More and better bridges

It's the first Sunday in September. I'm leading with the bridge again. This is more of a context shot that I took last week on Friday from the Cedar Avenue Bridge. The 35W bridge still fills the river. Barge traffic upriver is stopped here. The workmen have built a road out into the Mississippi to haul off the pieces of bridge as they are separated from the pile of debris. Up river you can see the locks normally used for barge traffic, the dam that holds back the river and allows the water level to be lowered for the work, and the stone arch bridge that is a bike and pedestrian crossing of the Mississippi. The Metrodome, home of the Vikings and Twins can be seen off to the left in the distance. The IDS tower can be seen, too. The water downstream from the bridge is muddy and murky, while upstream it is fresher and cleaner.


On the east side of 10th Street, which is the northeast extension of Cedar Avenue, stands this large old apartment building. This is in the heart of the University of Minnesota campus and someone hung out this sign on a sheet. It speaks for itself.


Two other things to report. Herb and I chatted with KS this morning via the internet. She is back from the Miyazaki organic farm and from a week visiting her old friends in Takehara. She can report on her activities herself, and probably will, but I am gratified to know that she is back in Ogaki and in contact with her tousan. She had a good time and likely will share some photos on xanga. She starts teaching English again on Tuesday. She looked marvelous.

The recent tennis activity continued. It was a hot day for tennis, but Jerry scheduled the mixed doubles team to practice in the middle of the day, two p.m. I played two sets before I ran out of water in my water bottle. Using my geezer status and my good sense, I quit. "When I'm out of water, I'm out of here." We had 12 people and used four courts at Highland High School for at least the 90 minutes I was there. I played with Marsha and we split sets with two separate teams, 6-4, 2-6. We are scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow, a more civilized hour of the day.