What The Snow Reveals

Last night I went to bed with the doors locked and bolted; the house all secured for the night. But the snow reveals we had nocturnal visitors. Some 4 legged creature, I'm guessing a domestic cat, snuck around the corner of the house fitting into the small space between the garbage can and the corner of the garage, ambled across the driveway, followed the driveway edge, crossed the driveway again by the mailbox and continued across the street. Another set of tracks revealed a deer ran across the grass and stopped in the driveway, stopped to paw up (hoof up?) the grassy area between the car treads, urinated on the ground, and then followed the driveway out to the street, heading west on 164th.

We Put Up The Tree Today

Today Offspring #2 and I went to Frattalone's Hardware store to buy a Christmas tree. The weather was warm and pleasant. Another tree shopping couple were eating ice cream cones while selecting their tree. Our tree is up and looks awesomely handsome against the red walls. We listened to Anoka High School Christmas music while we adorned the tree with lights and ornaments. We do not have a fashionable tree with matching ornaments. Our ornaments were given as gifts, home made, or purchased while on vacation. Each souvenir ornaments takes me back on the trip. I have a goldfish from Hawaii, a Queen's guard with bearskin hat from London, a St. Charles Streetcar from New Orleans, a little copper man from Arizona, a wooden gavel from the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., a sailboat from Virginia, a moose on a wooden plaque from Glacier National Park, and this year I added a little Pilgrim Monument from Cape Cod. (I forgot to get an ornament from Africa? I'll have to make one because that trip needs to be commemorated). Offspring #1 has many ornaments on the tree that he made in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. He received some from teachers as well. We have a good number of Girl Scout ornaments too - stick pins and sequins stuck into a foam ball, leather shapes with fabric paint decorations, jigsaw puzzle pieces glued onto a tree shape and spray painted in gold. I found one ornament that I remember getting in a cereal box in 1983 (the date is on it but the name of the cereal is gone, I doubt it's made anymore). I have an ornament marking the Minnesota Twins success in 1987. I have a baby's first Christmas ornament from 1984. I have one marking my first Christmas as part of a married couple from 1980. The marriage is over but I still got the ornament - yeah! Several of the ornaments I made myself. There are the needle point pair of mittens and a purple needlepoint outhouse complete with toilet paper roll and bear perched on the seat (we left the door closed this year so he could have some privacy). We have several ornaments fashioned out of the tree cookies formed when we cut off the bottom of the trunk. One of our tree cookie ornaments looks either like a fried egg or a English muffin with a pat of butter in the middle. Another tree cookie has a star carved into one side and the other side lists the names of the people and the pets at the time including a zebra finch by the name of Slim Shady. As we hung the gift ornaments we remember the people who gave us the ornaments including family, teachers, friends, customers, Girl Scouts, Boy Scout leaders, and neighbors. Putting up the tree is a real trip down memory lane.

Why We Are Grateful - A Collaborative Effort

This year we decided to go with the letters of the alphabet and the numbers 1-12. Somehow 9 and 11 got left empty. Here goes: angels, Barack Obama, cops, diplomacy, everything, friends, Gary, home and health, ice, job, kind people, love and Legos, Mother Nature, no narcs, opinions, politics, Queen Mom, rain, Sarah Palin, trees and turkeys, unicorns, ventilation, water, xray specs, yo-yo's, and the zoo. 1-family, 2-eyes, 3-legs, 4-me, 5-golden rings, 6-times fun, 7-bananas, 8-food, 9, 10-my rating, 11, 12-children.

Cranberry Chutney

Cranberry Chutney

Ingredients: 1 orange peeled and chopped, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1 package (12 ounces) fresh cranberries, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 1 large Haralson apple peeled and seeded and diced, 1 snack sized box of raisins, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, 1 TB vinegar, 1/2 tsp. ground ginger, 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally for 8 minutes or until cranberries are bursting. Chill until serving time. Makes about 4 cups. Can be frozen.

