It begins...seasonal decorating.

We have graduated to this wonderful tree.  It is about 7 feet high in a very large clay pot.

The Christmas Village. Church.

The Christmas Village. Bed and Board.

The Christmas Village. Ice Co.

The Making of Ella's First Quilt. Doll Quilt.

Trick or Treat 2011 on Chapple Ave. Ashland, Wisconsin

Our first trick-or-treaters 2011

Halloween Parade 2011

Ashland Wisconsin Oredock Trestle Demolition.

This view is from Waters Street.

Site entrance.

Demolition pile of old trestle timbers.

This is the view from the parking lot at the boat landing. Notice the light pole in the picture. It is in fact not a light but rather it is a video surveillance  camera. See photo below for a closer view.

This is the camera that is responsible for this view of the Oredock.

This is the camera that is responsible for this view of the Oredock.

Sunset last night at the head of Chequamegon Bay.

This weekend we joined some of our friends to make apple cider.

Today it rained. We spent the day inside. I took trips down memory lanes.

My paternal grandparents were first generation Americans. They were born in England and immigrated to America in the early 1900's. One of my most vivid memories of visiting Gramma & Grampa G. was having tea and crumpets. To this day I do not like tea. On the other hand crumpets with butter and Lyle's Golden Syrup were a treat then and remain so now. 

Over the years I have searched for a source for crumpets without any success... until Google. In early September I (thanks Amy) found a source for crumpets. A little additional research led me to this vendor British American Imports.  A recommend great source for any crumpet lover amongst my readers.

Once my mail order crumpets arrived I shared them with family and friends.  They were good, real good but they were missing the Lyle's Golden Syrup. One of the friends that I had shared the crumpets with arrange to have his mother bring a can from the UK on her recent visit.  He gave it to me yesterday. It's a small world moment. What a surprise. Thanks Gary and Gary's mom.

After nearly 55 years of carrying this great memory I finally had all of the pieces. Breakfast this morning was crumpets with butter and Lyle's Golden Syrup. And of course NO tea.

UPDATE: Yesterday at lunch I introduced my nephew Ryan and tonight after a quick supper I introduced our son Scott to part of their Great Grandparent's diet. Crumpets and Lyle's Golden Syrup. Both thought the crumpets were good and they thought they might enjoy one occasionally. The Lyle's Golden Syrup was seen as a sweet treat that they would maybe use less frequently. It was great fun sharing the experience with this young generation. In a very small way it connected them to Great Grandparents they never met.  

Up next ..... Lamb's kidneys with bacon and eggs for breakfast.  Seriously it is quite good in moderation. Well .....  maybe it is an acquired taste. We'll see.

After breakfast, as the title of this post suggests I took a second trip down yet another memory lane today. This trip was made possible by a generous loan of historical newspaper articles, informational literature and personal recollections of a former camper, staff member, board member and great historian of the former Y.M.C.A. Camp Clark.  Thanks Pete M.

For those visitors to this website who might not already know one of my other ongoing projects is to document the history and the personal memories of former campers who spent time at Camp Clark between the early 1940's and 1972.  For a more detailed account of this history please visit the Camp Clark website.

I have been told by visitors to the site that even though they never went to Camp Clark the stories and memories found on the website brought back personal memories of the camps that they had attended.  Hopefully you will experience similar recollections of your childhood camps.  Enjoy!

Sadly they are staging to start tearing down the iconic Oredock. See live webcam site below.

This staging area is on the east side of the oredock. What is left of the railroad approach trestle that crossed over US 2 will be the first to go this fall.

Rumor has it, that for now, they are only going to finish removing the wooden trestle stopping at the concrete structure seen here just after the wooden trestle.

TO WATCH LIVE WEBCAM VIEW CLICK HERE....WAIT for download.

Things I've seen this week. Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and others) & Asclepias (milkweed).

Honeybee hive with lots of early fall activity. To learn more about the bees and wasps look here.

Warm fall day with little wind and lots of sun. The comings and goings of worker bees.

This was probably a bald-faced hornets nest. To learn more about bald-faced hornets look here. Although is could also be a Yellowjackets nest. To learn more look here.

Milkweed and Monarch Butterflies.  To learn more look here.

Milkweed seed dispersal. To learn more about seed dispersal look here.

Amber's birthday party.

Happy 3rd birthday Amber.

Mom with the cake.

WOW what a cake.

Present time.

Hayride headed out to find pumpkins.

Headed back with the prize pumpkins.

Pumpkin hunting in the patch.

Returning from the field. Pumpkins on Board!

Unloading the pumpkins.

The pumpkin hunting crew.

Amber always has a critter to show Unk.

One heck of a party. Wake me when it's over.

Fly tying material on the hoof.

Intense colors. The turn around and take a picture kind of early fall colors.

Along Highway 2 west of Iron River Wisconsin.

This tree in it's setting was so brilliant that I simply had to turn around and go back  and photograph it.

The colors along US 2 between Ino WI and Maple WI were fabulous. Although they have not reached peak they are well on their way.  

Fall colors are starting.

Highway 63 north of Mason cut off.

Altamont Rd from the top of 7 mile hill looking NW.

A rafter of Turkeys on Altamont Rd .

A rafter of Turkeys on Altamont Rd .

The Bibon Swamp.

Humble Be Yoga and Dance Studio. Grand Opening.