Tischer Creek

Today was sunny so I decided to walk north and east of my place for a few miles to get a look at Tischer Creek. Tischer Creek runs through the Congdon Mansion Estate as it winds downhill into Lake Superior.

The water runs fast and furious over the rocks. I am having fun exploring this very hilly city.

Munger Trail

The Munger Trail is another walking path the city of Duluth is recommending. The city said it got permission from the DNR to plow this path. Sections of it looked plowed but other sections did not. I started out on the Munger trail near the Duluth zoo and William Munger Inn. I walked south west for a couple of miles until it crossed over Highway 23. I turned around and walked back. This path is the flattest walk I have taken in this city. I walked over Knowlton creek. I walked past Spirit Mountain ski slopes. In some places I could see the Saint Louis river. I enjoyed my walk and the fresh air. In the spring sometimes the snow packs at the side of the black top trail. The warm surface of the black top melts the snow above. I always enjoy stepping on these ledges of ice. The satisfying sound of them breaking off and the knowledge that I am hurrying spring along by making the ice melt faster gives me pleasure. I must not be the only one who gets pleasure in this because all along the path other people have done it too. I can see the curved chunks of ice tilted down where someone else has stepped. Fresh air, exercise, and breaking off snow/ice chunks - who could ask for more?

Seven Bridges Road

The city of Duluth noticed so many people were walking on the Lakewalk that it was impossible to keep a six foot distance between walkers. So they decided to open up a couple other scenic walking spots for residents who want to stretch their legs. A mile long portion of Seven Bridges Road was blocked off to vehicles so pedestrians and bikers can enjoy the view. I walked there today. Here is a view from one of the seven bridges. The water in Amity Creek is flowing fast and furious as brown as coffee with cream..

I like how the view on the other side of bridge highlights the large creek boulders with snow.

Walked to the Y

Today I got up early and thought about how fun it would be to go to the YMCA for a work out. My second thought was I could go to the YMCA but not go in. Google maps said the distance from my house to the Y was 2.2 miles. So I walked to the Y. I had to walk 9 blocks east and 17 blocks south. Walking downtown is easy because it is mostly downhill. Walking back is more difficult. A few blocks of sidewalk were closed due to construction so I walked a few extra blocks on the detour. I passed people on the streets. Up near my house I passed dog owners with their dogs. Dogs do need walks and tend to keep their owners healthy that way. Downtown I saw people waiting for buses or standing outside smoking cigarettes. I saw one man sleeping in a doorway on First Avenue. He was dressed in expensive outdoor clothes but he was sleeping in a doorway so I walked by quickly. Once at the Y I turned around and headed home. The wind was really picking up. Leaves and trash flew by my face. I walked through a couple dirt devils - mini tornadoes lifting street dirt into the sky. I saw rock doves, crows, chickadees, robins and ring billed gulls and starlings. At one point I heard a strange bird call that sounded like a tropical bird. I thought my ears were playing tricks on me. Perhaps someone opened a window near a bird in a cage. I thought about stopping at the Whole Foods Coop for a snack along the way but decided not to. I have plenty of food at home. I strangely want to run to the store all the time now that the Governor of the state has asked me to stay home. The sidewalks downtown and on the major streets are in good shape. Some of the sidewalks on side roads are so jagged and bumpy I find it easier to walk on the street. The road I live on has many huge maple trees between the sidewalk and the street. These maples are so big it would take 2 or 3 people to reach around the trunk. Someone tapped the trees. For most of March white jugs collected sap all day on about a dozen trees. Now the white jugs are gone. Each tree had two jugs on the south side of the tree trunk. Walking north in the middle of the day sap runs out of the holes and soaks the bark making the maple trees look like they are crying tears. I was glad to make it home. I can actually say I got my work out going to the Y. 

Touched By The Sun

In Touched By The Sun Carly Simon writes about her friendship with Jackie Onassis. They met living on Martha's Vineyard and struck up a friendship. They meet for lunch. They invite each other for tea or sherry. They attend plays and parties together. They gossip and share stories from their childhood. Carly and Jackie corroborate on some children's books. Reading about their friendship I am struck by Carly's insecurity and timidity. She fears offending Jackie. The two women are different. Jackie dresses in a classical style and is elegant. Carly dresses in a bohemian style and is casual and relaxed. While 90% of the book is about Carly Simon I didn't really learn much about Jackie O. other than rich famous people tend to like other rich and famous people. 

