Anniversaries And Other Wonders....

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."

-Mignon McLaughlin

As I write this morning, I feel a sense of content and quiet that soothes me. Now that school is back in session...Stan and Savanna are both gone for the day. I love our summers together, but must admit that I don't accomplish much of anything. Not only that...I have no structure. We sleep in, we lie around, we eat too much junk. This is lovely for a time, but I am always happy to get back to a routine. In the days since Stan has gone back to teaching, and Savanna has started her first year of high school...I feel I have accomplished much. I have been able to tackle some much needed chores around the house...the laundry is caught up, but there is still painting to be finished in the attic space. I have successfully canned 10 pints of tomatoes with many more to come...30 quarts of pickles and peppers...and even dried some romas and packed them in olive oil and basil. I love summer, but am always happy that as it draws to a close, my favorite season will be here before we know it. This fall brings the second year of waiting in our quest to adopt. I am at a point where I feel it would be perfect. We have done house projects that we could not do had we had a baby sooner...we have our health insurance and other necessities in that area taken care of...and I am trying to make a go of my shop from home so that when a baby does come, there won't be any big surprises. The waiting has been hard, but I have to hope that the baby that needs us will come...sometime. Stan and I just celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. I thought I'd share the pictures of the little trip we took to Nebraska City. Having time to sit back and think and reflect on our marriage and all it's twists and turns...it's true, it doesn't look exactly as we may have sketched it in our minds...but I wouldn't change it for anything. We have widened the scope of our vision...and like some of the pictures I take, it may be out of focus at times, yet still beautiful and treasured.

Here is where we stayed...The Lied Lodge in Nebraska City. It is a sprawling, rustic feeling place...beautiful woodwork, lovely touches of nature.



I love how quiet Nebraska City is. We visited a few little parks. There are these meandering little walkways that are just begging to be lingered over. Of course, the number of trees is magnificent and it lends to that feeling of shelter and secrecy.

After visiting a few of the orchards...Stan took me to the Arbor Lodge, original home of J. Sterling Morton and his wife Caroline Morton. This place is full of romance and heirlooms...built from the ground up by a couple with a love for nature. The story of their courtship and marriage is interesting and the way that they chose to live their lives is fascinating...the legacy that lives on is one they would surely be proud of. Read more about it here:http://library.thinkquest.org/J0111463/arborlodge.htm
Julius Sterling Morton and his beloved Carrie.
Before you get to the mansion, there is a lovely little memorial monument to Julius. The statue is beautiful, but I loved the Whispering Bench. You sit on one end...your partner on the other...whisper something into the back of the bench and your partner can hear it on the other side. I can't promise that everything we whispered was kid approved.
On my end of the whispering bench.

Mr. Harper

I personally thing that this statue of J. looks rather mean...he wasn't that way at all. They were probably going for stoic.

Here is a view of the mansion as we walked up...it is just beautiful.





This is a view from the window of the 2nd floor. I love how it overlooks the garden and oh, the trees.
Love these old buggies in the nursery.

So, if you know me...you know I love bees and so I was in heaven when we walked into the carriage house and saw the bee colony on display. Stan had to drag me away.




Happy Anniversary Mr. Harper.