Leona's birthday hike around the lake .."the loop"

So, the actual 90^th birthday is today. This has been the longest birthday celebration I have been too and has been so much fun. Leona took us to another Midwestern tradition of breakfast at a nearby town ,Providence. The breakfast was in a old Hardware store and was run by volunteers of Quaker group . It was delicious, fresh made, all you can eat  and pay what ever you can. It is very much like KARMA KITCHEN . They sang happy birthday to Leona. Leona had to say bye to her sons ( her boys)  and then we came to her home for few minutes.

                                                             

 Breakfast cooked by Quaker Group

 Saying Bye to Jim and family
Leona wanted to do the "loop" around the lake. It is a 3 mile hike and a rough trail with lots of ups and downs. She had asked me if I will like to do it with her on her birthday. So, Jim and Becky , Leona and i did the LOOP. I am totally inspired by her guts, enthusiasm and love  for life. We had a wonderful time doing the loop.

 Loop around the lake

 More loop hike pictures

 Finished the loop

 The dogs back home had missed Jim and Becky fr last three days. So, when we came back, they came out for a ride in the van.

Happy Hikers

 Leona leading the pack

 Lark Toys near Rochester is the largest independent toy shop in America and when ever i am in this area , we always pay a visit here. It has a large selection of high quality educational and fun toys. It is fun to just browse through the stuff.

Ending the trip with home cooked fresh caught fish and a nice conversation. Everyone is gone to bed so it is time to end this.

  I hope I will be here and after finishing the loop trail with Leona , I will be writing the blog for her 100th birthday in 10 years. ( hopefully i will be in shape to finish it then) 

Birthday Continues in Eldora, Iowa

Morning started with the lake walk and sunrise pictures. Then we got all prettied up for the Sunday  Church service.  Leona wanted to go to the church with the family , I got included in the church service,

To my surprise the priest was a woman who had a lovely voice and colorful attire. She was quite high Tech for a small town church and used power point and video to teach the story  of the old and new testaments and just like schools , she used , “ repeat after me…” several times to get the point memorized.  All is I have to say is that it is interesting to see how our brains get programmed very early on when we are innocent enough to know any other way of life or thinking and how we are encouraged to NOT ask questions and learn to have a blind faith. 

 Morning at the lake

All dressed up for Church ( Leona,, Becky, Linda, Amy , Jim and Jim)

 The Priest

 Town hall

Back to the lodge, simple lunch was followed by the preparation of the grand party for the birthday. People started coming around 1:45 pm. Everyone came, the doctor, the dentist, the business woman, the family  with kids, the farmers , the caretakers, grand nieces, great grand nephews and nieces, sisters and brothers , grandkids, great grand kids, a friend from 85 years ago, knitting buddies, Kiwanis, Bridge buddies, Church people and the neighbors and friends. They kept on coming. There were somewhere between 130 to 140 people . Leona enjoyed every minute of it.

Not sure about her but rest of us are totally tired after the grand party. It was very nice to see how well liked she is with old and young alike. It is small town effect for sure but it is also who she is that makes her so likable. I am glad that I was part of the celebration. Time to sleep, the internet is broken so this has to wait till morning for posting.

Baby Gracy ( she has her picture with President Obama )

Leona's freinds

Leona and Cindy

Leona and Viv ( life long friend..for over 85 years)

Adam and Amy

Becky and her mom ( Leona)

Leona's Great Niece

Shierly ( sister in law) , Nephew Kurt , Nephew Jim , Monte

Sunrise Walk and birthday party in the Evening

 Today was the birthday party day. Jim and I got up early to take the sunrise pictures by the lake. Few are attached below. The weather and the nature is amazing at this time of the year and i guess extra special for the Special Lady's birthday. 

Leona was there early, helping everyone with breakfast and then we went out for the river walk. We did a loop of the lake and on the way back she and I managed to get lost. This is quite amazing feat for me since there were not too many options to go but i just took the wrong one. Well, we made it back but again was very impressed by Leona's mental and physical strength. She did not panic and went along with me :)

Walk around the lake

 Sunrise at the lake ( Jim taking picture)

 More sunrise picture

 Leona's kid, Grand kids and great grand-kids : all went for the lake walk

 Fall colors by the river

 Leona;s family came for the party ( four generations)

 Her brother and  sons talked and there were lots of laughs, tears of joy and gratitude. She has touched  many lives , helped  many people and yet has lived a full of love, gratitude and joy.

