Baconish Whale Project

I bought this octagonal picture frame a decade ago. I bought the slice of Brazilian agate two years ago at an agate show. I thought the agate looked like a whale or a slice of bacon. I decided it was more whale than bacon. I glued it to the glass of the frame and then broke pieces of blue glass I bought at Crafts Direct in Saint Cloud a dozen years ago. I did all this yesterday. Finishing this piece of mosaic was not on my list of things to do today. That is the beauty of being retired. Now the baconish whale project is complete.

 

Symphony

 Last night I attended a symphony at the DECC here in Duluth. The Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra held a sold out concert. I attended because they had a deal called "fill the hall." I got a ticket in the balcony for only 20 dollars. Parking at the DECC is ten dollars. The orchestra had another deal where you could take a bus for only 5 dollars. So I met the bus at a assisted living facility on Mount Royale. Turns out this bus went to five assisted living facilities so I got a tour of five institutions here on the east side of town. All but three people on the bus had gray hair. Some of the riders could barely make it up the bus steps even with assistance from the very patient driver. I had to admire their moxie because they went out on a cold foggy night even though they were obviously in considerable pain. The first half of the concert was all American songs by Copeland. They had two soloists singing. After the intermission we listened to Beethoven's ninth symphony. He wrote this piece of music when he was deaf and three years before his death. A group of 120 choir members were also on stage for the second half. They sat quietly for 45 minutes but stood up to sing "Ode To Joy." Several people I know from my classes at UMD were on stage performing. I had a great evening.

BioBlitz

Today I attended a BioBlitz at the Hartley Nature Center. This is part of the 2023 Sea Grant Bioblitz Project on INaturalist. Some people who were running the event showed me how to join the project. This BioBlitz was informal compared to the one I attended at the Sam Zim bog. This is a Bebb's willow tree.

Lichen called Boreal Oakmoss.

One of the leaders sent me and her daughter to find some fairy shrimp. I had seen some 9 days ago so we walked to the pond together. This is a mosquito larvae we found in the same pond.

This is a fairy shrimp swimming on it's back. I tried to get a picture through the microscope using my phone with no luck.

Red-twigged dogwood kinda looks like a circulatory system inside a human.

While I was there I thought I would explore one of my four vernal pools. I hoped to find a frog or a salamander. Instead I found a mallard.

Here is my first vernal pool. That is my car in the background. I did find mosquito larvae in this pond too.

I got lost looking for this pond and that is when I spotted this white tailed deer. I had a good time exploring the park in the fog with other nature lovers.

 

Happy Cinco de Mayo

 

Walking Tour Of Historic Homes East Duluth

This afternoon, from 1 to 3 p.m., I was on a walking tour of historic homes on the east side of Duluth. We met at Superior Street and 20th Street East.

The woman in the red shirt was waiting for the bus.

Our leader had a booklet of information about these homes available for only twelve dollars. I don't carry cash anymore.

I love that wrap around porch.

I half expected someone to come out of this house yodeling.

This house has a weird looking lion hanging off the edge.

Here is a close up of the lion head. I never would have noticed it if it wasn't pointed out.

The top of this house was emerald green. I love that round tower in front. This is one of the symmetrical house designs.

Nice stone on this one. Some of these houses were owned by lumber barons, mine owners, bankers and lawyers.

The houses up here have great views of the lake. Farther east the fancy homes are on the shore. Up here they are up a block or two because the railroad tracks were along the shore.

This French looking home was designed by the same architect who designed the next one.

This Spanish style house is next door to the French style one. I guess he worked on both houses at the same time. Some of these blocks have only 3 houses on the block.

You can rent rooms in this house.

Grecian style columns.

The house of many windows.

At the end of our tour we got to tour the inside of this house. This house is owned by two men one of which is an interior designer and an artist. The house was built by one of the first Jewish immigrants in Duluth who owned a rug store downtown. Downstairs he had a vault. After work at the rug store all day the store owner brought money home in his valise and deposited the money in his vault. The current owners added geothermal heating and cooling 15 years ago. Inside the house was beautiful with brightly colored walls, expensive rugs, antique furniture and murals painted on the staircase. The only thing I didn't like was the overwhelming smell of potpourri. The owner has done interior design work on many other houses in Duluth and in Superior. 

 

Virgil Wander

One of my favorite authors is Leif Enger so I was eager to read Virgil Wander. This novel, set 20 miles north east of Duluth on Highway 61 in a town called Greenstone (cough Two Harbors cough) is about a guy named Virgil. Virgil runs a theater in town and also works as a clerk at city hall. One night, driving in a snow storm down the highway, his car sails over the guard rail and comes to rest 60 feet below the frigid water of Lake Superior. A guy is fishing on shore. He sees the car sail over his head. He rescues Virgil. Virgil wakes up in a hospital in Duluth with no car, no cell phone, and memory issues due to a traumatic brain injury. An odd complication of his brain injury is that his use of adjectives is gone. The author used a tricky way to describe Virgil before and after the head injury. He will write "the former tenant of this house would have done it but the current resident would not." I loved reading this story. My favorite part was the story of a huge sturgeon that swims in and out of lake Superior and upstream. A ten year old boy is hunting this monster sturgeon because he believes the sturgeon is at fault for the death of his father. You will just have to read the book to find out what happens to the sturgeon.

The Book Charmer

Karen Hawkins wrote The Book Charmer. The charmer in question is Sara Dove, the librarian in a small town. Books speak to her and tell her who should read the book. Sara will then take the book to the person in the town and hand it over. Sometimes people don't want the book but Sara insists and they usually find it came in handy with a week or so. When a new person moves into town Sara gives her the book Little Women. The new person is named Grace. Grace has moved to town with her niece and her former foster provider who now has Alzheimer's disease. Grace hopes that living in the town where she was born will help reduce the symptoms of dementia. Hired on as a town clerk, Grace works with the mayor. The mayor is a very funny character. He claims all the credit but does none of the work. Grace's previous job earned her a lot of money as she managed finance. This job does not earn much money but Grace can see right away that the city finances are going down the drain. The mayor wants Grace to plan the town festival while he goes fishing. Via the local book club I learned that this author wants to write a book about each of the seven Dove sisters and their individual super powers. I know that one of Sara's sisters is a botanist and one of a baker. I enjoyed the parts about the library but this is basically a chick lit book and that genre is not my favorite.