Wed, Sept 4

Jeanne and I left her place about 7am to drive to Duluth.  We got there in plenty of time so we just hung out for a little while.  The flight to Minneapolis St Paul was uneventful and quick.  I had 3 hours to kill in MSP so I stopped at TGIF for lunch.  My skinny margarita was especially delicious.  

Then I had a long walk to my next gate.  Then they changed it to another gate.  1.67 miles later I got to the correct gate.  That is quite some airport. The flight home was about 3 and 1/2 hours.  George met me at the airport and I pretty much went directly to hand bell rehearsal at the church. That was fun.  The only down side was that my mosquito bites were giving me grief.  I have over 100 bites from our wild blueberry picking day. 

Anyway I am home now until Oct 3 when we go to Albuquerque to visit Rebecca.

Last day Tues, Sept 3

 We did our morning walk and were very lucky to have a gorgeous sunrise.  Unfortunately my pictures do not do it justice.

We got home in time for Jay to make his famous wild blueberry pancakes.  They were delicious.  Then Jay had to leave to go on one of his work dart trips to Atlantic City.

At coffee one of the women brought in a show and tell.  2 very unusually shaped potatoes.

The new subway has a fake fireplace that Jeanne had to show me.  We did not eat lunch here.

Jeanne apologized for not providing a more photogenic day. We did a lot of errand and I tagged along.  We had a full busy day but she was right I did not take a lot of pictures.  After a delicious dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables and apple sauce we relaxed with an easy 500 piece puzzle.  Got it done lickity split.  Fun.

Tomorrow will be an early start.  We will plan to leave the house around 7 am so I can start my trip home.  

Monday, Sept 2

Today was a full day.  Started the morning with hawk outside of the deck. It was windy - you can see its feathers are blowing.

 We did the usual walk, breakfast and then coffee at the church.  We came home and washed fresh wild blueberries to prepare them for tomorrow's pancakes.  We made granola and did a few other things before lunch.  After lunch Jay carried the canoe down to the lake and Jeanne and I went canoeing.  Gorgeous day.  It had cooled down and the sun was just coming out but it was not hot.

Got pretty close to a turtle

Jeanne carried the canoe back up the hill to the house.  After relaxing a bit Jay, Jeanne and I went exploring with Jay to a place he had heard had a patch of wild blueberries.  Eureka!!  We found them.  We picked like crazy.  I could have pick more but one hand was busy waving the mosquitoes away.  We got 3 quarts of berries.  Wild berries are very tasty but they are tiny.  

We got home in time to make a nice birthday dinner for Jay.  Yummy meal.

We made a real dent in the birthday cake.  I wanted you to see the layers.

Tonight we watch RED.  Fun Bruce Willis movie.  A full day. 

Sunday, Sept 1

Today was a church day.  Their church is one of the earliest churches built in Ely.

We got to church early, because Jeanne sings in the choir.  After coffee hour at church we went up the street to the Ely steak house for lunch with other church members.  After lunch we went back to church to go to Molly's 100th birthday party.  Jeanne and Jay know her.  After the party we went to a nursing home to help fill out their service.

We finally got home about 3:30pm or so.  Jeanne and I finished our second puzzle.  

Then Jeanne made a birthday cake for Jay.  His birthday is next Friday but we are celebrating it tomorrow since he will be out of town on his birthday.

It was a cold day today.  The rain last night cooled things down.  I guess it also helped to put out some of the local fires.

Saturday, Aug 31

We started the day (after our morning walk/shower/breakfast) by making a wild blueberry pie.  Jay had left for the day to go fishing with Dana (the pastor of their church).  

Saturday is trash day.  They do not have trash pick up where Jeanne lives.  They have to take their trash once a week to a trash site.  So we did that on our way into Ely.  In Ely we did the Historic Walking Tour.  It is fun.  They have put up posters in the windows in several of the old buildings around that have an interesting past. So you can walk around and read about the different buildings.  I was surprised about the number of buildings that had been a bar/saloon/tavern some time in their history.

Ely has done some fun posters to get Ely on the map for tourists.

One store has an old cash register in it that still works - they don't use it because it can't handle credit cards.

This building used to be an old bank.  They buffed out the bank name but with the lighting just right you can still see the bank name.  The pillars were shipped in from Italy. 

We stopped for lunch at the TOE (Taste of Ely).  It is a new restaurant.  It was very good.  I had a local root beer, which is famous around here.

After doing the tour and lunch we dinked around in a few shops.

I played with a chipmunk.  This one is very bold.  I thought it would get me.  It started chasing me around on the deck.  Not afraid of me at all.

We relaxed until Jay got home from fishing. They caught over 30 fish but they could only keep 6 a piece.  They mostly just keep the walleyes.

Just when Jay was getting ready grill the burgers for dinner it starting raining.  So he had to cook from inside to try to stay a little dry.

The burgers were delicious and we followed it with the pie.  Yummy.  We watched a fun movie "So This Means War" and then Jeanne and I worked on another puzzle.  

Another fun day. 

Friday, Aug 30

After morning coffee Jeanne and I headed into Virginia (a close town) for lunch at China Buffet and then to go to Mineview in the Sky.  It is a museum that Jeanne has passed by for years and was curious.  So we went to it and that is what it is - a view of the mine from the top of a hill.  Was a pretty view and they had some big mining equipment. 

gift shop and tourist information center

view from the hill

view of the mine which is hard to distinguish in this photo.

We went into Virginia so that I could take a picture of this giant loon in the lake.  Not sure what it is made of.  

We drove back to Ely and stopped at the Red Cabin for ice cream.  They have a different flavor every day.  Today was Georgia Peach.  yummy.  It is a custard ice cream. 

then home.  

Jay made a delicious fish and wild rice dinner.  Served with a Piesporter white wine.  Great.  The fish had an apricot sauce on it.

Jeanne and I finished out puzzle.  It was a fun one.

Thursday, Aug 29

On Wednesday, Aug 28, I flew to Duluth, MN where Jeanne met me and we drove to Ely.  We had a delicious steak dinner.  Yummy.  Nice relaxing evening.  Then in the morning Jeanne and I went on our morning walk.  We passed this mailbox on our walk.  

This is the view of the bay. 

We went in for morning coffee with Jeanne's coffee group.  It is fun seeing the same people each year.  Feel like my friends too. On our way home we drove by a new dam that they are building to replace the old one.  It is interesting the way they have the river held back with tarps and sand bags it looks like.

In the afternoon Jeanne volunteers as an exercise buddy.  So we drove to her client's place and Jeanne helped her do her exercises.  Went grocery shopping on our way home.  After dinner Jeanne and I started working on a puzzle.  We did that with a movie on the TV.  A nice relaxing day.