KarenMusserNortman
  • Home
  • Frannie Shoemaker Mysteries
  • The Time Travel Trailer Series
  • Mystery Sisters
  • Karen's Blog
  • Large Print and Audible
  • The Newsroom
  • Coming Events
  • Borrow My Books-KU
  • Camping (when it isn't murder)
  • Giveaways and Stuff
  • About the Author

Double Dutch Treat

8/17/2018

2 Comments

 
Being in one of Verizon's black holes (perhaps because we were near a body of water as one young Verizon employee explained to me once), my blog had to wait until we returned home. Here's the final update. Tuesday was a quiet day for us. The rest of the gang went to the State Fair while we opted for less walking (and eating.) We did get in a couple of bike rides and ran some errands in town. Before we returned to the campground, we drove out to see the damage left by a tornado a few weeks ago on the important Pella company, Vermeer. The damage seemed confined to the easternmost buildings, but that included fallen roofs and twisted flagpoles.
Picture
Wednesday began with a threat of rain and a meal known in the group as ‘Heart Attack Breakfast.’ It centers around French toast made with Jaarsma’s Bakery cinnamon bread and topped with Tom’s maple-bacon-apple-butter syrup. Then most of us went to town for a private tour of the Windmill Museum. We had visited the village behind the windmill before but had not done the museum. Gary is a volunteer docent who is a friend of some of our camping group and gave us an excellent tour. The museum includes a miniature Dutch village, built by various craftsmen, with over 100 buildings. All are replicas of a building somewhere in Holland.

The tour of the mill itself--the largest working windmill in the US--began at the top in the milling room. The mill was not actually working at the time because they were doing some painting on the blades. But the structure, its design and construction, and its function is an amazing story.
After the mill, we walked a half-block to the old Opera house. This has been rebuilt to look as it did in the early part of the last century. It includes a Wurlitzer organ on which we received an impromtu mock concert.
Thursday our trip to town for coffee, muffins, and internet at the Smokey Row Cafe only netted us two out of three. Their wifi was down. By the time we polished off the snacks, it was too late to go anywhere else because we had plans for a trip to Tassel Ridge Winery in the afternoon. Priorities, you know. The view of the fast moving storms from their sunroom was pretty spectacular and we were gratified when we returned to camp that all campers, awnings, etc. appeared to be intact. The day finished with a steak fry and a lovely sunset--a fine finish before our return home today.

Besides the Pella sites, we enjoyed the eagle watching, biking, and hiking at the campground. A sad note: there are many ash trees in this shady spot that will need to come down soon, judging from the bare branches. The walnut trees are doing well, which we can attest to by the bombardment our trailer roof received. We pictured nasty squirrels high above using us for target practice but perhaps it was just gravity.

2 Comments

Dutch Treat

8/14/2018

3 Comments

 
Picture
We are near Pella for what has become our yearly camping week at Howell Station, right below the dam at Red Rock Lake. There are six other couples with us and supper on Sunday night was quite afeast, including sweet corn picked that morning. We like this campground because the sites are shaded and level and there are decent bathhouses.
 
It’s very large--over 100 sites--and the campground roads plus the bike trail along the Des Moines River make for a lot of great bike riding that isn’t too much of a challenge for our old legs. Yesterday we took several short rides.

Picture
One drawback here is very poor internet and phone connection. In fact, there is a bench along the the river that is in the open enough to make a call. We call it the Internet bench.
 
Yesterday morning we made a trip into Pella for several important errands: a new cord for our percolator since ours gave up the ghost that morning, and a visit to Jaarmsma”s Bakery for some nice whole wheat bread and well--a couple of muffins, strudel and a few cookies. And then lunch at the  Smokey Row coffee shop and a chance to catch up on our email, etc.  Today we will return to the bakery to pick up some cinnamon bread one of our fellow campers ordered for tomorrow’s special breakfast and a little more internet time. But mostly we are relaxing and I am working on the second book in the Mystery Sisters series, tentatively titled Foliage and Fatalities.

On the agenda for the rest of the week: the winery, sales at a couple of the shops, and maybe some barbecue. Plus naps.


3 Comments

    Author

    Some random thoughts about writing, camping, and eating.

    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly