One Accomplishment!

     After a couple of social engagements today I went to the Ramsey County Courthouse. At that site I voted. They were well organized and there was no waiting. Early voting is considered 'absentee' so it was necessary to fill out one form. After completing my ballot, correctly I might add, I thanked the volunteers and left. The trip took about 30 minutes. With my irregular schedule where I'll be on election day is not clear, so, now I've happily fulfilled that important task.

    One of the perks of life in the OFH is the ease of entertaining. A friend joined me for breakfast, and the dining room is mostly empty and very quiet. It's a reasonable cost also with the meal priced at $8.75. Two friends joined me for lunch before a game of cribbage. Both light eaters their soup bowls cost $4.00 each. Yup, I'm the big spender! 😀 

Takk for alt,

Al

Perhaps if the rain stops for a while I can go back to picking rocks.

Odie's a happy boy!

      Odie's very happy in The Little House. He loves to play and carries a toy most of the time looking for a playmate. Outside he loves running. Running full speed, he intersperses running with long leaps. He's always in touch with me except for brief moments out of sight, after which he comes looking for me.

    The apartment in the OFH suits him just fine. Like in The Little House, he's always carrying a toy wanting to play. Perhaps no one has told him that he's eight years old. Running in the park early in the morning he stays within eye contact with me. This morning he spooked four deer from the park. The reality is that he's a very happy dog, and that makes me happy! He also keeps me moving which is also a gift. 

Takk for alt,

Al

Odie the wonder dog with his favorite toy.

At the OFH!

        When looking at the weather forecast for today that showed rain all I decided it was time to repair to the OFH. Windshield wipers were on for the duration of the drive. It wasn't heavy until I entered the urban area. With Sinai to the west and the OFH in St. Paul, it necessitates crossing Minneapolis. Traversing Minneapolis is when it rained hard. But we made it safe and sound.

   So, am I home? Or did I leave home?  My answer is "Yes."

Takk for alt,

Al

Fado musicians in Lisbon, Portugal.

• Fado is a Portuguese urban song tradition that emerged in 19th-century Lisbon from Brazilian musical imports and inland migration.
• A traditional performance is built on three elements: a fadista, a Portuguese guitar and a viola — no drums, no amplification.
• The emotional range goes well beyond melancholy: lighter forms like Fado corrido exist alongside the famous laments.
• Poetry is at the centre. The melody follows the words, not the other way around.
• Today's scene runs from Lisbon's UNESCO-protected casas de Fado to a thriving Porto circuit and contemporary fadistas like Mariza and Ana Moura.

Fish Markets

       "Fish Markets' seems a very random title for a blog...it is but yesterday's random picture from Portugal awakened a memory. My first experience with a fish market was in Olongapo, Philippine Islands in 1962. Our ship, the USS Princeton, an aircraft carrier, was anchored in Subic Bay. On weekend evenings Marines from the ship were assigned to walk shore patrol in town. Issued white helmets emblazoned S P, white ammo belts with no ammo and Billy Clubs we patrolled the streets. What exactly we could have done in an emergency wasn't clear. Perhaps just the presence of several pairs walking the area had some effect.

    It was while walking shore patrol that I encountered my first fish market. The smell of fish reached us first before we saw the actual market. Olongapo, being in the tropics, the market was outdoors. With its proximity to the sea, fish and seafood is huge in the Philippines. The market, too, was huge with a wide variety of fish and other sea food. Since that initial exposure to a fish market, I've visited many others in Sout East Asia and Europe.

    The largest fish market I've seen was in Lisbon, Portugal. That's not surprising given Portugal's orientation to the sea. Lisbon's temperate climate dictates an enclosed market. There are several seafood markets in Lisbon but, I assume, we saw the largest all under one roof.

    And to think, I'm not allowed to eat fish or seafood! Here's a personal story about that. When I first began living with "my" Thai family I said, "I don't eat fish or seafood." It was best to be clear about that from the beginning. I'd been staying there for years when Met, wife and mother, came home with a large mess of fresh calamari. Daughter Poe said, "Mom he doesn't eat seafood." "Oh" she said, "I though he only didn't eat fish."  They enjoyed the calamari. 

Takk for alt,

Al

The Lisbon Seafood Market.

Introverts Unite!