My Name Is Lucy Barton

I saw that this author wrote Olive Kitteridge and I loved that book so I borrowed My Name Is Lucy Barton. I liked this book but not nearly as much as I liked Olive Kitteridge. I think Olive had more depth than Lucy. Lucy grew up in a poor family in Illinois. Her father has PTSD from world war two and life is hard for her. She escapes her troubles and stays warm (because it is cold at home) by staying in school and reading books. She escapes her family by getting a scholarship to college and moving to New York City. Lucy gets married, has children, and becomes a published author. During an illness Lucy's mother comes to visit her in the hospital. Lucy and her mother haven't seen each other for years.  Lucy has the time to ask her mother all kinds of questions. Her mother answers some but not others. This story was adapted and made into a play on Broadway starring Laura Linney.  Lucy's character is powerful yet elusive. I can't imagine the energy it would take to portray her on stage.

Every Note Played

I was lucky to find Every Note Played by Lisa Genova on the cloud library. I have already read her other medical fiction novels about Alzheimers, Huntington's disease, autism and stroke. I read this book voraciously. Because it is advised to stay home and in the house, I didn't feel bad about reading it. I read for hours at a time. She is an excellent writer. This book is about ALS. I have a friend with ALS so I was thinking about him while I read. Yes, sometimes tears were streaming down my face. ALS is a tough diagnosis for anyone. Her next book will be about bipolar disorder and I plan to read that one too.

One Day

I read One Day by Gene Weingarten. This author chose a date at random. He went to a restaurant and had one person choose from 31 pieces of paper for the day, another person choose the month, and a third person pick the year between 1969 and 1989. From there he would write a book about what happened on that day. He wasn't too happy that he got the date December 28, 1986 because Sundays are slow news days and the time between Christmas and New Years is also a slow news time period. I was happy though because that is my birthday which is why I read this book. I don't remember that particular birthday for me. I am sure I was busy with a two year old and a six year old to car for. The stories that happened on that day are incredible. He starts out early in the morning. A firefighter comes to a burning house and saves a baby boy who is burned terrible but survives. A young girls is playing a video game at a friend's house that she is not allowed to play at home. She beats the entire game and changes her attitude about life. She grows up to write a blog called dooce.com. A couple meet at a bar and exchange numbers. The next day they meet. The day after that they decide to get married and announce it to everyone. Twenty years later they are still together. A rogue California Highway Patrol officer kills a young girl and hides her body. A man murders his girlfriend and then commits suicide. Later that morning his heart is transplanted into a young mother's body. Evidently it took six years and hundreds of interviews to get all this information and verify the accuracy of what he was told. This book proves no day is ordinary if you dig deep enough.

Chester Creek

Yesterday on my walk I saw the first ship of the season leave the port of Duluth. Today more snow had melted so I could safely navigate the steps under Skyline Drive right down to Chester Creek. A bear have been spotted in this area. That water looks cold!

The water flows fast over the falls. I don't know if any fish swim up this way but I am curious to learn more about it. This would be a nice spot to sit on a hot summer day.

White Feathers: The Nesting Habits of Tree Swallows

I read White Feathers: The Nesting Habits of Tree Swallows by Bernd Heinrich. I like tree swallows. Their iridescent blue backs and skillful flying make them attractive birds to me. This author studied the tree swallows in his yard in Vermont for years. He kept track of their first appearances, their behavior, their mating, their nesting and the fledgling of the young swallows. He noticed that the swallows built their nests out of dry grass. Once the eggs (usually five) were laid and incubation begun the birds added feathers to the nest. The birds added more white or lighter colored feathers to the nest than darker feathers. He experimented with that. He threw feathers at birds and kept track of which ones the birds dived down to grab. He laid black feathers on a white tarp and white feathers on a black tarp. He got to the point where he could go outside during incubation time and the birds would approach him for his feathers. Most of the feathers went into the nests. Sometimes a bird would grab a feather from him, fly high in the sky, drop the feather, catch the feather, drop it again, catch it again and seem to entertain themselves with it. Tree swallows seem to prefer white feathers over black feathers. In one experiment he offered the swallows pieces of toilet paper cut into feathery strips. The birds like to toilet paper feathers too. Considering this book doesn't really have a plot, it was entertaining to a bird lover like me.

