Living the Good Life----with Buttermilk Pie

Day two of our summer vacation included a morning visit to the small village of Lake Elmo, MN to see good friends Barry and Kathy. The weather was pleasant on this July morning as well as the scenery. I was in awe of this wonderful old showplace dairy farm right on the edge of town as it seemed as welcoming as the sign across the road itself...

Passing thru the center of the business district I took a photo of "Sparkle" who was a big Hereford advertising sign for a steak house.

And then we saw the namesake body of water that reminded me of the old saying "still waters run deep" as we heard that it was two miles long and 140 feet deep in some areas.

And then we pulled into the driveway of our friends who both grew up in this very village and have remained there all their lives.

We were at first greeted by the 12 year old watchdog "Chopper" and then by our hosts for the morning. And of course we headed straight into the garage where Barry showed us his efficient and very clean machine shop where he makes a living being self employed and doing what he loves to do each and every day. 

How nice it must be to have the luxury of working from home and having your hobby at arm's length as well. That hobby would be old Chevy trucks of the 1939-40 body style...

These were my kind of parts...six cylinder Chevy engines and related items of high quality.

His shop included cool stuff wherever the eye would wander...

And while Lawrence and Barry continued to talk in depth about old Chevy trucks, I followed Kathy into the house where we retreated to her basement workshop where she also works from home running a sign business. She is a longtime sign painter and  also does modern vinyl graphic artwork with banners and the like.

We had a good visit and she explained her business to me and it was all interesting to hear. I could tell she was happy and content in her life and occupation. After some time, we headed back upstairs where I took a photo of this old sign that I liked.

And also this one which was in the kitchen...

We walked thru their home and followed the voices of the guys to the front porch where they were having a good visit.

I sat down in one the chairs and joined the conversation and wondered how my morning could be any better than this and soon Chopper joined us as well.

Kathy brought us some iced tea and we were just thankful to be there in the mid day comfort of the Minnesota summer.

This was indeed the good life, the simple life, and the life of Riley, all rolled into one.

Soon our hostess with the mostest got busy in the kitchen and came outside with a tray with bread, meats, cheese, and condiments for sandwiches along with some sweet potato biscuits and it was good.

And just when I thought things couldn't get any better Kathy turned things up a notch when she arrived on the front porch carrying not one but two homemade pies....

It was to be our lucky day and was comparable to winning the lottery...

And while the blueberry pie was very good, I was simply in love with the buttermilk pie--yum yum.

And while eating our dessert I mentioned our mutual good friend Larry from Dixon, IL and they told me how he had sent them some store bought clear grain alcohol which they had used to make what they called apple moonshine. Barry said it tasted just like apple pie. I happen to love apple pie and so he soon served us a sample offering of the nectar itself...

Oh boy....that was good and he even sent the rest of the jar along with us to help us "keep our strength up" and we were thankful for that.

It was with sadness that we had to tell our hosts goodbye and continue on our way but we thanked them and were all smiles as we left Lake Elmo, MN where good people have learned to make the best of each day and find happiness right there at home.

We have decided our pal Barry is a guy who has it all...

Thanks for coming along on my vacation and look for more installments very soon.