Welcome!

Did you have a good day?   I had a tooth extracted today and decided to stay home from work as I didn't get much sleep last night due to the tooth and our kitten Stormy waking me up a few times.  I only work part-time Monday through Wednesday but the hours are from 3-11:30 pm, so if I don't get my quota of sleep it's hard to stay awake!  So, here I am after having a nap and taking plenty of Advil and with my glass of iced tea ready to work on my very first post. 

It's rainy here in my part of Missouri again today.  While working in the kitchen, I've always enjoyed watching the changing of the seasons out of my window.  It's a tossup, but I think I like the fall season the best with spring being a close second.  But now, sadly, all the pretty leaves have mostly fallen and the trees are bare having gone to sleep for the winter. 

My hubby and I went on a day trip to the Lake of the Ozarks just a few weeks ago and stopped at a little town along the way.  Look at the next pictures and see if any fellow Missourians know where we are.

And then down the road a couple of miles, we stopped here for some country ham and summer sausage.

                                                                  

                                                                                      

                                

                                                                                     

For those of you who don't know, the pictures of the small lake are in California, Missouri at Proctor's Park Lake.  I happened upon this park a few years ago when my daughter had business in the town and asked me to ride along.  It was a lovely place to stop for an hour or two while waiting on her.  The lake has a paved trail all around for those who enjoy walking.  And, of course, almost everyone in Missouri is familiar with Burger products.  I grew up eating country fried ham sandwiches...of course way back when, on the farm, my parents raised hogs as well as cattle and cured their own hams. 

Then traveling on down Highway 5 we stopped at the Dutch Bakery Bulk Food Store, operated by the Amish/Mennonites, in Tipton for some shopping there.   I could have bought more than I did.   Then on to Lehman's near Versailles for lunch. The Mennonites are fabulous cooks.  Bought a loaf of their cinnamon bread.  And snickerdoodles.  Once again, I could have bought more but I restrained myself...it was hard. 

We finally made it to the Lake of the Ozarks.  The trees there were a disappointment for the most part, as they looked even more brown than ours are further north.  Here is a picture of the lake near Bagnell Dam.

The antique shop (pictured above) at the Victorian themed Main Street Poverty Flats is always a must stop for me.  I enjoy browsing there, they always have something I like!  The Main Street Music Hall is located nearby and they have excellent music but we didn't go this trip.  Of course, I stopped in at the Factory Outlet Mall, too. 

All too soon it was time to head for home.  We enjoyed the day but it's always good to get home.  And see pictures like this out of our back window to remind us of work we could have been doing on a nice weekend...but what fun it that?  This is our pond on our 6 acres I can see from our kitchen window.   This is the "before" picture, so to speak.  Hope to post back sometime with a spruced up "after" shot.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.

 Until next time...