All The World's A Stage

I got an email from a friend of mine. I've known her over a decade. I normally get 2 emails from her a month. I usually respond so she knows it went through. I admire this friend very much. She is a good leader. Before she retired she taught drama in a middle school. She is sensitive to what other people need. She is highly organized. She is thorough. She is as smart as a whip and has an extraordinary vocabulary. She is funny. She is well read. She appears elderly and frail but once she starts talking all that fades away and she appears as young and sassy as a teenager. I remember one night last winter when I gave her a ride home. Her home has a steep driveway and the night was icy. I tried to get up her driveway and my car slid back down to the street while the wheels were spinning forward. I know with her walker she would never be able to walk up the hill. I tried again.  I slid back down. She didn't get upset or worked up. We were laughing about it. Finally on the fifth try I made it up to the top of the driveway and parked by the garage. I put on the parking brake hoping the car would stay put. I got her walker out of the trunk. I used the code to get into the garage. As I opened the door for her and lifted the walker up two steps into the kitchen the warmth of her cozy home hit me in the face and let me know she would be okay for the night. I was a little nervous about her living alone. This email sent to me made me gasp and cry. This email will be the last one I get from her because the email announced her death today. Her daughter sent the email using her mother's (my friend's) address. This friend of mine was so organized she probably gave her daughter her email and password so she could let everyone know. I am so sad. We can't even gather for a funeral because of this virus. My heart is heavy. My friend was a fan of Shakespeare.  At the end of every email she had the quote, "All the world's a stage . . ." My heart is heavy because she has exited her stage.

Chronicles of a Radical Hag

Since my library has closed I have to get my books from the cloud library. Thank goodness for the cloud library! I don't know what I would do without books to read and/or listen to. I listened to Lorna Landvik read Chronicles of a Radical Hag (With Recipes) to me. This novel pays homage to journalists working for newspapers in small towns. The journalist in this story is Haze Evans. She writes honest columns about every day life in a small town, politics, and current events. Her ideas are on the liberal side. When she offends readers they write letters to the editor calling her a radical hag and suggesting she write a recipe column instead. Sometimes she does include recipes. I thought this was a cute story. I especially liked the character named Sam. Sam is a teenager who's mother is the publisher of the newspaper. She gets him a summer job at the paper. Since Haze had a stroke and is in a coma, she can't write her column so Sam's job is to find the best columns to be reprinted. He isn't excited by this job until he starts to work and finds his own passion. Every once in a while Lorna would pronounce a word in such a way she sounded just like Betty White. Once she said the word Washington and in my mind I am picturing Betty White  in my mind. But then five more words would go by and I knew it wasn't Betty White, it was Lorna Landvik. I enjoy Lorna's work. I have read her other books. I saw her do improv live at the Bryant Lake bowl. She is certainly entertaining.

Slough Ice

Yesterday three of us went for a socially distant walk in Central Park in Roseville. We were on the board walks over the slough. We could hear and see red winged blackbirds calling. A red shouldered hawk called from above. We came upon this artistic piece of slough ice. Look at the patterns in the ice! I see butterfly wings and tulips and peonies and maple leaves and a dragonfly and a wood nymph. What caused these lines in the ice? Did creatures underneath or plant materials soaking up the sun and radiating heat create this?

Late Migrations

My sister recommended Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl. This is a collection of short stories. Some stories are about birds and other kind of nature in the yard in Alabama or Tennessee.  Other stories are about family. Some of the stories are heart wrenching. The story about how she felt when her father died. She watched him breath and kept praying that this breath would be the last one. That sounds horrible but unless you have watched a loved one die from a disease like cancer, you probably haven't experienced thoughts like that. The stories go back in forth in time and location. This is a writer who doesn't sugar coat the difficult issues in life and I appreciate her honesty.

