Cold Rocks

The next to the last Minnesota Rocks has been installed since my last trip to Mounds Park. It had been the object of some vandalism last spring some time, but it's back in place and all cleaned up. The wind chill when I snapped this photo was one below zero, so I was sure to keep the camera warm ahead of time. This rock was sculpted by Javier Del Cueto, a Mexican stone carver. It's called "Wave." I spent about 45 minutes outside, walking up to the the Indian Burial Grounds that dominate the park on St Paul's East Side.


The Davis Cup is going on in Portland, Oregon, as I write. The first match was won by Andy Roddick and James Blake is up two sets to one in the second of two matches today. The doubles are tomorrow.

The theme for tomorrow is "big snow storm." The weather guys are predicting at least six and maybe ten inches of cold whiteness for the day. The shovel is ready.

Today is the last day of November and I won't need to use the term "albatross" any more for a while.

The Best Rock

The summer should be over by now, but Septober was followed by Augtober and tomorrow is predicted to be 85 degrees - thus Jul-tober. I'm posting the best of the Minnesota Rocks series. Judges took into account the quality of the carving and the setting in which it has been placed. I choose "Meditation" by Lei Yixin, which is situated at Phalen Park. Nice job, Lei.


It rained over an inch of water over night, but I was able to hit a few tennis balls anyhow, in Mendota Heights. The warm weather required a little tennis ball smacking.

Four Bridges

It's a cold day and the weather guys are predicting frost "in the outlying areas." As Dad would say, "I can out lie anyone." So I'm covering my tomato plants with the hope that the growing season can be extended. I plan to let the zukes freeze if it gets cold enough. I may be able to use a couple more tomato plant photos here, too, over the next weeks. I'm looking for the old sheets to use as tomato cover.

I had a walk this morning by the river in the Lilydale Regional Park. There were five bikers who came by during the walk, all of whom looked well bundled up with ruddy faces. The temp was in the 40's. I was confident that the deer ticks and mosquitos were moving pretty slowly, too.

This photo is from my last search for Minnesota Rocks number 9, which is supposed to be at Upper Landing Park near downtown St Paul. It's not to be found, but I took this picture from a spot very near where it should be. It's one of the few places where you can view and photograph four bridges in one frame. One of the bridges is for railroads, and the nearest is the Wabasha Street bridge. As you can see, none of them have fallen into the Mississippi yet.



I have the tennis schedule for tomorrow and Sunday. I'll be playing at 11 am and 5 pm tomorrow and 9:30 am on Sunday at Nicollet Tennis Center. If we win enough, I get another opportunity at 5 pm Sunday. I expect knackerdom to be achieved by the end of Saturday evening. I have carbbed up and thought up several possible excuses for subpar play. Let the games begin.

Thirteen

I found another of the Minnesota Rocks. It took a little googling and some google mapping, but I was able to locate the 13th of the 15 original sculptures. This one is outside the city limits of St Paul, in St Anthony Village, in Salo Park. Salo Park is new and located at 39th and Harding in a new development near Silver Lake. The artist is a Finnish guy, Sakari Peltola. He calls the sculpture "The Weatherman." It's a sculpture in two parts separated by at least twenty feet. Public art.


More tennis tonight, too. We played inside, beginning Thursday night mixed doubles at Wooddale. We had three active, fairly well played tennis and it was quite a bit of fun. The area mixed doubles tournament begins Saturday at Read Sweatt Tennis Center. I am scheduled to play three matches and if we win them, probably a fourth. I expect that any blogging this weekend will be tennis-centric.

Twelfth of Fifteen Rock Sculptures

Apparently the city of St Paul has been installing the Minnesota Rocks sculptures in the last month while I was otherwise occupied. I found Minnesota Rocks 12 at the Phalen Picnic Pavilion today. I had been in the exact spot at least twice in July and the stone was not yet there. There are a total of 15 sculptures, of which I have discovered and photographed 12. See link to Minnesota Rocks. The three that are left are number 9 (should be at Upper Landing Park by the Mississippi), number 13 (should be on Mounds Boulevard and McLean, but has been removed for repair because it apparently was vandalized), and the one by a Finnish sculptor which is supposed to be in Salo Park in St Anthony Village. As the monkey said when the train ran over his tail, "it won't be long now."

