Summer Seasonal Banner

Happy Thursday Friends! 

The weekend is almost here - we're so close now. I'm already thinking weekend thoughts and I'm ready to go have some more summer fun! We have been blessed with the most wonderful weather so far (which trust me, does not happen often or for a length of a time in my northwoods). ;)  So we have been enjoying every minute soaking it up and doing lots of fun things like walks, going to the park, bike rides, pontoon rides, BBQ's, pickle ball or badminton games, drawing with chalk, jumping on the trampoline...I could go on and on. Loving it so much! So I decided to celebrate this wonderful season with a sweet little banner for my office room.

The inspiration for the colors I chose was the little framed photo underneath it. That frame has little magnets that holds different seasonal digital 8x8 scrapbook pages I made to switch it out, which also decorate the office seasonally.

I used my trimmer to cut out little squares with my 2 colors of background papers.

I took little triangle banner pieces I had and adhered them to the squares.

I then used letter stickers to spell out "summer" on the banner pieces and used a hole punch to put holes in the tops of the squares.

I then added a couple of cute summer bee stickers to a couple of the squares to be on each end of the banner. I threaded some ribbon through through the holes and tied each square off so it would hang better.

And now I have a lovely little colorful banner to brighten up my space all season long! I hope you're thinking summer thoughts today too!! 

I know I often share a recipe on Thursdays, but I will be sharing some tomorrow for my Friday 5 (including that amazing strawberry pie!). 

Today I'm sharing this summer fun with Sherry at The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home.

Wednesday Wonder

ONE MORE TIME IN THE ROSE GARDEN

I have been visiting the rose garden a bit again, as I waited for my daughter's soccer, and couldn't resist getting a few more photos. The roses have started to pop open and there is such a beautiful variety of kinds and colors. After walking on the lake walk a bit too - I caught a  pretty photo over the bridge coming back the other way...looking at the lake and the trail and scenic railroad tracks. I was just heading back to my car when I caught this older couple sitting in the gazebo together and I was sneaky and got a photo as I thought they were so adorable. 

Blessings on your Wednesday Friends! xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and Happy July 4th my Friends (& especially to my USA Friends!)

I hope those of you that will be celebrating our national holiday today stay safe and have so much fun!! Here's wishing you sunny skies, BBQ yummies, swimming, boating, playing games with loved ones, campfires, fireworks, s'mores or other treats...and anything else wonderfully related to a fun July 4th day! We are planning to go to our city's Independence Day parade -and then close friends of ours & their kids are coming to our house later for a BBQ, games, pontoon ride, campfire and all around fun!!

We had such holiday fun Saturday at my brother and sister-in-law's house. They live on a lake and that lake has the tradition of shooting off fireworks and celebrating Independence Day on the Saturday before or after the actual July 4th (depending on when it lands on the calendar). So the tradition is that my BIL & SIL throw a party on that Saturday and friends and family go out there. We have good food, play volleyball and other games, swim, tube, jet ski, and just have fun! Then in the evening my brother-in-law shoots of some of his own amazing fireworks and then their lake puts on a main fireworks show later in the evening. Plus, my BIL usually picks up some cool lanterns and fun sparklers and we light them and send the lanterns to the sky with our wishes.  Just love it! God bless America!! 

However, tomorrow will bring me back to real life and I look forward to finally catching up with many of you my friends!!! 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Cloudy and cool (60's), but it's supposed to get in the 70's and be another lovely day. WE have been lucking out with gorgeous 70's to 80 degree days this whole wonderful 3 day weekend and most of last week! 

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Some yogurt and a cup of coffee.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

A little gray and cloudy - but it's bright and I see bits of blue. I think it's going to clear out quite a bit and just be partly cloudy today. We'll get more sun and it will get warm and pleasant. 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

In my office working on this, but keeping it quiet as both of my kiddos are still sleeping. I'm looking at my list again for the food I need to prep for today's fun! I'll go soon and get started on some of it and then go get ready for the parade. I always like to bring some cooler snacks (I froze some grapes last night) like fruit or frezee pops for the kiddos. It often gets hot sitting there. They'll get candy thrown at them in the parade too. Lol! We bring bags with us because many of the floats throw candy or hand out a treat. A family friend of ours lives right on the route, so they let us park in their driveway. We set up our lawn chairs and enjoy! Don't you just love tradition? 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Pretty tidy as we've been getting ready for our friends coming over today.

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

I need to do some last minute tidying up and get the food items prepped and ready before we head to the parade this morning.

CURRENTLY READING:

I picked up a couple of fun summer reading books recently and hope to get into them soon and can then share about them next time.

ON THE TV TODAY:

Some cooking shows are taped and I still need to watch Outlander. 

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: for the gathering here today - grilled steaks and burgers, corn on the cob, fruit, veggie tray or salad, crab dip & crackers, guacamole & chips, pink lemonade, skillet apple pie & vanilla ice cream, plus s'mores or root beer floats for later tonight

TUESDAY: probably leftovers!

WEDNESDAY: pasta and garlic toasts, salad

THURSDAY: baked or grilled chicken, cheesy potatoes, green beans

FRIDAY: not sure  - grocery run? eat out?

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

More scrapbooking - might start new cross stitch as well?

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

The skillet apple pie is new and trying a new marinade for the steaks.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

You can add a little essential oil to some baking soda and make a carpet refresher with it. Just sprinkle on your carpet and vacuum it up. The baking soda is like an odor neutralizer and the essential oil fragrance adds freshness and a nice scent.

FROM THE CAMERA:

Most of these photos are from the July 4th party at my BIL and SIL's house Saturday.

Annie and a cousin swimming in my in-law's pool.