 The great grand son Adam is a cute little boy ( as you can see)

 This is typical Fall scene in Iowa/: Ripe corn with colors of trees in the background

 Daytime view of the lake and colors

Birthday lady. She ( and all of us) had a wonderful time at the party. Food was great, Jim's cheese cakes were a big success and most of all it was nice to see the whole family laughing, tearing up together . I feel so fortunate to be integrated in this family.

I better go to bed now, Jim and I are planning ot go for Sunrise pictures again.  Good night

Road trip to Eldora, Iowa..Fall Colors

After the morning breakfast of fresh laid eggs, we ( jim and becky) packed up the van for the trip to Eldora, Iowa. The "boys" were very excited about the potential trip but to their disappointment we have left them at home and drove 150 miles on the midwest country roads from Eyota to Eldora.

It is harvest time, we passed ripe feed corn ( now i know) farms, corns getting harvested by Combines ( monster machines) , trees changing colors and cows, hogs and little pretty towns with brick churches, lakes and rivers.

Welcome to Iowa. I saw lot more wind mills than I have seen in previous years. It is a good sign for America ( I think)

 Pretty river along the way

 And a brick church

And the Camels

Leona and her Kids

We are staying at the Quaker Lodge and Camp grounds. Leona found this lovely place. It has a lodge , 12 rooms, kitchen, two sitting areas and very quite well groomed grounds, a river and play grounds etc. It even has a Wi Fi. but no phones or TV in the rooms ( good thing) . They have reserved the whole lodge and i feel it is perfect for family gatherings. Leona's  family, one girl ( becky) a, her  two boys( Jim and Byram)  and their families are already here. We are sitting around in the family room, talking , drinking tea and just relaxing.

We went out for dinner at "Fish Fry" an Eldora tradition where the community gathers together and supper is  the fresh catch of the day served with french fries and a little vege. Most of Eldora gathers together here and I probably was the only non white person there.

 Went out for a river walk just down the path from the camp ground, it is a pretty rough trail and quite down hill but Leona made it just fine. She is amazing and i hope we can continue our Rancho hike when we are in our 90's.

River Walk.

Good night, I will be in touch tomorrow. 

In Eyota , Minnesota with Jim , Becky and the boys

Flight to Minneapolis was full but on time. The person next to me was a "all well put together woman" of about my age. After a formal guarded talk, she opened up and turned out  she is a "career counselor" helping people figure out what they want to be when they grow up ( except her clients are already grown up) . I guess there is good money to be made in that ( she also helps with resumes etc) Obviously a very smart woman, well read but it was strange to see her struggle through Sudoku as well as some very simple brain teasers in the flight magazine. It is just amazing how our brains work ( or may be just how they are trained). 

Any ways, Shuttle was great. This is the best way to travel to Rochester , in my opinion. 

It was interesting to see all Asian people on the shuttle in the heartland of America. I quickly stereo typed them to be engineers at IBM. It turned out I was WRONG. They were residents at the Mayo Clinic Hospital but they were all into Iphone 5 , Video games etc etc.

Jim was waiting at the IBM. IBM campus is huge and building is actually blue. We drove to Eyota , a little town half an hour outside Rochester. On the way I got my education on Feed corn and Feed Soybeans among other things

These dead looking Soybeans fields are actually Feed Soybeans waiting to be harvested. These will be cut , crushed and sold for the feed to the live stock.

This corn is not for eating by humans. It is feed corn, especially designed and grown for livestock who are NOT designed ( by nature) to eat corn ....

Jim and Becky live on the huge land with three dogs and 16 chickens. Jim collected Chicken eggs. The dogs greeted me like a long lost friend and i wonder if they remember me. ( Jim thinks they do).  So, we just hung around, did a neighborhood walk with the dogs, had yummy dinner and just visited. 

Play time after Dinner

Becky and I talked and froze some of the bell peppers harvest from their garden. They have baskets full of veges from the garden, i will check it out tomorrow.
Everyone is sleeping now , so time for bed. Good night from Eyota, Minnesota.

Flight to the Heartland of USA Eldora, Iowa

Tomorrow morning flying to Eldora, Iowa for Leona's 90th birthday and hope to learn the secret of healthy , happy and long life. As we all know she is a big inspiration to all of us.

I am traveling alone using "capital one" mileage miles. I was surprised to see how many miles i have accumulated just from normal shopping here and there. As always I am looking forward to the adventure of flying and taking the Rochester Shuttle ( never done this before) spending time with Jim, Becky and the "boys" and of course the birthday lady.  I will keep you updated.

Eldora is a little farming community in Iowa, few streets, one theater , one Chinese restaurant , big corn ,and Soybean farms and Ethanol plants. It is charming, rural and is truly  a delightful place. Stay tuned for more.

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