This one is a beauty and is located in a lovely spot. It was created by a Chinese sculptor, Lei Yixin, and is called "Meditation." After I find them all I'll try to pick out the top three most impressive. This is a top contender.


I have located the rugby World Cup tournament on Versus, the same channel that telecasts the Tour de France. The USA and England were having at it this afternoon and I watched a few scrums. Many thanks to Santini.

Also more information than necessary about Carver's Cave can be found at link. Carver's Cave was a recent subject in this blog relating to Friedrich Schiller's connection to St Paul's Como Park. He was a popularizer of the cave to his German readers.

Two sets of tennis today. It was a lovely evening and I played so-so, but managed to be on the winning side twice in the two sets.

Minnesota Rocks Again

I ventured outside my sphere of influence to track down another of the Minnesota Rocks sculptures that I've been sporadically photographing and posting here. This one is called the "Goodnight Kiss" by an Italian stone sculptor, Pasquale Martini. It was perched at its current location and dedicated in late July. The location is more in Mr. Moohoo's biking range, if I'm not mistaken, in Vadnais Heights at City Hall. A map is included this time.


The map. Clipped out with Mac software and modified to JPG format by iPhoto.


I talked to the beloved Japan-sited English teacher this morning. She was using her air conditioning in her Ogaki apartment while I shivered in the 55 degree heat in Minnesota. She had tales to tell, but you'll have to check her xanga blog to get the gist of them. She looked marvelous to these old eyes.

Herb has returned from Chicago again. His Corolla has over over eighty thousand miles now, many of the miles on I-94 and I-90 to Chi-town.

The finals of the men's US Open tournament are now history. Roger Federer won his fourth consecutive championship. Congratulations. Novak Djokovic had set points in each of the first two sets, but was unable to convert. Several of the key points were decided by the software of the "Hawk-Eye" lookalike. Software! I know enough about software to distrust the results, especially when a ball misses a line by millimeters. Soon we may even be trusting the results of national elections to software. Oh, I guess we already do.

A Ride for the Summer Solstice

You can't take a picture of the solstice. Rather, I can't take a picture of a solstice. Maybe you can.

The weather map threatened afternoon storms and the morning was pleasant, so I struck out for a long ride. I haven't been to most of the lake area in Minneapolis this year and it's just across the Ford Bridge. It's a nice ride past Minnehaha Falls, Lake Hiawatha, Lake Nakomis, along Minnehaha Creek to Lake Harriet and up the shore to the Minneapolis Rose Garden. Ah, Roses, the queen of flowers. There were gardeners tending the flowers and strollers enjoying the sights. They have about a brazillion different varieties of rose and they bloom most of the summer and lend their aroma to the area.



There is also a nice fountain in the park. There are brass turtles spewing water into the pools, and roses all around. I snapped the picture, drank some agua and turned for home. I beat the storms by at least six hours.


It was a 24 mile round trip, a two bottle trek, and after yesterday's three sets of tennis, I am plum knackered. I found my locally growing, organic tomato plants waiting for a tenth day photo. They are doing very well and a couple of tiny green tomatoes are forming on its branches. As the monkey said when the train ran over its tail, "it won't be long now." I can almost taste the luscious red goodness.


I found on the internet that Minnesota Rocks number 13," Wave" which was sited at Mounds Park was vandalized a while ago and was removed from the park. Someone didn't like its artistry. This explains why I didn't find that one.

Solstice tomorrow

The early evening got hot, about 93 at 5 pm, but I was committed to some tennis. Doubles again at Marie Park. It wasn't super tennis, but interesting and at times, frustrating. It was nice to be outside because the sky became quite interesting. After tennis I drove to the West St. Paul side of the High Bridge and took a few pictures of the sky. It's a good vantage point to see the big sky and this photo is representative, but not as dramatic as the sky was earlier on. So it goes.


