A Little Grumpy~Favorite Fridays

We are getting closer and closer to moving day.  In just three weeks the moving truck will pull up outside our house and pack our memories up in a whirlwind of bubble wrap and newspaper.  

It seems like I just started my Favorite Fridays post, which details the things that I will miss about this Madison suburb in which we have lived for the past decade-plus.  

But time continues to tick by, and soon we will be settling into our home out west. Before we go, I have a few other "favorite things" to chronicle about the Mount Horeb, WI area;
The Grumpy Troll, New Glarus Brewery, Botham Vineyards, and Wollersheim Winery.  

These four destinations, all close to, if not in the center of, Mount Horeb have become favorites of my family.  Their uniqueness, quality of product, and memories that they've brought to us are unmatched.  Whenever we have out of town guests, you can rest assured that we will bring them to at least one of those stellar places, if not more.

While The Grumpy Troll may be a microbrewery, with my favorite brew being the Spetnaz, my favorite thing there is the Grump Chips.  All of the food, actually, at the Grump is, is out of this world.  As a rule, , when Jeff worked on the road, I would call in our take out orders and he could pick it up on his way home.  They recently added a gourmet pizza parlor upstairs, and as good as that is, I'd choose to eat downstairs any day of the week.  

We made up the game "Evie Trivia" when we were there once...they have trivial pursuit cards on the table, and we'd draw the card out and make up our own questions..."Who calls Evie Jo 'Sunshine'?"  She'd say, "Grandpa Dick."  "Correct!"

New Glarus Brewery is perched atop a hill on the outskirts of the Swiss town of New Glarus, WI.  Being in New Glarus, or at the brewery is like being transported to  a little town in Switzerland.  As a matter of fact, the weekned that we move is the celebrated Polkafest in New Glarus...one of our favorite events.  

The most popular of all New Glarus brews is Spotted Cow...however my favorite is Moon Man.  Moon Man, in my opinion, puts Blue Moon to shame.  

The brewery, which recently completed a rebuild, is worth a trip in and of itself...often hosting live music, and always worth the cost to "taste."

Wollersheim, I'll admit, is somewhere that I haven't been lately; but after THEIR reconstruction, I found that I could enjoy time on the terrace, with Prairie Fume and some cheese, while Evie played quite contentedly in a sandbox just next to our table!  I recall it being one of my most hopeful days of her young life, because her sensory issues were at their height and I rarely could relax for even a half hour without having to keep her entertained.  Put her in a sandbox, however, and she could play for an hour without complaint.

Finally, Botham; much smaller in distribution than Wollersheim, but actually more my style.  We have enjoyed concerts in the barn on brisk fall days, warm days overlooking the rolling hills of the countryside on the terrace, and personalized Evie-Jo shows on the stage when live music wasn't available.  

My favorite of the Bothem wines?  Probably the Finis or the Riesling. 

I plan to pick up a few bottles for mom and I to enjoy each night as we road trip out to Nevada.  I'm hoping that Norm and Rita will ship us some bottles as birthday or Christmas gifts too.  *hint, hint*

My Cup Lifted, the name of this blog, originated from my love of wine, and my love of the life with which  God has blessed me.  I lift my glass to Him, to this beautiful town, and to all our friends and family say proudly, as the Hefty family has taught me:

Gsundheit!

   

 

2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten ~ Favorite Fridays

There are so many parks in Mt. Horeb that I can’t even begin to tell you about all of them.  In fact, I can honestly say that there are likely some parks that I don’t know about and haven’t visited.  Still, on this Favorite Friday, I would like to write about a few of my favorite parks.

One of my favorites is Grandma Foster Park on Main Street.  

There was one summer that Grandma Foster’s was our park of choice.  There wasn’t a huge hill to go up or down and that was beneficial considering Evie was riding in a wagon at that point in time.  The slide was often in the shade, and that helped it stay cool as opposed to heating up in the late afternoon sun.  There weren’t too many challenging ladders or bridges at Grandma Foster’s as there were at other parks, and that helped considering Evie’s delayed walking and unpredictable clumsiness.  Grandma Foster’s was a simple solution for the days when we just needed to “get out” and break up the monotony of a day.

