My Favorite Photos - June 2023

Many of my favorite photos are of flowers that I took in June. Since I already did a post about the flowers, I will not be including them in this one. 

One of the projects I started at Gammelgården Museum is a new bluebird trail. There are two volunteers who are monitoring the ten nest boxes. Within a few weeks of installing the boxes, we had our first brood of bluebirds! Since that time, all five sucessfully fledged and now there's another brood in the box.

In one of the boxes, there are tree sparrows. What a contrast to the bluebird nest with all the feathers.

Saw this little frog relaxing in the shade.

The bumblebees are around visiting the flowers. Look at how much pollen this one collected. 

In our backyard, we had a nest box with black-capped chickadees. 

The girls are home from college now. Olivia accompanied me to work one day and had the opportunity to learn how to use the weaving loom at the museum. Parts of it were built in 1879 in Sweden and then brought to the United States where it was completed by a new bride and her husband. It was used by her until the mid-60s and then by another woman until 1999. 

 

We have had several deer families at our home. This is the first one we saw. The mother came to our front door one day and set off the Ring doorbell. Nearby was her little fawn. This is a view on another day of the two in the front yard.

This is the mother. She's giving her fawn a tour of all the plants to eat. 

The 6th graders had their class play. It was nice to see the students who I worked with in different roles and challenging themselves to do something out of their comfort zone.

We celebrated Father's Day with dinner at home. The girls surprised Paige the night before with getting a hotel room in Downtown Minneapolis, having dinner, and then the next day (Father's Day) going bowling at a place they haven't been to before. 

The smoke from wildfires has been very thick here. This is what the sunrise looked like one morning. 

On another morning, it was clear when I took the dogs for a walk. The farmer of this field had the hay rounds all baled and ready for transport.

One day, Sophia and I took all the dogs for a walk. Since Father's Day, I've been walking the younger and bigger two dogs early in the morning since it gets so hot and humid by mid-morning.

At the beginning of June, the 6th grade class at the elementary school where I worked had their last day and graduation ceremony at Gammelgården. Two of the students wanted to take a walk with me to the pond. We saw this female redwing blackbird in the reeds.

The students stopped on the bridge and we watched the birds and other pond life for a while.

There was cake afterward the DARE ceremony and 6th grade ceremony. This student made me laugh. He chose not to use a fork and dove right into eating the cake. Later he came back - slightly panicked - when I showed him all the cake on his face. It took lots of paper towels to get the frosting off his face. 

The trees at our home are getting taller each year. 

This is the house from the driveway. The peony bed is to the right. The peonies were here when we moved to the home in 1995.

This is a view of the pasture. Most of the pond has dried up now because of the hot weather and lack of rain. 

In early June at work, a children's choir that sings Swedish songs and wears traditional Swedish folk outfits came to the museum. These two were the youngest ones in the choir.

This is the full group - children and adults - including the musicians. 

One of the folk dresses hung in the hallway at the museum while the group had lunch.

I've been enjoying the sunrises when the dogs I go on walks around 5:30-6:45 a.m.

In the middle of the month, we hosted Dalapalooza. One of the activities was painting cookies. 

The participants also painted wooden Dala horses. These are some that had received two coats of paint and were drying outside during lunch.

These were six of the 16 Dala horses that were made by children and adults.

Sophia and I went to Duluth on a Tuesday that I had off of work so she could take her driver's test. We stopped at Tobie's - the midway point between where we live and Duluth. This is a place where my parents stopped when they took the family up north. So, it is full of memories. 

Sophia passed her driver's test (and needless to say was THRILLED!). We celebrated with lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. It was really good! 

Towards the end of the month, one of the museum's supporters, Eleanor, came to the museum. She is 91 years old (the same age that my Dad would have been had he been living). She came to see the Midsommar decorations and the current art exhibit. Enjoyed talking with her and her aide over dessert and lemonade.

For Midsommar at the museum, I wanted to have a floral crown/headdress made. However, when I went to the florist I found out it would be about $75 because of all the handwork involved. Choosing flowers (like the ones I selected below) still would have cost about $50. I opted not to wear a floral crown this year. Maybe next year. 

