The House and Gardens

This is the front of the house where I live. Cindy and Eric have planted a magnificent garden. These pictures show it in the hot part of summer. It is brilliant now. I just can't imagine how it will look in the spring. It is going to be fun watching it change throughout the year.

The zinnias in the picture at the left are much more vibrant than they appear here. I've been trying to get the dead ones out so new little jewels can work their way out. The right side of the garden is filled with iris' that were spent by the time I got here. All that's left is a garden of many shades of green. I think that Monet would have liked that.

The side garden is calm. I missed the pond, just below my left elbow. It may still have one goldfish and one tadpole. There is a night creature that likes to use this as his watery buffet. Cindy's daughter, Caitlin, works at Smith & Hawkins. She brought home some lovely green balls that should take the place of the goldfish. I know they won't taste good to a raccoon.

I promised Karen that I would walk around the block every day and take pictures of interesting houses. My attempt this morning was stopped by old brown zinnias. If there has to be an excuse, that's a good one.

At Home in the Kitchen

Karen took this picture of me, Cindy and Eric in their kitchen. This is where I've been hanging out for the past week. That and in my bedroom with this computer. You can see it is quite cozy. They appreciate my cooking. So did Adrian, but he's a better cook than I am. Cindy probably is, too, but she works very hard. It's been fun planning and cooking for this appreciative crowd.

What is a Classic?

In my attempt to vary my reading, I've decided to include classics. But what is a classic? Is it something written before 1900? This question came up after I finished reading the very bloody and brutal Die Trying by Lee Child. It is the second in the series. My brother loves these books and if you don't mind the random acts of incredible violence, they are pretty engrossing. This one involves a kidnapping that has inadvertently included the protagonist of the series, Jack Reacher. He's a match for any kidnapper on the face of the earth, but the target of the act is a woman who has recently hurt her knee and needs to be protected. You know that Jack will succeed in the end, because this is the second of many. But a lot of fairly innocent or at least incredibly gullible people are savaged along the way.

One fun fact is that the majority of the book takes place in Montana. I know Montana now! One of the FBI agencies involved is in Butte. The Chicago FBI make fun of that until they get there and see how pretty it is. At least, that's how I interpreted the dialogue. Traveling makes reading more interesting, and vice-versa.


To get the heavy taste of brutality out of my mouth, I decided to read one of the classics in my library, Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. It's a classic, right? Well, at least it isn't on the current best seller's list. It was written in 1936, between the two wars. My mom was 16. Did she read this when it was on the best seller's list? I hope so. It was another one of those romance novels that have been creeping into my library. It was a suspense/mystery novel as well; a nice antidote to mindless killing. Although, a little killing does take place. It takes place in one of the moors of Southern England. Adrian and I went there when we were traveling through the island. He was 9. We saw the wild moor ponies that are referred to in the book. We didn't see the darkly intriguing Jem or the Jamaica Inn. But I could add those touches to my memory.


And I finally almost finished The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb. This book starts well and then keeps circling around the major thesis. Over and over and over. Can you buy a half of a book? It's taken me forever to read because he has a point, that the world is looking at the probability of something happening, trying to use formulas to predict the future, then suddenly a black swan appears and throws the calculations off. But he explains it from every angle. What are examples of black swans? Let me tell you and explain why they are black swans. What is probability? What is the future? Why do people want to predict what's going to happen? What happens when you make the wrong assumption?

And on and on and on. Okay, it's not like I have anything better to do than read this. Humm, maybe I do. What's the probability that by not reading the very end, I've missed some major point? Only statistics can tell.

Virginia

I suppose that I should put Virginia in here. I'm way up near the top, across the river from DC. I've been here a week now and think I'm getting settled in. I'm staying with my brother and sister-in-law. My room is really beautiful. The house is gorgeous, is surrounded by flowers, and has a vegetable garden.



It's all good, but the last item is very good. During this week I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Barbara Kingsolver, her husband and two daughters, decide to live a year on their farm in Appalachia as locavores. They will grow their own food or buy locally. There are a few exceptions. Who can live without olive oil? And there are no local flour mills. So they understand that there are things that don't fit into the plan. But they don't get all tense over it. It's about trying to avoid the cost of processing and shipping food.

The book was read by Kingsolver, her husband and her oldest daughter. That made the book even more enjoyable. She writes about the daily parts of their endeavor; he writes sidenotes, usually more information about a topic she mentions; the daughter gives a teen's views and writes about menus and recipes. Everyone who has read the book likes it, so it's not just about the readers, but I thought they did a good job.

