Sunday, December 31, 2023

New Year's Eve!

    HAPPY NEW YEAR to both of you! 😀

    Well, I did it! Registration is complete for the Old Folk's Home New Year's Eve party. It's the one that begins at 6:00 and ends at 9:00. Truth be told, it's just my speed. We'll munch, chat and apparently suffer through the chicken dance, which I could certainly do without. The other option for the evening was a quiet evening at home reading. But, there will be time for that. The fact that the Vikings are playing at the same time may cut in to attendance. Because I think football, especially professional football, is morally bankrupt I wouldn't watch anyway.

    With an operative TV in the OFH apartment I did watch a couple of women's college basketball games. Indiana beat Illinois and Nebraska beat Maryland in the Big Ten. That is a very competitive league with several excellent teams, four of which played today.

Takk for alt,

Al


Did I list the Dominican Republic as one of my international destinations? Joanne and I visited, this is a statue of Christopher Columbus there.




    

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Proof!

      Some of my neighbors are not fond of me calling this the Old Folk's Home (OFH). When asked if they prefer "Rest Home" they are not amused. 😀 Now there is proof that this is in fact the OFH. Daily schedules of events and other notices of coming events are posted in the elevators.

    Recently there was a notice of a New Year's Eve party for residents. The poster said it would conclude at 11:00 p.m. with the dropping of the ball in New York City. This notice was up for a couple of days before it was replaced with a new poster. This new one announces that festivities will end with "lights out" at 9:00 p.m. Why the change? Inmates were not signing up after the first posting because 11:00 was too late. Is any further proof needed that this indeed an OFH?😀😀😀

   Yesterday's post about international travel omitted a 2019 Road's Scholar trip to Portugal. What else may I have forgotten? 

Takk for alt,

Al


                       In the fish market in Lisbon, Portugal, 2019

Friday, December 29, 2023

What now?

     In recent conversation about this blog a friend asked if it's difficult to write a daily blog,  I said it is on those days when a subject does not suggest itself. Often there is material at hand and then the writing come easier...today is one of those days with a question about what to write.

    Recently I've been reflecting on my international travels. They really added up without me giving them much thought. The recent one to Greece was my first trip since returning early from Thailand in 2020 becasue of COVID.  It was my second trip to Greece. Doing was much more my thing than recording so to determine exactly the international travel I'll need to do some research.

   While I was in the Marines we were stationed on Okinawa, technically a prefecture of Japan. We also spent time on the main island of Japan for cold weather training. For some weeks we were ashore in the Philippines and we made port of call in Hong Kong. Shipping from America to Okinawa we made a stop in Hawaii but that's not foreign.

   In South America I was in Argentina and Peru. In North America visits were to Canada and Mexico. Africa accounts for two more countries when we climbed Kilimanjaro, Kenya and Tanzania. Five times I've visited Norway. On our Baltic cruise we visited Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Finland. Joanne and I travelled in Romania and also Hungary and Austria. We also spent some days in France.  Intending to visit Belgaum we spent a week in the Netherlands. 

    Then there's SE Asia...20 times maybe? There I've been to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam most of them several times. Once I went to Australia. So six of the seven continents have been visited. Sometime I'll try to count the trips to SE Asia.

   Perhaps it is time I stay home.😁

Takk for alt,

Al


                            Joanne in Budapest in 2008.

Thursday, December 28, 2023

About Time!

       The gist of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize winning play Our Time has long been familiar to me. Emily's return to the village after her death is often cited in literature. MJV sent me a copy of the play as a prelude to reading Ann Patchett's Tom Lake, which she also sent to me. (Thanks MJV!) The play, so familiar from literature, led me to think that perhaps I'd read it years ago...wrong.

      This was my first reading. Patchett is one of my favorite authors and Tom Lake is her latest novel. Friends who have read it recommend it. Patchett, owner of Parnassus Bookstore, Nashville, TN., has a first addition book club to which I subscribe. She should have selected Tom Lake for the book club but did not. When Lake is completed a 676 page, small print, book awaits, good wintertime activity.

