July 01, 2008
 This big rumbler is hovering just east of the big Red Lakes and extends all the way to the Boundary Waters, according to the radar. From here, it looks like a mountain range. Some of the less clouds trailing the big one look good in the setting sun as well.
June 29, 2008
Twins centerfielder Carlos Gomez, already a fan favorite, expounds on his haunted hotel room in Milwaukee, his habit of chewing his fingernails, and his penchant for very bright clothing.
Power poles on the prairie 
 These four stately cottonwoods in front of Walle Lutheran Church south of Grand Forks aren't as tall as redwoods, but they are every bit as grand.
After nine months of anticipation, Aunt Olla succeeded in giving the Erickson clan a tour of their ancestral stomping grounds southeast of Twin Valley yesterday. It poured rain. But no matter. They brought umbrellas and rain ponchos and an estimated thirty people drove in a caravan over muddy roads to look at a couple of farmsteads with historic significance as well as a few empty fields where their family homes used to stand. Olla talked into a microphone which sent a signal to a remote speaker which one of the family members held. It was remarkable how many of the family endured the mud bath in good humor. Olla told about how the Ericksons were looked up to because they had a three hole outhouse. Olla and her friend Ruth would sit in the outhouse for hours so they wouldn't have to work. Afterwards, the whole crew went to the cafe in Twin Valley for lunch. The poor staff was overwhelmed, but they did a good job. The food was pretty darn good. Aunt Olla was all decked out for the occasion. The staff at the Hilton got her ready for the big day, and she was able to get in the pickup with no problem. She turned down the wheelchair and walked down the sidewalk into the cafe, which surprised me. In fact, Olla has improved a great deal in the past two weeks. Her voice has improved and so has her general vigor. I have yet to find out what Olla's next goal will be. She's getting awfully close to her 97th birthday, so perhaps she will start looking forward to that.
June 27, 2008
 Traveled to Oklee this afternoon to perform for a group of Senior Citizens at the fair there. On the way home, I spotted these roses just east of Brooks. "Brooks" is an appropriate name for a town with this beautiful scene of wild roses growing by a brook. It was one of the most charming scenes I have ever run across in this area. After a nap, I headed to Grand Forks to speak to a stevne, a group of Norwegians from a particular county in Norway, I am not sure which. After the meeting, which was enjoyable, I headed across some back roads out in the valley.  June is a grand time in the Red River Valley. The crops are green. The sun stays up late. Thunderstorms pass over and form mountain ranges to the east. The colors are more vivid as the evening progresses. Once off the main road, I ran into this church, Walle Lutheran. From the yard of the church, this view to the east struck me. The cemetery looked neat and dignified.  Only three miles to the east stood East Walle church. There were probably one or two active farmsteads between the two churches. One hundred years ago, enough population existed in the countryside to require two churches.
June 26, 2008
Last night I was the entertainment for about 150 accountants of the county departments of Human Services throughout Minnesota. They were having their convention at Breezy Point Resort near Pequot Lakes. I always try to figure out what the group will be like ahead of time, so as I was quizzing the woman who hired me, she finally said, "We're really a bunch of nerds!" Well, that was a relief. It was a fun group. I adjusted my regular presentation a little to include more accountant-related material. At one point, I was completely lost and just had to stop and figure out where I was. I never really figured it out, but I think at that point I was done. In addition to a nice fee, I got a free room at the resort, a dinner of prime rib and a breakfast buffet that was pretty darn good. So, it was a nice break. Lots of driving, however. I then went to Fargo to visit the yard of weblog reader Renee. I don't usually go out visiting yards, but in this case, it was a birthday gift to Renee from her husband! So, that was fun. Renee treated me to one of the best glasses of lemonade I have ever drank. Today was a lemonade day. Tomorrow night, I speak to a group of Norwegians in Grand Forks. I thought that was the only engagement for the day until Elaine called from Oklee. "Just confirming that you are going to speak to us on Friday at one o'clock!" Oh, you betcha, I said, I'll be there! If she hadn't called, I would have missed it completely. That one slipped through the cracks. Then, Saturday I am hauling Aunt Olla down to Home Lake township where she is going to deliver a lecture on family history to the Erickson family. Should be interesting. I will bring my camera. THOSE TWINS! What has gotten into them? They are playing well. They are mopping up on the National League, which is exactly what they needed to do. They are now seven games over .500, which really is a dream! And the Mets? Aided by the mighty Johan Santana, they have lost more than they have won. Of course, the Twins can't get too cocky: Today, the pitcher they shipped to Tampa Bay for Delmon Young, Matt Garza, threw a one-hitter for the surprising Rays. Meanwhile, Delmon Young is riding the bench for the Twins. He has been a major disappointment.
June 24, 2008
...a late night one-run game on the coast. The Twins lead San Diego 1-0. It is late in the evening of a hot summer day. This is what I look forward to in the depths of winter.
 This woman didn't seem to want to have her picture taken. I took one anyway. You only live once.
 That was the joke when we ran across this garden from Revolutionary War times. The fact is, I didn't pay anything for the trip...our wonderful taxpayers did! The trip, which included 50-some Social Studies teachers, was a part of a grant from the federal government. A worthy grant, too, I might add. It is my task to read the journals of the teachers who were on the trip, and I think their time in Boston will give them a sense of history that they will be able to transmit to their students.