On June 24th, there was a major event - Midsommardagen - at the museum. One of the vendors was a tintype photographer. He did old-fashioned photographs of people dressed in traditional Swedish or pioneer clothing. 

This is an example of a tinytype. It is of the American Swedish Institute (ASI) Cloudberries. 

This is a picture of some of the choral group in color.

This is the museum's intern. He has been incredibly helpful with event set-up and management, and painting/refreshing the museum's children's wooden games and objects. The pails are used with the yoke to show children what hauling water was like in the early-settler days.

 

One of the items that was refreshed was the Dala horse croquet set. 

At Midsommar, people wear flower crowns. Some of people made them at the museum with flowers that the intern and director cut the day before the event. 

  

At Midsommar, there was a group of youth dancers. The girls are wearing the national folk dress of Sweden.

  

I've enjoyed seeing friends and neighbors at events at the museum as well as at the farmers market where the Lions handed out free native wildflower plants and activity kits focused on creating native wildflower seed balls.

  

On my birthday, I put together a "Mystery Trip" - only I knew where we were going. We made many stops including going to Downtown Minneapolis. We walked near the place where my parents had their wedding anniversary (the light-cream brick building). I believe it was the women's club in 1964.

We went to the Foshay Tower to go up to the 30th floor where they have a museum and observation deck. Even though the website says the observation deck is open, it isn't. So, that was disappointing. The museum didn't have any lights on and no light switches could be found. We ended up walking through it with our phones' flashlights. 

 

The next day at work, I was surprised by a party that the director had put together for me. The museum's intern, who enjoys baking, made this three-level cake. The bottom level is actually 2 levels and the top is a cake-topper that is filled with fresh-picked strawberries. It was amazing!

The 30th was Sophia's 22 1/2 birthday. We still celebrate half-birthdays. We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie which we enjoyed.

When we came home, we gave Sophia some presents and a card. The wool fox purse matches a bag she got overseas that has fabric with foxes on it.

My Last Vacation - A Staycation

From July 21st-25th, Olivia and I went to Grand Marais to take a photography workshop with Layne Kennedy. We both received scholarships from North House Folk School which enabled us to take the workshop. I posted 11 photos from the workshop in another post HERE.

More recently, I've changed my vacation focus from going somewhere to simply enjoying places and doing things that are within easy driving distance from my home...a Staycation. Below are some of the things I did for my two-week Staycation.  

4-H Dog Show 

On Saturday, July 31st, I didn't go to the 4-H Dog Show since Olivia was getting her 4-H projects judged at the county fair. However, after the show was over, I got to enjoy petting and talking with the owners about their dogs who were in the Dog Show. 

Some were happy with how their dogs did while others were disappointed that their dogs didn't quite stay as focused as they should have been while in the show ring. Even if they were a little distracted, they made up for being super friendly and happy dogs...like the one below.

Noerenberg Memorial Gardens

The next day, on August 1st, we went to Noerenberg Memorial Gardens in Wayzata on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. Minnesota is in the middle of a drought, yet the gardens were still colorful, varied, and beautiful. There were a lot of purple flowers, like these Nodding Onions.

One of my favorite flowers, foxgloves, was found throughout the garden.

There were mounds of grasses with striking colorful tops in shades of pink. On iNaturalist it is identified as Natal Grass. 

From a distance, the Globe Amaranth looked purple. It wasn't until I got up close that I noticed the tiny yellow parts on them.

Washington County Fair

On Wednesday, August 4th, we went to the Washington County Fair. It was the 150th year of the fair so there were special historical exhibits throughout the fairgrounds. 

This was the first year that I didn't have something in the Needlework category. However, we went in the building and enjoyed seeing all the quilts and needlecraft projects. 

The girls stopped at one booth and designed buttons that were made for them on the spot. 

I liked seeing the fresh herbs. This one caught my eye because the flowers are all purple and they are not your typical herbs. This person has exhibited before doing a similar concept and always places well.

This year there were some cute entries in the "Dress a Potato" contest. Sophia noticed this little potato-cat.