Takk for alt,

Al

 


    Sitting in the tent at cold weather training, Japan, 1961,  I'm writing a letter home, which I did every week.

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

That was fun!

      Mostly I read serious stuff, novels and history primarily. Once in awhile it's fun to read just for fun. The Thursday Murder Club mysteries by Richard Osman is that.  Michele lent me her copy of the 4th and latest of the series, The Last Devil To Die. Intending to read a serious novel first resistance was weak so I went to the fun one.

   The Murder Club consists of four denizens of an English Old Folk's Home. Their hobby is solving murders that have stumped the police. Elizabeth, the leader of the group is a retired secret agent, there's Joyce a retired nurse, Ibrahim a retired psychiatrist, and Ron a retired labor organizer. The books are fun 'who dunits?' with the added intrigue of four senior citizens sometimes working with police and other times beyond the police.

   This last volume had very tender moments as Elizabeth deals with her husband dementia and death. There are poignant scenes when her husband, Stephen, has enough lucidity to recognize what he's lost. Osman shows that he understands the nature of grief.  While I'm not a fan of mysteries this is delightful reading. Osman reports that  more are forthcoming after he writes something else.

Takk for alt,

Al


          Escaping the Marine Corps without a tattoo perhaps it time I get a map to the OFH. 😁

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Rain

     The rain that began Sunday afternoon ended this morning. Apparently we received something over an inch which will soak into the ground because there is no frost. Minneapolis had a record high temperature of 54 degrees yesterday. This moisture would have created much snow had the temperatures been normal. Personally I do not miss ice and snow. Snow shoveling is pretty much a thing of my past which is fine with me. Remembering the days of shoveling out the farm yard suffices.

Takk for alt,

Al


                           Today's random picture is view looking up the Tokyo Tower, 1961.

Monday, December 25, 2023

Hope

     Hope? Is that what the feeling is a winter solstice? Hope? Hope that daylight will return? No, I don't think so. We know that daylight begins its return then. It is more of a promise. Daylight is returning, that's fact. Not observable to casual observation, but just wait a few weeks and see.

   The L. K. Hanson piece below giving Ernst Bloch's take on the effect of hope on persons treats hope as an emotion. Hopelessness is a terrible thing. To have given up hope is tragic. Is a factor of our blessedness that we are people of hope. Hoping for things both large and small?

   For what do you hope? How does that hope shape you?

    

Takk for alt,

Al





Sunday, December 24, 2023

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

     Okay so it isn't Christmas until sundown but let's not be legalistic. The organ died during the morning service. The resident organ builders was not in attendance, probably visiting his family in Iowa. Christmas Eve services led from the piano?  It's to be seen but it will not end life as we know it.

Takk for alt,

Al  🙏

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Solstice

      The winter solstice makes me happy in reverse of the summer solstice. In summer there's a note of loss knowing that daylight will gradually recede. On the other hand, with the winter solstice there's a note of hope knowing that daylight returns. It is left to the imagination for awhile as the increase in daylight initially it too small to observed. So winter light trucks along until one day the surprise comes that the increased daylight is noticeable. It's understandable that winter solstice has been celebrated for ages.

Takk for alt,

Al 



           Often inspiration is found in the comics. This one pretty well summarizes life in the OFH. 😊

Friday, December 22, 2023

Another Memory

      The Garfield reprinted below brought back memories of the days when my children were in college. This was long before cell phones so calls were received on the landline. Joanne was compulsive about answering phone calls. It was considered moral failure if the phone rang more than three times before answering and getting it at one or two rings indicated moral worth.

    With the children away at college and Joanne answering the phone occasionally the child on the other end would say "Hi mom, let me talk to dad." That was a clear signal that a car question was to follow. Sometimes I was able to make an auto diagnosis long distance.

    There was the time Lisa was in Baltimore and I in Minneapolis. "Dad, there's air leaking by the cap on the tire valve stem."  Al responds "Take a needle nose plier, removed the cap, insert the nose of the plier in the stem and rotate clockwise. "SCHREAK!!!"    Al "What's the matter?" Lisa I knelt down in dog doo!" The leakage was solved and this is a reminder do dog owners to pick up after your pet.


