I thank everybody for the news. As part of our virtual Minnesota State Fair (a service for out-of-staters), here is my crop art entry:





There is a "novice" category for anyone who has not entered before. Look for "Bird Seed" in the horticulture building.

Norris and I have walked through the fairgrounds a couple times recently, even though it is off-limits to cars now. Last night, we went to church because it was a holy day, and then had Joel drop us off on Snelling so we could walk through the grounds before it got totally dark. It was very interesting, as a lot was being set up, but I don't really think we were supposed to be there. Patrol cars examined us closely and we had to walk by several police officers. They just said, "Hi," but I guess we'll stay away until Thursday.

BTW, we will not be doing anything for Liv's birthday as she is gone at a retreat this weekend, will be going to Omaha with me on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then starts 12 days in the root beer barrel on Thursday. Say "Happy Birthday" to her there!

We have been having a difficult time with Kokomo this week as he has been in pain and hiding under the dresser for several days. We brought him to the vet yesterday and he has a ruptured disc in his back, with partial paralysis of his back legs (Liv said, "He's just like Uncle Paul"). He is now on steroids and a muscle relaxant and is feeling much better. However, he is supposed to be on complete "bed rest" for 3-4 weeks, which is impossible, especially as he is cage-shy. We are supposed to carry him up and down stairs and keep him from jumping on furniture, etc. Not easy! The worst part is, although he has a 90% chance of recovering from this episode without further treatment, he will be prone to further injury in the future and may have permanent damage.

Here is the picture that I submitted in the State Fair competition.


My friend George tried to submit a picture today, but he was too late.
I guess Joel will have some competition this year.

I am so sorry to hear about the death of Roberta. It's very interesting to hear all about your previous wife, Mark. I had no idea that's how the two of you met. I wish I knew how to play an instrument. I feel like the ugly duckling in this family of musicians. :)

Well, just this last week I was transferred to a different position at work. I am still at the same company and doing the same closing assistant job. However, I am now dealing with closings in Iowa rather than Minnesota. It's very different being here in Minnesota and preparing all of the documents for another state. There is a lot more work to do for Iowa, which is something that I was looking for. My other position was very slow and my previous job at Edina Realty Title was way too much. I can never find a job that is in between busy and slow. Why is that?

Mae in NY (as reported in email by John):

Mae spent the night with a friend from work who lives near the office --
when last heard from they were eating peanutbutter sandwiches for dinner.
Maybe she can be persuaded to recount her experiences in the Blog. She kept
calling home last night to find out what was happening in NY.

I'm sorry to hear about your mother-in-law, Mark. My deepest sympathies.

Has anyone heard from Mae in New York? My brother called me on his cell phone, and said he was stranded on a bus. Poor New York City.

Janelle

Roberta Worrell my mother-in-law from my first wife Jan passed away in Colorado Springs on August 1 at the age of 89. She had outlived her husband Joe, daughter Jan and son David. During the last ten days of her life she was being given hospice care in her own apartment. In addition several women from her church took turns staying with her. I was notified a week before she died and was able to speak with her and played cello music for her over the phone several times. String music was what initially brought us together. Jan (cello) and I (violin/viola) played together in the Roosevelt high and University of Minnesota orchestras. Over the years chamber music was frequently a part of family gatherings when they lived in Minneapolis, when they would come back for visits and when we went to Colorado Springs . In addition to Jan and I, musicians included (not all at the same time) Roberta (violin/viola), Joe (flute), David Worrell( violin), Roberta’s sister Betty(cello) , Betty’s daughter Karen (viola) ,Nancy (voice) and eventually Peter, Tom and Stephen on their instruments. Joe and Roberta enjoyed many years of retirement in their adopted home of Colorado Springs where they had many friends through their church. Peace be to their memory.

Emissary from the Future

I just dropped off my entry in the State Fair (remember-columbia.mrklingon.org). THIS year I may have more competition as Matt threatens to enter something... (but has he? Time is running out!)

Whenever I bring in my "computer art" to the fair, it seems the volunteers are 90 years old, and baffled by the notion that they have such a category as "computer-generated art." I feel like some spandex clad Jetsonian who has come bearing greetings from the world of tomorrow.

"Yea, verily, long have I labored with punch card and my Multivac computron to
create this wonder. You denizens of yesterday, BEHOLD !

EasyJet and RyanAir are giving some stiff competition to European rail:

Article

Maria, that's just what I wondered. However, it seems as if a lot of people in Europe use them and they are advertised heavily over there. The same company also owned the huge Internet cafe we used in London. We'll have to get Norris to write more about his friend's experience... whether EasyJet cuts back on food and drinks or mechanics.

