November ends

It was a little too cold for much outside activity today, but I walked a little around the neighborhood. I thought that the state Christmas tree had been dedicated yesterday at the mansion, so I walked by there with my camera this morning, but I didn't see any sign of lights nor the guv.   The tree must be inside.

But I have some scanned photos from from 1982 from a vacation trip when Unky Herb was just about two. He's walking a while in someone else's shoes. Er, boots. It's a good enough to end a full month of blogging every day. Tomorrow is December.

Some more tennis tomorrow, too.

Shortest blog of the month

Rain. A lot of rain.

And.

Salad and Pie Party

The usual after Thanksgiving pie party was tonight. We had three varieties of pizza, a great multi-veggie salad, and some tasty apple and French silk pie. It was a fun get together and we ate and talked for a couple of hours until it was over. It was filling food and there are even leftovers for tomorrow. We will gather again in December for a white elephant party, sometime after Christmas.

Next comes December.

Unseen in twenty-nine years or so

As the blogging every day month starts to near its end, I continued my scanned slide project. The latest group of slides was taken in 1981 and developed in 1982. I think they are around Christmas time. Everyone was dressed for a party, and we were hanging around home, so it must have been Christmas.

I'm enjoying rediscovering these images and remembering what everyone used to look like before time, the old bandit, did what it does. The first is a pretty photo of Santini.

And Nancy (aka OSLO) with her cousin Adam (aka (Unky Herb) when he was about 20 months old.  He is wearing lederhosen that his parents bought for him in Germany the previous fall.  He looks like he has just finished a game of dominoes, wherein he sweeps them off the table to the floor and someone else picks them up.  I wonder what ever happened to those lederhosen.

I should have done a "Where's Waldo?" on yesterday's scenic shot in Bavaria, although "Who's Waldo?" may have been equally effective.

I awoke in time this morning for the scheduled 8:30 tennis skirmish at Wooddale.  We played our 90 minutes and two sets.  My conditioning was better today after letting another day pass since the Thanksgiving incident of overeating.  Jerry was my partner and we both played well enough in spurts to be satisfied with the results.  After the match we sat around and chatted about water pollution (Jerry works for the PCA) and what we did for the holiday.  I mentioned the discussions we had yesterday about "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" and Dan Rather, but none of these guys remembered the incident.  I guess I'm enough older than they are that it made some impact on me.  Who would mug Dan Rather?

The long Thanksgiving weekend is going pretty well.  And the cold has abated a bit.  Must be time to have a few slices of pizza.

Post Thanksgiving Ramblings

The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, named for the hope that the stores will sell enough to be able to get into the black - thus showing a profit for the year. I boycott this particular secular holiday, but not because I don't want to see the stores become profitable. It's just too early for me to start buying Christmas gear. I still feel like I'm living in September. So I played some tennis at Fort Snelling, working off some of those calories from yesterday and having a little fun.

This photo is to remind me that the ground has a layer of snow on it and it likely will remain for quite a while. The weeds that were growing on the fence have wilted and won't be growing any more this year.

The slide scanning project goes on. This photo is from a business trip that I took in 1981 to Bavaria. It was a Cray User Group Meeting and I was called upon to give a speech on the state of Cray's software. As I recall there was something controversial going on and I was required by my management to give several dry runs to be sure that I got all the wording correct and in the right order. As I recall, during the presentation the slides and my notes got out of sync and I was forced to wing it. There was a frozen moment or two when I searched my memory for the correct wording and the correct order. In the end no one remembers but me.

After the conference, we took about a week to tour around Bavaria and see the sights. This is what Bavaria looks like in several places. This area is fairly close to Hitler's Eagles Nest, but it was taken 29 years ago, so don't ask me for much more detail.

It's starting to seem like time for a pizza and dessert pie party.

Thanksgiving

It was a great Thanksgiving day at Gino's. Emmy made the turkey, Kelsey made an apple pie, and the rest of us contributed in one way or another to putting on a feast. It was a cold twelve degrees outside, but the inside was warm and the odors were pure Thanksgiving. Another set of photos from the turkey cook can be found elsewhere on the inner tubes.

The turkey cook and the nicely browned up bird.

The hostess behind the table festooned with flowers and set to begin the feasting.

The turkey cook emeritus and consultant to this year's cook as he finished the carving up task, just before the real serious eating began.

And Unky Herb and the Prairie Princess as they awaited the onset of eating.

