After Door County and the last blog, our August started off with Denise and Jason’s wedding.   It was a small affair which allowed everyone there to connect.  Denise was a beautiful bride and the ceremony was touching, officiated by Jason’s sister.  A good time was had by all.

The weekend after their wedding was Irishfest in Milwaukee.  Always a staple of our summer, we had a fun 3 days.  Jeff and Donna joined us, and also Jeff VW.   In addition we had a chance to spend some time with treasured old friends Judy and Pres, Allan, Noel and JoAnn, and Mary and John.   Jeff and Donna stay at the same hotel as us so we spent our festival hours together and included some meals downtown.   We heard a lot of great music and tasted a bunch of food and beer.  The Sunday mass is still not as well attended as it was pre-covid but it was an inspiring start to the festivals last day.  The final show on Sunday is called the Scattering, with most of the musicians still in the park taking the stage and giving us a great jam session.   It made us want to stay until the very last moment.

On Monday after breakfast we headed back to Oshkosh to unpack and pack.   On Wednesday we left on a trip to Canada.   We had last crossed the border in 2019 and it was time to head North again,,,.  Well, a lot East too.     Things have changed now so we had to create an ArriveCan account on line and download our passport and vaccination material.   And then within 72 hours of crossing you need to log back in and give a day and approximate time.   It worked will and crossing the border was a couple of questions and on our way into town.  We crossed the bridge at Sault Ste Marie and stayed overnight there.   Then the next rainy day we headed out for less than a 6 hour drive to Tamagami Ontario.  It was great to see Ron and Verna again.  They treated us well and overfed us.    But how can we complain about Verna’s cooking and homemade poutine.  And breakfasts and pork chops, and wild blueberry pie.    While there we also spent some hours with Bob and Sandi, other Florida friends from Canada.  We had a wonderful afternoon sharing the lake view and some cocktails!

On Monday we headed to Paris, but didn’t have to leave Canada.   West of Toronto and about the right amount of hours in the car, it is a quant little town and we had boutique hotel called the Arlington.  https://www.arlingtonhotel.ca/   We stayed in the Sigmund Freud room, because I am so brainy.   There was a nice pub across the street for dinner and that evening and the next morning we had some walking in the downtown, and spent some American dollars.  Then on Tuesday it was off to Chatham Ontario.  We checked into another fun boutique hotel, the Retro.  Again a large room and the whole hotel was interestingly decorated.  https://www.retrosuites.com/  

Once we checked in we were joined by another Florida/Canada connection, Joy and Paul.  They gave us much more than we were expecting as they took us on a tour of the area including a brewery lunch on Lake Erie, another brewery, and dinner.   A fun day, and some beer to bring home!   The next day after checking out we went to Joy and Paul’s to also see Joy’s parents Wayne and Elaine (with a bonus  of Joy and Paul’s daughter Jocelyn and her new daughter).   Wayne and Elaine were owners in Snug Harbor before my Uncle Clyde and were good friends to him and Milly and to us.  So it was great to see them again as Covid has kept them home.

After that it was on to Sterling Heights Michigan.   Another easy border crossing made it a simple day.  Then time with MJ and John.  Of course, some more eating and drinking is involved.   Then we will be back off to Oshkosh.   We have noticed the colors in the trees starting to change and some days a touch of fall is  in the air.   Summer is winding down, it has gone so quickly.  But we still have September in Wisconsin.   And to start October a trip to Washington Island, a celebration of Janet and Steve’s 50^th anniversary and my cousin Diane’s wedding!  So there’s lots to do yet, as well as planning our trip south.  We hope you are enjoying your days.

Irishfest tradition

Denise and Jason

Verna’s flowers

Ron is filling up the woodsheds

Having an Alexander Keiths

At Bob and Sandi’s

a river runs through Paris

catching up with Wayne and Elaine

Eating and drinking at the Brown Iron

at the Sterling Heights pool

So on the last post we had made it to Oshkosh at the end of May.    It took awhile to settle back in, and as we get older we are more confused about which pots and utensils are in which dwelling, and certainly which drawer or cabinet.    But we figured it out.   The cable company said we only needed a smart TV for the bedroom but neglected to say it could not be a Fire TV.  Because Spectrum and Amazon don’t get along and it took a new TV to fix that issue.  But now TV and Internet working well and Chris is happy.    It didn’t take too long to decide that we have owned this mattress in Oshkosh for too long,   and even though we are here for a somewhat short period it is not worth it on a bad mattress.   So new mattress to be delivered this week.   Other than that no issues to speak of.   The apartment maintenance team replaced a shower valve and a temperature control in the refrigerator, so that was easy for me!   

