Honey....

Recently the Wisconsin branch of the family tree went on an excursion.
Fran and I had talked about a road trip to the new Honey Baked Ham store of Fred and Ann.
We decided to make the run to Chicago on Wednesday 4/13/11.

All in all the drive down was pretty relaxing. Fran and I took the time to catch up and just chatted the time away. The drive was educational too.
We learned that the Illinois tolls are no longer 35 cents.
(And you can get just about anywhere IF you have a GPS )

We estimated a two hour trip and doggone if we didn't pull into the parking lot right on time.
Only to find Fred waiting patiently for us. ( or mebbe he was on a smoke break.)

How long was he waiting to welcome us?

View from the parking lot. (Fran just couldn't wait to see Fred!)


Inside the store and cafe.


Not only do they sell the best ham, they serve soup and sandwiches.
By the looks of the cafe while we were there, the local folks know good food.


Ann welcomed us inside and Fred gave us a tour behind the scenes. We met their staff and were impressed with the volume of food and cleanliness of the whole facility.


Our Hosts..


Siblings...


Speaking of ham... lookit this guy!


It was good to visit family, but I gotta be honest the lunch was a big bonus.

The view from our table.
Which by the way, held some of the best Pea Soup and sandwiches.
's matter of fact some of that soup made it's way back to Milwaukee!


Some of Fred's artwork decorates the cafe...


This seems to say it all.


Thanks Ann and Fred.
Special thanks to my co-pilot Fran.
What a "wonderful" day!

Did I mention the food was great?? Oh yeah!

Christmas on Verona Court

Apologies for the delayed posting lately. I have no excuse, I just do these things when the mood hits. Idin it great to be retired?

At a previous gathering of the Cousins, Ruthanne graciously invited us to her place on Verona Ct. for a Christmas dinner. Timings being what they are, it turned out to be a Post Christmas Dinner. What made it great is that it was - Italian style.
We had Salad, Spaghetti, Italian sausage and meatballs. OOOPs almost forgot the cannoli. All of which were superb, or should I say.."lovely".
(I should probably explain that, but another time.)

There seems to be a trait in our family that requires us to always prepare more food than the attendees will ever consume. Ruthanne definitely has this trait. Next time Chris will have to stay and help us, Ruthanne.

While the dinner was the main reason for this clan gathering, I bet all would agree that the best part was being together again. We enjoyed exchanging gifts and exchanging stories. Just being together and being with "Family" again.

Bloggers note: We all had cameras and a strong interest in taking pictures, Yet nobody thought to do that. We were too busy having fun. That's why this post just has the Tree graphic.

Cook out

You can probably guess tell by our attire, the next gathering of the Cousins was a cookout on August 2, 2009. We were hosted by Rick and Fran ( Plewa) Hansen in their back yard. Although we missed Cousin Ruthanne, we were joined by Rick and Fred's wife Anne. As typical of family gatherings,
we had great food (Too much to eat) and ADULT beverages (not too much). I can safely say we all enjoyed an afternoon of Family, Food and Fun.
Once again promising to to keep in touch and looking forward to our next meeting.

Catchin Up...

The original post celebrated our reunion after way too many years. As stated in that post we talked about the old days, shared photos and took a few new ones.
These are a few more taken by Fran.



Here we have Fred, Tony and Ruthanne just before the reminiscing began.














Now we spread out all the Family history and the serious remembering began. ( Notice how we all had to have the specs on. )











all the while Whiskey is deep in thought.

An Inheritance...

At our most recent reunion, Ruthanne presented me with a picture and a short explanation of it's history. It seems that this was a picture that hung in Grandma and Grandpa Plewa's summer porch.

I didn't have the presence of mind to photograph it in it's original condition. Suffice to say it was a little ragged. With an old dusty looking frame and plain glass. The subject matter itself leaving one to wonder if it wasn't something Grandpa liked and Grandma had it banned to the summer porch.

However, there was something about it that tweaked my interest. I put it aside for a while. Yet I couldn't stop thinking about it. And in turn memories of my Grandparents. I decide to have it matted and reframed with help of a local framer. The result hangs on a column in my living/dining area. I think I'll call it "After the Hunt".

Since this Grandpa has no Grandma attached, I think that's where it'll stay.

Long ago and not so far away ..

there were four cousins.

They saw each other pretty often.

Family gatherings at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Birthday parties at Uncle and Aunt’s houses.

Small gatherings at Ben & Gussies Tap for fish fry’s and adult beverages.

(The cousins generally were limited orange soda and corn curls)

Life goes on and these folks lost touch.

Recently the last of the cousins parental generation passed on.

This became the spark for these four to reconnect.

Thanks to emails and phone calls Ruthanne, Fran, Fred and yours truly met recently.

History being what it is we met on a Friday.

We shared a family style fish fry and adult beverages.

Then back to my home for reminiscing across the kitchen table.

We talked about the old days and caught up with current history.

Photos were shared and new ones taken.

An enjoyable evening was had by all and promises made to keep in touch.

With that promise in mind I pass on these photos of the cousins.

The original we believe to be circa 1950 and the latest 3-27-09.

Left to right: Ruthanne, Fran, Tony, Fred