Take a peek at Nessie!

I went to the John Ball Zoo yesterday with the express purpose of ... shopping! ... at the gift store there. We had just been to the Minneapolis Zoo with Adam and Emily over the weekend, but I didn't have enough time to really do any shopping at the gift shop while we were there. And then this morning, I remembered there was quite a nice one right here in town. I love zoo gift shops!

When I drove into the parking lot at John Ball Zoo, I was greeted by "Nessie"! I had forgotten all about her! Last year was the first annual ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids. Artists from just about everywhere entered their works of art. This piece was called "The Nessie Project" and she was actually placed right in the Grand River ... downtown ... and I missed seeing her there! She is 60 feet long (in five sections) and 16 feet tall. She came in SIXTH in the competition. Her creators won $7000. The winner of ArtPrize was a piece titled "Open Water #24", an oil painting of unbelievably beautiful waves but NO shore ... I was glad that it won the $250,000 prize. I think that piece is now part of the Grand Rapids Art Museum permanent exhibit.
Grand Rapids is gearing up for the second annual ArtPrize. I hope I'll have more time this year to actually go downtown and see the exhibits. I was glad to see Nessie yesterday at the zoo ... thought I'd share her with you!

A great time at the Minneapolis zoo!

Sunday afternoon, we went to the Minneapolis zoo with Adam, Emily, and Jeremiah (or "Little Mister" as he is sometimes called by them). Jeremiah was dressed in an appropriate "Feed Me" outfit and ready to take on the beasts ...
We saw the monkey exhibit first thing! They were kind of elusive, but Grandpa Jones zoomed in on this one so that I could see his cute little pink face ...

These graceful swans were swimming in a pond next to the cafe' where we got a light lunch. I had never seen a grey swan (the one in the rear) before ... and I love swans!
This is a Russian grizzly ... the bear of my nightmares (!) ... for some reason, I am deathly afraid of bears. Meeting one in the wild would be the ultimate terror for me.
Look at this beautiful cat! I just love the skin on this animal ... not to WEAR or anything like that ... just to admire!
Jeremiah was less than impressed with the leopard. At 11 months, we didn't expect him to really get too terribly excited about the animals. He had more interest watching all of the people coming and going and crowding, etc.

I like these pictures of Adam and Jeremiah. Very nice!
Grandpa Jones took this awesome shot of the geese ...
... as well as this one of the prairie dog. I took a bunch of pictures of the prairie dogs playing. They were pretty amusing to watch ...
These Asian Wild horses were too far away to see ... and my camera wasn't doing the trick! I casually mentioned this to Grandpa Jones, who turned ... zoomed in on them ... and voila! Isn't he a show-off?! But wow. Aren't these beautiful creatures?
I don't think I've ever seen a two-humped camel in real life ... only in pictures. There were a few families of these critters ...
How would you like to carry around those mountains on your back?
There was a very nice Farm exhibit too. I love farms! Most of the animals were caged, but chickens and roosters were wandering around just about everywhere ...
I thought this rooster was especially handsome!
He came over to check Jeremiah out! In the hen house, though, there were such unusual-looking ... chickens (?) ... with black and white speckled feathers and funny hair-dos. The wire on the cages didn't allow for very good pictures, though, so I can't show you what I'm talking about.
The obligatory silly photo ... which, of course ... is VERY silly!
Grandpa Jones asked me to stand in front of these GIANT sunflowers to demonstrate how pathetic MY sunflowers are in our back yard ... sigh ...

Here are the caribou. Some folk were showing their children the "reindeer" ... beautiful!
Grandpa Jones got an up-close-and-personal shot ... nice antlers, fella!
I took a few pictures of this tiger, through plate glass, and they turned out OK (I guess) until I saw this one taken by Grandpa Jones!
Pretty wildflowers were all throughout the exhibits. There was also a sky TRAM which looked like it would be fun to ride. We didn't ride it, however!

