Pumpkin Time at the Miller's

 Last week I posted pictures on Facebook from the pumpkin walk in Kimberly and Kassie mentioned that we should check out the one in Waupaca. Since the hubby was going to be in Waupaca for volleyball, I figured I could convince him to check out the pumpkins.

The pumpkins Kassie was referring to was Pumpkin Time at the Miller's which got so big it had to move from their house to downtown Waupaca. Being downtown allowed for better traffic control and parking. They are open every night from dusk to 10 pm until November 2. It is free to look but they ask for donations either for Shop with a Cop or the food pantry.

There are over 200 pumpkins. The last post I saw was 230. There are separate areas with different themes.

You walk up the sidewalk towards City Hall and the both sides are lined with pumpkins featuring the logos of local high schools. Of course we had to find Neenah.

In front was a whole display down by kids at the elementary school.

There are pumpkins (and signs) featuring Waupaca businesses

One of my favorites was the one of Queen Elizabeth.

You have Cereal Killers. The hubby even waited by Tony the Tiger so I could get a picture of him.

Of course you can't forget Disney

The hubby said I was taking too many pictures but there were so neat. He said at least take the one of Chuck Norris.

I did not count them all but there were a lot. The hubby even said it was cool. These aren't even all the pictures I took. You have to see them all for yourself.

If you get a chance to get to Waupaca before November 2, check it out or put it on your calendar for next year. There is also a haunted hollow in Waupaca so you could do lots of spooky Halloween fun. 

Dearly Departed - A History of Neenah/Menasha's Family-Owned Funeral Homes

 Neenah Library, in conjunction with the Neenah Historical Society, usually puts on a history program every month either in person or virtual. I've been to a couple of them in the past. My favorite being the Dairy Queen one. When I saw they were doing one on the funeral homes for Halloween, I thought it was worth checking out. The hubby wished he could have gone but he was busy doing volleyball.

An employee from Kessler Funeral Home who also worked at the Historical Society was the presenter. She put together a very nice presentation but I felt like it as missing something.

We learned about the history of funeral homes in the area. One of the things I found interesting was that furniture stores used to sell the caskets in the 1800s and early 1900s. It makes sense since they were also building wooden furniture why not sell wooden caskets.

In 1893 there were three undertaking services in Neenah and two in Menasha. All of them would change names through the years but there are still two left between Neenah and Menasha. 

The Laemerrich Funeral Home in Menasha not only provided funeral services but they also created the altar and other carvings for St. Mary's Church in Menasha. 

The other piece of history of the Laemmerich Family was their Nativity Scene. For many years, the Laemmerich Family would display the hand carved Nativity scene along with Christmas trees outside the funeral home. Once the funeral home was sold, the nativity scene was donated to St. Patrick's Church in Menasha and you can see it as you drive by on Doty Island every Christmas. 

That was probably the most interesting part of the program. There was also the history of the Heuer Funeral home in Neenah which later became Westgors. 

The other funeral home from 1893 that is still around is the Sorenson and Sons. Several moves and name changes later, Sorenson and Sons is now known as Kessler-Fahrengrug Funeral Home. 

Like I said it was interesting but could have been a whole lot more. I was hoping for more stories about growing up in a funeral home and other strange and bizarre tales. It was pretty cut and dry. A little humor but none of the really good details of the funeral business that I wanted to know. Maybe I just hung out with Stacy too long and heard her tales from her childhood. 

If you want to watch the whole presentation, you can check out the Neenah Historical Society You Tube page and hopefully it will be uploaded soon. Past programs are available. I might have to go watch the ones I missed. Hopefully I will be able to attend the one in January. No topic is given yet so hopefully it is something interesting.

A Random Covered Bridge in Waupaca

 As we were headed to Eau Claire, I nonchalantly mentioned to the hubby that we should see the covered bridge in Waupaca sometime. We both thought the Red Mill Covered Bridge but Google had other ideas. 

I typed Covered Bridge Waupaca into Google Maps and I was like we're only short distance away. We decided to go check it out. It turns out it was not the Red Mill Covered Bridge but a small covered bridge over the Waupaca river leading to a residential neighborhood. 

The cool thing about this random covered bridge is that you can drive over through it. We drove through the bridge, through the residential neighborhood and back over the bridge to get back to the highway. We only drove through the neighborhood since there was someone behind us and there really wasn't a spot to turn around unless you drove through the area.

I was definitely disappointed it was not the Red Mill Covered Bridge but it was a cool hidden gem. Since it wasn't too far off the highway we couldn't really complain. We will eventually make it to the Red Mill Covered Bridge. 

If you are looking for the Red Mill Covered Bridge make sure you enter The Red Mill into Google Maps otherwise it will take you to this random covered bridge out in the county. 

Meeting Jennifer Chiaverini

 The Fox Cities Book Festival went the route of mainly local authors and a book fair versus more National authors with in person speaking events. I will be honest, I am not a fan of the new format. I want to hear authors speak about their books in a room and not just do meet and greets. 

