Connie reports in

Hello to everyone! It is so good to see the message from our recovering Aunt Marge. I know you are receiving the best TLC possible at MJ's house.

I thought the crew would be interested in the little junket we undertook in August. Tom was an usher in his classmate Elijah Starzl's wedding on Aug. 18. (Yes, on Friday) Elijah attended SW Minn. State at Marshall on a BB scholarship and met his Renee there. The wedding was at her parents' lakeside home near Alexandria MN and the reception at the Lakeside Ballroom about 15 miles away in Glenwood. We traveled with Mike Masek and Linda Miller. Mike's son, Brian, was the best man. It rained practically the entire trip to Alex. The rain held off long enough to complete the outdoor ceremony. Both the wedding and reception were very simple and very lovely.

On Saturday morning we found the "Runestone Museum" in downtown Alex. It was very interesting to see the documentation of the discovery of this Viking artifact from the 1300's. The wanderlust Vikings apparently visited many places in N. America before Columbus even was born.

We then headed west and toured the Terry Redlin art gallery in Watertown SD. WOW--what a treasure trove of this talented man's life's work. I greatly admire his paintings and appreciate them even more now, knowing how he began drawing as a child and how the loss of a leg in a motorcycle accident led to his adult occupation.

Linda's daughter is a big Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, so we backtracked into MN, stayed overnight in Marshall and on Sunday went to Walnut Grove and the LIW museum there. Very interesting and well done for a little prairie town. We also drove a couple miles north of town and into a farm field to see the spot on Plum Creek where the Ingalls family's dugout was located. It was a beautiful summer day in the idyllic setting. I'm sure that it wasn't so idyllic in the depths of a 19th century winter.

On the drive from Watertown to Marshall we saw the huge (miles and miles) wind farm on the SD/MN border. The windmills stretched over the horizon. We could not count them all from the highway. I wonder how much electricity they produce.

Lately, our free time has been spent painting the house. The north and west sides are essentially complete. We'll do a bit on the south and east as the weather allows and then finish next spring.

Next Saturday we'll visit Joan in Manhattan and visit with Heather's family at their tailgate. If we find tickets, we'll attend the game as well.

Tom is excited because his Marine buddy, Alan Vanderwater, is coming to Neb. the for the Texas game. Alan's dad is coming also. They are from the Houston area and Tom is anxious to show them some of our cultural advantages! They'll fly in on Thursday and come to Columbus for hambugers at Glur's Tavern; ride in a combine on Friday; and experience Lincoln on game day. I hope our Huskers play well.

Time to close---
Connie