We all laughed at the Bob Ross potato. It was really a clever entry.

Olivia and I entered six photos each in the fair. In this part of the Photography exhibit pictured below, it shows Olivia's rose covered with dewdrops getting 4th prize and my catkin caught on the barbed wire fence as getting 1st place.

My photos had a range of ribbons - from 1st (the bottom image of Rattlesnake Master in sepia tone) to 4th (the image above it of two pine trees on an island).

Olivia also entered projects and did well. She got a blue ribbon (1st prize) for her two canisters.

This year I entered ten pre-printed pictures that I colored with Prismacolor colored pencils. This landscape image took me a while, but it was worth it. It's my favorite one out of the ones I did.

After looking at exhibits, we headed to the poultry barn. I always enjoy seeing the variety of chickens. It reminds me of ones we used to have back in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

There was a tom turkey who was putting on quite the show for the girls.

Out for Lunch 

On Thursday, August 5th, after Sophia donated platelets at the American Red Cross, we went to El Burrito Mercado in St. Paul. There's a restaurant, bakery, and grocery store.  

We each had a platter of food...way more than we could eat in one sitting. So, we had another meal with our leftovers. 

After lunch, we went to the bakery section and picked out four pastries to bring home to share with Olivia and Paige. 

Dog Walk 

On Friday, August 6th, I took the dogs on a walk one morning from 6-7 a.m. The weather has been hot and humid, so it is best to take them early in the day.

I watched the sun rise over one of the hills and open land.

Jungle Cruise Movie

On Friday, August 6th, we went to see Jungle Cruise at Lake 5 Theatre. It is an adventure-packed movie with the corny jokes that are typical on the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland. We all enjoyed seeing the movie and liked the storyline.

Fort Snelling National Cemetery

On August 8th, after dropping off Sophia at the airport, I went to Fort Snelling National Cemetery. My parents are buried there. At 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning, I was the only one there. Needless to say, it was very quiet and peaceful.

Barn Quilt & Visiting with Neighbors/Friends

On Monday, August 9th, Olivia finished her barn quilt for a customer.

They came over to pick up their barn quilt and we spent some time talking with them. They are such a nice couple.

Scandia Farmers Market

On Wednesday, August 11th, the Lions Club I'm a member of was at the Scandia Farmers Market. 

We had 200 free milkweed plants to give to people to plant at their homes to help monarchs. 

There were four different types of milkweed plants: whorled milkweed, spider milkweed, butterfly weed, and swamp milkweed. Whorled and spider have white blooms; butterfly has orange blooms; and swamp has pink blooms.

We also collected eyeglasses for the Recycle for Sight program, pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House, and cash donations for the food shelf.

Carver County Fair

The last activity of my Staycation was going to the Carver County Fair on Saturday, August 14th. We enjoyed seeing the animals, especially the sheep. This one was sleeping.

Olivia enjoyed petting the goats. This one was very inquisitive and wanted to play with a latch on the wall.

We went a parakeet exhibit. In a large trailer, there were quite a few parakeets. To enter, you had to buy a stick covered with birdseed. The parakeets flew around the trailer, with some landing on our hands.

There was an exotic animal area and Olivia fed the animals some seed. This camel was super friendly.

We went to the llama barn. Some were resting, some wanted corn husks (provided at the door), and others liked to be pet.

In the vendor area, there was a Tesla that Olivia was able to sit in. I've never seen what a Tesla is like up close. There were lots of new features. Made me feel like I was driving a car from the 1910s.

We went through the exhibit buildings. In the hobby and craft area, there was an exhibitor who entered quite a few of these collage pieces. She took jewelry and create collages with them. In addition to this Halloween scene, there was a bunny (for Easter) and a snowman.

In another area, there were some barn quilts on the walls and this succulent horse topiary. I've wanted to do a succulent topiary and this has piqued my interest.

Outside the 4-H building, there was a big chalkboard heart that people could write words or names, or decorate in some way. 

I've never been to this fair before and it was a fun one to visit. It's located in Waconia - about 1 hour and 15 minutes from where we live. It was well worth the time to get there. We all agreed that next year we will go back.