     L gave me a tee shirt emblazoned "Introverts Unite...each in our own home!"  What's the difference between introverts and extroverts?  It's very simple, extroverts get energy from being with people and introverts get energy from being alone. Joanne would get energized in a group while I get tired in groups. This difference caused her to fear I'd be social isolate after her death. Not to worry, I like people, but I also need alone time. The OFH home is perfect for me; when I need people, I leave my apartment, and I go to it when I need alone time.

   The unnamed author I quoted about autumn writes this about being alone. "...it's good to be alone, for a few hours to be exempt from all the complicated bonds, all the conflicts great and small, all the demands and expectations, wills and desires that build up between people, and which after only a short time become so densely intertwined that the room for reflection and for action are both restricted."  Yea and verily that names my experience. 

Takk for alt,

Al

This is the best book I've found about the experience and reality of intorverts.

Bed Report

     After one night on the new bed, I'd say it's a modest improvement over the old one. It wasn't the bed per se that prompted the change. It was the tendency of the old frame that had a proclivity to dump me on the floor in the middle of night that motivated the change. The new frame is exceptionally strong so no more worries. The bed is noticeably lower because it's only a mattress with no box spring.

    In July and August there were many days we waited for rain in vain. With the advent of fall we've embarked on a rainy spell while we wait in vain for a dry spell. The individual showers have not been large but before there's any drying another rain comes. It's been great for pastures which have responded quickly to the moisture. Trees are also beneficiaries of these rains. It serves them well as they move towards winter and freeze-up.  

Takk for alt,

Al

Students at the University of Columba, Portugal, selling pencils to tourists. The University was founded in 1290.

New Bed!

      It was 2007 when we bought The Little House, the year I retired. At a local farm auction, I was the successful bidder, and the only one, on a bedroom set. Bed; spring set, mattress, frame and dresser and chest of drawers. Blond oak is a clue that they were from the fifties. All were like new. The previous owners had no children, and the set was in a rarely used guest room. They weren't the type of people to host overnight guests. No stickler for fashion, blond oak is just fine for me. For all of this I paid $12.00.

    The only downside was the bed frame. It was metal with four cross slats supporting the box spring. The slats had the annoying habit of slipping down during the night. Nineteen years of that was enough, so, I ordered a new bed; frame and mattress. Which was delivered today. When I removed the mattress cover, in preparation for delivery of the new bed, I was reminded of how pristine are then mattress and box spring. While I was feeling bad about disposing of them, fate intervened.  As they were leaning on the truck that would cart them away, a neighbor came to the door. He asked if he could have them for his son who needed a bed. So, they meet a need and I avoided a disposal fee. Tonight I'll try it out!

Takk for alt,

Al

A cheese shop in Amsterdam. This picture was taken in 1908 and posted randomly to supplement a possibly boring blog.

Falling into Fall!

      Well, here's the Vernel Equinox for which we've all been waiting. This summer was hot enough to make even me relish autumn.  As mentioned in a previous blog it happened while I was recently in Minnesota.

    I came on this good description of fall. "Day after day, of open clear skies, that has been how summer has been from May up until now, sun during the day, stars at night. Nothing is finer than an ebb of a good summer, it has left behind a sort of satiation, something has been filled, and now it turns, now the village is no longer surrounded by gently waving fields quite indescribably golden beneath the high blue sky-seen from the roads the ripe fields resemble lakes between the clustered houses-but stubble fields, for in the past few weeks combine harvesters and tractors have been gliding slowly back and forth across them, and tall rows of compressed hay bales have been left behind here and there, like high walls against the wind..."  Authorship to be revealed later.

Takk for alt,

Al

Soybeans ripening turn from green to yellow before shedding their leaves as they dry down for harvest. 

Another reason to like dogs!

    For the sake of my eyes, an ophthalmologist told me that kale and spinach can arrest macular degeneration. Consequently, I eat spinach almost every day and it's working. I'm not allowed to kale however.  

   

Take for alt,

Al

Slowly Read

      Finally finished a book started weeks ago. Mentioned in yesterday's blog that I read in 1998, it's The Gentleman In The Parlor: A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong, by W. Somerset Maugham.  He calls Rangoon's country Burma so that's a clue it's an older book because that country is now known as Myanmar. It was published in 1930, shortly after Maugham made the journey.

