Hospitals & Hard Working Parents

On Sunday afternoon, after the "gift opening" by the newlyweds, we headed north to Marilyn's parents' home. It was a longer trip than normal because of our frequent stops along the way. Our first stop was in Orange City. Driving thru the city brought back alot of memories of our visits to Mark while he lived and worked there. Because the Tulip Festival was scheduled for the coming weekend, we enjoyed seeing the tulip beds blooming around town.

Our destination was the Orange City hospital. This new facility was just beautiful.

Unfortunately, our dear friend Joan had a medical emergency on the morning of the wedding, so she ended up in the hospital instead of at the ceremony. We've always appreciated her great sense of humor, and Joan showed that spirit once again during our visit to her. When these precious little children questioned her about her "attire" she quickly responded that this was her lovely new Mother's Day dress--complete with an almost matching coat! And then she proceeded to show them her uniquely lovely corsage--the telemetry monitor in her hospital gown pocket! The expression on those little faces was priceless!

We had a great time meeting Arnold (whom we had not seen for almost twenty years) and his family. Arnold and his parents were co-workers of ours in Africa, and it was fun to see him now as a husband to Susan and father of these delightful children.

We were happy to show Joan the pictures of the wedding that were on our camera.

Joan and Dave are very close friends that we love dearly. We have shared many treasured memories thru the years. We only wish that we lived closer together. We wish you a speedy recovery, Joan!

After several other stops along the road (to let Mom walk around), we arrived late Sunday evening at the folks' home. Early Monday morning, we washed some clothes and Mom decided that lined-dried clothes were needed that day!

Dad saw that the lawn had grown alot during his week of absence, so Jim got the mower ready, and away Dad went! He did a great job and appreciated the sunny weather for this task.

We enjoyed the cooler, crystal-clear air and the sunny day. It was impressive to see my parents' garden already planted and growing well. Every year Mom says that maybe she won't plant a garden, but she always does! And in a few months, the folks (both in their eighties) will be busy canning and freezing produce from their garden so they can enjoy that wonderful home-grown food during the winter months. You can take the farmers off the farm, but they will continue to "farm the land!"

Tuesday was a rainy day, so Mother decided that the "project of the day" was making lefsa! First Dad "riced" the mashed potatoes...

then Mom mixed in the ingredients and formed the dough into "balls"...

then she patiently rolled the dough.

After the lefsa was transferred to the griddle, Dad's job was to carefully turn and brown each piece.

The here is the finished product! For any Scandinavian out there in blogland, I know that you are drooling right now, just thinking about that warm lefsa with the melting butter and sugar...

Yes, it was indeed delicious! And we endulged in far too many helpings!