There were lots of teenagers there and they took over the volleyball court for a while.  ;) My son is in that mix somewhere. 

Some of my BIL's fireworks.

Annie sparkler time!

Getting lanterns lit to send off.

 Love this photo above of the campfire burning bright next to the lake - while fireworks are still going off over the lake...all on a perfect summer night.

The back of my BIL's & SIL's home (the part that faces the lake)

Campfire going - can you see the hockey goalie on the outside fire ring? It also says the kids' hockey team on it.

The rest of the above photos are of some of the July 4th decorations I put up for our little gathering. Bring on the fun - yay!!

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I don't know if she'll be posting today with the holiday, but if she does I'll be linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Five on Friday: A Beautiful Walk along the Big Lake

Happy Friday my Friends!! 

It's a gorgeous day here in my northwoods. I'm getting ready for the wonderful July 4th holiday weekend ahead and getting things ready around here. I'm working on my grocery list and dreaming on the yummy things I'm thinking of making for a holiday party tomorrow. S'mores poke cake anyone? ;)  

But for today I wanted to share my 5 with you. As many of you know, we live on a bay in the northwoods. And our bay is off of what we call the "big Lake" - which is one of the great lakes. Actually, the largest great lake which is Lake Superior. When I drive over a bridge near my home and get to the other side I'm actually in a whole different state -- which is Minnesota. Pretty cool, huh? My kiddos have soccer practice over that bridge regularly. When I'm looking to eat up some time while they are at practice I've been walking along a beautiful lake walk in a park next to the "Big Lake".  I thought I would share some of that beauty with you today.

ONE

I often park my car by what is called "the Rose Garden" portion of the park. In later summer it is just full of many different types of flowers and is such an incredibly gorgeous section of the park. Recently, though, there were many irises and peonies in bloom which I will share soon. I love the charm of this whole area. The old time lamp posts, pretty railings and bridges throughout. Train tracks run along the water too and we have different scenic trains that folks can go on. They call this area Canal Park as can you see the bridge in the distance? - that is called the Lift Bridge - and many freighters come through that canal regularly. Our area is huge in the shipping industry. 

TWO

This park is used very often for summer weddings. That gazebo is the most used for that very purpose - either for ceremonies or just a photo back drop.  There are also lovely stone benches all over where one can sit and admire the view and the flowers.

THREE

I show a photo of a Viking statue - as an area of this park is also called Leif Erickson Park. There is a very large Scandinavian population in the area where I live. We have a LOT of Erickson's, Peterson's, Johnson's - you get the idea. Lol  And thus the football team, the Minnesota Vikings. And of course photos of the beautiful blooms I captured the other day: irises and peonies. But by August it's nothing but roses and they are everywhere!  It's probably one of the most visited tourists stops in our area. Here is some info about Leif Erickson and you can read even more here.

Leif Erikson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Leif Ericson" and "Leif Erickson" redirect here. For other uses, see Leif Ericson (disambiguation).

Leif Erikson
Statue of Leif near the Minnesota State Capitolin St. Paul
Born	c. 970 Iceland
Died	c. 1020 (age 49 or 50)[discuss] Greenland
Nationality	Norse: Icelandic-Norwegian[1]
Occupation	Explorer
Known for	Discovering Vinland (Part of North America; possiblyNewfoundland)
Religion	Norse paganism; converted to Christianity c. 999
Partner(s)	Thorgunna (c. 999)
Children	Thorgils, Thorkell
Relatives	Erik the Red (father), Þjóðhildur (mother), Thorvald, Thorsteinand Freydís (siblings)

Leif Erikson or Leif Ericson^[7] (/ˈleɪf/; Old Norse: Leifr Eiríksson; Icelandic: Leifur Eiríksson; Norwegian: Leiv Eiriksson c. 970 – c. 1020) was an Icelandic^[8] explorer and the first known European to have discovered North America (excluding Greenland), beforeChristopher Columbus.^[9][10] According to the Sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, tentatively identified with the Norse L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland in modern-day Canada. Later archaeological evidence suggests that Vinland may have been the areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and that the L'Anse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station.

Leif was the son of Erik the Red, the founder of the first Norse settlement in Greenland and of Þjóðhildur (anglicized Thjodhild). He was likely born in Iceland,^[8][11][12] and grew up in the family estate Brattahlíð in the Eastern Settlement in Greenland. Leif had two known sons: Thorgils, born to noblewoman Thorgunna in the Hebrides; and Thorkell, who succeeded him as chieftain of the Greenland settlement.

FOUR

Once you walk down a stone walkway - you head down right next to the lake. There's a wood walkway that stretches along the water and folks can walk or jog there. There is also a paved path alongside for cyclists. You can even rent covered bike "cars" that have a canopy over the top of them and can hold 4 people and each have their own set of peddles...and you can bike as a family right next to the water. Pretty cute! There are also beautiful old fashioned carriages pulled by horses that you can take along the mainstreet areas of the Canal Park area. I love that along the lake walk the light posts become more nautical. Lots of charm everywhere. Also, there is a large field in a part of the park with the castle and stage looking area. Sometimes there are shows that are put on in the park - as well as movies in the park...where folks can come for free and bring a blanket and snacks and sit a watch a movie played there certain summer nights. 

FIVE

More shots of the beauty along the lake. Also, Canal Park is one of the largest tourists spots in our area for adorable and unique shops and wonderful restaurants. There is a lot of outdoor dining too (as you can see closer in the bottom photo) a deck with dining seating right over the lake walk with flower boxes and a gorgeous view of the water. I feel so blessed to live in such a charming and truly beautiful area. 

Blessings on your weekend ahead my Friends! I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.