Takk for alt,

Al

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Memory Lane

        Helene sent me the clipping below from the Mohall, ND, paper, the Renville County Farmer.  Zion Lutheran Church, Mohall was my first call and we lived there from 1968-1975. The print is small but in the third paragraph is reported the Senior Luther League plans to hold a Christmas Eve Service in Duane Vig's barn at the north end of Mohall. 

     The service was well attended. In preparation for the service the barn was thoroughly cleaned. Ironic, right? The stable in Bethlehem had no such cleaning. Mostly likely the cup at the Last Supper was a simple, earthenware vessel. How often has the Lord's Supper since been celebrated in silver and even gold vessels. There is huge human resistance to God's entrance into this world in ordinary ways and elements.  Humanity can't tolerate the idea the Divine comes in such ordinary elements.

    Reading this clipping was a fun trip down memory lane. Ah, yes, 50 years ago... 


Takk for alt,

Al

                        Yes, you go Earl!

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Fun Reading

         First published in 1956, I wasn't born yet 😊, My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (is still in print) tells the story of his family's move from England to the island of Corfu, Greece. Gerald was a boy, the youngest of the four children, who moved with their widowed mother in the 1930s.

      Gerald was obsessed  with zoology even as a child. He grew into an internationally famous conservationist. The eccentricities of his family recorded in the book have been largely corroborated by his siblings. Their antics, ably told by Durrell, cause the reader to laugh out load. The family resided on Corfu for five years and then returned to England as Greece was being threatened in World War II.

    Durrell has exceptional powers of description, which make reading the book a delight. A prolific writer, he published 37 books. Here is a sample of his writing: "The sky was fresh and shining, not yet the fierce blue of noon, but a clear milky opal." P. 47. 

   Yes, I recommend it!

Takk for alt,

Al

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

What a feast!

      Some Christmas mail reached me before I left The Little House. A temporarily away forwarding order is on file with USPC so cards sent to Sinai will come to the OFH. Arriving at the OFH there was a significant number of Christmas greetings awaiting me. Now I've had the leisure and pleasure of carefully reading them. What a feast!

   It is a huge blessing to be remembered in this way and to get a peek into the lives of people about whom I care. Knowing that others are thinking of me, and care enough to send these greetings, fills me with gratitude. Blessings abound and I am deeply, deeply grateful. The stories and pictures are a treasure, indeed a feast!

Takk for alt,

Al

Monday, December 18, 2023

Party Time!

       Kaia and I travelled back to the OFH today, Last year on this same day we drove back in a ground blizzard. Not today. Tomorrow I have a routine visit with my primary care physician. Today's return was prompted by party time.

    My OFH apartment is on the 4th floor. Tonight there was a party for the residents of the floor. It was a very nice event which allowed me to meet other residents. Because I'm often gone several asked if I was new in the building. No, it will be two years January 7. since I moved in.

   There are very smart people on this floor. One of whom taught organic chemistry in college for over 30 years. That reminded me of one of the longest years of my life which was three hours in a chemistry lab. My brain has a synapse missing, the one that remembers numbers.  Such a total contrast to Joanne who had a photographic memory for numbers.

   One of the residents of the floor sprung for a catered meal for the event. We were just invited to bring a non-perishable item for a food shelf. Yes, a good time was had by all and also by Al. 

Takk for alt,

Al

 

       While I continue my efforts to control invasive species this hasn't happened to me...yet/

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Sciff of snow, Part II

      Yesterday's blog was a little riff on the phrase 'skiff of snow.'  Both of my readers responded via email. The reader in Iowa said that phrase was familiar to the reader residing in Iowa. The reader in Minneapolis reported that, while growing up in West Virginia, the reader was accustomed to referencing small snowfalls as a skiff.  The Iowa reader sent along this quote:  "Is snow a skiff? The term appears to be colloquial, used mainly in northern parts of the country and in Canada to describe a minor rainfall or snowfall or a light breeze. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a skiff as “a slight gust of wind or shower of rain, etc. Also, a light flurry or cover of snow.” Is it skiff or skift of snow?"