I've tried to do more of this local eating and cooking while I've been here. I get to cook. Hurray! Cindy had a great kitchen, so this is pretty easy. I don't miss much of the kitchen that I left with Adrian, she has many of the same things. Eric bought a new barbeque, I've learned how to use that and will be 'cueing some local meats and vegetables this summer. It is way to hot too do much cooking in the kitchen, but I've managed to do that too.

As we know, LIG.

Pennsylvania

Somehow, we ended our trip with 5 days and 4 nights in Pennsylvania. It isn't a very large state (don't tell them.) But we had two things that guided our decisions. We had a dinner engagement in the middle of the week and a tour of a museum at the end. It was up to us to fill in the middle.

We bypassed Pittsburgh. Sorry Pittsburgh. Karen was reading the guidebooks and looking at maps and it seems that the three rivers, steep mountains and one way streets are daunting if you don't have a darn good reason for being there. So we side stepped it. One of the things we did do was try to stay off the major byways. You only get to see a lot of trees if you take them. Because we did this, we found the Flight 93 Memorial site. This is not advertised anywhere. It is a memorial at the place where the third plane in the 9/11 attacks went down. This is amazingly beautiful country. The road up to the memorial was filled with huge old houses. The site itself is in the middle of fields. I can't even imagine what the locals thought when the plane went down on that day. Most of us were already traumatized when we learned of this event.

Our next stop was Gettysburg. Karen and Peter had never been here before. We took the auto tour through the battlefield roads. Little Big Top is a major site for the battle. On the second day of the three day battle, soldiers were fighting from down below (see left) trying to stay alive while being blasted from on top of this hill. You can see a tour group (see right) in the prime vantage point at the top of Little Big Top.

This outcropping of rocks on the right is that pile of stones in the the picture above it. I don't recall how many men died behind these rocks. It was amazing what they went through. Karen has noticed that many of the sites we've visited have special playgrounds and touristy stuff for kids. Battle fields can be pretty boring if you are too young. We decided that you can give your children an idea of what that day was like by letting them climb all over these rocks. A lot of parents thought the same thing. This place was loaded with families. And, as you can see, it was a beautiful, HOT, day for climbing.

When we were in France a couple of years ago, I wore my hat everywhere. That's because it was always hot. I did the same in India. Karen and I were going to bring our crushable hats because we knew it would be hot on this trip. Here is the one who remembered. The one who forgot bought a couple of baseball caps. The best was from Rushmore. Karen never recognizes me in it. I do look a bit like a farmer.

After Gettysburg, we drove through Amish country. I really wanted to do this, but we didn't think we would have time. Silly us. The scenery was beautiful again. We passed many horse drawn carriages. We found an Amish bakery and left with the question about whether the young ladies were really Amish or just in costume. I'm hoping the former. Karen asked why I had wanted to come here. I told her that I remember they had good food here. Good food has been lacking in this trip. We did find a really good restaurant that served tomatoes fresh from their garden. I also had fried chicken. The freshness was a change for this trip. And even though I stole this picture from a website, we did see men plowing with horses.

Our final stop of the tour was the Barnes Foundation just outside Philadelphia. Anytime we mentioned that we were going here to Pennsylvanians, they were impressed. I was impressed. This place is filled with Cezannes and Renoirs. He acquired a few other Impressionists over the years, but he had hundreds of the Cezannes and Renoirs. The Barnes will soon be absorbed into the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That will be sad. The people who work here are very intuned with the building and the Foundation's goals.

And then we drove to Arlington. And then I started the next phase of my life. So this is goodbye for now from

The Ramblers +1

Catching up on Reading

Book Award Books

When Karen and I were preparing to help at the Times Book Awards at the end of April, I bought a lot of the books. It will take me until next April to finish them all. This book, soldier's heart, was the winner for current events. We got a chance to talk with the author. I wish I had read it before the ceremony. This is a wonderful book.

Ms. Samet teaches literature at West Point. She has done this since the late 90's. As she would say, she's been there before war and after the start of the war. Her job is to help prepare her students to go off to that war and be thoughtful enough to understand ambiguity, among other things. Her students are very interested and interesting. I wish I could have had one of her classes in college. Most of my friends were English Majors. None of them discussed books like they do at West Point. She selects her books very carefully. I plan to note a few and listen to/read them with a more analytical mind.