I looked for the Lake Phalen Minnesota Rock in the cool of the morning, but it was not to be found. It was reputed to be by the picnic pavilion. Not there. There are three of the 15 that have yet to be planted, in my opinion.

I'm going to look for a solstice picture for tomorrow. That should be a challenge.

Unbroken Adam

Unky Herb went to the doctor and was x-rayed. There is no apparent break in the bone, just a bad bruise and pain. The doc again recommended 4 ibu's whenever the pain came back (does it go away?). No biking for him for a while. The result of the fall in photo form:


It was a morning for the iChat with KK (Kagami Kid). She has another blog entry on Xanga, so there is not too much to add to that (see link in my permanent links). She has a reserved seat for the good old USA and is looking forward to the three Michigan B's - beach, blueberries, and blading - and the usual good times. Plus some time in Minnesota with friends and family, and some practice with her primary language - English.

Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. Four days in a row over 90. I went to a movie, one of very few times in my life when I have gone to a film alone. It was air conditioned and there was one other person in the theatre. It doen't matter what was showing.

Minnesota Rocks (number 5 on the web site map) is in Hamline Park at Snelling and Thomas. "Cajibracan" was created by Peter Morales of St Paul. I drove to the park yesterday in the heat of the day and the rock was in the advertized location.

The Other Paris

I find that the Minnesota Rocks number 9 that I pictured yesterday is more likely number 8 by Lazarus Takawira of Zimbabwe. The place I found it was really the Lower Landing Park. Lourdes Cue's art work is still missing. Sorry. The search will continue. As a bonus I include "St Paul Portasaurus" from the same area of the Lower Landing Park, to replace in our hearts the Grand Avenue dino recently vandalized. They are a promotional campaign by the Science Museum of Minnesota.


I played three sets of tennis doubles this morning at Marie Park. It was a beautiful and calm morning. Calm meaning very little wind. Wilson felt heavy and unresponsive in warm-ups, but he was up to the task and performed admirably 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 with an assortment of partners. Tomorrow's schedule includes a USTA 8.0 Mixed Doubles league match at Nicollet Tennis Center.

In honor of a day when both Kagami-Sensei and Ms. Wireless have blogged on xanga and the 24th birthday of Wireless, I offer the following image from 1985, when we were just getting to know these people. You will note that the 5 year-old super hero is Unky Herb of "Maybe I'm a Lion" video fame. Note the giant legos.


Justine Henin, the Belgian mighty mite won her third consecutive Roland Garros women's single title over Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2, good for 1 million euros. Tomorrow at 8 am CDT the match of unbeatables begins: Nadal against Federer. I continue to endorse Raffy.

The blogger known as Carl Ponanz (only by himself - his name is Ponutz) stopped by for some tea and to look over some old photos that he had recently acquired. We took the opportunity to discuss the old days and some of the weirdness of the world. He also promised to be more diligent in his postings to his blog.

San Antonio Spurs against Lebron James tonight in Game 2.

Paris Hilton Back in Jail

If you don't ride in the wind, you don't ride against the wind. Down wind is better and down by the river it seemed to be coming from the north - the way home. I went back to Upper Landing Park looking for this Minnesota Rock sculpted by Lourdes Cue. She's from Mexico City, but moved to Minnesota in 1992. The location described on the web page for this stone is quite misleading, but I continued my ride along the ribbon-like park towards Mounds Park and came upon the modified rock very near the river. Persistence once again pays off. The bridge in the background is the Lafayette Bridge.


I rode upwind and uphill home in time for lunch and a chance to mow de lawn. I thought about looking for a new photo theme, too. There are quite a few ugly structures on the way to downtown, and I think I can find an uglier building than any of this blog's readers. I have a couple in the can already. 12.5 miles today.

The scanner has opened up new possibilities for posting, too. I have some photos that haven't been seen much lately that are likely to turn up here, too. See what shows up towards the bottom of this page.

