Crest of the Wave

Monday night tennis was very good, close and reasonably high quality. Jerry wasn't able to play because he was in surgery. His wife called the club to tell us that he did well and the news is tentatively quite good. The bad stuff seems to be localized and was all removed. I'm going to visit him at Regions Hospital after he gets a little strength back.

I've fallen into the sudoku trap. I have been avoiding it to concentrate on uber-crossword puzzles. but after seeing how popular it has become, I tried a couple of newspaper puzzles and found that they can be solved. It's a new skill that I'll have to work on a while, but what the heck, I am retired and the ground is still frozen here on the tundra.

The political funny season is heating up. There are presidential primaries and the gloves are coming off as the contest is getting towards some sort of resolution. The contest features candidates that defy the main stereotypes of our time: racism, sexism, and ageism. The next president will set some sort of precedent. And in Minnesota, the legislature overrode a governor's veto for the first time in years and we're about to get an increase in the gasoline tax. With the way the gas price fluctuates, probably no one will be able to tell that an extra five cents per gallon is going towards fixing the roads and bridges, instead of to the oil market speculators and the middle easter oil barons. The price in Minnesota tonight for a gallon of gas ranges from $3.19 to $2.89. Another nickel is in the noise range - about one percent. Maybe we'll get through next summer without a major bridge collapse.

The springlike weather of the weekend has lapsed back to frozen, but tolerable. The photo is from the Como Conservatory from the weekend. I guess I like to take pictures of sculptures.



This bronze sculpture was created in 1925 as part of a water fountain by Harriet W. Frishmuth. She worked in the Beaux-Arts Style, a style characterized by a lively naturalism that reflected the optimism of the turn of the century.

In 1916, Frishmuth was introduced to Desha, a popular concert dancer. Desha became the model for many of Frishmuth's most successful sculptures. Frishmuth was known for decorative and useful objects, such as bookends and playful fountains. "Crest of the Wave" is considered one of Frishmuth's finest achievements.