The Big Rock Candy Mountain

Someone in my previous book club offered this book so I chose to read The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner. From the beginning I was hooked by the story of the Mason family. The mother, Elsa, was a good honest law-abiding woman who fell in love with Bo, a man who ran a "blind pig." A blind pig was an illegal saloon. Love must have made her blind because she loved him and married him. With their two sons, Chet and Bruce, they navigated life with the mercurial Bo. Bo was always out to make big money fast. He rarely did honest work although he had great skills as a carpenter and lots of energy. He made most of his money as a bootlegger. This illegal occupation started in 1918 as the flu came to their town in Canada. Bo thought whiskey would be great medicine for the flu. He was right although he contracted the flu on his trip to get the whiskey. I was fascinated by the impact the flu had on the Mason family because of the Corona virus now. Three out of the four Mason family members got the flu. They were hauled to the schoolhouse where all the flu patients went. Chet was left at home alone to guard the house and the whiskey. In ten days they all came home after having recovered from the flu and that was the end of that. I'm pretty sure our Corona virus will have a longer effect on us than ten mere days. Wallace Stegner says this book was semi-autobiographical. If he had a father like Bo, you got to feel for the guy because life would be difficult for any child of Bo Mason. 

A Scenic Walk

Today I went for a walk on Canal Park. I parked (for free) up the hill. I walked down four blocks, across Superior Street, across Hwy. 35 down to the lift bridge. I was cold walking down. My fingers were cold. Coming back I was not cold probably I had my heart rate pumping faster because I was going up hill. Things were pretty quiet on Canal Park. A few stores were open. I saw beer delivery trucks at two restaurants. Since the YMCA is closed until further notice I have to get my exercise some way. This was a scenic walk for sure!

Hartley Nature Center

Today I went for a walk around Hartley Nature Center. There is a lot of snow up here. I took this picture to illustrate how much of a snow pack is left. Across the wooden bridge the snow has melted. In the center of the bridge is the snow pack which is a good two feet higher than the wooden slats of the bridge. Walking across the bridge on top of the snow pack, the railings are so low I would have to crouch to reach them. Instead of 5 feet four inches tall I am 7 feet four inches tall. Today the high temperature got to 37 degrees where some melting can occur but not enough to put much of a dent in this thick layer of snow. There were a few people out and about at the nature center. I saw school aged children with a parent and some older people. I could have walked farther and longer but after slipping a few times and almost loosing my balance, I couldn't see the forest for the freeze so I went back to my car and drove home.

Neighborhood Walk

Last night I made my plans to today. I was going to the YMCA and swim ten laps. I was going to go the library to pick up a book I had on hold. I was going to mail a letter to a friend. By morning I learned that the YMCA and the library were closed until further notice. Instead I went for a walk around my new neighborhood. Here is a picture of Chester Creek. In the bottom left corner of the photo you can see the shadow of the railing I am standing near. You can even see my shadow. Water runs cold in the open air in some spots. 

Here is another view from 50 feet farther up the street. This is a gorgeous city, on a hill beside a great lake. I guess I will have to do some walking for exercise now that the YMCA is closed. Any walk around here is scenic. My plan while I lived in Duluth was to walk some of the  Superior hiking trail. I could start that now but I want to be sure the path isn't icy first.

Tiny Sunbirds Far Away

I read a digital version of Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson. The story is about Blessing and Ezekiel, a brother and sister living in Nigeria. The narrator is 12 year old Blessing. In the beginning of the book the kids with with both parents in town. When the father abandons the family the  mother takes her children to her rural home. At first Blessing is horrified to live without electricity and running water. With her mother working long hours to keep the children in school and her older brother falling under the influence of rebellious children, Blessing finds hope and solace in her Grandmother. Grandmother teaches Blessing how to be a midwife. Grandmother teaches Blessing how to cope when all the adults around you are acting childish. I was absorbed by this book and especially the relationship between Blessing and her Grandmother.