Roger Federer over N. Davydenko of Russia 7-5, 7-6, 7-6. and will meet Rafael Nadal, who beat Serbian N. Djokovic 7-5, 6-4, 6-2, in the finals of Roland Garros on Sunday. I'll be watching. Both guys are unbeatable. Tomorrow's women's final pits Justine Henin against the pretty 19 year-old Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. I think Henin has the edge going for her third straight singles title in Paris, France.

Photo Quiz. When was this photo taken? Where? Who is the babe? Prize for correct answers is a pint of fresh blueberries.

Digital Scanner for Photos

Too windy to bike or smack tennis balls. There were tornado warnings in various parts of the state, too. I took another day off.

With all this talk about scanners, I decided to try the scanner, too. Mine is a HP PSC 1610 attached to Herb's Mac. This scanner is also a copier and a printer. It worked pretty well and was user friendly enough to get the job done. The image is smaller than what comes from my digital camera, but the software has done some automatic cropping because the photo was 4x6 on a 8 and 1/2 by 11 scanner bed. The photo is the giant "Spoonbridge and Cherry" at the Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden taken about 4 years ago, a favorite subject of mine on Father's Day. It also seems to have assumed the position of Minneapolis city symbol.


It was a decent enough day to search for Minnesota Rocks sculptures. This one is in Mounds Park which overlooks the Mississippi Valley on the east side of St Paul. The park contains burial mounds of the Indian tribes that lived in this area for centuries and also this new sculpture (it is still surrounded by yellow tape). It is called "Sacred Bowl" by Duane Goodwin of Bemidji, Minnesota. The other Minnesota Rock sculpture which was supposed to be in the area escaped my search and may not actually be installed yet.



Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat Sharapova 6-2, 6-1 and is in the finals against Justine Henin at Roland Garros on Saturday.

Crab sushi for lunch today. Yum.

Old Photos

Since we seem to have changed to old photos. This is the oldest so far and is an oversize photo in my possession that hasn't been seen by many eyes in many a year. It contains a couple of good looking gentlemen wearing very stylish hats and looking stern, who carrried the family DNA around for a good long time. Thanks, boys.

November, 1912. County Board and County Officers of Burnett County on Courthouse steps in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. Town of Rusk George E. Miller, Town of Scott G. L. Miller, etc. etc.


George Eugene Miller (8/28/1875-1/26/1937) He is on the left. This picture taken when he was 37.


G. L. Miller (3/28/1848-3/15/1920) He is on the left center. This picture taken when he was 64.


I used my digital camera and its macro focus setting for getting these photos into the blog. Thanks to Santini.

I rode down to Upper Landing Park and Chestnut to try to find another Minnesota Rocks sculpture. I scrounged around for quite a while, and although there are a lot of Minnesota stones and some sculptures in the area, I was unable to identify a sculpture that fit the description and of recent installation. I gave up and rode home, photoless. It was a cool and clear day. Very fresh. 12 miles.

Serena lost to Justine Henin 6-4, 6-3. The last American is eliminated.

It was a beautiful afternoon so Wilson and I hit some tennis balls with another retired gentleman for about an hour at St Clair playground tennis courts. I hadn't struck a yellow tennis ball since Saturday morning and it felt really satisfying.

More Rocks

The English Sensei is doing her reservations for home trip from Ogaki. We iChatted this morning getting the arrangements set up and all looks good. That iChat tool is great. Good times ahead in August.

The scheduled tennis for today was wiped out by wind and rain, but by about eight o'clock tonight the weather was fine again and it was a beautiful evening. Biking failed to break out.

Minnesota Rocks number 11 is sited in Boyd Park on Selby and Farrington very near the Cathedral. This sculpture is called "Distant Memory" by Atsuo Okamoto, a Japanese sculptor. The juxtaposition of a Japanese guy with Boyd Park makes me think of Kagami Sensei in Dutch country.


Raphael Nadal beat Lleyton Hewitt today in Paris 6-3, 6-1, 7-6. I watched a lot of the match on ESPN2. He looks very tough and the only guy who seems to have a chance to beat him is Roger Federer. The draw is now into the quarter finals. Tomorrow's big match is Serena Williams against Justine Henin, the two-time defending champion.

