And The Rain Came A-tumblin" Down

Greetings, All!

Welcome to the lovely, green, resort-like, and 

somewhat flooded city of Buffalo.

This past Sunday Dad and I were looking for an outing.

We thought about a long drive, stopped for just a 

minute to check out the lake, and decided 

this was outing enough.

As you can see, it has been raining like crazy here in Minnesota.

This is just down from the parking lot.

It was crazy windy and the waves were bigger than

I have ever seen them on Buffalo Lake.

These are some of the new instruments that have been 

placed all over Sturgis park and at the splash pad. There 

are ten (I think?) of various types.They are such a nice addition 

to the park. There are even drums up by the playground. 

It is such a happy sound all over the park! 

They are not tuned to a regular C scale, which I

thought was kind of weird, but interesting.

When they are played they have a sound much like wind chimes

This is the beach area. A couple years ago on Mother's Day 

we sat here enjoying the sun and polishing our toe nails.

Remember, Mia? This is the tree we sat under.

As you can see, there is pretty much no beach.

Here is the dock just in front of the pavillion.

Just behind these benches is where the flower beds are.

Here is The Dad in front of one of the new xylophone-y things.

I think it looks rather like a large (quite large)bow tie.

Pretty dashing, am I right?

Dad and I waded out onto this dock. 

It was quite the adventure and so fun!

 The water hit me mid-thigh at the deepest part.

 The waves were splashing and the dock was

 rocking like a bucking bronco. It was

 ridiculous trying to walk on it. This young guy saw Dad 

and I heading out and told us it was really

 dangerous and cautioned us like we were old people.

 It was really funny. (Rude!)

We went anyway.

Look! We made it!

Mom and Dad selfie.

Love that windblown look!

The sailboats were rocking like crazy and looked so beautiful.

We were wishing we had one so bad! 

It would have been so amazing to go out on one.

The fountain was doing some kind of wild dance.

The daylilies are blooming just gorgeously right now.

I really think we might just live in paradise.

The library steps

King's House from behind the library.

Again, The Dad.

The waves!

Super wet Mom and Dad after full on wave attack.

I had my back to the railing, trying to take a picture and

 protect my camera from the spray, and a giant sneak 

wave doused me.Can you see the difference 

in the color of the front of my shirt

and the back? Soaked!

And this is where we ended up.

This is the OTHER fishing pier.

We brought our fold up beach chairs, books and snacks. 

We made our way through the pounding waves and the insistent

shaking of the dock. (I really think it might have been

 trying to buck us off.) It felt completely like we were out on

a pontoon. No one else came out and we had the place

to ourselves. And there we sat, in our little piece of heaven, 

with our books, and our Nutter Butters.

And life is good in Buffalo.

Hope you have some sunshine, 

waves, a good book, and 

some Nutter Butters

 in your life, real soon.

Love you!

Kim

Launching The Boy

Well it is a bittersweet day in my world.

And this is another fairly mushy post.

If you can't handle mushy today, just

go look at a Jimmy Fallon video or something.

I'll try to be more amusing next time.

See that giant guy in the picture below? 

That is my baby, Sam

I know.

 He doesn't look much like a baby any more.

He is sixteen and off to his first job as

 a merit badge counselor at scout camp.

This is in the car on the way to Many Point Scout Camp.

He looks excited and nervous.

And he was.

Here he is in the doorway of his home

 for the next couple of months. 
What a a handsome dude!

This is a place without wi-fi or phone coverage.

Communication will be scarce.

I love that happy face and will miss it 
and his general silliness.
Here he is with his roommate, Sam.

I love that they are both Sam.

I'm not sure what he is doing here, but he looked 

so happy that I shared it anyway.
It was ridiculous how quickly he sent us on our way
 so he could get started on his adventure.
I think we might have been out of the car for two minutes.
Maybe?

It was a cool, misty, sometimes-rainy day.

And it was so beautiful.

I admit. I might have cried a little when we left.
Although it could have been the rain.

I wish I could have better captured the color and mist and 

 loveliness that we drove through. My camera batteries were dead and I could quick snap one picture at a time before it shut off.

 There was no time for fine tuning.

Grrr.

Seriously.

The green.

And the clouds were fabulous.

Anyhoo.

I called this a bittersweet time. And it truly is.

This is the first summer in twenty seven years that I won't have 

kids to play with in the summer. If you have ever met me 

(and you all have since only family reads this) 

you know that being a mom and spending time with my kids is everything to me. 
It's my gig.

