August 15
Compromises are for relationships, not wine. ~ Sir Robert Scott Caywood
I drink to make other people more interesting. ~ Ernest Hemmingway
The moon and Venus were indicative of what would finally be a lovely weather weekend. We’ve been having good weather mid-week but weather most foul on weekends . . .
[The Super began the day, as she usually does, by raking the lake . . . ]
[It’s a task she obviously enjoys . . . ]
[I have no explanation . . . ]
[I think she talks to the turtles . . . ]
[And then it was off to L’Etoile de Nord winery . . . ]
[Owned and operated by our friends Polly and Dave . . . ]
[About 14 miles north of home . . . ]
[We were last here about a month ago and wanted to bring them some wine bottle packing boxes . . . ]
[A couple glasses of their tasty Marquette, a sleeve of Ritz, and Havarti cheese from Redhead Creamery in Brooten . . . ]
[A view of Lake Irene . . . ]
[So, what’s not to like?]
[For perspective, Irene is 639 acres (a nice size), about twice as big as our neighboring Lake Cowdry and our camp lake in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin . . . ]
[There were a substantial number of boats out fishing at midday . . . ]
[Back inside for . . . refills?]
[All the tables are outside for COVID . . . ]
[The Super’s parked car through the screen window . . . ]
[Pretty much the same view from outside . . . ]
[Settling up with Dave – as they say in the Brit mystery TV shows, we also bought 4 “take away” bottles . . . ]
[A fond farewell to the Star of the North . . . ]
[And exiting by way of entry . . . ]
[Checking with the locals, is that what’s colloquially known as Beer Belly Bay?]
[And past Lure Lakebar, well-attended on a lovely day . . . ]
August 16
By the following morning, the moon and Venus had flipped positions . . .
[This was wine pick-up day at Carlos Creek Winery . . . ]
[This huge backyard deck was new to us – quite an addition . . . ]
[Our guy Anthony Miltich was playing for the pick-up parties . . . ]
[We sampled two of the wineries differently styled merlots – approved of both . . . ]
[Our usual music partners Dave and Karin visit with Anthony . . . ]
[We had to relinquish the deck to the next group of picker-uppers, so we moved up to the Marquette Stage with Karin and Dave for Josie Nelson . . . ]
[Josie believed to be in her 9th or 10th year of performing here . . . ]
[And then she was off to her senior year of pre-med at Concordia College-Moorhead . . . ]
[And she just this month hit the magic twenty-first birthday . . . ]
[And maybe because of that . . . ]
[Her mom & dad . . . ]
[And both grandmas were there to keep an eye on her . . . ]
[Good thing, too. Her fan club (Karin, Dave, the Super, and me) bought her a bottle of Carlos Creek’s finest . . . ]
[For her decade of keeping us entertained . . . ]
Happy Birthday, Josie!!
[As we departed, we visited with the Nicole Mulder, her dad, and husband John . . . ]
[Nicole, of course, is the executive director of Theatre L’Homme Dieu, and Dave and I are both board members . . . ]
Grape Stomp info: http://www.ccwgrapestomp.com/
[We came home and our new neighbors were still moving in. We caught a glimpse of their “2nd car,” a 1952 Dodge. Well, that led to some stories as the Obert family once owned back-to-back ’52 Dodges . . . ]
[These cumulonimbus cloud shots are really from the 15th . . . ]
[Just liked the idea of finishing with them.]
In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Up Next: Maybe now Vonnegut . . .
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