Wishing You...

a

good

old-fashion

Halloween

Night.





Trick


or



Treat.







B
O
O




Chasing the evil spirits out so the saints can come marching in!

Look Mom!

Aaron said
as we drove
into school
and passed the
gas station.

"I told you
to wait
to fill up!
Now it's
two ten
on Highway 2-10!"



Celebrating the falling gasoline prices. Road trip?

Into Ease

Some people inspire others out of awk-
wardness and into ease.

Take the spirit salesman I met today.

I entered the liquor store looking over my shoulder wondering who would spot me. For my kitchen recipe work, I wanted two things: wine for a dinner course and cognac for a Nordic dessert. Still, I felt like a closet alcoholic hiding my habit.

I wandered the aisles for fifteen minutes – half alert to my immediate needs and half reminiscent to my "juvenile galavantings." Then the spirit salesman approached me asking, "Can I help you?"

"I don't drink," I sputtered. (It was true. I'd given up alcohol 15 years ago when learning I was pregnant with our first child. Rarely since, have I lifted a glass.) He smiled undaunted.

"Well then," he said, "You've come to the right place."

That unexpected reply put me at ease. I explained about dinner: the meat, the wild rice, the shredded vegetables, spices and the wine to pour over the top as the final ingredient before baking.

"Ah. Yes," he said. "What you need is a CHEAP white wine."

He lead me to the clearance cart, rummaged a bit, pulled out an Italian bottle marked down to a third of its original price and said, "This should do just fine."

When he reassured my hesitation, I ventured on – raising my hand with finger and thumb spread slightly – and said, "I need a tiny bottle of cognac – for a Norwegian dessert."

"Ah-ha!" he eyed me. "So you're a gourmet cook."

"Hardly," I laughed following him to the counter. He bantered, "But you like to dabble in special recipes?"

"Well then," he said lifting an airline-
sized sample from the shelf. I nodded. He rang me up. "If you have any left overs, please feel free to bring them in and we'll gladly taste any samples."

I nodded handing him my check card and said, "I'll remember that."

That... and his ability to turn awkwardness Into Ease.

V.E.

All week, Dan suffered.

Cold feet and hands reached for his warm body under the down comforter.

"Argh!" he grimaced as I snuggled into bed. I groaned, "You're SO warm. How can you be, when I'm always so cold."

"What you need is Vigorous Exercise," he prescribed.

I knew he was right. It'd been weeks since I'd made time for regular walks, proper diet and a good night's sleep. I'd been burning the midnight oil to get "it" all done. Now I was paying the price – a flare of my lupus symptoms: cold extremities, a facial butterfly rash and joint pain.

The topper came Thursday night. Isaac brought home a T-shirt that I'd ordered personally from his team captain. I looked in the bag and found one sized XXL when I'd asked for an XL.


Mistake? Or was someone trying to tell me something?

Rather than put me out, the incident motivated me.

Friday morning, I took Moose on a brisk walk down the gravel road, past the mile marker and almost two miles into town.

There I was forced to stop.

Like our pre-
schoolers at work, Moose sought attention when mine wavered. He took off through the woods to kick up his heels at the kenneled dogs in the daycare yard. What a ruckus! Worse yet, I think Moose was grinning when he finally heeded my call and was leashed.

We

turned

back.

Moose pulled me along on such a workout that I wondered whether I was drenched AT ALL from the drizzling weather.

Later that night, Dan was rewarded as he climbed into bed.

This time warm hands and feet reached out to meet his warm body.

(Yes, I was in first!)

"I took your advice,
Dr. Dan!" I said. "V.E."


"What?" he puzzled. And I said, "Vigorous Exercise."


"Aaaaa-ah!"

On the Russian Front?

As a boy, Dad had one.

Noah's got one now.

All because he forgot his old winter jacket at his cousins' house over the weekend.

A local retailer's Going-Out-of-Business sale made it cheaper to buy a new jacket rather than have my sister ship the old one to our house.

"When I saw its raccoon fur," Noah said, "I knew I HAD to have the Antarctica Coat."


On this
heavily frosted
morning,
I drove the boys
to school.



Between Noah
in his coat
and Aaron
with his furry
bomber cap,



I felt
like a

babooska

traveling

On the
Russian
Front.

Novice Hunter wonders:

"So!
Do we
take
the top
off when
we hunt
or what?"

Campfire

And after dining on Grandma Sue's feast, we proceeded to the woods to toast marshmallows, make S'mores, sing songs and tell stories around Grandpa Curt's Campfire!

PUNG-kin Party

I'm











n
o
t









s
u
r
e










w
h
y,













b
u
t














h
e
r
e











o
n













The

Farm












we've












a
l
w
a
y
s








c
a
l
l
e
d










it:





A











P
U
N
G











K
I
N








P
a
r
t
y!





Long Live the BIG MOON variety! Thanks to our gardening guys for growing this year's crop: 76 pounds on down!

Childhood Haunts

We

walked

to

the

river,



admired

an

old

maple

on

its

banks,




looked

UP

into

the

tree

tops






and

DOWN

onto

the

water's

surface




where

leaves

floated

with

the

currents


like memories here in my Childhood Haunts.

Morning's Light

Rise up

O child

of farm-

days past.






Come out

into the

fields

of gold.





Spy

the

harvest








in

Morning's

Light.

Presenting...

the

Best

of

Norway

Bound:


620 images,
select stories,
a few videos
and a bag of
chocolates.

A big thank-you to my parents, sisters, their families and mine for viewing my first Norway Bound presentation – held tonight in the farmhouse where my exchange-student dream took root 26 years ago.


At last! With these digital images all organized, I can focus on blogging the rest via Norway Bound. Stay tuned.

Color Spell

To the eye, the (almost) Full Hunter's Moon glowed orange.

The camera revealed a veil casting the Color Spell.

Climbing...

to


the


top





of

the

newly

paved

road!


Now we can: Call It Progress. Remember?

All Nighter

Collect 2,700 images.

Fathom editing those.

Hours.
Days.
Weeks.

Months? NO!

Wonder how to narrow.

Offer multiple views.

Label: 1 to 2022.

Burn five sets of six CDs.

Package, address and post.

How so?

Pull the All-Nighter!



Celebrating another milestone in the Norway Bound trip.