Us-Kab-Wan-Ka

For ten years I volunteered for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency by monitoring the  Rum River on the Pleasant Avenue bridge. For nine years I also monitored Coon Creek at the pedestrian overpass just south of the Coon Rapids dam. Both were on my way home from work so it was convenient to take a few extra minutes on my way home to throw my paid over the bridge, haul up some water, and do a few basic measurements. Now that I have moved to Duluth, those streams are too far away. I think I talked a friend into taking that job over. I was in the market for new streams to monitor. None will be on my way home from work anymore so I don't want to go too far. Looking at the map on the website I found a couple streams north of Duluth. Here is a photo of one of the available sites. This is the Cloquet River. When I stopped my car I disrupted a flock of twenty wood ducks who flew away complaining about me. I heard a rooster crow. The house next to the river has a sign that says "fresh eggs for sale." That is convenient! As long as I'm doing one spot it makes sense to do two sites. I tried to find the other nearby site that was marked as a high priority. I stared at the maps. I wrote down directions. The stream I was looking for is the Us-Kab-Wan-Ka river which empties into the Cloquet River. There is supposed to be a road that crosses this hard to pronounce river. I looked. I drove down muddy roads. I turned around and looked again. I finally came to the end of a muddy gravel road only to find a unplowed path leading into the woods and I thought I'm not going down that road. That could be where my monitoring spot is. I will wait until that road is dry and clear before I go down that road. In any case, it should be fun monitoring these news streams. 

Feeding Birds

I finally got my bird feeders up at my new place. The back yard has no trees. Beyond the back yard are some scraggly trees. I had to buy a bird hanging accessory at Menards today. I was hoping to attach it to the deck but my very small deck has four inch board at the top instead of 2 or 3 inch boards so it didn't work unless I attached it horizontally instead of vertically. So I attached it horizontally. I hope this works. So far in my yard I have seen crows, back capped chickadees and pigeons. With the suet hanging there I hope to feed some woodpeckers.  The black sunflower seeds should draw lots of birds. Feeding birds makes this place feel more like home. The white snow in the background is my neighbor's yard. Beyond that is a ravine where Chester Creek flows. The Superior Hiking Trail follows Chester creek up hill from the Rose Garden on the shore of Lake Superior to the Hartley nature Center which is north of here.

Bats

Last night I went to a lecture sponsored by the Duluth Audubon Society. The talk was not about birds. Bat surveys and monitoring in the Superior National Forest was the topic and the speaker was Tim Catton. He started out by talking about the connection between bats and the SARS virus and the Corona virus. There is most likely a connection. Bats carry lots of viruses that don't make them sick. The Chinese Horseshoe bat was for sale in the Wuhan public market. Minnesota has eight species of bats. Four species migrate and are not affected by the white nose syndrome. The migratory bats roost in trees individually so there is less physical contact. The migratory bats include the hoary bat, the silver-haired bat, the Eastern red bat and the evening bat. The evening bat was not known to be present in Minnesota until a bat survey was completed at the Ammo plant in Arden Hills in 2016 where a lactating female evening bat was found in a mist net. The four migratory bats are the big brown bat, the little brown bat, the long-eared bat, and the tri-colored and smallest bat. A survey at the Mystery cave in southern Minnesota showed a 70% mortality rate from the white nose syndrome. A survey at the Soudan mine in northern Minnesota showed at 97% mortality rate. The fungus that causes the white nose syndrome needs a moist and cool environment such as inside caves and mines. The mating season for bats is in the fall. The females keep the sperm. In the spring if they feel up to a pregnancy and have enough food to eat they will start gestating. Bats remain pregnant for 60 days. Most bats are born between June 1st and July 15th. Most bats have only one offspring per year. One bat that was tagged was found 6 times hibernating in the same area of the same cave for over 40 years.  I never knew bats could live that long. Although some people think bats are scary and they do carry dangerous viruses they remain important parts in our ecosystem. Bats are pollinators. Bats control pests reducing the need to apply pesticides in our gardens and crops. Bats also provide food for falcons and hawks. Next month the topic is hummingbirds and the speaker is Carroll Henderson so I am definitely going to that one.

A Grown Up Kind of Pretty

I listened to Joshilyn Jackson read A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty to me. The story is set in Mississippi and I enjoy reading stories set in the deep south because it's warmer down there than it is here. This wonderful story is about the three Slocum women. Jenny, known as Big, is 45. At age 15 she got pregnant and was kicked out of her home and out of her church. Her daughter, Liza, also had a child at age 15. Mosey is the child now turning 15 and is paranoid about becoming pregnant to the point where she takes pregnancy tests even though she is not sexually active. These three complicated women live together. Big and Mosey help Liza who suffered a stroke and is unable to care for herself. This family drama is made all the better by having a reader with a southern accent pronounce the words.