     So there we have it!  Because both readers have already weighed in this will likely end the discussion. 😁

Takk for alt,

Al




                                      Santorini sunset


Saturday, December 16, 2023

Google answer

       This morning at 6:00 a.m. we received skiff of snow. That's a description that I learned from my parents of small snowfall. With their Norwegian heritage I wondered if it was translated from the Norwegian into English. It's another one of those things that reminds me of them though Dad died in 1969 and  Mother in 1989. Either of my readers familiar with snow described as skiff?

     This being the digital age I repaired to Google to answer the wondering about the linguistic roots of snow as a skiff. This is Google's answer:

"Word of the day: "skiff" - a light fall of snow, such that the ground still shows through; a dusting of snow that newly discloses the land's forms (Scots; nouned from the verb "to skiff", to move in a light & airy manner, to skim). Also "skiftie", "skiffin", "skift", "skith".'  So there we have it. The snow quickly melted.

    As previously reported in this blog reading the obituaries is my daily habit. That practice was rewarded today.  In the Minneapolis paper Under Holger C.......s' name;  this was the entire obituary:

                                                            "Holger died. Boat for sale."

Takk for alt,

Al

Friday, December 15, 2023

Rain

 Today's bit of rain made me think of:

"Rain, rain, go awayCome again some other dayWe want to go outside and playCome again some other day
Rain, rain, go awayCome again some other dayWe want to go outside and playCome again some other day
Rain, rain, go awayCome again some other dayWe want to go outside and playCome again some other day".

     This little verse made me think of my mother who quoted this on rainy days. She could recite many poems from memory. That's, memorizing, is not a gift that I've been given. Joanne had it. Memorizing Luther's Small Catechism  when I was in confirmation was a struggle.

     In previous times, I was going to write in normal times  but this probably is the new normal, today's moisture would have been snow. The Mpls. Paper reported today that the official snowfall last year exceeded 92 inches. Much of that had fallen by this date. 

Takk for alt,

Al

     Today's random picture is lunch time at my Thai school.

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Change

      The change has been gradual over several years. Today it became more obvious. The change is in the way I hunt pheasants. Unlike some other forms of hunting, pheasant hunting is primarily walking. These walks could be done without a gun, but it's not likely to happen. Today much of the terrain was over old pocket gopher mounds obscured by tall grass. Yes, I picked my way very carefully. 

     So what is this change? In former years I'd actively position my walking to be in the best proximity to where a pheasant  might flush. Gradually as time has passed I find myself forgoing proximity for ease. The ground is smoother, the grass shorter, the walking easier are now options of choice. I'm very willing to sacrifice the higher probability of being within gun range to a bird for the easier path.    

   Part of the change in me is that I'm content with difference. Seeing birds, several of which I saw at a distance today, is satisfying. Not a shot was fired and that's okay. 

   Speaking of seeing I saw a nice, young buck. It was fairly large. It's antlers were quite small. I'm happy it escaped with its life the recent deer season. Perhaps I'll be fortunate to see from time to time as it grows. 

Takk for alt,

Al

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

October?

      October, or perhaps November, weather continues deep into December. Thee is no snow here. The little pond across the street is dry as are many of the sloughs. Dawn is fond of saying "The snow can come in March." She's correct. The cows are in the corn munching on corn stalks and saving farmers the need to use precious hay. The mild winter that was predicted is materializing. Attempting to cross a narrow stretch of ice it was quickly apparent that it wasn't solid. Moisture is certainly needed prior to growing season but March would be an ideal time to receive it. The sun, low in the southern sky, is evidence of the season. Now we're about a week from the shortest daylight of the year. While it's not evident immediately the knowledge that daylight is returning gives me an emotional boost. Jurisdictions are saving money with no snow to plow.