Out Stealing Horses was nominated for fiction. It did not win. The author is Norwegian. It has just recently been translated into English. I liked this book a lot too. The story is not linear. It begins with a 60+ year old moving out into the woods to live his retirement. Living there causes him to remember a time in his childhood when he lived with his father in the woods. Meeting a new person reminds him of other things. Planning some projects reminds him of others. This is not an action-filled book. It flows. It is thought-provoking. I didn't want it to end, but I wanted to know all his life's secrets. That doesn't happen, but the book is a rewarding read anyway.

Short Stories

I've started 3 books of short stories. The one at the left is filled with short articles or parts of books that John McPhee wrote some time ago. I like them very much. It's called The Second John McPhee Reader. I think I read the first one back in 1977. These are all non-fiction stories, the book was published in 1996. There are two stories from the book that currently are running through my mind. The first is about what must have been the first farmer's markets in the US. They started in New York. As a person who loves farmer's markets, this is a great story. You get a sense of what it's like to be on the green grocer's side of the scale.

The other story is about a man and his restaurant. Another of my favorite things. This chef's love of creating good food is wonderful to read about. I think I liked these stories a lot because they are based in reality and cover very different topics (one man's airplane exploded and he alone got out before the plane went down. Not food related.)

One of our favorite writers in Tobias Wolff. Karen sat next to him on a Book Award's bus. He's written, among other things, This Boy's Life and Pharoah's Army. I read one a long time ago and just finished the second. Those are both memoirs; in other words, non-fiction. This book, Our Story Begins, is fiction. Karen and I have listened to this off and on. What we found was that every story was the same. Maybe we missed something because the book got very good reviews in Amazon. Since we has become me (Karen is flying home soon) I will try to finish this book and learn if his stories are

really all the same.

Speaking of all the same, Unaccustomed Earth was written by the same woman who wrote The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies. I picked this up on the cruise, in their very well stocked library. I only read two of the stories and then I went on to read one of the many other appealing books. Ms. Lahiri writes well. She always writes about Bengalis living in the United States. They are all clearly different people. Their stories are different. Yet. They are the same. I listened to Ms. Lahiri on one of the podcasts I get about books. She rejects the fact that she only writes about the Bengali-American people. She is wrong. That is all she writes about. If I owned this book I would have continued to read the stories. But I would have paced them over a longer period of time. No scanning this book.

Going Round the Lake to O Hi O

I usually write my blog posts for a state after we leave. Then I have to get a wifi at the motel that will allow me to download my photos to Blogspot. With our luck, I've had trouble getting wifi connections that are strong enough to allow me to write. That's my excuse for being almost a week late in posting Ohio. We were only there for a day, but it was a very full day.

Our first stop of the day was Wauseon. I know. You are asking, "What could possibly be in this little town?" Do you remember the wedding we went to in May? My niece, Cathie, married this great guy named Tyler. I hardly got to know Tyler at all on that day. All I knew was that he makes Cathie very happy, they now live in Ohio, and she is enjoying her new life in Ohio. Here they are on the left in front of their cute house. They cooked lunch for us on Sunday, one of their busiest days of the week. Tyler is a Youth Pastor at his church, so Sunday is not the best day for them. But it happened to be when we driving through that area.

It was a good visit. I keep thinking about a trip to several East Coast baseball stadiums that Tyler took a couple years back. We passed the Philadelphia and Baltimore Stadia today. It made me smile to think of him watching games there.

We also went to their church. Tyler is responsible for the Junior High School kids. They made this sign for the two of them when they left for San Diego and their marriage. Cathie is lucky to be in the middle of all this love. She's also lucky to be in Waseon. It's mostly farm country and beautiful. One thing we've learned on this trip is that people in the Mid-West are as open as their yards. There is not a fence on most property. All yards melt into each other.

We ended our stay in Ohio at Peter's brother's house. They are in Avon, Ohio. Their house is pretty new and it, too, has no fences. Interesting. Paul and Karen are the parents of Scott, who we saw the night before in Detroit. Their other two children, Eric and Lauren, were at dinner that night. Eric's wife was delayed on a plane coming from Baltimore. Deja Vu. We had a good time. It's always fun to have little ones around. This little one belongs to Eric.

The Ramblers + 1

Tiger Town

My dear friend, Maureen, grew up in Michigan. She has been there recently and suggested that we avoid Detroit at all costs. It is a decaying example of urban blight and can be pretty scary if you drive into the wrong neighborhoods. Maureen also worked at The Henry Ford, only before it became The. This is a museum of all type of stuff and a village with all types of stuff and a tour of an auto manufacturing plant. I really wanted to see this, even though Karen reminded me that it contained the three things I hate the most - heat, crowds and a lot of walking. So, of course, we were going to do just two things in Michigan: visit The Henry Ford and Detroit.

