A Day of Tears and Smiles

Uncle Ronnie's funeral is today.

We learned just over a year ago that he had cancer but we hoped he would be able to overcome the dreaded disease and that we'd have him with us for as many years as God would give us.

After a valiant struggle he passed from this life on Monday night.

Uncle Ronnie was married to my husband's Aunt Betty, Mike's mother's sister. We've enjoyed his warm smiles, funny sense of humor and generous spirit for the years we've been blessed to have him with us.

After the funeral we are all heading up north to our cabin for the American Birkebeiner cross country ski race tomorrow. It's the biggest cross country race in North America so it's a big deal and our cabin is within minutes of the action. I'm ashamed to admit that after all these years I've never seen the Birkie in person! I aim to change that this year.

We'll have a cabin full of people as our relative Nate will be competing so he and his family and a few friends are staying with us. It should be a lot of fun (and not a little cold out there - brrrr!).

Grief and gratitude all rolled up into one busy weekend. Good bye Uncle Ronnie. We love you and we'll miss you.

A Bit of Spring

Yesterday, Leah and I stopped in at my favorite florist in a neighboring town. The greenhouse was full of gorgeous cut flowers and flowering plants. There were baskets overflowing with green plants and the smell was like Heaven on Earth to my nose. I smelled dirt and flowers. It was the scent of spring!

I was in search of a flowering plant to give to a friend and found a pretty little Cyclamen with fuschia flowers. Just the thing to brighten a home with a wintry landscape outside. We stopped to smell some Paperwhites that had been forced to bloom and I was thus inspired to purchase seven Paperwhite bulbs.

Leah and I "planted" them this morning in a pot with small stones instead of dirt. You place them in a dark place for a week or two to let the bulbs establish a root system and then bring them back out into the light and keep the gravel moist so the flowers grow and bloom. Hopefully we'll have blooming plants in about 3-4 weeks.

Spring is on its way... The snow is melting off our roof here in Wisconsin and I've been walking outside which feels oh, so good.

Happy Valentines Day friends!

Time to Press the Reset Button!

Sigh - just a sweet memory...

The view at sunrise from our balcony in Florida last year.

My health resolutions have not stuck very well.

I need to press the reset button and get back to making healthy eating choices, drinking my water, moving my body more, etc, etc...

I've decided that January is a more challenging month for eating well than the holidays. We have a bunch of family birthdays, the Super Bowl party and plenty of other events that have LOTS of tempting treats. To top it off, I have made the mistake of buying candy, of all things!

I'll never reach my goal at this rate. In fact, I'm heading in the wrong direction!

So, I am relisting my goals to remind myself and strengthen my weakening resolve:

* Drink 9 glasses of water daily

* Exercise 240 minutes a week

* Ditch the candy and limit myself to one sweet treat daily

* Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night

Those are not impossible goals. In fact, we are heading into a warm-up around here, the days are getting longer and I'm feeling the need for a walk "around the block". In the summer my sister and I walked a 4.7 mile loop almost every morning. It was the ultimate stress reliever, weight-buster workout, just over an hour long. I think it's time to get out there again!

I haven't done a very good job of checking in on my goals so I am making a public pledge to report back weekly on my progress.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Memories of Last Summer...

I love this series of photos. It's up at our cabin at the lake in northern WI.

Lacey and Daniel had discovered

a painted turtle and they were checking it out.

Lacey was dashing all over the place, barking and growling.
She hates "intruders"!

It's barely visible, but you can see her head peeking in on the right,

watching as Daniel is about to bravely pick up the scary turtle!

Now she's behind him, still watching, still waiting...

"Careful, young boy, careful!" she seems to be thinking!

The turtle was temporarily captured and then set loose to continue on

his merry way to either the lake in the front or the bog in the back.

It's a wildlife critter's paradise up there.

These photos were taken last Memorial Day weekend.

I just needed a little summer breather on my blog.

It felt so good I may do it again,

just for a change of pace from all the whiteness I'm surrounded with!