Takk for alt,

Al


                           Sunset on Crete.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Wonder

       The church is observing the season of Advent, four weeks and four Sundays leading to Christmas. This year Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday so Sunday morning services will be the fourth Sunday of Advent.  The secular world has no use for Advent and quickly moves from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

    Advent is intended to be a reflective season of wondering about the mysteries of the Divine. Mysterious wonder is typically not a large part of our experience. It is well to have a season to challenge us to wonder. What exactly is the numinous and what has it do with us? Is there more to this life than what is apprehended by the five senses? This Advent Season of wonder is intended to prepare the wonderer for the entrance of the Diving.

    A pastor friend was meeting with a small group of the faithful. For two hours they discussed wonder and what it means. One of this group declared "kids can wonder adults worry." This brief statement contains profound wisdom. Is there a chance we could replace worry with wonder?

    Wishing for you a wonderful Advent!

Takk for alt,

Al

Monday, December 11, 2023

Grief now...

       After breakfast I typically read the Minneapolis StarTribune online. As is common with persons of a certain age I always look at the obituaries. Today there was an obituary of the wife of one of Joanne's counseling colleagues when she was a counselor in the St. Louis Park, MN. high school. That was "one of those times."

     What are "those times?"  After a death the bereaved loses a history partner. Seeing that obituary today would have prompted significant conversation with Joanne were she still alive. We would have remembered, Charlette, the bereaved. Likely we would have reminisced about being a guest in her home. No doubt we'd also have mentioned, Paul, her husband and told stories about him too. No one else would share our perspective, that's a significant factor in life in the land of grief.

Takk for alt,

Al

In answer to Michelene's questions about phragmites. They were introduced from Europe many years ago. On the recent trip to Greece we saw many phragmites, perhaps they are native there.

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Answer

      In response to a post recently about hunting in phragmites PMF in a comment asked if they are invasive. The answer is, yes. They compete with cattails which are better habitat for wildlife. Phragmites are very tall reeds. They have very little undergrowth so the ground under them is somewhat bare. On the other hand cattails have much growth near the ground. Wildlife buried in cattails are almost totally shielded from wind. Pheasants snuggled down in a cattail slough can withstand severe blizzards because of the protection from wind. Phragmites do offer that.

    Phragmite control is difficult because they grow in wetlands. That makes it impossible to use machinery to eliminate them. Ideally they would be mowed and the regrowth sprayed but that can't be done when they ground is too wet. Consequently, they continue to spread unhindered. Invasive cedars can be cut individually but that's not feasible with phragmites.

Takk for alt,

Al


What’s wrong with too much phragmites?

 It can take over an ecosystem through its dense plant stands, which can prevent other species from being able to grow in the same area. It also negatively impacts wetland wildlife habitats. Additionally, the invasive plant outcompetes native plants by releasing chemicals in the soil that can keep other plants from growing.



Saturday, December 9, 2023

Good Read!

       Joanne had the practice of giving a book one chapter.  If the first chapter failed to engage her she'd move on to another book. With that in mind I was very close to moving on from Absolution, by Alice McDermott. It's one of those novels that improved the farther one read. the first chapters descriptions of who was wear what quickly gave way to an interesting story. 

    Tricia, newly married, accompanies her engineer husband to an assignment in Saigon, Vietnam, in the early sixties. They were there only a short time but that experience, her reflections on it, and the relationships she established create the gist of the book. She's the primary narrator of the story and only later do we learn to whom she's narrating. Then that subject narrates her story and the narrations go between them,

    On the book's jacket Tim O'Brian writes "With Absolution, Alice McDermott delivers another elegantly written, immaculately conceived novel that immerses the reader in the contradictions and moral ambiguities of the human heart."  This is accurate and well said. At 324 pages it was a quick read.

   It also gave me opportunity for indulging my smug sense of superiority as I found an inaccuracy. 😁 On more than one occasion (see p. 40, e.g.) it names the piastres as Vietnamese currency.  That's Middle Eastern money  and is not used in South Asia.  In Vietnam the Dong is used and on December 5, $1.00 was worth 24,272 dong. 

   One of of my two readers, if not you  then the other one, reported having read A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them, by Timothy Egan.  He was rightly impressed by it. I read it on Kindle, which has the disadvantage that it cannot be leant to another. It's a very valuable book.

