The Plaidest thing I saw today

Up at Gooseberry Falls my friends and I ran into a couple who had gotten lost on their way to the Sadie Hawkins dance...in the early 1990's:

The couple were clearly older than high schoolers, but they wore their matching out of date clothes as they frolicked through the falls. The guy even had an old style Twins hat.

I hope that they have been enjoying all the time that they have been together. I wonder if they know Kurt Cobain died.

The Age-inappropriatest thing I saw today.

I really need to learn to draw the elderly (among other things).

Today I saw a nice senior gentleman, probably hanging around 80 years old, get on the bus with this flashy hat:


He is living the good retired life apparently. Or perhaps, like my grandfather, he suffers from macular degeneration?

I wonder if my grandfather would hang with this guy? Would yours?

The Twistiest thing I saw today.

It has been well over a month since a major freeway bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed here in Minneapolis.

Families affected by the collapse are grieving, healing, and maintain hope for a better tomorrow. People still go an gawk at the site. The city has found ways to keep traffic flowing and to keep us all progressing.

There are benefits going on around town and the University of Minnesota has already launched a class about the disaster and urban life.

And some very strong people are working hard to clean up the concrete and steel and rebar.

The bridge remains are being shipped a bit down river on big barges, lifted up onto the river bank where they are to be pieced together by some people who will try to figure out what happened. My bus drives over the river in view of this "crime lab" each day.

The steel supports lie on the ground in piles- some piles are broken but straight pieces, some look like steel spaghetti piled up. It is hard to fathom that so much life and weight ever depended on that mess.





My thoughts are with those investigators and workers. I am stymied by how they can take a look at all that twisted and broken steel, focus, and make any sensible thought beyond "Whoa." or "Sh_t."

The Juxtaposiest thing I saw today!

En route to an event with a friend on a warn day, we pulled up behind a pickup truck plastered with the passion of the owner.

That truck had the widows down and was blasting a song that left us scratching our heads:



I suppose the meaning of songs can be determined the listener...

or someone was borrowing this truck to move!

The Birthingest thing I saw at the Fair

Even though the fair grounds are now quiet and cool, I still have a few things jotted down to share with you from my visit to the Minnesota State Fair.

One crowded attraction at the fair is the Miracle of Birth barn. Here you can see sheep, pigs and cows giving birth and then you can gawk at the cute little babies!

The place gets so packed with city slickers dying to witness the animals they eat that there are bleachers and many huge flat screen TVs hanging from the ceiling.

The animals are bred to give birth during the fair and some animals are induced. It is actually a very clean, well run and educational place. The animals are treated very well.

This year I was lucky enough to witness some poor cow give birth in front of hundreds of eager fair goers.

The crowd cheered and clapped as the deeply mooing cow brought a new male calf into the world. But the calf did not hop right into life; instead it lay lifeless in the hay.

Parents tried to avert the attention of their small children while the vet in charge stepped up and gave that gooey newborn CPR!!!!



Holy crap!

The little calf sprang into action with that breath of life.

Everyone cheered! What a hero! What a cute calf! Oh that poor cow!

I was in awe of what I witnessed and again reassured that I was not made to work in medicine.

The Mama cow began to lick her new son clean while my husband and I went to the All-you-can-drink Milk Booth.

The Alderaaniest Thing I saw today.

So I was taking the bus home the other day, sitting on the aisle seat just minding my own business; reading my book and zoning out the animated conversations around me.

The bus neared my stop so I perked up a little and the woman sitting next to me tapped me and said:

And I said "You look JUST like Carrie Fischer in 1977! Oh, and this is my stop too."

She said, "I know."

Then I tried not to stare at her the remainder of our trip.

Guys must ask her to wear that slave costume all the time.