    Myanmar is a Southeast Asian country I barely entered.   There's a place where it borders Thailand that I crossed the border to a market. While I was technically in Myanmar, I couldn't leave the market to travel in the country without going through customs.

   However, in the other three countries mentioned; Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, I traveled extensively. Reading his description of these places from almost 100 years ago was very interesting. For example, in Saigon, now called Ho Chi Min City, he stayed in the Continental Hotel. When Joanne, Lisa and I were there, we too, stayed in the Continental.

   He travelled by a variety of means; walking, horseback, bullock cart, train, car and boat. My travels were by car, boat, train and airplane. Joanne, Lisa and I went from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Saigon by car. A Church World Service driver drove us to the boarder of Vietnam. Carrying our luggage, we walked across the border and through customs. From there we took a taxi to the edge of Saigon. Why the edge? The driver was intimidated by Saigon traffic, so we had to find another taxi to take us downtown.

   Throughout the book cities were mentioned that I had visited; Bangkok, which I called my home away from home, Phnom Penh, Hue, Hanoi, etc. It was fun trip down memory lane. My interest in rereading it was sparked by another book recently read, The House of Doors, Tan Twan Eng. Set in Penang, Malaysia, where I also visited, H. Somerset Maugham is featured because he spent time there.

Takk for alt,

Al

Modern Bangkok.

Triggered Memory

       The book I'm currently re-reading, the first time in1998, is a report of the author's overland trip in 1930, through SE Asia. It's of particular interest to me because I spent much time there and traveled to many of the same places.

     This is the incident and the memory it triggered. Traveling in Vietnam the author comes to Hue. Yes, I was there. He embarks on a small boat on the Perfume River. It's lovely tropical night and the stars are in full array. Traveling alone and billeted in un-attractive hotel he decides to spend the night absorbing the romantic setting in the boat. A car is scheduled to drive him to Hanoi in the morning. He lights his pipe and settles in a for a delightful night. The next thing he knows the boat is bumping to a landing at dawn. He's terribly disappointed that he slept away the night.

    Now the Memory. Many years ago, Joanne and I, accompanied by my two brothers and their wives, travelled to Norway. Airline flights were arranged from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. There was a layover in Amsterdam so we could visit some museums. Leaving Minneapolis in the evening we arrived in Amsterdam early in the morning. We checked into our hotel and then, heading the advice not to give into jetlag but stay active, we headed out. One stop was a diamond shop where raw diamonds were being ground. Amsterdam is a city of canals. So, we took a boat ride on the canals to see the city. Jetlag hit me big time and I quickly fell asleep. When I awakened the other five were asleep, and so it went. None of us saw ten percent of the sites. 

Takk for alt,

Al

The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Welcome to Seattle!

      The farmer who said he hoped it didn't rain to much got his wish. (See a previous blog.)  Yesterday's rainfall measured .8". It's raining now as I type this. Rain, in small amounts, is predicted each day for the next seven days. There's a member of the family who wishes to live in Seattle. Not I. As much as I welcome rain my preference would be for a good soaking rain on a day, followed by blue sky days. Weather's reality has been the bane of humanity forever. Watertight houses are a gift and far better than damp caves in which to bear through repeated rainfalls. I'm fortunate that repetitive rain is no more than a nescience. 

Takk for alt,

Al

To offset the grey skies of these days I post this sunset picture from 2021.

      

Standing Corrected

       Typing the blog about local vocabularies in a recently initially I typed "Maid Rite". Thinking that can't be right (Rite) I changed all the Maids to Mades. Now the other reader informs me that the correct version is "Maid-Rite." Given the 'Rite' one might think it's some sort of gambol with young females.as in a 'rite of spring'.  At least it should be "Made Right". However, that would require more letters, more costs and not have the same panache.

    A bit of research reveals that there are approximately 25 Maid-Rite establishments in Iowa and 43 total Maid-Rite venues. It hasn't achieved the success of Culver's, my favorite fast-food venue.  As of July 2026, there were 1104 Culver's Restaurants. On your next foray into Iowa try a Maid-Rite. No money changed hands, unfortunately, for this promotion. 

Takk for alt,

Al

Maid-Rite, Muscatine, Iowa.

Things change!