Takk for alt,

Al

             




Friday, December 8, 2023

Why I cut cedars!

 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/opinion/prairie-great-plains-trees.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EE0.PBn3.-40mCjNcXXxz&hpgrp=k-abar&smid=url-share


"Even though life is quite a sad business, you can have a good time in the middle of it. I like to laugh, and I think the unsung, real literary geniuses of the world are people who write jokes. Both the Irish and Jews are very fatalistic, but they laugh a lot. Only the Protestants think that every day in every way, life is getting better and better. What do they know?"  Mary Gordon


Takk for alt,

Al





                Two pictures of yesterday's view.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Delightful

      There's a little slough, maybe three acres, at the south end of the property. That places it in the center of the section, and a half-mile from any roads. After buying the land 30+ years ago I closed the ditch which had drained it. It's dry now but this summer contained enough water to enable good cattail growth.  Cattails are good habitat for pheasants.

     Kaia and I hunted today for the first time in weeks. About halfway in our walk around it, I should say in my walk around it because Kaia was going through it, it erupted in flying pheasants. Were there 30? That's my guess, all of which were out of range for a shot. It's delightful to see such numbers...it makes my day.

    Then I went to Nunda for the fried chicken lunch special. Two pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetable, dinner roll and homemade chocolate cookie for $7.50. I was so good I tipped over a quarter.

Takk for alt,

Al

 "Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years." Willa Cather




Wednesday, December 6, 2023

That Cap!

      The local bank had a customer appreciation cake and coffee this afternoon. One of the attendees was wearing a logo cap that proclaimed "I Wish America Was Like When I Was Growing Up."  If this is not quite the wording that was the sentiment. The wearer is two years older than I so we grew up together. He's a fine man whom I really like. The setting was at a table with several others.

    If the opportunity presents itself when I'm alone with him I'll wonder about that idea. Since I was a child huge strides have been made in women's rights. Take Title IX for example that has opened up athletic opportunities for girls and women. Great strides have been in career opportunities for women. In my childhood women were often limited to teaching, nursing or secretarial jobs. Strides have been made in granting women equal pay for equal work.

    The voting rights act was passed when I was a young adult.  African Americans previously had often been denied the vote. I rather doubt he'd approve of the return to Jim Crow laws in the south. Emmet Till was murdered for allegedly interacting with a white woman. 

      The "good old days" are a figment of imagination.

Takk for alt,

Al

This is the Monk's Chapel at Wat Klong, on the grounds by the school at which I taught in Thailand.


Tuesday, December 5, 2023

It must be the nose...

             The phragmites were thick and at least eight feet tall. The pheasant got up 20 yards in front of Kaia who was plowing through the reeds. It fell 30 yards in front of her and both the flight and the fall were totally out of her sight. Yet, with in minutes she retrieved the bird and brought it to me. How could she do that? It had to be accomplished with her sense of smell.

              When we finished our bird hunt we successfully hunted invasive cedars in the grassland. That's an opportunity that never ends. Snow will end the culling but no snow yet.  A pruning clipper rides in my jacket for those cedars spotted while bird hunting.

Takk for alt,

Al




                                Phragmites


Monday, December 4, 2023

Book Recommendation

     One of the books I was given for my birthday, Better Living Through Birding: Notes From A Black Man In The Natural World,  is well worth reading. Christian Cooper, the author, gained fame when he was falsely accused of threatening a white woman in New York's Central Park. When his recording of their encounter went viral it made national news. He was in the Park to observe birds and admonished her for allowing her dog to run off leash. She threatened to call the police to tell them that an African American man was threatening her, all of which he recorded.

    While birding is an important aspect of the book it is really a memoir. He is candid about his experience as a black, gay person. With his dedication to birding there is a travelogue aspect to the book as he travels far and wide to see birds. Places he visits include Nepal, Africa, South and Central America and Australia.  A graduate of Harvard, he has a definite gift as a writer.

