I flew out of Las Vegas on Sept. 17 and Barb joined me in Bismarck on Sept. 21, having elected to spend some post-reunion time with her father.   On Sept. 22 we attended a “Living Paintings” exhibition; the title is perhaps self-explanatory:  costumed actors posing in front of backdrops that reproduce famous paintings.

The next day we drove 50 miles to the east to visit sister Zona’s cabin on the shore of Lake Isabel.   There we harvested apples and Zona’s son-in-law Jon pulled the dock out of the water for winter storage.

Next day Barb and I helped Zona put oil on the new deck at the rear of her Bismarck home.   Later we were joined by Marvin and Violet for dinner.

And then the next day we attacked her storage building; sorting , cleaning and photographing the extra furniture with the intention of  placing some ads on the web.   Fortuitously, we found a charity that agreed to come and take all of the items, so we were spared the trouble of dealing with the sale of individual items.

On the next day –- are you keeping track of the date? – we drove up to Minot to attend the annual Norsk Høstfest event.  It will be covered in a later post.

In the middle of our visit we drove to Minneapolis to visit members of Zona’s family and to stage for a  trip to Mayo Clinic, after which we drove to northern Minnesota to vsit college friend Jon and his wife Cathie.   On the way back to Bismarck we stopped in Detroit Lakes to see the dude ranch which Barb’s folks ran with the help of their kids in the early 70’s.

So it has been a busy time here in the Midwest, and the time has flown.   As usual, we are impressed and grateful for the hospitality we have been shown by everyone, especially Zona.