On Wisconsin

My fabulous niece, E, is the newest reader of this blog (hi, E-belle!) and requested that I post some pictures of "The Lodge" so she can see what it looks like.

 

Here's the deal: there's this hunting lodge near Fond du Lac, WI, that we used to go to as kids with a whole circle of my parents friends and their kids. Sleeping in bunk beds and winter walks with the dads collecting as many colors of bullet shells as possible and huge meals for 30 prepared by the moms (who in retrospect I suspect were enjoying quite a bit of wine while cooking together). So many memories there. As a kid, I was only vaguely aware that in addition to these annual family weekends, my mom had also started a tradition of spending the first weekend in March at The Lodge with a slew of her girlfriends. It was their time to work on crafting and sewing and knitting and generally just get away. Thirty years later, they are still at it. I got to go along as an adult the first time the first year I was back from Africa, when I was home for the winter to help my mom recover from getting both knees replaced. Kind of in the role of nurse assistant. But this year I went just to and work on my own projects and hang out with these great women. A few of my own friends who live in Wisconsin came up for a night, too, which was so nice. So here are your pictures, E, of the very interesting décor of The Lodge. (You can see how the hunters who own it leave all their sleeping bags and camo in the bunk room--priceless.) Can't wait to go there one day with you, too!



 

Okay, and then since I'm at it, I have to throw in a couple of the adorable pictures from my last night home in WI, when I got to attend my other niece (R)'s Little House on the Prairie play/musical at their elementary school. Now that my sister and her family live just four doors down from my parents, evenings like this can easily be a whole family affair. So fun!