We stayed at a Motel 6 outside Dearborn. This was Peter's first experience at these institutes of traveling torture. We stayed two nights. The first night I was in a smoking room and it exacerbated a sore throat I've had for weeks. We asked for non-smoking, but this seems to be out of the ken of many night desk people. The great thing was that there was a fireworks show several miles away that we could see from our rooms. I don't like being close to fireworks, but I love being miles away. It went on for a very long time.

The next day we went to The Henry Ford. It was an amazing day, weather wise. I was taking a cup of coffee to the car when I felt a few drops. If I'd been in California, it would have been a few drops for a while. But I remembered we weren't in CA anymore and that in this part of the world, a few drops becomes a drenching in seconds. Yes, I moved fast. And I was right. It poured for about 5 minutes. Wierd.

Because of the chance of more showers, we did not go to the village. We wanted to go on the tour of the auto plant, but it was closed. The ticket seller mentioned that it was the change in the model year and sort of muttered something about a slowdown. Duh, of course. Auto makers in the US are in really hard times. It was a shame not to have seen the real deal. But we went to the museum instead.

They had a lot of interesting exhibits, including this car on the left that had been exploded to show its simplicity. The first thing we saw were examples of different styles of furniture. Karen said she never thought she'd go to a museum called Ford and see furniture. But never fear, they also had a lot of cars. They even had a car test dummy that I became friendly with. Karen said it looked like I was being protective, but really, I was just playing with his knee.

We went to Detroit the next day to visit with Scott, Becky and their boys. They are working on every street in Michigan. This meant that the major arteries into Detroit were closed. We were detoured through several areas that I would consider to be less than desireable. But we lived. We were heading toward a place called Greektown. All I knew was that it was or was close to a casino. I did have some hope that we would be eating Greek food, but you never know with casinos. We did have Greek food AND we got to meet these two cute little boys. On the left is Wesley, who was showing me that when he stamps his feet, his shows light up. His brother, Austin, was also delightful. We walked across the street after dinner and found hundreds of Detroit Tiger fans. We found out that the new stadium is just a few blocks away from Greektown. What I saw was not an old decaying city. They are trying very hard to revitalize the city, against huge odds. I wish them well. The part we found was a lot of fun.

The Ramblers +1

Zip - Indiana

The most exciting part about our hour drive through Indiana was getting on the road. When I took my car to the public car park in Chicago, the guy asked me when I'd be leaving. I told him Friday. It was Monday at the time. He did remember me when I returned. But then, he'd been looking at that car for some time. Then he flooded it. I guess sitting for four days, full of low grade gas and ethanol didn't do the car any good.

It just wouldn't start, so I called AAA. The nice man on the other end of the phone walked me through a lot of stuff. Then he asked me if I had a preferred garage. Oh shit. I tried to start the car one more time and it finally turned over. Peter was behind the car, rearranging our luggage or the deck chairs. Poor thing was blasted by all the bad crude that had been building up over the four days. The guy on the phone was as happy as I was. He asked if there was anything else he could do for me, because that's what all Customer Service people do. I told him my hair was looking pretty yucky at the moment; maybe if he suggested going to a salon it would miraculously shape up. But no.

Our drive through Indiana must have taken all of 1.5 hours. It's hard to tell because we were on a lovely freeway and we were in Michigan before we thought to think about it. What I have been thinking about, not just in Indiana or Michigan is the awful things that are happening at my dear old Times.

Doom on Spring Street

Mr. Zell and his minions of idiots announced that they would be reducing the staff by 250 people. 150 would come from Editorial. The other 100 would come from departments that Editorial never notices. We now know that one of those people was the Publisher, David Hiller. It was announced that he decided to leave. The reality was, of course, that he was asked to leave. Welcome to The Times, David. I hope he knew this was hazardous duty when he agreed to take on this step-child of the tribune company.

The 150 from Editorial have been announced. After looking at the list, you can guess who was asked to leave and who raised his hand high over his head and shouted "me, me, me." If you are of a certain age or have another job lined up, the offer is very generous. If you are young and putting kids through school, you would prefer to hold on to the job you've got. I send my far away best wishes to both groups.

