Today is our anniversary!

To celebrate 39 wonderful years together, we had a late breakfast and drove to Burfordville, Mo to visit Bollinger Mill State Historic Site. The skies were a gorgeous blue with lovely white clouds, the sunshine was almost blinding. We traversed highways and country roads, it really wasn’t very far, but it felt removed, the atmosphere was different. Bollinger Mill is a 19th century water powered mill, four stories high, made of stone and brick. They still grind corn there.

Side view of the mill, what seems to be sticking out on the right is actually a covered bridge that is next to the mill.

 

Couldn’t fit the whole building in one shot, so here you have the top floors, then the ground floor entry and porch.

  

A better shot of the bridge mentioned earlier, it is Missouri’s oldest covered bridge.

And what did we find in the back corner? Can you spell splinters?? I surely didn’t need that sign to discourage me from using this facility!

 

The quilter in me was thrilled to find these feed/seed/flour sacks, although I was disappointed that they didn’t have designs on them. A few steps across the room and I discovered this, an entire showcase dedicated to feed sacks and their use!

As we drove back to our room, I noticed that the sky in the rear view mirror was much darker than the one above and in front of us. As I sat here writing this post, the room became steadily darker; much too dark for this time of day. It is currently pouring down rain, which I hope passes as quickly as it arrived. I’d like to go out for a nice dinner with my special guy. Love you, Dar!

A city of murals

The folks of Cape Girardeau must really like their murals. There is a long sea wall along the banks of the river, presumably to protect the city when the river floods (anyway, that would be my guess). The city side of the wall is decorated with several murals, each blocks long. One section depicts the city’s heritage, another shows famous folks from Missouri. We haven’t seen all of the murals yet, but we did notice that quite a few buildings also have artwork painted on their walls. Conventional artwork,not graffiti. Here are a few pictures from the section on famous folks, and then a few pictures taken as we drove through farm land, just enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

I haven’t seen these pictures on a full size screen yet, I only have access to a netbook. Can you see all the woodpecker holes in this tree? Its a wonder it is still upright.

Anyone have any idea what this pretty roadside weed is?

The Trail of Tears

You may have heard of the Trail of Tears, a tragic and sad part of American and Native American history. In the early to mid 1800s,a treaty was signed by some people of the Cherokee Nation agreeing to relocate all the Cherokee people to place far west of their original lands. The original lands would go the the government. Not all Cherokees were in agreement, and when it went through Congress, it only passed by one vote. None the less, the Cherokee were rounded up and journeyed westward. It was winter when the reached the Mississippi River, and the whole group was unable to cross before the weather made crossing impossible. Part of the group wintered on the Illinois side, the others on the Missouri side. It was a bad winter, many died.  In Missouri, at the spot of the winter encampment, there is now a state park commemorating those people and that winter. Seeing it in the September sunshine, the leaves just hinting at fall color makes it hard to imagine what a freezing winter would be, the the ravines and mountains would be a challenge with proper hiking gear, even today. We visited the park, and here are a few pictures from the lookout. 

  That’s Illinois on the other side!

 

We wonder if this is the same barge that we saw earlier in the day from the city.You’ve heard of The Old Man and the Sea? Well this photo is the Old Man and Old Man River (one of the nicknames for the Mississippi).

Lemonade from Lemons

Circumstances redesigned our plans for our trip. We never did join our friends at Montauk State Park. One of those ladies has a blog, so I have seen photos of their exploits, and we are disappointed to have missed out.  However, we  have been spending time in a very nice place that I would otherwise (probably) never have visited. Cape Girardeau, MO. The people here have been wonderful, right across the board, from complete strangers to service personal.  The first day we were here, we met a couple that told us they had visited Cape and now that they have retired, they have moved from California to here. That’s how well they liked the area.I can understand that.

We have been sick in our room, nursing bad colds for a few days, but what we have seen  of the area is pleasing. We haven’t gotten out as much as we would have liked, but here are some pictures taken on our ‘urban camping trip’. An overlook at one of the city parks, right among some great old houses, perched on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

Looking back towards the city.

This view from the park overlook shows

the beautiful bridge that connects Illinois and Missouri, spanning the Mississippi River. I don’t like driving over bridges, but this one is gorgeous to look at, it sparkles in the sunlight.

One of the legendary barges of the Mississippi!

The second day of our trip

and we ran into some difficulty, so we didn’t make it to our destination as planned. We did stumble upon a place to stay, clean and with all the amenities, but not a state park in the great outdoors.   

 

Not off to a good start

The day started inauspiciously, dark, dreary, rainy. Actually, I’d be more honest to say that it started poorly. We still needed to pack the clothes and the food into the RV, and that isn’t fun in pouring down rain. We did get everything done and left – also in the rain. The first three hours were driven in heavy rain , very low clouds and mist. Not fun.

One of the things that we are finding that we enjoy very much with the RV is being able to pull over at a rest stop and not to have to get drenched to run into a public restroom. We were able to use our own facilities, make and eat lunch, and then stretch out for fifteen minutes before resuming our journey. NEATO!!

About an hour and a half from our destination the sun peeked out, and by the time we arrived at the campground, it was quite beautiful. When we pulled in, the sun was shining through some flowers. I later went back to get a picture after we set up, but by then the sun was fading. The color in the photos isn’t as gold or as intense. As a magnificent consolation, take a look at these clouds!

We sat outside briefly enjoying a gentle breeze before the wind picked up, the clouds darkened and we have more rain.

I swear, my former boss was right when after a camping trip, he exclaimed “don’t you ever camp when it doesn’t rain!?” I’d come into work after a weekend of nasty weather and he’d say “Bet you were camping , weren’t you?”

  

The Bandit

Finally finished Springtime Bandit and blocked it. I may have to re block, I don’t have proper blocking equipment so improvised and I don’t think that I got things quite right, but for now, it is finished!  I used yarn that I had on hand, and I’m still not thrilled with this yarn in this pattern. I think the color variances hide the lace design, but it was a good learning experience on lace nevertheless.  Of course, there were also the inevitable ‘design choices’ that were made and not discovered until WAY to many rows to rip back and do over—at least in my book. I was able to discover most mistakes within a reasonable distance to rip and fix, but not one. Live and learn

Another camping weekend

MOTH and I spent a long weekend at a campground on Lake Allatoona. We really like the Corps of Engineer campgrounds, they are always well kept. A friend was with us, along with her grandchildren.  We were able to get sites that shared a drive, so that we were somewhat adjoined. Each of our sites had steps that led down to the water. We were close enough to share meals and a campfire when we wanted to, but just far enough to have some privacy when we wanted it as well. The campground was almost empty, perhaps because school started around here a few weeks ago.  MOTH and I wound up staying an extra day and had the campground almost to ourselves, only3 or 4 other sites were occupied, and none in the section we were in.  We had a mix of perfect weather and rain. I can’t complain about the rain, though, we were able to get some reading done and I made some progress on my next pair of socks. Our almost adjoining site.

 

View from our door to her site:

Our site:

The socks, so far:

I must be easily amused, I get so eager to see what color the next stripe will be, and how wide it will be, I just keep knitting.  So far it is more green than I would prefer, I like the purples better. However, now that we are home, it is time to get back to the lace ‘shawlette’ and do some serious concentrating so I can get it finished.