The good part of being back is catching up with old friends.   An afternoon at a winery, eating at favorite places,   Friday nights at our favorite pub.   Mark continues to let me brew with him, so we did an easy recipe Saison that turned out great.   We had some issues getting the yeast we wanted but worked that out and it turned out to style and we have had good reviews from all we shared it with.  I just finished a 2.5 gallon keg in Door County!   And we have plans for our next beer, to try and replicate one we did last year.   We also caught up with Jeff and Becky at Lion’s Tail and their Vienna Lager may be my favorite.

Then it was time to hit the road again, to the Detroit area to see MJ and John for her birthday and 4^th of July weekend.   As per usual we took the northern route through the UP and the big Mac; and this time stayed a night in Gaylord Michigan.  The ‘Alpine City’ of Michigan is a nice spot, and we actually made it a stop their both going and coming home.  We had a nice night out for MJ’s birthday, relaxed, and played some darts.   Brought out the old dart board that was moved to their house.

We arrived back in Oshkosh to have about a week to unpack and get ready for our usual Door County trip.  We had some quality time with friends before leaving and lots of packing.  When we headed north there was NO room left in the vehicle.  Mark brought me a keg of beer I forgot about, that took the very last (note to self-take less next year).  But we arrived with no problem (other than figuring out which sensors had to be turned off to back up with a bike rack on the back of the car).  MJ and Denise made it up to Door later in the day and we started our adventure. 

This was part foodie trip as everyone had places they wanted to make it back to while adding a few new restaurants.  The first week we included Christmas in July with our camping friends and our annual Spaghetti dinner in the park.   Both traditions go back many years.   We also had a grill out with friends Jeff and Donna and Jeff and Becky and Becky’s parents.   Surprising we could fit in meals at the Bayside Tavern, Mezzanine, One Barrel brewing, Stone Hedge golf (new owner and revamped bar), Hugel Haus, Northern Grill, The White Gull, Al Johnsons Bier Garden, Coyote Roadhouse, Parador,  Bad Moravian, and I am sure I missed one.   Oh and ice cream drinks at the English Inn.  There was a mixture of drinks involved, but we did get a fair amount of golf in for exercise.  I was lucky enough to have a few rounds with old friends and our group had a lot of rounds at Stone Hedge.  Jason, Denise’s fiancé, joined us near the end of the first week.    We had a number of nights of Sheepshead along the way which was a blast from the past.  Chris and I both grew up learning the game and playing with family and friends.  Jason has had culinary training and was interested in trying the restaurants.  He also took a golf lesson with Denise and we had a number of rounds together.  Included in our short term plans will be attending their wedding.

Also in August we will be at Milwaukee Irishfest.  Then shortly after Irishfest we are heading to Canada to visit more friends.  Then another visit with MJ and John our way back to Oshkosh.    By then we will already be in September and starting to think of the end of summer and a trip back to Florida!

Brew time

brothers Ebel  -Appleton

John dart form

Stone Hedge fairway

old friends Peninsula golf day

Stone Hedge ‘swing’ golf

Fish Creek double rainbow

cart buddies

Fish Creek sail

The Orchards golf, Pres and Jim

White Gull breakfast

Hatch distillery cocktail hour

Bad Morovian

Parador Tapas dinner

For some reason time continues go by too quickly, you know how that goes.  So here is some catching up from my last post.  We have been to Milwaukee for my cousin Joe’s daughter’s wedding.  Bonnie was a beautiful bride and we had a wonderful time.  Too early for us to head home in April so we flew up for the weekend.  We flew out of Orlando to get a direct flight and spent an evening with Darren and Sheryl at a favorite place in Sanford.   Getting to Milwaukee Friday gave us a chance to have a meal with my brother and his wife.  Saturday’s wedding was so much fun, and a chance to see what is left of my family.  Getting back to Florida we had the chance to see some of Chris’s cousins.   Charles and Anne-Marie came over from Switzerland and Jackie hosted them and Elisabeth to get together in Titusville.  You have to take advantage of those opportunities, before we left Florida we lost one of our neighbors to cancer, Bob rest in peace.

