PURE PLEASURE!

When we were visiting the grandkids at Christmas time,

I went to the library with them.  To my delight,

I found two Betsy-Tacy books.

I read the B-T books when I was young

and then read them to Sara.

Now I got to read one to my grand daughty

and it was so much fun!

Although she is only in 1st grade,

she could very well read it herself, but she wanted me to read it to her.

And I was in my glory!

The Betsy-Tacy books start before they go to school

and continue to when Betsy gets married.

When I was very young, I looked for Deep Valley, Minnesota

on the map.  Later I found out it was really Mankato, MN.

And much later I went to Mankato State University to complete

my teaching degree.  My MSU days were rather a trial with my

BF and all my friends in Owatonna, MN about an hour away.

But there was the Betsy connection.

Her real house was there and so was Tacy's.

Later again our good friends Dave & Maggie lived in Mankato.

By that time they were making a big deal about Betsy and the

author, Maud Hart Lovelace.  I remember the displays at the

new library.  But that too was long ago.

Mankato is no longer the sleepy Deep Valley of Betsy's day,

or even the place where I lived.

For a little while I relived some of my childhood with

a new Betsy-Tacy fan.  I do believe she read the other book herself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GETTYSBURG

 

 

 

 

 

We have been to Gettysburg before,

as a matter of fact, we drove through the area in the summer of '11.

We drove and drove because of a detour, passing the same place at least 3 times!  It was beautiful!

We had never driven through the battle field.

This was a wonderful experience.

The day was beautiful, sunny and cold

and basically nobody else was there.

We hope to spend more time there and we have suggested it 
as a field trip for the grandkids and their parents.



 

 

 

 

We had to take this pic for these in our family who live in North Carolina.

 



 

The area is beautifully maintained.

It is a wonderful tribute to a sad time in our country's history.

THE BEGINNING & THE END OF THE TRIP

 

This is where we always start our trips -

at our favorite store:  Marden's in Calais!

If you know Marden's, you aren't surprised at the duct tape!

This is at the end of the trip -

IKEA

What a neat place!

We were there 15 minutes before opening.

They have free coffee, tea, muffins and donuts (I think, didn't have any)

while you wait.

We need an IKEA nere!

 

I Know, I Know!

It's been a long time...

We were away over Christmas...

Our computer had the click of death,

and then died...

We got a new computer. Yeah!

I had trouble learning the new photo program

mainly because I didn't spend any time with it...

then my second batch of photos wouldn't load...

but they finally decided to...

All this mixed in with my nasty plagues.

But, as you can see, things are looking up!

As the sign says,  29 days until spring

and that was two days ago.

Of course, we won't fool ourselves in this neck of the woods.

We have had SOME WINTER lately

and probably plenty more to come.

It's a good thing we love the snow

and even the occasional blizzard.

We do wonder why they have to land on Sunday though.

I'll be back soon.

Promise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out Sara's new blog.