[Finally . . . lilacs!]

Thanks for the great pictures! You both look as young and good looking as ever.  At least it wasn’t snowing on Mother’s Day.  We will have to get rid of those weeds!! Our “Camp” shoreline needs a bit of refurbishment.  When the weather gets better, we want to plant some new trees in front of our cottage…..if the ground finally thaws.  Looking forward to seeing you both in mid June.  Enjoy those graduation parties!   ~  Ruth M.

On Thursday, our No. 1-seeded Cardinals hosted Brainerd, a team they had defeated twice during the regular season, in the 2nd round of the sectionals.  As usual, the weather forecast was dicey.  Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the rain held off.  It was just one of those days.  Every player on the team must have awakened on the wrong side of the bed.  Our pitcher, junior Blake Stockert, was on the mound.  He had only allowed 5 runs all season and averaged more than one strikeout per inning.  Likely because of such, there were scouts from the Minnesota Gophers at the game.  Brainerd’s lead-off hitter bunted and reached base safely when Blake couldn’t handle the ball.  Upset with himself, he walked the next batter.  Then he plunked the next batter on an 0 – 2 pitch.  You just knew that with the bases loaded in such a matter, they would all score.  And they did.  A seeing-eye single and another Cardinal error.  To begin the game in a 3 – 0 hole after one inning on one hit did not bode well for the home team.  It did not get any better.  When it got to be 7 – 0 after 4 innings, several of the elderly crowd excused themselves for other venues.  The final score was 10 – 0.  The Cards will now have to fight their way back in the losers bracket.

[Blake obviously has terrific stuff . . .]

[It just wasn’t all there on this day.]

[He’ll be back.]

[Warriors on the bases again.]

[The fans were dumbstruck.  Including the softball team, whose fine season ended the previous day with a 3 – 1 loss at Bemidji.  They apparently had plenty of chances to win that game but weren’t able to get the clutch hits.]

[You call the pitch?]

[The scoreboard says, Ugghhhh!]

[Credit the Warrior hurler with a well-pitched game.]

[The Cards took a lot of called strikes?]

[Can you find the ball on the throw down to 2nd?]

[Christian Anderson is no doubt happier to be depicted swinging the bat rather than as the guy standing in front of the scoreboard four photos up.  And a happier side, the Beaver (a/k/a Jerry Mathers) turned 65 years old today, putting him in some rather elite company!  😉 ]

[Yes, I did have a valid reason for leaving the ballgame early.  I had to pick up the supervisor for the spring social at the Maritime Museum.]

[Each year the museum rises to a new level.]

[It’s a place the community can take a great deal of pride in.  (Yes, I know you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition, but I didn’t want to think of an alternative.]

[It’s a great place to take grandma and grandpa and Uncle Tollef when they come to town.]

[The Falls Flyer will be featured in events this summer.]

[The supervisor splits two portraits by Myron Sahlberg, as he works on another in the background.]

[Mingling around Myron.]

[We started working our way to the exit because . . .]

[It was Thursday night date night, so it was off to SAWA.  Keep your eyes posted for upcoming events at the Maritime Gardens – there are five scheduled so far.]

Lightning over Lake Darling, 1:00 am, May 31 – see if you can hear the loon . . . and hear the train.  Oh, not that hard?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q20MLsbh5fY

[Friday night, Lisa Lynn at SAWA.  OK, I hear you, what happened on Thursday night?  Well, Components, featuring Sami Steidl, performed.  And we were engaged with fellow patrons, including Sami’s folks, the entire evening, so I apologize for a lack of photos and videos.  But Components, an off-shoot of Funky Gumbo Trio, will be back!  🙂 ]

“Dimming of the Day”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vy0SpxeFVc

[Lisa is originally from Oklahoma.  In fact, she was with family near Tulsa when the Moore tornado hit.  She obviously took every opportunity to check in with her family as the latest series of tornadoes were hitting the state.  Her family is fine at last report.]

“Superstar”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqVltc5fcaU

Cheesecake and Superstar for breakfast!  Mmm.  It’s my 50th HS reunion this year but the class historian must have died because I’ve heard nothing about it.  ~ Marcus

[There was another Lisa in the house on this night – Lisa Grimes, the teaching pro at the Alex Golf Club.  It turns out that the Lisas are the same age.  😉 ]

A)  Why are you not the president of the local Chamber of Commerce? and B) Would like to have heard “Fanfare,” first heard it on the Works Vol I album by…Emerson, Lake and Palmer in 1977, when I saw them in Tulsa. Love the piece! ~ Lisa

[Lisa will be back again at the end of this month.  Oh, and on Superstar – she started by saying take two.  She said the previous video of that song had too many mistakes (I didn’t notice), so I took the old one off YouTube.]

[On Saturday, Anthony Miltich paid his monthly visit to the winery.]

What an honor. Thanks for posting these. As you might have gathered there was no rehearsal and some guess work going on, but how fun to see that they turned out rather well. I have passed them on to Anna.  As always, great to see you guys. Thanks for your support of live music.  ~ Anthony

[An SRO crowd, with its concomitant background din, made videoing impossible.]

[We keep hoping, for the sake of acoustics, that someday soon these performances can be moved outside.]

[The grill tender will be introduced shortly.]

[Wine trumps corks by a factor of four.]

Tom I always love your blog!!!  I really think Alexandria is the Fun Capital of Minnesota, yaknow?  Great photos!!!  ~ Sue E.

[The supervisor with Dr. Dean Trinh, a fellow aficionado of winery music.  We got to know Dean’s son, David, when he was a high school student, and knew then he was destined to be highly successful.  The following site contains a short bio of David after graduating from Yale last year.]

David Trinh:  http://www.yaledebate.org/coaching.html

[Oh, that grill tender.  Alia Kopischke, Alex hockey star, who graduated last year and just finished her freshman year at a college that I’ve forgotten again for the umpteenth time.  Alia was a hockey teammate of . . .]

[Then it was on to Shanee’ Herd’s graduation party.  Shanee’ was a multi-sport athlete, but because she was a varsity hockey player since 7th grade, it seems we have known her, and her family, her entire life.]

Thank you for coming and for all the wonderful times the past 6 years!  After tomorrow we will no longer have a high school student so I guess that makes us Super Fans!  Great sweatshirts and pics!  You guys look as young as ever!  ~  Marnee’ (a/k/a, the photographer)

Happy Mother’s Day Ruth!  You look fantastic and Jami’s card and note was awesome!  Question for Tom:  Is anyone in Alexandria under 60? ~  The Nanner

[Pointing to her name on the 2008 state championship team roster.  🙂 ]

[With fellow original Super Fans, Viv and “Weakie.”]

[Shanee’ as a 7th-grader – seems like just the other day?]