me to create as much space as possible for students when we return to school. I did a little bit of resetting and will be back again early tomorrow morning. I want to be home as MUCH as possible to hang out with Siri, Osten, Katie and Anders. 

Here is a photo of one of the nooks I started and also of the beautiful wall with our school name ;)

solstice half

This morning, I ran the virtual half marathon I've been training for the past several months. I woke at 5:30am and ran 13.1 miles. It took a lot longer than I had planned, having to walk/run for part of the journey, but the mission is complete!My average pace was 12:56 mile for a time of 2:49

pre race photo and post race photo 

I'm calling my virtual half marathon the Solstice Half. 

This evening, Katie, Siri, Meg, Lindsey and I went for a hike down by the Kinni. It was a perfect evening. I got to see one of my students, Ayla out for a walk with her Dad and their dog. We saw the sunset. It was beautiful!

celebrating all those amazing Dads!

Happy Father's Day to so many amazing Dads out there! I have some to recognize today--

Daddy B--photo at my Grandma B's house in Elkton South, Dakota. Looks like a Christmas party!

Bud with granddaughter Katie and Siri

 Kent, Kurt, Kyle and Cory--ice cream time on the farm

Brent--Christmas 2019

and the love of my life--Bradley Cole Olson with Anders Halloween 2006, Katie at the circus 2006 and Osten plane to St. Thomas 2012

Thank you for being such amazing Dads!