Christmas Holiday

Christmas day in Minnesota. We had a nice breakfast and played some games on the Wii. Tennis and bowling were fun, and no one got hurt. Then we opened some presents. The photo records the gang who was here and the fun they were having. I used the tripod and the timer on the camera, so it's the best of about three shots that we were willing to stand still for.



Merry Christmas to all.

Politics Sets In

It was an interesting day yesterday, but I was too tired to blog. BC and TT went to the "X" to see Barack Obama speak after the polls closed in Montana. Several thousand other people had the same idea and a lot of them got to the site long before we arrived at 5:15 (for a 9 p.m. speech). We walked seven or eight blocks to find the end of the line, but instead found a place where the line branched and widened. We couldn't decide which way to go, and ended up in a scrum. The police were there, but no one was in charge. About 6:30 the line began to move and we were inside by 7:15. News reports say that about 15,000 people failed to get into the building. We had a seat in the second deck with a pretty good view of the candidate.



When Obama was introduced at about 9 p.m., there was a loud roar in the building. He's like a rock star to many people and seems on a crusade to take back the country. He's an inspiring speaker in person. He talked for about a half hour and staked his claim that he would be the Democrat's nominee for President. And I guess he will be. BC and I had some other people take a photo of us with a search light behind us.



This afternoon BC left for her prairie job with the Nature Conservancy in Glyndon. A few minutes ago, she called and reported that she has arrived in the crew house there. She begins another adventure. She left her Bianchi at home, so she may have to get a new moniker. I'll see what develops.

I spent a couple of hours at the Minnesota State Tennis Tournament at Nicollet Tennis Center yesterday. I met Jim Holden who wrote the currently available book, "Tennis in the Northland." I bought a couple of the books and had them autographed by the author. His book chronicles the Minnesota High School Tennis Champs from 1929 to 2003. As it turns out, I am familiar with quite a number of the people mentioned in the book, and there is a fairly lengthy piece about the Greenway High School Team of 1961. It's quite a hefty tome and I haven't been all the way through it yet, but Jim Holden seems to have done a good job on researching and being thorough. There is even mention of a blogger known as Santini in one of the later chapters sharing an opinion of one John Wirtanen.

I played some tennis tonight at Sibley Hugh School with the gang of geezers. I played average tennis, well short of the zone, but managed to win one of the two sets we finished. My calf injury seems to have healed pretty well, but I'm wearing an ankle brace on my right ankle.

Ninety-nine Today

A ninety-ninth birthday story.

He drove me to St Paul one day in the early fall of 1961. We were alone for one of the few times in our lives. We stopped and had a hamburger in that small town, I think it was Kettle River, that had what we thought were the greatest burgers in Minnesota. We didn't talk very much, but I'm sure he gave me some advice that I have since forgotten. It was my first trip to St Paul and to Hamline, where I was to spend the next four years - a place that changed my life. I think that he knew that I was gone for good - that I'd never really live at home again. He helped me to carry my few belongings to the dorm room that I was to share with a complete stranger. He stayed a few minutes to say goodbye and then, with a long drive home in front of him, left me to begin my new existence. I guess that he knew that I would be okay, and that he had other responsibilities at home. He had to "hold the nozzle agin the bank" for a while yet.

You can't ever forget your father. It is all right to forgive him.

"Another gorgeous day here in southwest Florida." - WINK news reader.