We ate well and had a couple of hours of good conversation, laughter, including some remembrances of the phrase, "What's the frequency, Kenneth" among other varied and engrossing topics.  What's with the French preoccupation with thumbs?

Old photo of Unky Herb

The scan of slides revealed this shot from 1981 of a young Unky Herb and his affection for hats. This one is a size or two too large for him at a year and a half, but he carries it off quite well.

The weather turned sour this afternoon just after I made it to Fort Snelling Tennis Center. We played some doubles, ignoring the outside conditions. A warm tennis bubble is a good place to ride out a snowstorm - at least for a while. We managed two complete sets. Bill, two guys named Dennis and me. Then I drove home in rush hour traffic. It took a long time, because the roads were icy and everyone was being careful.

I guess I'll be able to do some shoveling again tomorrow. Winter has arrived.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Who are these people?

I found an old photo today as I was tidying up my desk. Apparently someone sent me this years ago and I hadn't scanned it into my computer. Since I've been in scan mode for the last few weeks, I scanned this one in, too. This time I used a flat bed scanner of some vintage, but it seems to have done the job pretty well.

The photo seems to be of a significant event, perhaps confirmation into church adulthood, perhaps a school graduation. In any case, I think that the two youngsters to the far right are my mom's Aunt Minda and her Uncle Jake, siblings of her mom, Hansine Hansen. I think it must have been taken between 1903, when they came to America, and 1913, when Hansine married Richard Anderson. And probably taken in Wisconsin within walking distance of Little Yellow Lake in Burnett County.  They are all dressed in their best finery.  There is also a display of photos directly behind them, photos that may give a hint or two who is here and what is going on.  I love old photos.  This one is probably a hundred years old.

Not much else to report today, except that I tried a recipe from the family experimental cooking blog - Wireless' Stuffed Acorn Squash.  I admit to taking some liberties with the ingredients, but the result was spot on delicious.  I think that the Prairie Princess, who also partook of the squash, agrees.  The perfect food for a cold day in November, waiting for the next ice storm.

This is not Hawaii

The Prairie Princess is back and nearly recovered from her minor case of jet lag. Coincidentally, my scanning project reached the tray when Unky Herb was last in Hawaii. I was there briefly in the meantime, but PP has been there twice. This is a photo from 1981 when we visited Anne and Larry Day on the island of Oahu. It is also the place where Adam took his first solo steps. He was about 11 or 12 months old.

Boy, was this a gloomy, gray day. It almost makes me want to write verse. You know, poetry. There are lots of words that rhyme with gloom, too. Doom, tomb, witches broom. I was outside for a while on a mission to the drugstore, on foot, but in the daytime. Little pebbles of ice were popping out of the air and landing on the ground. The sidewalks were a little slippery, but not like Sunday morning when my neighbor stepped out his front door onto the icy sidewalk and fell down right away. The rescue squad came, but I guess he's ok. Today was better.

My tennis experience last night was not what I had hoped, but it was enough fun, even though we were crushed by a couple of thirty-something players. It was USTA mixed doubles and there is no age distinction, so we did the best we could. Has anyone noticed how fast thirty-something guys can move? I did hold my serve twice (out of four), but it was not the sweetest of nights at St Paul Indoor Tennis. I'm just happy that I was able to get out on the court and compete.

Nothing so interesting as toes

The scan of old slides in chronological order has reached 1981. That's 29 years ago. It was the first year of Adam's (aka Unky Herb) life and he was the subject of a lot of photography. I had a fancy filter on my camera that delivered multiple images to the film, and this is one of the images. Adam playing with his toes.  Ain't he cute?

This next one is later in the year. In fact I suspect it was Thanksgiving time at Santini's place.  DeKalb??  A lot of the familiar family faces are lounging about. What better opportunity to freeze time.

I'll be playing USTA mixed doubles tennis tonight at St Paul Indoor Tennis Center. It's Jerry's team and so far we've managed to squeak out victories. Tonight I'm playing in the number 2 slot against the other team's number 2.  It will be my third match with my current doubles partner, Kathy.  It should be interesting, but could end up finishing after 10 pm. So that goes.

Incidentally, this blogging everyday begins to wear on a guy. I need to come up with a photo or two and some verbiage for nine more days. Luckily, I have slides in reserve, and if push comes to shove, I have the ability to scan in old negatives.

The Prairie Princess has returned from the tropics. She left sunny weather to return to a place where ice storms are possible and occurred as recently as this morning. She arrived, chipper and feisty late this afternoon.  As luck would have it, I was able to avoid driving in the mess.