   It always makes me feel superior when I find an inaccuracy in a book 😇 and I did find one. He writes, "Right now you may be thinking, 'I've seen a Red-Headed Woodpecker! They're pretty!' No you haven't . You've seen a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, the red-head's close cousin."  PP 83-84.  He's wrong, Red-Headeds were common when I was a boy. Now they are less common but I've seen two  in the last couple of years. Dramatic as they are colored there is no mistaking them.

   Read on!

Takk for alt,

Al



Sunday, December 3, 2023

Fog

      "Fog shows up when water vapor, or water in its gaseous form, condenses. During condensation, molecules of water vapor combine to make tiny liquid water droplets that hang in the air. You can see fog because of these tiny water droplets. Water vapor, a gas, is invisible. Fog happens when it's very, very humid."

     It was very foggy this morning. This is not common on the prairie because it's not commonly humid. Having spent the majority of my time in rather arid climes I've not had a lot of experience with fog.  

      Stationed in Southern California at Camp Pendleton while in the Marines we were over some hills from the ocean. Often there was fog on Highway 101 on the coast but it didn't make it to our base. Witnessing the fog roll into San Francisco on a trip there was interesting.

     While stationed at Camp Pendleton our battalion was boarded on ships for a training exercise. Marines are amphibious and we were being trained to debark the ships into landing craft that would take us to shore as if were establishing a beachhead on land. From there we were to attack and move inland for an exercise that would last for two weeks.

    Going over the side of the ships we used rope nets to descend into the landing craft next to the ship. So far so good, with the entire company of which I was a part in the landing crafts. The ships were a couple of miles from shore and as we completed our descent into the small boats a dense fog rolled in.

    These boats, landing craft, were very basic. Essentially they were an uncovered bin with space for about 30 Marines to stand and an engine and a pilot, coxswain, at the rear. This contraption had no navigational equipment. With the dense fog the coxswain had no idea which way was to shore.

    For six hours the landing craft circled waiting for the fog to dissipate. Finally it lifted, lights on shore were visible and we were deposited on the beach. However, in the night of circling we had drifted far from our goal. The beach on which we landed was about twenty miles from the intended target. How did we get to where we belonged? We were Marines so we marched.

Takk for alt,

Al


This is how we left the ship, four abreast. Packs, rifle, etc. weighed about 100 pounds. Landing craft would be bouncing with the waves. Once your foot touched deck it was important to quickly drop the rope lest you get pulled up again.


The front of the landing craft would drop down to make a ramp to the beach. Once I was the first one off and the boat was on a sand bar. My first step off the ramp and I was in water over my head. Soaked in salt water was not the best beginning to the exercise. 

Saturday, December 2, 2023

Wind

 "The older you get the stronger the wind gets and it's always in your face."  Today four of us braved the wind in pursuit of pheasants. Given the tail winds, for the most part, the pheasants kept their tails and left us with tales to tell of futility. Kaia, the wonder dog made the Labradors look slow and plodding. They are at least twice Kaia's size but she quickly put them in their place and so chastised they left her alone. She is a feisty little thing chasing home the large Doberman that lives across the street should it venture over our way.

   Wind, it's tempting to whine about it but I'll spare you.

Takk for alt,

Al



Thursday, November 30, 2023

Consulting

      Consulting, not to be confused with insulting, has been my role with acquaintances who are planning to volunteer in Thailand.  Using my school connections in Ayutthaya they, a couple, are going to teach in "my" school.  They will be at the school for two weeks in January. It has been fun to share my knowledge of the school and also of Thailand. In my first years at the school a 4th grade teacher, named Aronsee, was my 'minder'. Her English was excellent and she was very helpful to me. She retired while I was still volunteering there. She owns a guesthouse and I think my American friends will stay there. Via Facebook and the internet I remain in contact with teachers at the school. In my absence I'm tickled that the connection will continue via these American acquaintances going there to volunteer. 

Takk for alt,

Al

                       The old building where I taught.
              The new building where Tom and Sue will teach.


Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Today's experience in poetry!

