October meandering

It was a beautiful October day. One of the nicest October days in the history of October days. NCW and I used the opportunity to roam around Como Park, around the lake, by the old Lexington bridge (which is being restored), and past the labyrinth and back to Black Bear Cafe. This was the prettiest of the maples we encountered and one of the nicest this whole month, standing alone in the big park.

Unky Herb and his new bride gave me a birthday present earlier this week, a photo from their wedding. It's a pretty wild shot from the photo booth attraction at the reception. NCW and I were at our craziest and the photo is quite colorful. I think that we'll put it up somewhere in the renovated part of the house. Here I'm holding it up in the sun in the back yard.

I couldn't help posting this photo from last week. We were at the Twin Cities marathon watching the runners go by and cheering their efforts. One of the other spectators had a catchy sign that got a lot of attention and brought some chortles from the runners and the spectators, too.

Sumac

Lately I'm a day or two tardy in my posting and the photos are getting old, too. I'm still blogging about the weekend and the visit of "Charlie's Angels" to northern Minnesota. The Angels are likely somewhere in the U.P. eating a pasty each at this point, and NCW and I have returned to the big city. The leaves are still just short of prime here, but when we left Pengilly on Sunday some of the maples were shedding their red leaves and the temperature was in the eighties. Here in River City today we barely crept out of the 50's. I have this photo of NCW relaxing near her fire pit by Swan Lake and enjoying the last of September's heat.

So GOINFS. Last week when we were coming back from the north, both she and I spent about two hours trying to remember the name of these plants. It's a common sight to see them as they become more prominent and visible as autumn arrives. We finally had to call Sherrie to subtly ask her the name of the plant. Nearly everyone I know would have been up to the challenge, too. We were without google or access to the internet at the time, so we were helpless.

Sumacs. Those roadside, invasive plants that are among the earliest to change colors.

It makes a guy think that a smart phone might be a good plan and a way to keep from this kind of embarrassment again. Iphone 6, anyone?

Zimmy's is closed

The traveling bikers are here in the north country. The last two of the group who sometimes refer to themselves as "Charlie's Angels," arrived in time for a bike ride around Swan Lake. It was a very beautiful September afternoon, an unexpected reward for some forgotten good deed, no doubt, but definitely appreciated. We posed in front of the pretty maple in NCW's back yard.

Earlier in the day we walked a bit of the Mesabi Trail to enjoy the landscape and the changing leaves. We stopped to a have a look at the local baseball park and walk on the unmowed grass in the infield. These trees are standing near the baseball field in Pengilly. They are well along in the process of changing colors and falling to the ground.

Some of the more spectacular maple leaves at the height of their glory.

In the late afternoon we decided to go to Hibbing for food. Some of us are Bob Dylan fans, including members of the Angels, and thought that the Dylan-themed Zimmys would be a good choice for vittles. But tragedy, Zimmys is closed, a victim of tax problems and the economy of the Range. We had to eat pizza at Sammy's instead. Not a bad choice actually.  We stopped to visit Bob's old home first. It was being visited by some sort of tour group, but we we able to see the place and snap a few photos.

 Charlie's Angels in front of Bob's childhood home in Hibbing.

And then we returned to the shores of Swan Lake for a bonfire and deep conversation.

Calumet and the Mesabi Trail

After a ride in the country, Santini, NCW and I reached our destination near Swan Lake. The day was cloudy, but warm, and occasionally the sun would break through the clouds and brighten the leaves that are near peak of their color change for the year. These maple beauties live in NCW's back yard.

Desiring a wilder setting we drove to Calumet. And began a couple of mile hike along the Mesabi trail. The leaves were mostly yellows with a sprinkling of reds and still some greens. We mostly stayed on the trail and remarked on the relative silence and the beauty of the forest. The only excitement was the sudden appearance of a porcupine, a shy beast who waddled off to hide somewhere in the trees. See Santini's blog for details and photo.

Here, NCW is trying to figure out Santini's camera so that she could take a photo nowhere near the large hole in the ground near Calumet, after we failed to go through the rusty gate asking us to stay out. A photo was eventually successfully attained.

Santini and NCW went ahead of me for a while and I took a photo as they walked down the Mesabi trail in the general direction of Marble. Santini and NCW for scale. The leaves were mostly yellow.

A grove of aspens on the Mesabi trail near Calumet. They look a lot like birch trees, and there were some birch groves, too, but I liked the clumpiness of these aspens, (sometimes called poplars, I think.)

