Sister and Co.

Ron and Paula came to visit us at the lake this past week. They had not been up here for several years, so it was an extra nice visit. One day, we went to town to see what kind of trouble we could get into. I had never visited the bar that displays the world record muskellunge (musky) fish, so I thought that would be fun. Of course we decided to wet our whistles while we were there, and since they had pull tabs, I thought we should see if we could be lucky too. Naturally, the winning tickets were all for small amounts, so we kept trading them back in for more tickets, and in the end, we failed to walk out with any winnings. We did have lots of laughs though.

I asked Paula to "hold up" the record musky. If you click on the picture, you can see a larger version and read about that big fish if you want. You can also see my delightful sister's big smile.

There were lots of other critters and fish on display too, so Kathie posed with this chipmunk on her shoulder.

Kathie's mom chose the ring-necked pheasant (or maybe we coerced her into choosing it).

After enjoying her first-ever serious fishing outing with us here some years ago, Paula wanted to go out again. She caught a few, including this really nice bass. I think you can tell she enjoyed that. She still needs to work on baiting her own hooks, however. She didn't much like the idea of handling leeches or worms or even minnows.

She found a new fishing hat in town. I think she said it was made of paper, which would naturally appeal to the artist in her. However, she said it kept stretching, so that by the time she wore it awhile, it was generously covering her head and ears.

Sarah and Josh came over for the weekend, while Paula and Ron were here, and they went fishing with us too.

Josh and Sarah have been married for almost one full year now, and they are as happy as ever. It can be hard to keep up with their playful banter and jokes.

Making s'mores has become something of a tradition here. This is good for me, because although I don't much care for s'mores, I do love Hershey's chocolate bars.

I couldn't resist including this picture. My sweet wife is naturally photogenic, I think. I love her and I love this picture of her and I love the way it shows how happy her retirement is.

Paula loves our screened-in porch. She played cards there quite a few times while we visited and told stories. She said that if she lived here, she would turn the space into an art studio. I said that would probably mean giving up the screens, and she sighed and said, "I suppose."

Everyone enjoys spending time on the lower deck, especially when it is warm. However, Paula didn't seem to understand that it was warm. (When she was young, she often curled up in a big purple quilt that our mother made, even on very warm days. I think she just likes the coziness.)

Here are all our guests just before Sarah and Josh headed back home. I hope we can all be together again soon.