After getting back to Florida we saw weather in Wisconsin improving and decided it was time to head north!   So we had started gathering what needed to go back north.  We have had great Florida weather but needed to dig out the cold weather clothes we used on the ride down and packed them up.   We worked on cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer,   I thought we started working that down early enough, but still had too much left!  After all we wanted to visit some of our favorite restaurants before leaving.   We did have a great meal at Baciami across the street and a brunch at Butcher and the Bar.   I was pretty successful at reducing our liquor cabinet before leaving.

So Monday the 23^rd we headed out with Valdosta GA in mind.   It was a good ride, Florida rest stops on the tollway are the best.  We made it to Valdosta late afternoon and after checking into the hotel headed to Georgia Beer Company which we visited a couple of years ago.  They are still doing a good job with their beers and Chris found a blueberry beer that was very tasty.  Then went to an Outback Steakhouse that was next to the hotel for a full meal.  After a restful night and breakfast at the hotel off we were to Chattanooga TN. 

So Tuesday the 24^th we hit some traffic slowdowns around Atlanta but nothing crazy, and were good until we were close to the Tennessee border.  The GPS recommended we get off I-75 and take another route since we were not far from Chattanooga.  It worked out great since at the off ramp was a Bass Pro Shops store.  I had discovered I had not taken my good travel rain coat with me (back in the Florida closet) and we had plans to do some walking the next couple of days with rain predictions.  So a nice tour through Bass Pro and then took the state highways into Chattanooga and to the hotel.  A very nice Marriot in downtown Chattanooga.   We checked in and then took a walk to the local Public House which had great cocktails and food.  The pimento cheese and fried pickles were a great way to start to relax after the day’s drive.  We did get back to the hotel before the rain started and were able to watch the lightening from the hotel room.  Although we first stopped at the hotel bar for another and had a nice conversation with a tow truck guy from Louisiana who once was in Wisconsin to buy a truck.  He spent a night riding with a driver, in -13 weather  helping to get trucks righted and running.  He will never forget.

The next destination on Wednesday was Nashville, only about another 2.5 hours.  So we had planned to visit the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Park.  I have enjoyed reading some of the history of the civil war and the battles here are considered the largest, and a turning point in the war.  The visitor’s center tells an amazing story and has a first class movie about the battles.   And many states that lost home sons in the battles have erected monuments throughout the park (including Wisconsin) and the park has a self-driving tour marked to see significant battlegrounds.  The amount of lives lost in the civil war is staggering, and the visitor center features some of the personal stories of those involved.  I had also wanted to visit the Point Park area of the National Park at the top of Lookout Mountain.  The drive was extremely interesting on winding roads which sometimes felt like single lane driveways!   But even though we were on a cloudy day with impending rain it was worth the trip.  A beautiful overlook of several states and the city of Chattanooga.  Since the drive up was hard it was difficult to imagine how (or why) the soldiers climbed to the top and battled for this overlook.  The Battle Above the Clouds seems unfathomable.  With the weapons of the day and lacking of provisions how soldiers could drive themselves through the woods and mountainsides and engage in battle is beyond understanding.   The first days of battle below had over 34,000 casualties.

We left the Point Park and headed off to Nashville.  We had some rain on the way, it is a drive starting in the mountains and leveling out on the way to Nashville, and that went well.   Downtown Nashville is pretty busy but we only needed to go a few minutes off the highway to be downtown.   We checked in and it was late afternoon, time to find some food and cocktails.  A few minutes away was a local Martins Bar B Que.  We did not want to venture far as more rain was forecast to be coming soon and this turned out well.  The brisket sandwich was delicious, as was the selection of local beers.  Black Abbey in Nashville makes a great Belgian Blonde.  https://blackabbeybrewing.com/  Baptizing new believers 12 oz at a time.  Then back to the hotel room to relax and plan for the morning.

We had a Gray Line tour planned for the morning and were up early (for us).  The tour included the Ryman Theater and the Country Music Hall of Fame as well as a number of sites around town.  It was entertaining and we are glad we did it.  We had a hotel not far from the Country Music HOF which worked out well.  We left the HOF and were ready for lunch so went to Broadway and spent some time at Jason Aldean’s place.  One of the great things about Nashville is the number of musicians available, so the music starts early.  We had lunch listening to a talented duo.  There was another band playing on the floor below, and there would be a band on the roof later.  Many of the bars look like buildings in many towns, long and narrow.  But they have used them well and used each floor.  Some have 4 floors of music.   We also made it to Blake Shelton’s Big Red and Miranda Lamberts.  By late afternoon on Thursday the bars were already filling up.   We are past the point of staying out late elbow to elbow, so when we headed back to the hotel for a break we were not going to get back to Broadway.  We took a break and found a local eatery for dinner.  Which turned out to be delicious and at a discount to Broadway!  We will go back to Nashville, there is more to see.