 The British soldiers didn't have to go through this culvert on their way back to Boston from Concord. However, in a concession to modern roads, Battle Road passes under a busy highway through this culvert.
Headed down to Hawley today to entertain at the Senior Living Center. When I got there, it was obvious that it was the nursing home. What a lively bunch! I have never had more fun with a nursing home audience. They laughed and joked. I played and sang and then told some stories. They responded well. I adjusted my stories for them by slowing them down a bit to make sure that those who were hard of hearing understood. I think, overall, it was a good idea no matter the state of their hearing. I was able to think through things more as I went forward and squeeze a few more laughs out of the lines than usual. Afterwards, I visited with the residents. One very prim-looking woman came up to me, grasped my hands and said, "You know, you can hang out, and you can peter out, but you had better not hang your peter out!" Sage advice indeed. The next woman struggled for words, finally saying, "You really...you really....you really warmed our buns!" Now that's a compliment! Then I drove to Detroit Lakes to the pavilion on the lakeshore for the Becker County Senior Fest. I had expected 50 people. There were nearly 400. The pavilion was an interesting venue with live acoustics. I had a keyboard. It was hooked to speakers which were faced away from me, so all I could hear of my own performance was mush. I had to assume things sounded better from the front. It was an unusual speaking experience because there was so much noise going on outside and in the hall. In addition, the first rows of people were thirty feet from me on stage. But it seemed to go pretty well. They gave me a nice standing ovation at the end, which touched me a great deal. Tomorrow is a new experience. I am speaking at the convention of County Human Services Accountants of Minnesota at a resort in Brainerd. I really don't know what they want. I assume that I will be doing after-dinner entertainment stuff. I am going to go a bit early so that I can figure it out. After the busy season at the nursery, it is sort of fun to get back on the speaker's circuit again.
Visited friends Bruce and Mary last night and...was treated to one of the best treats in the world: The first Ogallala strawberries from the strawberry patch, cooled in the fridge and coated in sugar. Although it will be one week before the strawberries are in full swing, those first few berries are pretty precious. And what flavor!
June 23, 2008
 One of the outstanding memories of the trip to Boston last week is the trip along Battle Road, the route taken by the British Regulars from Boston, through Lexington and on to Concord, where they were to destroy an ammunition dump. The British faced a small band of Minute Men on Lexington Green, killing a half-dozen of them before moving on to Concord. Lexington partisans will tell you that the Revolutionary War started on Lexington Green, and they have an argument. However, due in part to Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem about the later battle at Concord, which, he said, included "the shot heard round the world," Concord claims the war started there, and for the most part they have won the day. By the time the British turned around and headed back to Boston with their mission incomplete, thousands of Minute Men had answered the alarm and were crouched on either side of Battle Road. They ambushed the British, killing several hundred. The war was on. Alongside Battle Road, there still stand several significant homes, including the one of William Smith, above. Smith and his wife, despite their patriot sympathies, took in a wounded British soldier. After arriving home Saturday, I went in to visit Aunt Olla at the Hilton yesterday morning. She is somewhat improved. But as I got up to leave, I looked on her wall and saw an almost exact replica of the above picture hanging in a frame. Not knowing the significance of the home, Olla had cut the picture from a magazine and had it framed...because she liked the lilacs that were in the foreground. Meanwhile, the trip made obvious why Emerson would be prone to claiming in his poems that the Revolutionary War started in Concord. The Emerson home was less than two hundred yards from the Old North Bridge, where the first shots in Concord were fired. Emerson's father watched the altercation from his window. Doubtless, young Ralph Waldo heard the story countless times in his childhood.
June 21, 2008
Yesterday, we toured the birthplaces of John Adams, the second president, and his son John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. The homes are in good shape. One was built in 1681. Another was built in the early 18th century, and the third, the fancy home that John and Abigail Adams purchased after they were more financially secure, was a fancy place built by a English gentleman who had to go back to England after the American Revolution made him uncomfortable in Quincy, MA. The last home, the fancy one, is remarkable in that 78,000 pieces of art, furniture, china, silverware, and other artifacts have been kept there and are in pristine condition. The chair where John Adams had his fatal stroke in 1826 looks as good as new. Some improvements were made to the house, but they were by subsequent members of the Adams family, including Charles Francis Adams, who was Lincoln's ambassador to England. What we didn't expect was the library. Because John Quincy had lost 3,000 books in a fire in a barn where he had kept his previous book collection, he directed his son to build a stone library apart from the house. That he did, finally completing the task in 1870. And what a building. One tall, open room. Two stories. Oak timber construction. A catwalk around perimeter of the room forms the second story. It is all books--14,000 of them--and windows. One of the most beautiful rooms I have ever seen. During the day, we saw the transition from John and Abigail in their days of relative poverty before and during the Revolution--when Abigail ran the farm and made money by selling artifacts John sent her from his diplomatic stints abroad--to their days of prosperity, and finally to the days when their descendants were able to live as country aristocracy, with servants and the entire shebang.
|