My dear friends in IT are now messing with their re-org and disposition of their employment. This is dreadful. Everything I have is crossed, wishing all my friends well. It's just not a happy times at The Times.

The Ramblers + 1

The Lap

We had been on the Road East for two weeks when we arrived in Chicago. Okay, it hasn't been hell by any stretch of the imagination. But I spent that week on the boat being spoiled - remember? And every Motel 6 has been a challenge. So, Chicago. Now that was a totally different story. I love Chicago. There is so much to do. The architecture is fabulous. The food is outstanding. Peter flew in on Monday and will be joining us for the rest of the trip.

So, what did I do? First, let me show you the place where we were staying: The Flemish House. I have stayed there before. I loved it before. It is in the Gold Coast area of Chicago, right across from Oak Street Beach on Lake Michigan. We had the first floor. I was in the studio in the back. Karen and Peter were in the front with a sitting room and bedroom. The studio was the best. I didn't know that, but if you ever stay in this place, you should save money and stay in the back.

I found a grocery store down the street, so I bought groceries so I could cook. Karen and Peter (K&P) came over every morning for breakfast. We ate two dinners in my room. I know. Chicago is filled with fabulous restaurants. We did eat at Bistro Zinc, around the corner from the house. It was okay, but not fabulous. The closest I came to fabulous was a lunch at The Big Bowl on our street. I had a Vietnamese spring roll and a bowl of Thai soup. Num. Just like home.

K&P went out every day and explored the city. They had never been there before and had a wonderful time. I spent most of my time inside my room, but did go out to visit with friends at the tribune. Yes, I have a couple of friends in that dreadful building. I had lunch with Laura. I'd been in India with her and we had been working with helpdesk issues before and after that trip. After a really good lunch at Bandara we met with Erik in the cafeteria. Erik was responsible for IT Security at The Times and moved back to Chicago where he came from to be closer to the action. He's having a wonderful time with the new Zell management. No sarcasm this time. He is the only person I know who has landed in a good spot with that group. The only person. I've just spell-checked this and Zell is not a word. Well, it is a word, just not one I want to put in this blog.

The last night we went to see the taping of the NPR program "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." This is a favorite for the three of us. Our favorite panelists were not on, but we had a good time anyway. One of the panelist, Charlie Pierce, reminds me of my old pal, Dean, from the HelpDesk. He laughs at everyone's jokes and sounds a lot like Dean. Tom Bodett, who leaves the light on for us whenever we stay at Motel 6, was also on the panel. We all like his understated humor.

It was raining cats and dogs that night. The weather has been amazing on this trip. It is usually temperate. When it gets too hot, it rains. Fun. Anyway, this was the icing on the cake for us. We had a wonderful time, each of us in our own way. And we certainly enjoyed our four days in the lap of luxury.

The Ramblers + 1

Taliesin - Frank Lloyd Wright

Since we were not eating a lot of cheese, our main interest in Wisconsin was Frank Lloyd Wright and his home, Taliesin. Madison was our stopping spot the night before our tour of the home. This is, of course, the capitol of Wisconsin. It is also an isthmus. The only isthmus I'd ever learned about was the one in Panama. Teachers are missing a bet by not teaching about Madison. The capitol building is square in the middle of this bit of land. All the streets surrounding it are one way.

Karen and I decided to find some of the homes that Wright designed in the area. We didn't have a very good map. The frustration of driving to nowhere on all those one way streets was overwhelming. Madison was really beautiful: lovely homes and great waterfront areas. It will take me only a little more time to get over the fact that we found none of the Wright homes in the area.

We got to Taliesin early so we had lunch in the museum cafe which overlooked the Wisconsin river. That is the view on the left. The tour is very interesting. The house itself is the third iteration of the building built on that site. Our tour guide was a little skittish about talking about the Wrights' personal life. She did mention the fire that burned down the first house. Bless Wikipedia for the rest of the story.

Wright had left his wife and 6 children for the wife of one of his clients. He built Taliesin for this woman and her children. A fire started and a servent killed many of the people in the house, including the woman and her children. The house was rebuilt, Wright married a second woman. The house burned down again. They eventually divorced and he married Olga, who was his wife until his death when he was over 90 years old.

Wright's buildings leave a lot to be desired. They are always interesting to look at. They always leak like sieves. I don't know why anyone would have wanted one of his buildings. The tour guide had drunk the koolaid, however, and said that you have to accept the bad with the revolutionary. Right.