After Nashville we were getting the itch to head home.   So we planned Champaign Urbana Illinois for the next night.  And from there we could reach Oshkosh in just under 5 hours.  A stop at a Loves then we made a rest stop at Ooga Brewery in Beaver Dam WI.  Then on to Oshkosh. 

The cable and internet is connected, we are remembering what is in which cabinets.   Chris has some loads of wash done.   Next further settling in, catching up with old friends, and the many plans for this summer.

Bonnie and James

Charles, Meredith, Chris, Jackie, Elisabeth, Anne-Marie

Valdosta

Chattanooga

Point Park

Point Park

Ryman

HOF designed to look like piano keys

Minnie and Roy Acuff and..

Jason Aldean’s

There are so many important times in our lives.  As life goes on we hit those bumps in the road that feel important, but they aren’t.  Just short emotional times,  it is the friends and family we spend our lives with, and how we treat them that is important.  So 44 years ago Chris and MJ became permanent parts of my life, the best choice I could make.  Thank you for sharing your life with me.  And thanks to friends and family that have been around through the journey!

Parents picture

small dinner party after,  Jeff, John and Deb still in touch

Lost Bob last year

Must have a bar picture. Will see cousins Joe and Jim in a couple of weeks

We just wanted to say Happy Easter to all.   We hope you continued blessings and new growth to come with Easter and Spring.  We continue to enjoy our life, and the winter has been beautiful.   We could actually use just a little more rain to keep the golf courses plush, but doing OK.    Some of our neighbors are starting to head north.  We saw Oshkosh was feel like 24 today and don’t need to think about that yet!   We will be going north for a wedding early May but will come back here after the weekend and wait a little longer.    It is time to start planning our route home and places to stay, we think Nashville is on the list this year.  But we have plenty of time to work on that.

To our friends we wish safe travels home.  Each year is a blessing and we look forward to meeting again, but first for most of us it will be north to family and friends.  

Happy Easter

Some Florida time with Enders and Koss’s

Cocktails and Food

Ron and Verna, and Marie already headed back home

Lot’s of fun courses to lose balls at

planned ocean fishing turned into canal fishing due to wind

We caught some snook and other things I had never heard of!

Life is good, take time to enjoy it!   We are trying to.  Florida weather looks much nicer to us than what we have seen of the northern weather!   It looks like 23 degrees with a good chance of snow in Oshkosh,  and 78 degrees here.  While we had some days we thought were ‘cool’, it doesn’t compare.    MJ has come down for here winter break and is at the pool.   We have been enjoying the sun and our neighbors.  We have continued our shared grill outs and breakfasts, so many good things to eat!  I also continue to work on my golf game, and am improving.  Fun either way (good or bad golf) while I am golfing with neighbors.   It is tax time and fat Tuesday coming up which means the winter is going by,  quickly again. 

Super Bowl Party

Breakfast!

Hawaiian Mimosa and fruit tray

Golf anyone?

From all of us we wish you a very Happy New Year.   It has been another strange year in some respects but overall it has been a healthy and fun year that has just flown by.  Time seems to speed up as you get older!  Or do the projects just get larger that I don’t get to them ‘today’.

From Snug Harbor we wish you a safe, healthy, and Happy New Year ahead!

Cruising

Snug Harbor, Boynton Beach, FL

Delray Tree

Time is flying by quickly and getting near the end of the year.    MJ flew down with Marie for Thanksgiving, and we had a few days of relaxing and pool time.   We made it to the farmers market and Delray already had their Christmas tree up.    I have tried to keep my golf game in practice, we have had some beautiful weather.   A little warmer and more humid the last couple of days, and last night had the Christmas boat parade go by our complex.  Always fun to sit out and watch the decorations.  Noel and JoAnn joined us, so back to old traditions!     Now continuing to get ready for Christmas and the end of the year.   That also means that once past Christmas more of our neighbors will be returning for the season and looking forward to seeing them again!

Golf friend

Christmas parade!

