Sun 12 Jul

Forty years ago today, I married Steve Zemblowski. Oh, well, nobody's perfect. We had a magnificent trip this weekend, starting with a successful retirement consultation in Madison, continuing to some nice time spent with Laura and a nice lunch at Sushi Murimoto and a Costco run, Laura and I each got our first pair of Lululemon. We had a nice drive to Mayville and checked in to a lovely room at the Audubon Inn where they had a carafe of lemon cucumber water waiting for me! Did some walking in the town before dinner reservations, Bob got a nap in, and dinner was amazing! A charcuterie plate to start that was incredible, a large portion of fried Louisiana seafood (shrimp, Oysters!, and catfish, hush puppies, good coleslaw) I couldn't make much of a dent in my entree after thoroughly enjoying the appetizer, and we did have a fridge in the room so I will enjoy it another time. For dessert, they brought two huge beignets and a slice of flourless chocolate torte. We shared the torte and still have yet to crack the beignets. In the morning, we waited til 9 am for their brunch to begin, and again we were not disappointed. I had French toast with vanilla maple syrup and a side of praline bacon; Dad had shrimp and grits. After brunch, we drove to the boat landing and purchased our tickets, then used the intervening time to drive up to the Visitor Center for the Marsh and do a short hike (with black raspberries). They showed a video before the boat tour on the project to restore whooping cranes, then took us out for an hour in a pontoon boat with a guide who has lived there all his life and pointed out all the birds we were seeing in between his narrative of the history of the Marsh. After the ride, we enjoyed a dish of ice cream in town, then returned to the Visitor Center to look it over and to do one more hike. We drove back into Mayville to a little trattoria owned by a husband and wife and recommended by our very personable waitress from the Audubon Inn. Their homemade pasta was delicious. I had frutti del mare and Dad had scallops w/arrabiata sauce and we shared a delicious tiramisu before heading home. Have to cantor for 8 am Mass today. Planted new bush/trees flanking front door today as one arbor vitae had died. Moved the survivor to the corner of the raised bed around the house. Planted four lovely red tiger lilies on the west side and a new flowering hydrangea bush to replace the globe arbor vitae that had gone wild on the left of the garage. Food: 7:15 am Chocolate chip danish, 1/4 very large cantaloupe, 100 g blackberries, coffee 12:30 pm Beignet, sun tea 1:30 pm 100 cal tropical fruit Greek yogurt, 98 g raspberries Exercise: 2:15-3:25 pm Park Ridge walk w/Dad