There may be biking and perhaps a visit to Bob Dylan's boyhood home in Hibbing. Or the Hull Rust mine. And a walking tour of Coleraine. Opportunities are wide open.

Whistling Well Farm

The nice thing about being retired is that when fall comes you can take a weekday morning and go to an apple orchard to procure some fresh fruit. One day last week NCW and I took a drive to Whistling Well Farm, an apple orchard and farm near Aspen State Park. It was a half hour or so drive, and when we arrived, there were no other visitors. We browsed the assortment of apple related goodies - cider, apple butter and honey, then took a walk to the part of the orchard where the ripe apple varieties were ready for picking. There were lots of good looking fruit hanging from the trees. I don't think they are that much cheaper than buying them at Trader Joe's, but the selection is different and the apples are verifiably local. The varieties that were ripe and being sold were Zestors and SweeTangos, of the ten or so varieties that they grow at the orchard.

The farm is small, growing mostly apples and pumpkins, and a few chickens and turkeys, but we were alone on the property, except for the staff, and it was a nice simple place to spend a few hours.  I took this just as we were exiting the orchard area and returning to pay for our bounty.

NCW is toting the bag of apples that we picked. They are the Zestor variety and are pretty tasty. We chose them carefully from some of the heavily-fruited trees in the orchard. The Honey Crisps, the darling of the apple eaters in the Twin Cities area, were not quite ready for picking. We took the Zestors home, along with a bag of SweeTangos, another sweet variety, and have been eating them with enjoyment.

I've picked apples in Michigan a time or two and this was a similar experience, except that the varieties of apples available were different, and the farm was a bit smaller than the ones I visited there. I think I may bake a pie.


As a bonus picture, I wanted to add a sea of either black-eyed or brown-eyed Susans, taken a couple of weeks ago at Como Park. They grow them thick and healthy near the rain garden near the peninsula facing the pavilion. The project to restore the shore line produced some surprising benefits, including these Susans. The bees must be happy.

First Twins game

It was the first Twins game that NCW's friend, Lorrie, had attended in person at the new Target Field.  And she's a big fan of the local nine.  NCW treated her good friend to a night game against the Detroit Tigers last night for Lorrie's 83rd birthday. We tried to get Bert Blyleven to do his "Circle me, Bert" deal on Fox North with a sign enumerating the particulars of the event. We (mostly NCW) spent a couple of hours constructing a sign that we thought might catch the eye of the Twins broadcaster. It's a nice sign, but the effort, apparently, came up short. But it was worth the effort, and I have some cute photos to show for the time spent.

We went to Fort Snelling to park and ride the Blue Line light rail to the ball park. We wanted to get there early to get some of that fine ball park cuisine, so we arrived at a few minutes to six for a 7:10 start time. There had been an afternoon game, a rain out make up game, as part of a double header, but most of the Twins' regulars started and played the whole game. We tried to find a good walleye sandwich when we arrived, but I guess our ticket didn't get us to the right quality of eatery and we settled for brats and Polish sausage with sauerkraut. Who doesn't love a little sauerkraut on grilled sausage? Then I took a pre-game photo of the longtime friends displaying the sign.

The first pitch of the game was obstructed by a great bear of a man, so I took a shot of the second pitch. Trevor May is pitching to Torii Hunter.

It was a good game on a really pleasant evening. The ball park had 25,000 seats filled of a capacity of 39,000+, so it was pretty well attended considering that the State Fair is in session, the Vikings had a preseason game, and the Lynx had a playoff game. And the Twins' record is 58-71.  We stayed for the whole nine innings and the Twins scored six, but lost 8-6 to the Tigers. Lorrie was happy with the experience.

The Blue Line got us to the car and home by about midnight. The Twins are still in last place in their division.

August 17, 2014

There was a wedding in the family yesterday. I didn't blog then because I was really busy all day and well into the evening. Adam, my son, buddy, friend and sometime protector married his beautiful girl friend, Ying. The wedding was planned for the Rose Garden at the Arboretum, but a storm came through and forced it inside to the Tea Room. The Buddhist ceremony went off as planned and it was interesting and touching to watch, especially when they recited their vows. They chose the words themselves and they were meaningful and genuine. They made a beautiful couple as they posed for their photos for the professional photographer later. I took some shots myself.

The wedding party went outside after the ceremony for some photos. Adam and Ying are the bride and groom in the center of the photo. Drew, also known by PP as Secondary Bro, is wiping the moisture from the top of Adam's head.

One of my favorite shots of the day shows PP testing out the costumes for the photo booth at the place where the reception took place while she was helping decorating for the event. It clearly shows a sense of adventure in this young woman, I think.

