the distance hasn't mattered

 

 

 

when our family moved from alexandria to the twin cities

21 years ago, my best friend and i both kind of felt like our hearts were

 torn in two. she and i had met in the doctors office- (where she

was his nurse) 12 years earlier and it was love at first site.

 

i really really love telling the story of how i went in

for my first prenatal visit with this new doctor and by

the time i left that day, knew that his nurse leslie, was

someone i'd like to have for a friend.

she's the one who said~ that very first day~

"come to my house for tea"

and the fun was ON.

 

leslie pretty much wraps everyone around her

in her arms and nurtures them. she loves to take care

of people and she does it with wild abandon.

she's a born caregiver and servant to others.

 

well now on to the reason for all this gushing....

i just spent 3 lovely days at her house and had so much

fun that i had a hard time coming home.

 

we toured her gardens and talked about what she wants to do

with them next year...she cooked me breakfasts that were photo worthy.

we stayed up way past our bedtime because we had hours of precious, uninterrupted

time to get caught up on each others lives. we hit up many of the

local thrift shops and we paged through magazines and

talked about projects.

we took an early walk on tues. and had the fun of strolling through the county fair as it was being set up. it was so great...everything so clean and organized still, cute gray
haired ladies were being dropped off by their husbands in front of the exhibit buildings,
their pies and bouquets of gladiolas in hand.
when we lived here we never missed the fair. the kids loved it all and so did we.
if the mini donut booth had been ready i would have run back to the house and grabbed some money for a fresh bag of them.
yummm-y.

 

all in all it was just the best.

you're going to see the pictures below and want to

steal her for your best friend...but SORRY,

she's mine.

 

tee hee~lucky me

 

 

i came from our cabin and beat her to her house...it gave me time to scope out all her flowers and in the bucket above were some i brought her from the lodge.

 

 

 she and i both love ferns

                          if you read my blog you've probably heard about "bed prizes".

whenever we're together, there are bed prizes. there's no point in
even trying to compete with her for the best loot- girlfriend always trumps
us all and when we get together-like a little kid, you kind of want to
fake a yawn and suggest we go to bed (even if it's 11 a.m.) just so you
can run see the great gifts that await you!

this leather notebook and kinfolk magazine were on my bed and the
pitcher below with the dog on it and filled with yellow roses and joyce meyers book?
yep, you guessed it- for me!!!
there were more little surprises along the way but i don't want
to gloat too much so that's all i'll share about that.


i



leslie was done with this jumbo pile of magazines and sent them home with

me. you may not hear from me for awhile.

 

 







these heart shaped rocks line the window sill in the guest room.



these are some of the flowers from the lodge

 



here's one of the b.& b. worthy breakfasts

 

one of my favorite things to do when in alexandria is to take a little trip down

memory lane. i get all melancholy and it makes me so happy to drive by the

homes we lived in during our years there. lars and i brought 2 of our 3 babies home

from the hospital to this big old farmhouse. it's for sale now and needs a

great new family to make it their own.

 

 



the evergreen tree here was one my oldest brought home from school in a ziplock bag and

we planted at the farm when he was young. look at it now!

 



now back to leslie's. i am in love with this art on the wall.

she's been drying all her summer flowers in this wooden bowl

isn't this just the most beautiful morning light streaming in through the windows?

girlfriend has a to die for studio that is intriguing and it makes me swoon.

 

 



 leslie loves to glitter things.... the sparklier the better.

this framed photo of leslie's mother wini hangs in all her girls houses.

it takes my breath away.





 well this was my week. a wonderful break from the usual.
a wonderful chance to reconnect with
a dear friend.


i am happy. hope you have a happy weekend too!

xo, beth