ignore my goofy laugh but this guy was fantastic

I loved this guy. He had us anoint ourselves with vanilla to keep the gnats away. He also told us grand stories including a rare occurrence one am after a rainstorm of an all green rainbow !!  He said the best time to enjoy a garden is bright and early in the morning while the dew glistens and in the early evening as the sun sets on the leaves.  brilliant!

Gals in Galena

Wild roses, like Jamie and I :)

James and I met in Galena, IL for a girls day of fun.  I miss hanging out with my pal so it was such a nice day. It was forecasted for rain but didn't rain too much on our parade.  What a darling town. I drove up 151north to 20 east over the Dubuque bridge and James came down the 84 I believe from Madison.
We started our day walking the town and walking up a crazy amount of steps to the Linmar Gardens.
It might be the last year it is open and we loved it.  The gardens are beautiful and the octogenarian tour guide and caretaker was fantastic.  Makes me want to conquer the world if he and the "young man ", his name for the 89 year old master gardener is still hauling rock and planting and irrigating at his age.
After the gardens , we had lunch and walked the cute shops. I learned a couple things, 1. small, midwest towns set their tornado siren off everyday at noon :/ and that parts of Field of Dreams were shot in this little town.  We ended the day with a trolley tour of the city. Fun !  We want to come back and hit the winerys and the ghost tours that take place on the weekend evenings.  Merci Jamie James. xx bisous

Jamie in front of the waterfall. Most this garden is built on rock

Mining bucket the miners used to ride down on. There is an old mine shaft on the property. Our guide told us the men would keep one leg out of the bucket because if it bumped against the shaft , the sound created would actually be deafening.

Four garden beds for all the seasons starting with spring on the left

japanese peonies plant. he said they were absolutely gorgeous. magenta in color
and he said they would actually like the ants on the leaves because they would eat off the wax
and then the flowers would bloom.

I love that the sculpturererers (sp?) back in the day
appreciated a chunkier gal. >> thx boys

This was an old church and they left the walls up and built
this neat little water garden.

Later that same day...

View of the city and cute white church chapel.  so green and so rare to have to hilliness in the
midwest but I guess the area is called driftless? because the glaciers missed it. I kinda tune out on
tours so my facts are about 64% valid.  :/

Galena side street off of Main street

Trolley ride of the city

Scared but prepared

Midwest Summer Night's Dream

Check out the lightening!

"shall I compare thee to a summer's day"  okay I may quote Shakespeare once in awhile but just because he says everything better.
I don't think you would want me to compare you to this summer's day.  It would mean you are moody and dark and randomly tempered and you scare me.

I love baseball and Walt Whitman said it best "I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. "

Tonight, Timmys on the mound and I have to watch computer simulation again. Argh. I really wish Mediacom offered MLB cable. I miss watching the Giants sooo much. :(.  Let's go Giants

duck duck pheasant

I love learning new things.  Today I learned about hunting from a guy at work.  First  of all , it seems as though the avid hunter really has a deep respect and knowledge about the animal they are hunting. They are also very anti poacher and take the laws of the DNR  quite seriously.  And apparently the DNR have very strict guidelines and penalties.  So ducks are very smart and have really good eyesight.  They can see you on the ground when they are flying.  Decoys work with them since they see a duck decoy and figure it is must be safe to land since one of their buddies is there.  Maybe that is where "what is good for the goose is good for the gander" comes from.   Actually don't know but just thought of that while writing this.
And pheasant have really good hearing so you have to be super quiet, in fact if you shut your car door too loud when even starting your day out hunting, it can spoil it.  Now wild turkeys are really hard to hunt. For one they are fast and this guy said they don't feel pain (not sure about that) but they will run around after you shoot them so you have to aim for their head.  I have to say this made me a little sad.    I learned about buck shot and how the dogs are so invaluable to the hunter.  Anyway I found it interesting and hope to learn more and had to blog about it before I forgot.

poor yummy turkey

Google maps is my BFF!
After 2 $$$ cab rides, decided to bus it back to my car.
And honorable mention to my boyfriend, my iphone.

Sign in my University of Iowa shuttle I take to work.
Hmmmm, no smoking , no Michelin man? , no 1940's radio?