Another favorite is the photo of the groom and his cousin, Nancy, and her daughter, Nikki, doing some decorating for the reception at Pinstripes in Edina.  They were clearly having a great time.

The reception itself went off well. The friends and family were treated to fine food and some entertaining games, and indeed some speeches by some friends and family. I spoke first, followed by Ying's mom, Laibin, (in Chinese), then a good friend of Ying's. I was a bit nervous about the talk in advance, worrying about being too emotional. But it went off well, and I didn't have to resort to my phony Norwegian accent to stay in a stable state. I talked about Adam and his childhood and welcomed Ying to my family, calling her my new daughter, and telling her that she has a new sister and a couple of new moms, too. I guess my favorite part was the end of the talk. I quoted from a poem that Adam wrote at age 10, one that was included in my 1990 Christmas letter and I include it here.  It contains, I think, a certain amount of foreshadowing.

Feeling the Wonders of Life

I am healed by flying through the clouds.
I am healed by playing with the stars that shine in the night sky.
I am healed by my Mom and Dad that help me through life.
I am healed by the sun in the sky.
I am healed by sleeping close to a Tiger.

And then I said:

I think and I hope that he's found his tiger.  Because Ying was born in the year of the tiger, she may very well be that tiger.

 Two memorable parts of the evening were the first dance of Adam and Ying, an event that they practiced for quite a bit and which turned out to be a graceful piece of choreography; and the salsa dance that Takeshi and Kelsey did in the middle of the evening, an athletic and graceful performance that was magical to watch.

So Adam is a married guy now. He and his wife are off to honeymoon in Hawaii, while the rest of the old people take this opportunity for a few days of recuperation.

My friend, Rob

He's been working on a house in my neighborhood. As it turns out, it's my house. I came back yesterday from a long drive back from a nice place on a dune near Lake Michigan. I found this waiting. Progress has been attained and continues to go forward.  Cabinets have materialized.

Another angle.  Lighting not quite as good.

I was gone long enough to miss almost two weeks of tennis with the gang of geezers. I played today and they failed to grant me any slack. It took nine games and more than a set before I won a game. Granted it was doubles and maybe my partner could have carried me a bit while my tennis wits returned. It was nice, however, to smack a few forehands, and nice to see the old gang of mine again. No one made fun of me.

Bill, one of the gang, told me about last Wednesday when the Mendota Heights police officer was shot on Dodd Road. The boys were playing tennis at the time and there was a lot of excitement for a couple of hours that afternoon. There were helicopters in the air overhead, visible at the courts where the gang was playing. There were sirens and apparently every police car in the area was in use, looking for the perp. They found him and shot up his car, but he somehow survived the capture. The police show no pity to anyone who shoots one of their own.  The St Paul paper called him a career criminal.

The best day on PP's lake

The summer vacation is beginning to wind down. It was the best day of the stay here. The sun was out and the sky was clear. There was even a decent sunset as the day ended. PP spent the day at the beach on the paddle board, paddling, doing yoga and various other athletic moves. She's out there in the lake riding the board and communing with her lake.

The paddle boarder up close and personal.

We walked the beach, NCW and I, about half way to the state park pier. Not a death march, but perhaps a near death march. Then lunch and a neighborhood walk with Santini while Mr and Mrs Smith were out on their bikes. The paddler paddled and then trekked to the pier with Mrs. Smith. Vittles from Great Wall followed by a last walk to the summit of the dune at Tunnel Park. And a walk along the beach back to Santini's dune.

There has been an all day party next door at the Gatsby's. There have been caterers, guests and blue umbrellas on the beach. They are California people, I hear. It's been fun to watch the rich at play. I think Daisy Buchanan is over there somewhere.

The last sunset of this trip. Tomorrow, the road.

August arrives on time

The Tunnel Park amble group was enlarged yesterday by the much anticipated overlap. Most of the amblers stopped at the summit of the Tunnel Park dune and posed for this photo. The sun was going down, but anonymously behind a bank of clouds. It was, however, nice to get in another trek to the park and, for me, another run down the dune.

An interesting sunset from last night, when there actually was a sunset. The reflection across the water is interrupted by a boat going back to port. The photo was taken from the Santini deck.

We walked to the park again tonight, but the sun was even less cooperative. The cloud bank was too thick and the sunset non-existent. PP and I ran down the dune again. She seems to like to run next to me, so as to catch me if I happen to stumble and fall. So I lope rather than sprint and I am much less likely to do a face plant.