I keep thinking about all the days at the park and beach. 
All the picnics and make-believe and music. 

All the noise and joyful hubbub. 

All the gardening and just playing and laughing.

And it was awesome!

But I am also thinking about spending time, dating really, this man I am married to. The idea of Ross and I kayaking and swimming and hiking and eating what-we-want-when-we-want-if-we-want, and just hanging out together certainly has its allure.

 It is almost like we get to be young adults again.

If only we got our young adult bodies back too! 

I am excited to get to know him (and me) better again. 

What to do? What to do?

Pretty much anything!

Anyway.

Life is a funny funny thing. 

It is so often happy and sad at the same time.

Is that what they mean by "when a door closes a window opens"?

It is such a painful squeeze of my heart to have to

 let Sam try out his wings.

And a bit scary .

But my stomach gives a jump of excitement

 to think about it, too.
For both of us.

I hope you are all happy today

 and feel the love I have for you that is 

way too big 
to in any way put on a page.

YOU ARE THE BEST

- Kimberly

(And another poem for your literary growth. Haha)

Riches

They say that times were tough then
That money was very tight
But I remember my childhood
And I know that can't be right

Mom would cook our dinner
Dad came home at five
We were all sitting at the table
Waiting for him to arrive

We wouldn't eat from a microwave
Or a restaurant down the street
We all ate Mom's home cooking
And boy that can't be beat

We didn't eat in front of the TV
Or with a phone in our hand
We weren't plugged into a stereo
bopping to the latest band

We would all sit at the table
Everyone in their place
There were never any surprises
We recognized every face

Brothers to the left of me
Sisters to the right
That's the way we ate dinner
Every single night

We laughed we joked we talked we ate
We were a family don't you see
Though some may have been raised poor
You can see it wasn't me

We ate collards we ate biscuits
We ate fatback and blackeyed peas
We said yes sir we said no sir
We said thank you ma'am and please

So when you talk of family life
Or how it used to be
Though many had more money
None were as rich as me
-Jeanne D. Rhein

Family

Best gift I was ever given.

Ever.

Ugh! Just missing all my favorite people today, 

and wishing you were here.

I'm thinking about you and loving you 

wherever you are.

Mom

Happy

'Cause this is how I feel...

I hope you feel some of this today too.

Love you to the moon and back

and that's a fact.

Feeling Poetic

Hi all,

I hope you had a lovely Memorial weekend. 

We did. We got the garden mostly in, went for walks, watched movies, 

ate delicious things, slept in, had a bonfire, and generally relaxed and

enjoyed ourselves. It was pretty great. In fact, it was so great that

 I didn't take a ton of pictures. Haha. Sorry. I know you come here to see pics of the

 family and lovely Minnesota. Here are a few, though. In any case, Dad and I have

 been doing a lot of walking. It is one of the things that I can do without gross pain. 

Not to mention, losing weight and getting into shape is a good thing 

for everyone. When we walked on Monday evening it was so  beautiful.

It inspired my latest poem. I hope you can see some 

of the beauty through my words. I put it down at the way end.

Apple blossoms

Dad using his manly muscles to till the garden.












And Sam, using his 
manly muscles to mow.
(Gee I love alliteration)

My sweet little birdhouse. A pair of sparrows is nesting. So cute!

 The Luna Cat

Hangin' by the fire 

                       Some of the garden

 I know Dad's eyes are shut, but it was so cute of Sam...

The view out my bedroom window. Hence the screen.

Sherburne County wildlife Refuge. Ann lake.

WALKING OUT ON A RAINY EVENING

Gentle rain falls on apple blossom streets.

Mist rises and the air is sweet 

with flowering trees.

We walk, fingers touching,

Laughing with memories of

Long ago rain walks.

We marvel at the vibrance of purple lilacs,

The fragrance of white, 

the myriad greens all around.

Drops splash the surface

Of the lake creating 

Circles in circles in circles.

An anchored sailboat keeps a 

Quiet rhythm with the waves, and

Points to the grey, falling skies.

Still we walk, rain tickling 

Our scalps, feeling childlike

Joy in our showery adventure.

Until the dusky clouds burst open,

Rain is in our eyes, and

The breeze gains an unexpected chill.

And we are once again adults

Hurrying home after walking

Out on a rainy evening.

                      -Kimberly Haggen

Love you tons and can't wait to see you!