We spent the night at another great Motel 6. Wisconsin gave us a stunning bon voyage thunderstorm. I don't think I've ever seen so much lightening and rain. We opened our curtains and laid in bed until the storm had passed. It was very quick. This is a whole new type of weather for us California girls. Our biggest surprise was the downed tree next to my car. Thank you, Wisconsin, for not giving us more of a thrill than we were ready to accept.


The Ramblers

Mosey, Mosey, Mosey

Eric and I had drinks up in the top floor lounge while we were on the cruise. We were there to watch the beautiful scenery as we cruised by. Others in the lounge were learning to line dance. One of the steps they learned was the "mosey." I don't remember how it was done, but I keep hearing the woman who was teaching them, "left foot, right foot, mosey, mosey, mosey." Mosey is how I walk and how we have been driving. I tell ya', if we weren't The Ramblers, we would be The Mosiers.

We decided to travel from Minneapolis to Winona, Minnesota via Wisconsin on the Great River Road. The road on the Minnesota side was mentioned in a book I bought about scenic drives in the U.S. This would have been our first road following their directions. But I had seen an article on the Wisconsin travel website about the River Road on their side of the river. I couldn't find it again, but found a better one. It is

linked in both places.

This was a perfect short drive for a busy day on our national highways. The best thing was that I found a travelogue on that website that I could download to my pc and then somehow (magic?) get onto my ipod so I could play it in the car as we drove. E-magic. So as we traveled, historians and old river boat pilots told us about their experiences in the towns along the river, about piloting on the river and about the history of the towns. And it was a beautiful day. What more could we have asked for on the 4th of July? Fireworks?

I've had bad experiences in the past with untrained idiots shooting off fireworks willy-nilly. We avoided my worst nightmare. We somehow found the only town in America that did not shoot off fireworks. Nary a boom or pop was heard all night. It didn't matter. We were mellowed out by the clear skies and beautiful day, the slice of Americana that we had just driven through, and a couple of really good martinis. Remember, LIG. Life IS Good on the Mississippi in July.

Hey, we were in a parade! All the residents of one little town had their lawn chairs, blankets and picnics out on their front lawns. We couldn't figure out why. Karen had me pull over so she could ask one of the families. They told us there was a parade and we were the first thing in it. We both did our queen waves. They told us we needed to throw candy. It didn't look like New Orleans. It was fun to be part of small town America, if only for a minute.

The Ramblers.

Minnesota

Mom was born in Spicer on Green Lake in Minnesota. That's it. That's all we know. We did the best we could. We found Spicer on Green Lake and had lunch. It's what we do. Then we took pictures and tried to remember the stories she had told us. They were few. We remembered the picture with all her sibs next to some farming equipment. Farm? Or did Grampy have an auto shop? Was it in town? Was the farm behind a house on the lake next to the farm? It was fun looking for places. The lake is on the left. We figured a farm, we saw a farm house, but didn't take a picture of it. Everything had grown so much since 1929.

We went to The Mall of America that night and watched a movie, Wall-e, and saw some of what was there. It was amazing. The movie was great, the mall was huge. We almost got lost in the amusement section. Karen and I are two definate people. AND we a both sometimes wrong. It is funny to watch us when we know the other person is dead wrong. This time I was. But we found our car. The picture on the right is Karen by the restaurant where had a good California type dinner. 3 appetizers, one was cat-food cakes. I sent that back. Ended up with very sweet calamari. Don't these folks like food?

The next day we went to downtown Minneapolis and saw the Gutherie Theater (not Arlo, but Sir Tyrone.) It is in the new complex with the old Gold Medal Flour building. Very nice. Good renovation job on the waterfront. You can see the bridge on the right that

collapsed. They are working on most roads and bridges throughout Minnesota. The river was really beautiful. And that is a good thing. They emphasized in the Mill Building Museum that the water is everything. Having a river in early America seems to have been your ticket to wealth. They used those treasures like a sewer. The river powered the saw mills and factories and the manufacturers thanked them by dumping all matter of wast into the river. Shade'. Shame on them. Pillsbury, across the river, found that fish were thriving on the crap they were throwing into the river and decided to see animal feed to the farmers. Tsk.

The museum was very interesting. It told about General Mills and Minneapolis in general. Cute movie about Minneapolis history. We went to the island in the middle of the Mississippi and Karen took a 45 minute walk. That was great for her and good for me. I was able to finish my book. We are still having a good time. Minnesota has been full of corn, corn farms, corn cribs, corny people. Yet. We are enjoying ourselves. Go figure.

The Wanderers.