Hidden Falls

It was and continues to be very windy today in River City. I played some tennis in the wind to remind myself what a bad idea that is. The play was stroke practice at Sibley High School courts set on an open area where the wind was in command of all dimensions. But it was nice to be outside, windy or not. I'm taking a rest day from tennis tomorrow, to let it rain and to get stronger.

I managed to find my way to the Hidden Falls Minnesota Rocks sculptures today. And after living in St Paul most of the time since the fall of 1961 I actually saw Hidden Falls. I have many, many times ridden through Hidden Falls Regional Park, but never knew where the real falls stood. They are well hidden, but in a well known spot, because the area obviously is used extensively. There are stone trails, fire pits, and stairs of stones built by human hand and at great effort. I'll add a photo sometime in the future. I am embarrassed.

These are two more of the Minnesota Rocks public sculptures in St Paul. That's 4 of the 13 in St Paul. There is one in St Anthony Village and one in Vadnais Heights to track down, too.

Minnesota Rocks 3; by Salah Hammad of Egypt (untitled) on Mississippi River Boulevard near Hidden Falls:


Minnesota Rocks number 4; Sentinels by Juergan Zaun of Germany on Mississippi Boulevard near Ford Parkway:


Roger Federer stopped Nadal's clay court streak at 81 matches this weekend, so he may have become the favorite at Roland Garros. I'm sticking with my prediction that Nadal will win. And I'm starting to think that Serena Williams may be a "bootylicious" factor on the red clay. Time magazine has an article on her in the May 28 issue. I think that "bootylicious" is Serena's own term for her big babe tennis physique. It still seems fitting that Mauresmo should win the title in her own country. It's been a long drought for the home team there.

Saturday morning tennis

It was another glorious day in May. The gang of geezers gathered for competition at 8:30. It was mix and match of another variety today because we could only roust six of the usual suspects. There were some good points and fun was had by most. 6-3, 6-4, plus a half hour of practice.

The Herb was off on a trek to Chicago with compatriots, so I was able to catch a cat nap, and a cup of tea at T.K.'s in Mendota Heights.

At about five I set out to find number two on the Minnesota Rocks sculpture list. I had to pedal over the High Bridge against a significant wind and a long uphill incline to get to West St Paul and Cherokee Park, between Wyoming and Annapolis. There were quite a number of people in the park, including a tree climbing contest. It was fun to watch for about ten minutes while a guy equipped with ropes and steady resolve climbed a tall, old oak tree and rang bells far out at the end of branches - all the while he was being timed and perhaps judged on technique. The trucks in the parking areas were from tree trimming services from around the Twin Cities area. This appears to be a new sport, although it's maybe just new to me. I should have taken pictures.

Minnesota Rock Carving number 2:

Number two on the map of Minnesota Rocks Sculptures is "Peace Table" by Craig David, a St Paul sculptor. All of these sculptures are carved in Minnesota stone - granite, limestone, stromatolite. I bet the geologists at the DNR know all about this stuff. "Peace Table" is granite, I think.

Sculpture

On my bike journey, I came across one of the 13 new rock sculptures recently placed around St Paul by the Minnesota Rocks project done at St Paul College a couple of years ago. Unky Herb and I visited while the sculptures were being created. This one is called "Overlook" and resides at Prospect Boulevard and Strykker overlooking downtown St Paul. It was created by David Wyrick, a St. Paul artist with a studio in Lower Town Artist District. For more info:
http://www.minnesotarocks.org/
I plan to track down the rest of them and may include photos as I find them. Two are on Mississippi River Boulevard, one at Como Park, another at Lake Phalen. A map of sculpture locations is on the linked page.



Mostly a tennis day today. I played for an hour plus at Marie Park, just ground strokes, net play, overheads, and some serves. It was about 80 degrees and windy, but a beautiful May day. There were a couple of young ladies there playing a plenty good level of tennis, but otherwise the park was empty. The French Open is nearly upon us - nine days out.

Gas is only $3.399 at the stations I observed. The gas suppliers are getting ready for the holiday drivers and the guaranteed income.