The Lost Girls of Paris

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff was the book chosen by my book club this month. Actually, because I moved, I should say my former book club. Almost everyone enjoyed the novel. We all wondered why there are so many good stories about the events in World War Two. This story is about British women who were recruited to be spies and to send telegraph information from Nazi occupied France. So the story is based on real women but the details are fiction. For eleven years I have been a member of this book club but last night I had to say goodbye. To assist the group I created a blog to keep everyone in the loop. Last night a woman returned to the group after an eight year hiatus. She had read the book for tonight. When asked how she knew to read the correct book she said, "Someone in this group keeps up a very nice blog!" I laughed because she was talking about me. I had kept the blog going for eleven years. I have handed over the reins of the blog to another member. I enjoyed meeting with these women and men very much. I hope I am lucky in finding another great book club up here.

Day In Court

This morning I had an appointment on the 16th floor of the Ramsey County Courthouse. I love this art deco building. This was a family appointment; not a criminal case. I don't want anyone to think I am a criminal. I am sure plenty of criminals come into this building though. I was greeted on the sidewalk by a bevy of teachers from the Saint Paul school district walking with picket signs and singing songs. Cars honked (in support of the strike I think) as they whizzed by on Kellogg Boulevard.

Despite the sensory overload of my approach to the building, my appointment went well. I heard about other probate cases. I heard one sad story of an uncle taking guardianship of his niece. The poor niece is 27 years old and could not understand what was going on because she is deaf and mute. Her mother died. She lives with her grandmother and uncle. Her father and step-mother live in New Zealand. Although she knows some Burmese sign language from the time she spent in a refugee camp and she can write in Burmese, she does not know any American sign language. The judge was rightly concerned about this and hoped she could go to some training in American sign language.How sad is that she got more services in communication in a refugee camp in Thailand than she does in Saint Paul? She is lucky to have an uncle to take her under his wing but also unlucky to be so isolated and unable to communicate. I would think they could have had an American sign language interpreter there for her. Even if she couldn't understand all of what was said she might have picked up on some of it. Plus having an interpreter there for her would have shown her that she was an important person in the court room today. All my current problems and issues seem small in comparison to hers. Eavesdropping on her guardianship hearing gave me a much needed perspective.

Matka

From the first chapter I was so engrossed in Matka by Sarah Hanley that I neglected other things I could have been doing. Now that I am retired it is easier to let a book take me under it's spell and just enjoy it. The main character is Zosia. She lives in Poland with her three children. Her husband dies from tuberculosis at the beginning of World War Two. When her son is taken away by the Gestapo because he has the same lung disease, Zosia offers to go in his place. She is transported to a slave farm. When the war ends she tries to return to her family. She is sent to a displaced person camp and ends up trapped there for three years longing to get back to her Polish family. The story is fiction but the author's grandparents did live in the displaced person camp in Wildflecken, Germany. If you are looking for an riveting tale, this is the book for you.

Unsheltered

Not only did I have the pleasure of reading one of my favorite author's books but I also had the bonus of Barbara Kingsolver read Unsheltered to me. The story takes place on the corner of Plum and Sixth in Vineland, New Jersey. Half of the story happens happens now and the other half happened in the 1860's. The house on the corner was falling apart back then and is falling apart now. The difficulty of living in a house that is not sturdy affects both families. Both households seem to be living in precarious times. Of all the Kingsolver books I have read this one appears to be the most political. She writes about someone she calls "The Bullhorn" but I can tell she is talking about Donald Trump. I have always loved Kingsolver's books but even I can tell that a conservative reader would not appreciate this one so much.

My Father's Tears

My Father's Tears is a collection of all the short stories John Updike wrote since the year 2000. The book was published after his death. Most of the stories are about older men living in New England. One story is a family travel tale of going to Morocco.  Some of the men in the stories are not especially likable. Some times unlikable people can be more interesting. One story about a 50 year class reunion was very entertaining. Marital infidelity is described in most of the stories. Most of the words describe the daily mundane life of older men.

Walking The Shore

My new apartment has an ancient kitchen sink. The formerly white porcelain sink is a combination drainboard and a large rectangular sink. There was no dish strainer or plug there. The hole in the drain is large enough to wash away a finger if you happened to cut one off. I drove to a hardware store to buy a sink basket strainer to filter out the larger pieces of food that end up in the sink. After my purchase I looked down toward the lake and was drawn to it like a magnet. I parked at Leif Erickson park. I walked west through the slush to the lake walk which was clean and dry. I walked as far as Fitger's brewery before I headed back.