Again time flies by.  We seem to be busy going on the next thing!    Since the September update we readied to leave Wisconsin starting to plan what needed to come south.  Slowly the most used things are coming here.  We were also packing for a long weekend on Washington Island Wisconsin.  As usual we had a great time there with good friends.  Corn hole, drinks and eats.   Our private musical show in the evenings.  A little biking and hiking and this year for me a little golf.  When we returned we cleaned up and got ready to hit the road.

Our first stop this year was Grand Rapids Michigan, we had not been there for a few years and I wanted to stop at my favorite brewery, Vivant, for food and drinks.  And we were happy we did.  Then on to a couple of nights in Sterling Heights with MJ and John.  Then a night in Georgetown Kentucky, and then on to Asheville NC.   Lots of good food and beer in Asheville and we tried some new places this stop and were very happy again.   At that point we were getting a little anxious to get to Boynton Beach so decided to not spend a night in Savanah and instead went a little further to Brunswick Georgia for a night and the next day to Boynton.  It was a great trip.  Because of Covid and Delta we had decided not to spend extended time in any city but it still was a good trip and in many areas saw the changing of color in the forests.

Back in Boynton it was time to do some cleaning after the summer and get everything unpacked.  So everything in place, a trip to Goodwill to make room, floors cleaned, all good.   We have made it to the Saturday Farmers Market in Delray, some of our favorite restaurants, shared some breakfasts and grill outs with neighbors, and managed to get some golf in with Dan and Christy.  Life is good.   Major cold front this week, temperature drops 5 degrees.   Better than the snow I see forecast in Wisconsin. Next Marie and MJ will come in for Thanksgiving and we will celebrate the weekend with Marie staying for the season.

Washington Island fungi, they say it is edible!

Brewery Vivant

Asheville

Farmers Market

Delray tree is up

Building behind Prime Catch and Josie’s

Snug grill out

Golf Time

Washington Island Sunset Resort

A couple of months have gone by already since my last post.  It seems we have kept busy every day, I can’t believe those people who are afraid of retirement because they won’t have anything to do!  After my last post we headed up to Door County for 2 weeks, going up there in July a 40 year tradition for us.  While we no longer camp, we did make it into the park to see friends and participate in spaghetti dinner and Christmas in July.  Denise MJ and I golfed, and I managed to golf Peninsula Park a couple of times with friends.   This year we were able to visit some of our favorite restaurants and bars and breweries.  The cottage we rented turned out wonderfully for our needs and we will be back next summer.  It was good to see old friends and sorry we missed seeing others. 

When we made it back to Oshkosh we worked on unpacking and getting ready for a long weekend in Milwaukee for Irishfest.  We were excited it was back on this year, and turned out to be the first Milwaukee Ethnic festival to return.  They obviously could not book as many acts as early as usual, that and the fact bands from Ireland had a hard time traveling made it a festival of mostly US based bands.  But they were still great and we spent quality time with VW and Jeff and Donna.  Also this summer my friend Mark has allowed me to brew with him and share in our beers, which have turned out to be outstanding if I say so myself.

We have had some time to spend with a number of other friends we just don’t see enough of.  And we made it to Milwaukee to have an outstanding meal at Eddie Martini’s with my brother and Claire.  We also made it down a second time with them to share a meal at Polenez restaurant which turned out to be a favorite, and the only true Polish restaurant still listed in Milwaukee.  Skip has helped me identify some items with the state, if you ever want to hear a long story about state unclaimed property and stock shares just let me know.   I have kept up my golf game, which I truly believe has improved.  Thanks to John for sharing golf time with me at least a couple of times per week. 

For Labor Day we were back in the Detroit area to spend some time with MJ and John.  Another group of fun days with some small projects, lot’s of eating drinking and card playing.  Again we traveled through the UP of Michigan and enjoyed the scenery, other than the rain and hail part.  Trees are changing color and starting to lose some leaves.  Overall the temperatures are cooler and humidity is falling.  A great time of year we hope continues for awhile.  We are starting to make some plans to leave Wisconsin and head back to Florida.  We will watch the weather, be it hurricanes or snow.  Tomorrow we pause to reflect on 9/11.  The souls lost and the perils of life.

Spaghetti night, Chris Denise, Me MJ Donna

Me Bryan Noel

Michael Pres Darren Me

One Barrel Brewing Egg Harbor

Irishfest rock stage

Mark getting ready to chill the wort

Brown Iron Brewing Sterling Heights