Another sign of an early spring

Minnesota's state flower, the showy pink ladyslipper, usually blooms in June. It's blooming this week, the last of May, at that treasure of a place, the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Minneapolis' Wirth Park, near my Robbinsdale house. Some snapshots of the rare orchid, as well as photos of other assorted flora and fungi in the garden:

 

Once upon a time in the golden West

We love these photos posted today by siblings Tanya and Monty on Facebook of their Memorial Day weekend trip to Estes Park, near Tanya's home in Denver, Colo. Ah, the golden West!

Monty with nieces Sonya and Maria and nephew Perrin.

Perrin and Monty on a Rocky Mountain hike.

Levi with the kids high in the hills.

What a lovely venue! Glad the kids are growing up in such a beautiful place (Not that there's anything wrong with Wisconsin. :) )

Perrin and a very fine rock.

Tanya and the children by a chill mountain stream.

Ah, the Rockies!

A mountain bluebird?

Beautiful mountains.

A mountain meadow. Thanks for sharing these photos with your Eastern kin, Tanya and Monty!

Nate and Jenn's excellent wedding

We were delighted to be invited to and attend the wedding of Nate Pepin and Jenn Stafne, two exceptionally fine young people, on Sunday (May 27, 2012). A few snapshots from that delightful event, which was held at the park in the heart of Chaska, Jenn's hometown, and an events center across the street.

A simple, beautiful, emotional ceremony on a steamy spring Sunday.

The pastor cracked a few jokes, but Jenn and Nate stayed serious but joyful.

No rice-throwing anymore at weddings -- we blew bubbles instead.

Mary and Chris at the reception. Hard to believe these two knuckleheads have been married themselves for 25 years!

Nate's family at a front table: From left, David Pepin, Ben Pepin, Patty Pepin, Steve Pepin, Christine Pepin, JoAnne Schmidt, Harry Greason and the one and only Florence Sprick Bye.

A beautiful couple, every which way.

Cousin JoAnne chatted with Harry Greason. During one very touching moment, the bride and groom (just out of the Marines) called for all the service members in the crowd to stand up and be honored. As the applause for them ebbed, we all noticed Harry, now in his late 80s, standing up very slowly and carefully. More thunderous applause. Harry was a World War II Marine veteran who survived, among other things, the bloody and traumatic Battle of Tarawa.

Cousins Me and JoAnne.

Chris and Florence chatted it up.

Cousins Mary Miller and Dan Broberg.

The groom and his proud mom shared a dance.

Christine Pepin, the groom's sister, was lovely in blue satin.

Nate with his proud grandma, Florence.

Cousins Chris and Patty chatted it up...

...then cut a rug on the dance floor. Patty was the best dancer in the room!

Everybody dance now! Your scrapblog editor was very pleased when the DJ spun my fav wedding dance song, the B-52s' "Love Shack."

Bride Jenn, beautiful outside and in, chatted with Harry.

Jenn and Mary.

The morel of this story: An early spring

Chasing a hot tip from cousin Dan and with the help of Uncle Joe and Aunt Mavis, your scrapblog editor scrounged up several morels today in the woods near, we aren't saying. My precioussssssssss!

The final tally was a good 20 or 30 of the precious fungi, which Lake City people don't get nearly as excited about as Twin Citians do. Last year, my trusty nature pal Heather Munro and I found our morels on May 25. So this was more than three weeks early, compared to then, and even so, some of those we found today were aging. Quite the early spring we're having!

Mavis' eagle eye led to several finds. There are morels down by her walking stick, but you can't see them, can you? That's what I said too! And that's how it works! Unless you have Mavis, you might miss 'em.

The objects of our desire.

 Wise and wonderful Mavis and Joe, without whom your scrapblog editor would probably still be lost in the woods, not to mention entirely without morels. Note that Mavis is wearing a T shirt touting her favorite rock band, The Cragars.

The kids of '65

Cousin Patty Pepin kindly sent me this old photo, taken on Aug. 30, 1965, in front of our duplex at Fort Detrick, Md. It was Cathy's fifth birthday. My doll, like every doll I ever had, was named Elizabeth.

Keeping up with the Millers

It's hard to keep up with Chris' busy brood, The Millers Seven. Occasionally we like to steal photos from their Facebook pages and put 'em here so the non-Facebook relatives can see 'em. A few recent ones:

Hannah, 18, before prom with admiring kid sister Elizabeth, 8. As Chris said, "We can save that dress for when Elizabeth goes to prom."

Elizabeth, 8, recently had her first Roman Catholic communion. Here she is on that day with little sis Avamarie, 4.

Mary's Catholic kin were there to support and honor Elizabeth on the occasion of her first communion. With her here: From left, Avamarie, Mary's sister and brother-in-law Theresa and Rick Johnston, Hannah, Zachary, Elizabeth's cousin Jessica Johnston, Mary's brother and sister-in-law Fred and Cheryl Eischen, and E's proud parents, Chris and Mary.

Turtle the cat

At almost 16, Turtle the cat doesn't move around much, and is not enjoying her new diet, aimed at making her a little less corpulent. Here she briefly opened one eye to acknowledge my recent return from vacation. She'll never have the charisma of our dear departed Lucy, but she's sweet in her own way, and well-loved.

Noah's kickball team

An evening off to watch a sports event is a great joy for those of us who work nights. Got to see No. 1 son Noah's kickball team, the Plexus Pirates, win a game Monday night at Bossen Field in south Minneapolis. A few snapshots:

Noah is lucky to play and work (at Plexus Intl. in south Minneapolis) with his longtime close friend John Michael Bores. Johnny's like a second son to me, too!

Noah with pals and fellow Robbinsdale Cooper grads Andra Thompson and John Michael Bores.

Noah at the plate.

Even Plexus' CEO, Mr. Alex Chong, center, came out for this game.

They won! Congrats, Plexus Pirates!