2026 Sabbatical

 

Greg took a four-week sabbatical and we used it well!

Cute little cedar waxwings:

Nora:

My Mom and I spent some time shopping.

And more shopping, this time for PLANTS!

Almost all of my plants survived the winter and are thriving now (post to come about that!), but only one of my lavender plants made it, so those needed to be replaced AND I wanted some more new things to fill in empty spots!

These are not perennial (they will die when the frost comes), but they smell like lemon and repel mosquitoes!

Nora & Allistair:

I have a garden theme of purples, pinks, and whites.

I got to go to the fancier nursery with both my parents, and that was a delight!

The first week of Greg's sabbatical, we met for lunch with his Dad and Step-Mom Karen.

We enjoyed chatting and getting garden and work shop ideas.

We supported our nieces at their end-of-year school celebration, where Esme was a living statue of Anne Frank!

Their art gets better each year!

Cora was sad to miss the orchestra performance (due to lunch with the family) because someone *special* was playing his cello . . . 

Allistair, Wanda, Daddy:

Ivy:

That first weekend, we drove to Mankato to celebrate the birthday of a friend!

He's a drummer, so I bought him this cute hand drum as a gift (plus a fun print-out camera for kids!)

We played ski ball and it was great fun!

Greg happened to catch me making my most points!

I also enjoyed Star Trek pinball!

We had a great time!

Here I am with my friend Paige (the girlfriend of the birthday boy) in a print-out from the little camera.

Greg's Dad, Rick, came over to bring a work table for Greg's work shop that's being created in the basement!  They also fixed the ceiling fan that wasn't working right.

The following week, we drove to Bemidji for an overnight.  We ate at Greg's favorite pizza place three times in two days!

Bemidji is a lovely, creative town on a beautiful lake.  It was a very hot couple of days and VERY humid.  We were extra tired on this trip after walking around in the heat and humidity for a while.

This little Paul Bunyan was very cute!

Hello!

Many things are labeled in Ojibwe as well as English, which is cool, since the first people were there FIRST!

We got to have a meal with Greg's Mom and Step-Dad Dan.

Greg and I visited the Beltrami County Historical Society, which we've never visited before.  It's in the old Bemidji train station.

Greg's uncle Andy was instrumental in getting this caboose transported to Bemidji and in many other things related to TRAINS!

There was a good amount of information about the founding of Bemidji, which was very interesting (and sad).

We ate at Giovanni's one more time before we drove out the next day.  Greg was happy.

(They do have a gluten-free crust and I leave off the cheese, so it's vegan, too!)

On the way home, we stopped at the gas station with the huge inflatable pig in front of it and Greg had some ice cream!

There was a lot of playing in the garden for me during these weeks.

Allium:

Iris:

Thrift:

Snuggles with Allistair and Ivy:

Oops - more plants!

Pink columbine:

Dianthus:

Pink Veronica:

Then we got ready to drive to Wisconsin for another overnight trip!

We visited Greg's best friend from Arizona, who moved to Wisconsin a year ago.

They have two girls, so Greg and I proposed a schedule that included a nature walk and I created this bingo card!  We cut the pieces up and moved them around so there were three different cards and people got bingo at different times.  I was (AM) very proud of this!

Our hotel was RIGHT on the bay on Lake Michigan, and it was lovely.

I also took this shapes puzzle to entertain the girls while we were waiting for our dinner (that's often a hard time for kids!) or while the adults were talking.

It was a hit!

Greg and I wandered around a bit after dinner and found an ice cream place that had gluten-free vegan sorbet and gluten-free cones!

Right along the shoreline, I saw a different kind of purple columbine from the ones I have.

Out our window:

I bought those little print-out cameras for the girls, too.  A took this photo and it's great, especially considering that there's no back camera so if you want a selfie, you have to guess, aim, and shoot!

My sweater fit right in there because there were lots of nets.

I liked the lake-like carpet in the hotel!

The morning of our nature hike was beautiful and not too hot.

We had lots of fun!

The bingo game was a HIT and kept everyone busy for hours.  We looked around us much more because we were looking for specific things.

The prize for getting a bingo was a huge bubbles wand and some fruit snacks.  It was fun to watch the bubbles drift down the beach!

Once we got home, we recuperated for one day and then got to hang out with our nieces for the afternoon!

We went to a couple of Goodwill stores.

And then for pizza!

These are phones Cora took.
Look at my crazy face!

HA!!!

Esme took some, too!

On the way home, Greg and I stopped to meet a woman at a nearby gas station to pick up more plants!

I had been waiting since last fall for elderberries and lingonberries!

I didn't have to wait as long for the honeyberries.

AND, my special classroom at church has FINALLY opened!

It's been two weeks and it's going great so far.  It's a blessing to watch our more sensitive kids blossom and thrive.

Preparing visuals for kids to choose which songs they want to sing.

And here are my first honeyberries!

I'm proud of my little plants!

I am excited that my bushes are growing and appear to be happy.  I will do my best to keep them that way and I look forward to what will happen!

These are honeyberries.  I planted two bushes without ever having tasted them because I read they grow very well in Minnesota and produce well.  I might plant even more honeyberry bushes next year because it turns out I love them!  I'm running out of planting room so I might have to reorganize.

And our last day of Greg's sabbatical, we visited Greg's Aunt Susie in Bovey, Minnesota, where this famous Minnesota photo was taken.

We had lunch next to the lake and enjoyed chatting for quite a while.

We are grateful for the time with people we love and for the memories we made during these weeks!

Greg is a bit sad to be back at work, and I'm a little sad for him, but I enjoy a more regular and quiet schedule after so much activity (even though it was all special and precious.)