The Lisa Link: Visits With Laurie and Don

I thought maybe it'd been a month since I last posted... now I see it's been TWO. Oops. Hopefully you haven't been forlorn without me ;).

My sister came over for a visit this weekend. Laurie's my only sister, seven years younger than me, and has become a good friend in adulthood.

Laurie and Jon at Emma's game

We have a lot in common but we're not exactly the same. A few of the differences? Well, unlike me she never forgets a birthday. People receive their birthday cards from her in a timely manner, and there's none of this calling them the day of their birthday (or several days later) and saying lamely, "The card is on the way," as I am bound to do.

Emma and her Aunt Lulu

She has a school teacher's relatively high standards for kids' behavior. She notices when they are trying to cut corners or evade a consequence. I am likely to either miss the whole thing or be a big sympathetic softy at the first sign of a hurt feeling.

Miss Pitty Pat (aka Mama Kitty)

Another big Laurie-Lisa difference that comes to my mind right away is that she is more of a snazzy dresser than I am. She wears cute shoes and purses and even SKIRTS (no one is making her wear the skirts, either-!). I have seen her tie a gauzy scarf around her neck and pull it off. She is a huge animal lover who will sit somewhere else if her dogs look comfy on the couch, whereas I like animals but am in no hurry to pet them or be licked by them... and definitely they are not getting my chair.

Anyway, you get the point. We're different.

But we have similarities, too. We are both kind of artsy, we both like having long psychological talks over cups of coffee, and we both like getting good deals on interesting little pieces of home decor.

So it will come as no surprise that some of our visit included shopping. Here are a few of my random finds:

A sassy little pepper shaker

This dark and quirky Easter bunny plate...

A perfume bottle snail for my cosmetic shelf

Laurie's hobbies include quilting and photography. Here are a few of the pictures she's taken recently:

She photographs her husband Mark's restaurant food (he's a chef)

The prettiest flower in my yard right now. What is it?

Fancy camera work

Don't zoom in on this one or you'll see all the weeds

A highlight of the visit was taking Laurie to one of Emma's basketball games. I hadn't seen Emma play in awhile (Jon's the kids' "sports manager"), so was surprised to see how good she's gotten. She'll be a freshman this coming school year and already they have her playing varsity. Telling you that sounds like bragging, because-- well, it's flat-out bragging. But understand that in context: Laurie and I were both so PROUD of her. Emma's doing something right now that would have been an audacious fantasy of ours back in high school, if it had even occurred to us. Let's just say that the Bragg kids were not known for their athleticism.

The freakishly long arms in my DNA have been passed on to Emma and found USEFUL, finally.

Seeing Emma all tall and strong and confident-- a good sport, alert, and comfortable in her own skin... it was very good to see.

But if I keep on being wordy I won't be able to finish this blog tonight. And I have more good pictures to post.

We went to Rhinelander a couple of weeks ago, while my brother Don and his family were there. Don, Hope, and their three kids live in Arkansas, so seeing them in Rhinelander was a rare treat. I felt like it was a good quality visit, though unfortunately 13 year-old Kenny had broken his foot in five places the day before (freak exercise bike accident-!).

Big grubs found in the firewood...eww

These kids like walking in Dad's woods as much as their aunts and uncles do

Beth Bragg, Firewood Stacker

Mom showing a quilt she's about to give someone

At least Kenny could sit around the campfire!

Kids on Grandpa's retaining wall

Peace and camaraderie

The woods that will always be in our hearts :)

I will close with some miscellaneous pictures from the last month or so. We have our vegetable garden planted. Samantha the baby cow is now large enough to no longer be in our back yard-- she's up at Johnne's in a pasture, where she can jump and run and play. We're down to only four egg-laying chickens because we gave most of our chickens back to Johnne (there was just no keeping up with that many eggs), but we have a dozen "fryer" chickens that we have been raising from chicks. As the name suggests, they are our future chicken dinners...