Another of our favorite parks is Boeck’s Park by the Mt. Horeb pool.

When Evie was REALLY little we called this park Green Park because the play structure has a lot of green parts to it.  There is a steering wheel atop the structure and Evie used to pretend she was driving a bus.  We would sing either “The Wheels on the Bus” or “Get on the Bus” (by the Dooblebops) as she steered her way through her town. 

There’s also a little “window” with a ledge underneath the play structure; we’d often pretend we were shopping and checking out at that window, or we’d pretend it was the window at a fast food restaurant.  We stopped going to Green Park once Evie got old enough to want to swim at the pool.  It was just too difficult a fight everyday to be at the park and have her want to be in the pool.

Of course, our number one park in Mt. Horeb is the ever popular Grundahl Park.

Not only is it the largest park in Mt. Horeb, but it boasts some of the greatest summer activities.  Relay for Life is at Grundahl each year, our family reunion is always at Grundahl, Summer Frolic takes place there, and I’ve held many a birthday party for Evie at Grundahl Park over the years.  Another awesome activity at Grundahl is the Wednesday Night live music in July.  It’s like a mini-version of Concerts in the Square at the Capitol in Madison, only without the crowds and without the parking nightmare. 

 

In addition to the large play structure (complete with a twirly-whirly slide), Grundahl also has an AWESOME couple of hills to roll down, and enough wide open space that we could fly kites there without too much danger of getting our kites caught in trees.  Sometimes, when we had enough energy to do so, we would even “run the bases” at the softball diamond.

I know that Reno, (and the suburb we will live in called Sparks) will have parks.   

Somehow, though, I know that they won’t seem as wonderful because they won’t have the memories attached to them of flying Sesame Street kites and watching all of Evie’s first “independent” climbs up ladders and stairs.  If I weren’t opposed to defacing public property, I would gladly carve into each of the play structures at our favorite Mt. Horeb parks:

2 good 2 be 4 gotten

Favorite Fridays - Glorious Church Bells

One of the "traditions" I'd like to start on my blog is celebrating Frdays by writing about a few of my favorite things.  Today is the day to start that tradition!  

To honor this wonderful village we live in, Mt. Horeb, I want to write today about one of my favorite things here: the church bells.

The ELC church is just a block away from us, and the bells ring evey hour between 7 am and 9 pm.  Not only do they chime the hours, but there is always a song that follows; usually a celebrated traditional hymn, but I've also heard songs like, "Always look at the Bright Side of Life."

There have been times when the bells have required a tune-up, and during those times you felt like a gameshow contestant who has just chosen the wrong door or curtain.... Waa-waa-waaaawh.   However, that was usually short lived, and actually added a little surrealism to the quiet suburban town.  

Last summer, thankfully, with the cool temps that we had, I was able to enjoy the church bells the most.  Our windows were open, the sound of air-conditioners running were few and far between...Evie and I would often count the bells every hour to countdown our day to daddy's return home from work. 

 

The church bells have always provided me comfort  They were a constant reminder of God's presence during the summer months of my maternity leave with Evie, a time when I needed God most.  

Also, the bells were always a crowd favorite when we would grill out at our Pre-Frolic Summer Party, because they created an aura of ethnicity, like being transported to another country for an instant.

The church bells, indeed, add quaintness and culture to our town.  They remind me of safety, of a simpler time, of cows grazing and green meadows swaying to and fro.

Maybe we will find church bells in Reno.  Maybe we will be fortunate to live close enough to hear them chime the arrival of another hour.  But, somehow I doubt that I will ever find quite the magical combination of green trees, brick crosswalks, Nordic designs and troll-lined streets as I've found right here.  

Church Bells...

Just one little piece of Mt. Horeb that will always make this "home".