My favorite part of the zoo was the aquatic part ~ I've forgotten the name of the building ~ inside, there were the MOST exotic and stunning creatures I have ever seen!
This is a SEA LION ... isn't he beautiful?
See Emily showing Jeremiah?

My sister told me about seeing a sea animal down in Florida (I think) at an aquarium. She did a great job of describing it to me, but having never seen one myself, I couldn't really get overly excited ...
This "fish" is the LEAFY SEA DRAGON, and I think this is what Ruthanne was telling me about. It is found only in the waters off of southern Australia. It has no teeth or jaws. It sucks food into its mouth and down its long throat. It is the most delicate and beautiful animal I have ever seen ... ever! I googled "leafy sea dragon" and was able to watch a documentary 5-minute video entitled "The Vanishing Dragon." Watching them float and move in their own wild habitat was SO amazing.
There were also WOODY SEA DRAGONS ... and they are very cool, but I liked the leafy ones the best. Can you see its EYE? And these beautiful appendages completely mimic the seaweed in color, shape and size! He has almost invisible follicles on his back that are constantly in motion. I wish I could show you one in action! It just took my breath away!
This is the WOODY SEA DRAGON. They are both close to the more common sea horses we're all familiar with. How God thought up such intricate and beautiful creatures is beyond my comprehension. I'm so thankful I got to see these little sea dragons and watch them for awhile.
And NO zoo is complete without a gift shop or two ... right? We stopped in at a nice one just before leaving the zoo. Adam is showing Jeremiah a little $5 gadget that looks like a cross between a shark and a dolphin ~ you can operate it like a little claw ~ Jeremiah thought it was hilarious!
Isn't he SO cute?
I think Jeremiah's very first zoo excursion was a success! Grandpa Jones and I certainly were glad to share this time with Adam and Emily!

Emma Joy is EIGHT!

a bundle of happy energy
sweet affection
she flies into my arms
welcoming me back into her life
we are equals
Emma and I
we tell each other the truth
I want to hear about everything
she has been doing
and thinking
and living
she has so many questions for me ...
... perhaps I love her too much

carefully she copies pictures from my art book
with chalk on her front sidewalk
her hair, soft and blond, falling on her face as she sketches
she is a young artist
temperamental and a little bit moody
she starts over again
not satisfied until her drawing is ~ just right
... I think I love her too much

we listen to songs about Jesus
she dances around the table
hands in the air
she worships with such abandon
hungry adoration
those big eyes
waiting for Him with anticipation
... it's scary to love her this much

my granddaughter is eight years old today
and I am 1600 miles away
... and I love her
... oh
... so
... much

We finally visit Winona!

I am sitting in our hotel room, presently in Chaska, Minnesota, trying to figure out HOW to describe Winona to you! I finally got to see where our KellyO grew up! This weekend, Kelly's family hosted a party for friends and family who could not make it to the wedding two weeks ago. Grandpa Jones and I drove all day long on Friday and arrived in Winona just in time Friday evening to avoid being rained on while unloading the van. We had hoped to kind of drive around the town Friday night, but it was kind of miserable weather ...



Early Saturday morning, we met Dylan and Kelly in the lobby of our hotel. Kelly wanted to take us to a few places in Winona ... we started with "the best donut shop in the whole world" (I think that's how Kelly put it) ... Bloedow Bakery ... which boasts being Winona's hometown bakery since 1924! The donuts were AMAZING!

We drove over to the new Welcome Center over on Lake Winona and ate our donuts at a picnic table overlooking the lake.

Kelly took us up to Garvin Heights Overlook & Park so that we could get up on the bluffs and have a look around at her beautiful little city. WOW!

This is Kelly ... on top 'o the world! What a great view! What a beautiful place. I loved it up here, every single minute of it.

Winona is an island on the Mississippi River. It's a really beautiful place. You can see for miles up on top of this lookout.