Liv that sounds like a great idea, but how safe are these "cheap" planes??

Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Well, I know that trains & busses (fun!) have already been recommened for your European voyage, but I would like to make a unique and new suggestion---a plane. EasyJet is an awesome company that has planefares from about $40 dollars. (From London to Barcelona, for example is about $51.99). EasyJet is, according to a friend of Norris's, very cheap and low budget, so don't expect anything too plush.
----Livvi'i

Very interesting, Peter. We often drive by that complex on our way to my parent's farm. My parents went on a garden tour there once. Did you know that when they rebuilt the church brick-by-brick they had some left over, which they used to build the little shrine on the lawn outside?

As far as Europe, my advice would be to avoid the trap of visiting only large, famous cities (London, Paris, etc.) Of course, they all have some sights you shouldn't miss, but every big city is quite a bit like another big city! I have enjoyed my time in small towns much more, as one gets much more of the regional flavor.

You can buy rail passes tailored for your travel plans: http://www.railpass.com/EURAIL/PASSES/

Rail passes are not always the cheapest option, though, unless you're doing a lot of traveling. They also are not as convenient as I originally pictured, as one still has to check in to ensure seats are available. People in Europe also take buses a lot, especially between smaller towns. Even if there is rail service, it is sometimes faster and more direct to take a bus. Liv and I did that to get to Annecy, France from Geneva: we would have had to transfer two times to take the train, so I followed some stranger's advice on the Internet and we took a coach bus instead. It was direct, comfortable, inexpensive, and had about five runs each way every day.

I forgot to mention one thing.. Maria had a good time.. this picture attests to that:

Over the weekend Maria and I, along with her parents, went on a "Date Night". It was for a men's church group that Maria's father and I are a part of. We are going through the book and video series for "Wild At Heart" by John Eldredge. The book talks about how men long for adventure, and how they can take their "beauty" or wife along for that adventure. Our date night on Saturday was to be one of those adventures.

We met at the little log house show grounds near hastings. It is an old restored village with an old saloon, post office, blacksmith, general store, church and house of ill repute. It was a very interesting place, and I'd recommend checking it out sometime if you get a chance. They had a bunch of people from the "old west society" there to do re-enactment of a gunfight, complete with real guns (shooting blanks of course). Some of those guys were pretty scary looking!

The grounds had several areas, one of them was a garden with all sorts of beautiful flowers.



There was a little log house (thus the name of the place) next to the garden that was the original building on the grounds. (see picture below)


There was an old church on the grounds that had been moved from another city in Minnesota. Inside they had a bunch of life size statues of Jesus and Mary. They were very life like. I can imagine that it would be a bit spooky in there if you were all alone at night with these statues...




All in all we had a good time!

Hi all!

It was great to read all the posts that occurred in our absence. It's been a long time since I've been in a place where there's no Internet access, cell phone coverage (at least for T-Mobile), or even a public phone!

Our trip was organized by YouthWorks, an interdenominational Christian group that has summer work camps in many poor areas of the U.S. We left on Friday and spent the first night in Wall, visiting Wall Drug and hiking in the Badlands a bit. The next day we drove through the Black Hills, saw Mount Rushmore, hiked around Sylvan Lake, and spent the night in two cabins at Legion Lake in Custer State Park. The next morning we had to get up early as the only Catholic church within driving distance (in Custer, SD) had one service at 8:00 a.m. We made it in time and had a memorable experience. They were getting ready for their big fund raiser... serving a spaghetti dinner to some of the half million bikers attending the Sturgis Rally the next weekend.

Sunday afternoon we arrived at our mission site in Wanblee, SD, on the Pine Ridge Reservation. There were about 10 adults, 56 kids, and 4 staff members. Our group slept on the floor of a big classroom with the women and girls from a Lutheran church from a small town near Rochester, MN. The other groups were from Duluth, and three churches from Elkheart, IN who traveled together.

As Liv said, each day we either worked with kids or on houses. The kids have no supervision and wander around day and night. For "Kids Club" one drives a van through the housing project yelling, "Kids Club," and picking up kids off the street! The little kids are starved for attention and hang on anybody, but the teens and adults weren't always too friendly... giving people the finger was an art form! (for them, not us) We weren't allowed to walk anywhere off the school grounds. A tribal lawyer who spoke one evening claimed that there were only six people on the entire reservation (three counties) who weren't addicted to drugs and/or alcohol.

We had some interesting evening activities, including a walk in the Badlands and a softball game/weiner roast in the community. After five days of hard work, uncomfortable sleep, and inspiring worship we drove home in 10 hours.