They did offer a few author speaking events and one of them was Jennifer Chiaverini. Her latest book, Switchboard Soldiers, is on my to read list. As much as I wanted to see her speak, I was not a fan of the venue, The Brigade in Neenah mainly due to lack of parking. Thanks to the Book Festival letting us know where to park, I decided to go. It was free after all.

Jennifer Chiaverini lives in Madison and is originally from Pennsylvania. She told the story of how she met her husband, went from a really hard to pronounce German name to an even harder to pronounce Italian name, and moving to Wisconsin where we all would have been able to pronounce the German name.

Switchboard Soldiers is about the women that were recruited to be switchboard operators in Europe during WWI. She discovered this little, relatively unknown piece of history while researching another book and kept it in her back pocket. I love when authors get an idea when they go down a research rabbit hole.

The hour long conversation was filled with laughter as well. Jennifer is a great storyteller and she probably could have entertained us for hours but there was another author in the auditorium later in the day.

Afterwards, I waited in line to have her sign my copy of Switchboard Soldiers that I bought before going in to the presentation. I did it right as you had to buy the book first and then wait in line to have it signed. I could skip the first line and had to wait in the second line. This was especially important since there was not a lot of space upstairs for author signings and book selling.

I am glad I went. Hopefully in the future, the book festival will go back to author events at various locations throughout the Fox Valley so I can spend my Saturday author hopping. 

7430. Create a paint pour pumpkin

 Kaukauna Library does a Make and Mingle once a month on Wednesday evenings. It is a chance to create something nice and make new friends. This month the craft was paint pour pumpkins. I made sure I was online at 9 am to reserve my spot. I was able to snag the first spot.

Paint pour pumpkins is essentially what is sounds like.. pouring paint over pumpkins. However, it is not quite that simple. Well it could be but to get a real marble look, there are a few steps involved.

Materials
- Paint Pouring Medium  -- this allows the paint colors to not mix with each other. 
-Acrylic Paint -- 2 to 3 colors. I choice Dark blue, light blue, and yellow.
-Pumpkin -- Pie pumpkins or mini pumpkins
-Disposable Cups
-Stir Sticks -- popsicle sticks work great

Steps
1. Pour some paint pouring medium in a cup. One cup for each color

2. Add an equal amount of paint into the cup

3. Mix the medium and paint together. Make sure it is mixed really well. If the paint mixture is too thick add a few drops of water to thin out. This will help with pouring.

4. Layer the colors into a 4th cup. You want as many layers as possible so just a little of each color before adding the next color. Save some color in each cup in case you need to file in the gaps.

5. Pour the paint over the pumpkin in several places. You can hold it by the stem and rotate to get to mix to let the colors fill in all the spots.

6. Using your stir sticks, fill in any gaps.

7. Let dry for several days.

It is messy. We propped our pumpkins up on cups to help cover the entire pumpkin. We also had them in aluminum pans to contain the mess. You will still get your hands covered in paint. 

I have seen that you can do it without the pour medium but you might not the marbled look we got. Also the paint will peel up when you try to remove it from the cups or tray once dry so be careful not to pull off all the paint. 

Next month, I'm trying my hand at glass etching. This should be interesting. Stay tuned.

7413. Welcome Home Honor Flight Veterans

 The Honor Flight is a program that was started to fly WWII veterans to Washington DC to see the WWII Memorial and other DC sites and thank them for their service. Once most of the WWII veterans still living had the chance to participate, they started to open it up to other veterans mainly Korean War, Vietnam War, and more recently Gulf War veterans. Part of the pomp and circumstance is welcoming home the veterans at the airport. Prior to COVID, Appleton airport would announce when an Honor Flight was coming and ask anyone that wanted to welcome them back to show up. 

Even though Dad never saw combat action, his navy ship, The USS Lexington, was ordered to patrol off the coast during the very first days of the Vietnam War. This qualified him for the Honor Flight. B went along as his guardian.

We were told to be at the Mitchell Airport after 8:30 as Dad's plan was scheduled to get in after 9. They also said to bring chairs and signs. With the help of Andrea, I made 3 signs welcoming Dad and the other veterans home and thanking them for their service.

When we got to the airport, we discovered Group A flight that was scheduled to arrive in at 8 was still not in. The waiting area was full of people waiting for their family and friends to arrive home. We camped out against a wall waiting for Group A to arrive home. 

Once Group A's family and friends began to clear out, the hubby secured us a front row spot next to a pillar. We set up a chair for Mom. I realized three signs was a bit much and gave away two. I should have kept my favorite. Oh well. 

While we waited the Greenfield Cheerleaders kept us entertained. A band played in down at the other end. 

Finally Dad's plane landed and they started to make it through the concourse and into the waiting area. Everyone was clapping, waving flags, and even shaking hands of veterans as they passed. 

When Dad finally got to us, we tried to shake his hand but he took mom's flag instead. 

After Dad passed us, we quickly got out of the way to let others behind us get up front to see their family member. Then we headed downstairs to meet Dad and B. We were surprised that they beat us down there. I guess that's the advantage of having a wheelchair. 

It was very moving experience, even though it was late. For many of the Vietnam veterans this was the first Homecoming they got. I am happy that they got the Homecoming they deserved. I would welcome home another Honor Flight again especially in Appleton where it might not be so congested.