We stayed up here for quite awhile. Kelly pointed out all kind of interesting stuff to us. PLUS, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY WHOLE LIFE I saw an eagle in the wild! Not up close and personal ... but Kelly pointed out one that was flying below the bluff, wings outstretched ...

The next five pictures are from Grandpa Jones's camera ... a far better camera than what I use ~ better shutter speed, a HUGE lens, and a technical wizard behind the lens (!) ... so his pictures are really really nice!

This is another angle of the lookout ... see how far you can see from up here?

This wonderful butterfly was lazily flying about up on top ... my pictures of it are very inferior to this one ~ so I am showing you the best!

Kelly took us around the main lookout, down a little pathway overgrown with weeds and wildflowers, and then we came to an opening with NO gates or barriers ... just the rocks and the cliffs and ... WOW!

I took a picture of these same wildflowers, but I like this one better ...

But if you know Grandpa Jones, you KNOW his focus was NOT wildflowers! There are train tracks all over Winona ... on both sides of the river and lake ... so Grandpa Jones was pretty interested in all of that. When Dylan and Kelly left us to go and prepare for the party, Grandpa Jones and I went train and track exploring. I took a bunch of train pictures too, but I'm not going to post them right now.

We went to Levee Park and walked along the mighty Mississippi. Grandpa Jones was exploring some train tracks. I wanted to walk down the river a bit and see some bridges.

As I approached this bridge, there was an older couple with a little dog. They looked so sad. They said to me, "Isn't this TERRIBLE?!" I wasn't sure what they were talking about. I told them I was visiting the area for the first time. They told me they had never seen the river this high in August. It had been a real rainy week for them. They said the river was two feet higher than usual and it was very fast moving and brown from all of the farm runoff. But I certainly would not have known anything was wrong if they hadn't told me! I just figured Mark Twain was right when he referred to the "muddy Mississippi!"

The party for Dylan and Kelly was at Lake Park (Veteran's Memorial Park) on Lake Street. There was a nice shaded pavilion area there and Kelly's dad (Patrick) had it all set up for ... music. Kelly's mom (Julie) had it well prepared with yummy food and deserts. This picture shows Kelly singing "All My Love" with Dylan accompanying her. Her dad played some great music too, with a few friends he brought along for the occasion. I enjoyed meting more of Kelly's friends and seeing her folks again. It was a good time!

This is Lake Winona and the bluff there on the right is called Sugar Loaf. It's a really beautiful spot. I loved being here.

And look who drove down from Chaska to join in on the party? It was incredibly nice of Adam and Emily to make the two hour and forty minute trip from Chaska to Winona!

Jeremiah is 11 months (in two more days). What a sweet baby he is. We just saw him two weeks ago at the wedding, but when babies are this little they change all the time. We loved being able to see him again so soon.

This is a little fishing dock that juts out into Lake Winina ...

And the amazing view of those great clouds and their reflection in the lake below ...

This is the small gift we gave them at the party. It's an Irish wedding blessing! I saw it last week in a little gift shop in Lexington, Michigan (when I was with Ruthanne on our retreat) and thought it would be perfect for Dylan and Kelly!

We left the party in the early evening and headed up Highway 61 (an amazingly beautiful drive along the Mississippi River valley) in the direction of the Twin Cities. We decided to spend Sunday with Adam and Emily (since we were so close!) and little Jeremiah. The scenery along Highway 61 was so beautiful. I tried to get some good pictures as we were driving along, but none of them are worth showing to anyone at all! Too blurry! No time to compose a good artistic picture while flying down the road! I was able to catch this riverboat as we slowed down through a small town.

This afternoon (Sunday), we spent the afternoon at the zoo with Adam, Emily and Jeremiah. It was Jeremiah's very first zoo excursion. I have a ton of pictures to sort through ... but those are going to have to wait until we return to Grand Rapids ... so perhaps by Tuesday sometime I will be able to post them.