      Late this morning I drove out to my property to see if my "gates" were still up.  Gates are in parenthesis because all they are is a single stand of barbed wire strung across driveways to grassland. They are not to deter livestock. Rather they are to stop humans, known as deer hunters. Such hunters may be tempted to drive into the grassland but the single wire stops. 

    This little exercise of mine brought to mind Robert Frost. While there plenty of rocks here to build a wall they are simply put it what is called a rock pile.

Mending Wall

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isnt it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall Id ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But its not elves exactly, and Id rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his fathers saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’

          Checking my gates I observed my neighbor in his field across the road, a man whom I've known since he was a child. Driving over for a bit of conversation I said "Kaia and I are going to Nunda for lunch, do you want to come with us?"  He agreed and we had the 'special'. It was a salad, a large plate of pasta, a slice of garlic bread and a huge chocolate chip cookie for $7.50.   
         When we arrived back at his field we spotted a snow goose not far away walking in the grass. He walked toward it for a closer look and it flew up and away over a hill. It did not have the broken wing we suspected but likely was impaired in some way so it could not keep up with migrating flock.
         That made me think of this Mary Oliver poem.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver


Takk for alt,


Al

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

I'm here!

          Not infrequently I get a phone call where the caller inquires "Are you here?"   The wag in me is always tempted to answer "Yes I'm here!" because any place I am is 'here'. 😀 Well I am here now! Does that help? Not particularly because I know what I mean by 'here' but you don't. So the 'here' now is The Little House where there is no snow as November winds down.

      My intention is to stay here until almost Christmas. Weather could change that and then my here might be the OFH.

Takk for alt,

Al

Monday, November 27, 2023

My sentiments exactly and I'd add...

 


   L. K. Hanson's posts are a weekly feature in the Minneapolis StarTribune. Today's offering was one that expressed my sentiments about reading and buying. The only change I'd add to what Aldous Huxley wrote is something to the effect "reading is a good antidote to TV." 😀  In the OFH I do watch a few games on TV.  In The Little House the last time the TV was turned on was for the presidential debates before the last presidential election.

    Keep reading!

Takk for alt,

Al



Sunday, November 26, 2023

Snow

   There was a little skiff of snow overnight.  It was just enough to coat the streets and sidewalks. It burned off quite quickly in the morning.  It wasn't enough to allow many motorists to say "It's icy lets all get in the ditch" which seems to happen at the first significant snowfall each season. "Hey folks, this is Minnesota not Mississippi. In Minnesota snow roads are a multi-month affair."  Snow removal at the OFH is NOT my concern...just another advantage of this life style! 😁  

   We were just informed of our rent increase for next year. The 3% increase announced seems eminently reasonable given the current  economic inflation. No, I will not be leading a parade of walkers and wheel chairs in protest. Rather, I'll complement management for their efforts at holding the line on costs. 

  Happy and grateful!

Takk for alt,

Al


                                     The view from my window at the OFH.

Saturday, November 25, 2023

Airport Pickup

     Last night's 11:00 pm pickup of the family at the airport was interesting. The traffic lanes outside of baggage claim were virtually empty. Friday after Thanksgiving appears to be the time to fly. That's about the extent of my excitement except for a coffee meeting and dinner with friends. OFH is the ultimate in easy living. It does put me in proximity of my congregation which is appreciated. Do you suppose they will suggest I sign the guestbook?

Takk for alt,

Al

PS In yesterday's blog it was Al who was reported as grateful. If Kaia is grateful she will need to speak for herself.


            Kaia, the wonder dog, who may or may not be grateful.


Friday, November 24, 2023

Black Friday

    Black Friday is a good day for coffee with friends and dinner with other friends. Shopping occupies very little of my time and interest. My father used to say as he walked through a department store "Look at all the things we don't need."  Perhaps I may or may not say that now, but I certainly think it.

   Lunch of leftover a turkey meal was sufficient...two meals for the price of one. Kaia easily transitions between The Little House and the OFH. All's well, so is Al, and he remains grateful!

Takk for alt,

Al

                Students at opening exercises at "my" school.


Thursday, November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving!

 e.e. cummings (1894–1962)

I Thank You God...

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)


Takk for alt,

Al