Postsecret Exhibit at the Minneapolis Library

The other thing we saw on Nicollet mall yesterday was the Postsecret Exhibit at the new Minneapolis Public Library. I love the Postsecret.blogspot.com website. I check it every Monday to see the new secrets. Some of the postcards are remarkable for their art. Some card are haunting. Some I can identify with. Some are funny. Many are sad. Was it worth walking 5 blocks down Nicollet Mall? No, not with my gimpish gait. Viewing the website will be enough for me. I believe Frank, the Postsecret webmaster, does an incredible community service to many, many people.

Trees On The Nicollet Mall

Today Offspring #2 and I traveled down to Nicollet Mall. We walked between 8th and 2nd, between Macy's and the Minneapolis Library. The mall was crowded and bustling. Trains and buses went past and horns were honking. As we went by the Mary Tyler Moore statue I noticed the trees on Nicollet Mall. When did they plant red oak trees in the midst of downtown? Red oaks seem more like a rural tree to me - the kind of tree you see in pastures with milk cows grazing beneath them. Or you might see a red oak on a slight rise just beyond a wetland. I gotta say, red oaks on the Nicollet mall look awesome. They're about 15 feet high and decorated with white lights. But the light brown leaves that remain on the red oaks in the winter are their finest decoration. We went to the 8th floor auditorium display at Macy's. This year the show was all about elves geting ready for Christmas. We saw animated elves of every color and race. We saw elves sleeping, elves teasing each other, elves baking holiday treats, elves sorting mail, elves chopping chunks off a giant chocolate chip, elves balancing accounting books, elves singing, elves decorating, elves making mistakes, and elves fumbling around blindly with a box over their head. My favorite part was a singing tree choir. The trees had faces and books in their hands. Some swayed side to side with the music. All the trees were smiling and resplendent with their frosted branches and multicolored lights. These were more like Vegas trees than Minnesota trees. They were lively and festive and they made me smile.

The End Of An Era

The year? 1979. The job? Nuclear pharmacy technician doing quality control on bone scans, lung, scans, and brain scan injections (back in a career fumbling time of life). The setting? A nuclear pharmacy across the street from Louis' Tavern (home of great Italian sausage sandwiches) on University Avenue near Vandalia in St. Paul. This is where a coworker turned me on to a radio show called "The Morning Show." The stars of the show were Jim Ed Poole and Garrison Keillor (before Prairie Home Companion) and have been Jim Ed and Dale Connelley for the past 25 years or so. I've been listening to this show during my morning commute for almost 30 years. I am sad to say that December 11, 2008 will be the last broadcast. The Morning Show has been my companion for so long. I feel I have grown up with this show. Dale and Jim Ed are my friends. The Morning Show where I would request songs to be played for my children's birthdays. I would record the song and Jim Ed's voice announcing their name and birthday for them. The Morning Show where I came to know and love artists such as Greg Brown, Ladysmith Black Mombazo, Suzy Roche, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Leon Redbone, and Ethel Merman. I always loved the alarm before they played Ethel Merman. This is the show where I reminisced about my early years when ever they would play cowboy songs like Mule Skinner Blues or Drifting Along Like the Tumbling Tumbleweed. The Morning Show would play songs about every topic under the sun (duct tape, lime jello marshmallow cottage cheese surprise, bears dancing in the woods, sweet potatoes, rings of fire, the speed of planetary revolution, and impressionist painters). I have come to know the skit characters like Bud Buck, Captain Billy (Arrrgh!), and Dr. Larry Kyle from the Genway Corporation. I have been a faithful listener except during the weeks where they beg for money. I absolutely cannot stand the fundraising weeks. If there is a hell and if I go there, I'm sure the radio will be broadcasting fundraising appeals. In any case, I am so sad this show is ending. I will miss The Morning Show very much.

On another note, thanks to a reader and the Snopes website I know the felon website I gave you is not legit. Every time you type in your address different criminals and crimes appear. Not knowing where the felons are does not make me feel safer.