I really enjoyed the scenery. Liquid water is a sight for sore eyes. I hope living by Lake Superior will satisfy my urge to be near an ocean. I plan to watch many waves crash to shore while I live up here.

Found It!

After another morning trip to McDonalds for coffee I opened every cardboard box labelled kitchen. Still no percolator. I started putting other stuff away. Unpacking takes a lot longer than packing because I have to decide where to put stuff. Some stuff I unpacked and asked myself, "Why did I keep this?" If in sincere doubt as to why I kept it I threw it away. I also threw away the belongings of previous tenants including a checkerboard (with no checkers), two packages of shrimp ramen, a metal rod and the business card to the Douglas County jail in Superior, Wisconsin (but I wonder what the story is on that one). Finally I peered inside my Coleman cooler. There was the percolator packed with my watering can, my kitchen brushes, a super soaker and a bottle of bubble solution. No more morning trips to McDonalds for coffee for me anymore!

New Library Card

This morning I drove down to the McDonalds on London Road and bought two large cups of coffee.  I got much accomplished. I spent all morning putting my bed together. After lunch I got a library card. I didn't take out any materials because I still have two books out from the library in Columbia Heights and I want to finish those first. Then I went to work on my boxes. I emptied 8 boxes today. I found  my purple toaster which I haven't seen since November. The woman who staged my home for sale put the purple toaster away and today is the first time I have seen it. I made myself an English muffin for breakfast and it tasted very good. I have yet to find the percolator. Note to self: Next time you move label the box with the percolator.

I Voted

Today I voted. I first had to register to vote because I moved from the suburbs into a town. I live in Duluth now. I live halfway up the hill near Chester Creek. I decided that after I retired I did not need to stay in the same house which was much too large for me anyway. I thought I would rent from now on and try on all four corners of the state for size. Another plan in my mind is to hike some of the Superior hiking trail so Duluth is a good spot to do that. Might as well do the physical things on my list earlier rather than later in life. Turns out the Superior hiking trail goes right through my back yard. I moved on Monday. I hired people to do the work and the two guys who helped me were very good movers. I am still putting things away. I have yet to find my percolator. Without coffee I don't work as fast. On the day I moved in I walked to the backyard to show my moving guys were to store the kayak. The driveway to the backyard is steep and wicked slick. I fell and sprained my wrist. I bought a wrist brace and it feels much better today but my arm and hand are bruised and sore. Eventually I will get everything put away. Today I walked to my poling station. City dwellers can walk to poling stations. Suburbanites are usually unable to do that. I am adjusting to life in the city. I can hear my neighbors but they are not too loud. One of them plays the guitar which I like. Today I emptied 12 boxes. Tomorrow I want to assemble my bed (instead of sleeping on the mattress on the floor) and empty 10 or more boxes. I really hope to find that percolator!

The Woman In The Window

Last week my book club discussed The Woman In the Window by A.J. Finn. The story is about a woman with agoraphobia. She was traumatized and now cannot leave her house in Harlem. She has groceries delivered. She has her medication delivered. Her psychiatrist and physical therapist come to her house to treat her. She has a handy man living in her basement to help with rent and to take care of the yard and take out the trash and recycling. Her name is Anna. Anna stays in the house all day with the windows closed and the shades drawn. She peers at her neighbors with a high powered camera and makes up explanations for their behavior. Her other hobby is watching black and white mystery movies. Most people in the club enjoyed the book. Only one person guessed the ending before coming to it. Anna witnesses a crime through her window but no one believes her. She comes across as an unreliable reporter. Even unreliable reporters are right some of the time. The author was paid for the rights to the movie before he was paid for the rights to the book. I don't think I will watch the movie even though I think Amy Adams will do a good job portraying Anna Fox. Much of our discussion was about the author, Daniel Mallory. He has come under fire for lying about his past to further his career. The stories he has told are almost too incredible to believe anyone would dare to make them up. He said he had cancer. He said he graduated from Oxford. He said he had a brain tumor. He said his mother died of breast cancer. He said his brother died from suicide. None of those were true. Then he says he lied because he has bipolar disorder. He might have bipolar disorder but he is also not to be trusted to tell the truth.