Click here to see more pictures from our trip

Hi, Peter and Maria,

I just wanted to give you tips on Europe. I went to Spain and France in 1989, and went to London, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 1992.

Make sure you wear a money belt that you can hide in your shirt! Get the Let's Go Europe book, it's great and it tell you things to do for low prices. Bring good walking shoes, cause you'll be walking and getting lost a lot! Bring a backpack and pack lightly. Stay in hostels, you'll find that they are inexpensive, and you'll meet interesting people. Travel by train, it's so easy. When you stay in some hostels, however, some only have one bathroom down the hallway! And some bathrooms don't have showers, just bathtubs. People smoke a lot in Europe, too, beware.

But you'll have a great time! They sell lots of chocolate at almost every street corner. Go see Juliet's balcony in Verona, Italy! Go to the Eiffel Tower. Go see cheap theatre in London and go see the Tower of London, with the jewels, and Lady Jane's room. And take the Sound of Music tour in Austria.

Have fun and good luck! :)
Janelle

Outrageous
I got back this evening from my week long mission trip to Wanblee. It was amazing and lifechanging. I felt like we actually made a difference with at least the children there. I spent my first two mission days working in Kid's Club, a fun atmosphere for the kids of Wanblee to hang out in for two or three hours, and my last two days painting trim on a house there. It was amazing. I will continue to write more about this experience but as I was going home, I listened to Audio Adrenaline and the lyrics to "Dirty" really struck me.
Tired of being clean, sick of being proper
I wanna live among the beggars and dig out in the dirt
Step outside the walls we built to protect us
Don’t be afraid to get some mud on your face.
Come on, come on everybody.
Come on, come on and serve someone

Let's get dirty, let's get used
No matter where you come from
If you're beaten up or bruised
Let's get foolish, let's get free
Free to be the one thing
We were meant to be – let’s get dirty

You might get a bruise or some blisters on your fingers
You might start a question, and wonder what it's worth
You may slip and fall from the burdens that you carry
But you can't have this treasure, till you dig it from the dirt

Let's get dirty, let's get used
No matter where you come from
If you're beaten up or bruised
Let's get foolish, let's get free
Free to be the one thing
We were meant to be - Get dirty

Come on, come on everybody
Come on, come on, serve someone

Let's get dirty, let's get used
No matter where you come from
If you're beaten up or bruised
Let's get foolish, let's get free
Free to be the one thing
We were meant to be - Get dirty
Peace!
---Livvi'i

I'm VERY tired after 7 days of driving and work but will just report quickly that we had a great mission trip to Pine Ridge Reservation and are back safely. Lots of sad sights, but very rewarding. We'll post more and some pictures tomorrow. Teresa

Stevie and I treated ourselves to another one day human powered vacation today. From our house we went due east, crossed the Lake St. bridge, continued a few miles up Marshall , switched to University and eventually ended up at the trailhead of the Gateway Trail which is at Cuyoga and 35E a few blocks north of th MN State Capitol. This is ten miles from our home. We went on the trail which goes through suburban and countryside Ramsey and Washington counties and ended up at Pine Point Park which is the original site of the Washington County Poor Farm. We had are lunch there then went into Stillwater where we stopped for ice cream before starting for home. We considered going to downtown by the
St. Croix but realized that it would add four miles (half of it up hill) and we were running out of gas. We made it home without incident traveling 64 miles on a beautiful summer day. We had the cell phone, a couple of spare tubes and enough tools to make most repairs but fortunately we didn't need them.

Travelers

Nancy - I think the John & Lynda, Mae & Ingrid exhibit isn't on display anymore in England. The dollhouse (and clothes and furnishings and cars) ARE at Windsor. And Hampton is very interesting [note: they have the same kind of Audio guides as Norris used to sell at the MIA).

Very sparse news from Pine Ridge (Communications with France, Switzerland and England are much easier). Teresa called Friday from Wall Drug, and I missed a call yesterday (Monday) from Teresa (all I got was voice mail :( ).

Today I got a call at work, just an "all is well" call from the Church secretary -
they're doing fine and coming back on Friday was the extent of it.

However I got to experience a moment of panic when she called:

    "This is so-and-so from Corpus Christi,

        I'm the secretary, and I

             just talked to Alisa and

                 she

               wanted me

            to

             let you

                   know

            that

                              everything is fine, and they'll

                        be home on Friday."

I don't know if that gives you the idea, and there wasn't anything wrong
with her message or manners - but my imagination was leaping ahead to
anticipate WHY they were calling ME!?!!

And Koko is in Red Wing - but HE doesn't call when he's down there!