        After a dry July and very dry August the weather has changed. For weeks the mantra has been, "I wish it would rain!" There were some showers that gave some help but not the soaking rain that was needed. Now there's been some rain that's equaled about an inch and a half. Lawns and pastures are green again. How things change was revealed in a farmer commenting on the predicted rain who said, "I hope it doesn't rain too much."  It's been raining today. 💧

    Why would a farmer, in a drought, hope it "doesn't rain too much"?  Well, it's harvest time. Think about trying to harvest in muddy fields. You get the picture. The rain is too late for benefit to corn and soybeans, and muddy fields are a trial. On the other hand, pastures and hay fields will reap great benefits from the added moisture. Greening pastures have made cattle happy and will serve to put them in good condition going into winter. The eight camels in the neighbor's pasture will also benefit.

Takk for alt,

Al

Two of the eight camels who hang out with the cattle and horses.

"Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry..."

      Okay, it's a huge stretch from this quote from American Pie about a dry levee and what I'm about to say, but humor me. 

     I drove my Chevy to the pasture to read the rain gauge and what did I find? The gauge wasn't really dry. Expecting to see a cumulative reading from the two and a half weeks I was gone, instead I found the gauge gone. It was on a fence post reachable by a cow. Is a cow the culprit? Possibly, though I doubt it. but, whatever, it's gone. Scottie, who rents the pasture, lives 20? miles away so I like to inform him of the moisture situation. At least there was enough rain in my absence to revive the pasture and now it's green.

    The mention of 'levee' brings to mind local vocabulary. Moving to Davenport, IA., in 1980 introduced some word usage new to me. Davenportians don't go to the riverbank they go to the 'levee'.  We were planning a meal for a youth group meeting when someone suggested serving "Made Rites." Turns out they were speaking of barbeque hamburgers or sloppy joes. In Iowa there's a chain of fast-food restaurants named "Made Rite." Living in Mohall, N.D., I learned to call gullies 'coulees'.  So, I'm a bit wiser, but not that much.

Takk for alt,

Al

The water buffalo is the one on the bottom.

 

USA World Cup Champions!

 

The Little House!

       There was two and half weeks in the OFH. Driving back to Sinai it felt like we left in summer and returned in fall. Here's the observations of harvest on the drive from MN. Some commercial sweet corn is still being picked. Beet harvest has begun with a few fields lifted. There's been some green corn combined. Silage was cut a month ago. Edible beans are being combined. No soybeans harvested yet. There's been some rain, so grass is greener than when we left.

      It's a gift to have two very different abodes. Each have their advantages and both are home.

Takk for alt,

Al

The street by which "my" house stood in Thailand.  As is typical there's dog lying in the middle of it.

Mary Oliver Dog Poems

      Who knew that gifted Poet Mary Oliver wrote a book of dog poems, Dog Songs. Reading it reminded me of the gift of Odie. It also reminded me of the loss of Kaia, who should still be romping in the grass. Odie has made friends at the OFH. The other resident Springer hated Kaia and barked maniacally at sight of her. She walked over to Odie, sniffed noses while wagging her tail. Why the difference?  I have no idea.

A Bad Day

Ricky, why are you barking and trying
to rip up the couch? Can’t you settle
down? It’s been a long day.

“It sure has. First you forgot to take
me out. Then you went to the market
and heaven knows where else. And my
dinner was late. And our walk was
short. And now you’re supposed to
be on the floor playing with me but,
no, you’re doing something else. So I
thought I’d give this couch a little
distress.”

Well, don’t. Be a good boy.

“Honestly, what do you expect? Like
you I’m not perfect, I’m only human.”

-Mary Oliver, in “Dog Songs”

Takk for alt,

Al

Odie, in repose after his morning run in the park.

How often do you see Lutefisk in a comic?

 

Football is immoral!

    " CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a progressive brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head over months and years. It has been found in the brains of football players at every level, from high school to the NFL, and it can only be definitively diagnosed after death. The disease destroys brain tissue gradually, leading to problems with mood, memory, behavior, and eventually basic cognitive function." A recent news article reported that 25% of professional football players have CTE.

    The inordinate financial rewards of the minuscule minority of football players that make it as a professional tempt thousands of youth and college age males to play football, hereby risking permanent brain injury. That this is considered a legitimate sport is immoral.

   So, in answer to a posted question, "No, I do not watch football."

Takk for alt,

Al

 Sunset over the Chao Praya River in Bangkok, Thailand.