A Spur of the Moment Trip...

After making the collard concoction on Sat. morning early...my daughter called. She was at her home in Wisconsin and told us to pack up the soup and come on up. So we did. We scrambled and put a few clothes in our bags and grabbed the soup, locked up and left. It took us about 3 hours to get there. Traffic was light on the way up, so we made good time. When we arrived, she and her neighbor had just taken the pontoon boat out of the water and put it in her garage for the winter. The colors were just beginning to show in Wisconsin. It was cloudy on the way there, but once we arrived the clouds parted and the sun came out. We got our stuff put away and then headed for the nearest Catholic Church in Montello for Mass. Then we went back to the house and left for a little bar and grill for supper. I had been hungry all summer for a brat...and the one I ordered was the best that I had ever had. It was covered with sauerkraut, relish and mustard .
We got back to the house early and just sat and visited for a while. Joe picked out an old movie to watch and LA and I played Scrabble. The game lasted as long as the movie...she beat me again. She popped some corn and we turned in early. I anticipated taking some great pictures the next day. When we woke to the smell of coffee and a drizzly day...I was a little disappointed. We made a "farmer's breakfast" as she called it. Scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits, oranges and bananas. mixed together, and juices. Joe and LA played air hockey, she and I played a Wii game..."Cooking Mama" I kept looking out the windows at the misty day. Pretty soon I asked if she had any rain gear. She and I donned some waterproof clothes and camera in hand out the door we went. I felt that here I was sitting in the house...looking at the lake....I could do that at home. I wanted to experience nature closeup. Here is what my camera found. Some beautiful toadstools....all so different. I wish I could identify them.
Looking out across the lake there is an old train trestle. A favorite game at the house is to holler "train" when you hear one and shout out the number of engines you think will be on it. Only a couple of trains went by...this makes for a very picturesque scene...I think. It's one of the favorite fishing spots...under the trestle.
There's a big pile of dead grass down by the water and if you lift it up this is what we found hiding there. This happens to be where the kids have campfires, so there's been wood there too.
I love the look of algae at the edge of the water. It meanders around the rocks and looks so pretty.
Some little flowers at the edge of the lake. Probably some of the last blooms here this year.
We found this Solomon's Seal hiding in the patch where lilies grow. Look how the drips of rain are hanging on to the berries. She has so many wildflowers in her yard. You find them hiding in many places that to most people's eyes would look like weeds.
More toadstools all bunched together. They look slimy but they aren't.

I didn't forget about the collards. It was just chilly enough that we had them, when we came in. We had shrimp cocktails and cheese and crackers for an appetizer, while they were heating up. I put them in bowls and we ate some of the leftover biscuits and crackers. They were a big hit...we all liked them. LA suggested putting crunchy onions on top...like you use to make green bean casserole. We packed up our few things and decided to leave, so we would be home before dark.
I'll show more pictures tomorrow. We had a great time. Sometimes I think that spur of the moment things are the best. Today she goes back to Washington DC...to work, but she'll be back in two weeks. By then, the trees will be glorious. With all the rain we've had this year...this sets us up for a beautiful fall.
Balisha

Tomorrow I'll tell you about our search for Wisconsin Fairy Diddles