alexandriacardinals

[Yes, the thermometer read 110!  And the glasses read either dandruff or head lice.]

It was a hot and not stormy night as I made my way through Alexandria rush hour toward Woodland Elementary School and the Cardinal softball game v. St. Cloud Tech.  The car thermometer read 87 degrees – this came out of nowhere (we were 20 degrees cooler the day before and subsequently the day after).  I was ready to hit the showers by the time I had lumbered from the parking lot carrying my lawn chair and camera bag.  I’m going to lobby for roofed, air conditioned fields at the new high school – and possibly a moving sidewalk to get to them!

Anyway, as a result of Alexandria’s increasingly cumbersome rush hour, I arrived at the park just as Hall “Buzz” Miller, PA announcer and class of ’66, was introducing the starting lineups.  Unbeknownst to me, “senior night” festivities had concluded.

[Taylor continued her winning streak.]

[“Senior night” honoree, Quinn Kragenbring, in leftfield.]

[Sarah @ 3rd.]

[Jess @ 2nd.]

[Amanda in center.  As you recall from the basketball season, she performs best when emulating Michael Jordan!  😉  ]

[Quinn]

[On the left, last year’s coach and this year’s political candidate – on the right, the athletic director.]

[“Senior night” honoree, Lauren Trumm (3), slides into 3rd base – and the Tech basketball point guard against whom she has played lo these many years!]

[The Tech defense suffers from lack of sun visors – don’t recall the “braided” Cardinal?]

[Dani Strater (14) on 3rd, Amanda (5) cheering her arrival there – the Cards scored 10 runs in the 1st inning.]

[Quinn]

[Go 10!]

[Jess (1) – another runner on 3rd.]

[Another celebration of teammates crossing home plate – it was 11 – 0 after the 2nd.]

[The Bruzeks!]

[Quinn laying down a bunt.]

[Finally figuring out I can see the Card dugout from beyond the visitors’ dugout – plus, there is a small chain link void to shoot thru!  🙂  ]

[LT was conference player of the week for collecting about a thousand hits, several hundred doubles, double figures in triples, homers, and rbi’s, and for being kind to small people and old animals.]

[Yup, she’s just a pretty decent all-around athlete!]

[On base, again.]

[Sarah digs in.]

[Like her two sisters before her, she has a great swing.]

[My guess?  Another line shot to left.]

[Taylor’s not too shabby with a stick in her hands.]

[Our JV team playing next door.]

[Dani’s on 1st – probably as a courtesy runner for Taylor.]

[Amanda]

[Then Amanda hit something that produced a distinctive sound.  The ball arced high into the outfield.  And from there we learned of the shortcomings of “eye witness” reports!  Jim Pohl was at the game and said the ball went over the fence in left center; Greg Trumm was at the game and said the ball went out dead center; I was standing along the 1st base line, saw the center and right fielders tracking the ball, and said it went out in right center!  In any event, the bases were loaded so it was a grand slam – and her teammates were delighted for her!  🙂  ]

[Mom shoots . . .]

[ . . . daughter!]

[And she’s on base!]

[“Senior night” honoree, Mikayla Lucas (9), who has been hitting great out of the 9-hole.]

[And Mikayla’s on base again.]

[Danielle at lead-off.]

[Another player with a great swing.]

[Her quick bat produced a lot of long foul balls.]

[Jess]

[Quinn and Mikayla score.]

[Rachel (12) gets a piece of the action.]

[And Rachel’s on.]

The score was 21 – 0 after three innings.  I don’t believe Tech even had a base runner yet.  The game has to go 5 innings.  The Cards gave everyone a chance to play – and at different positions.   The final score was 21 – 5 after 5.

[Proud senior dads.]

[Thank you, ladies!]

[Grandson Tom prepares for Show Choir as the Black Knight from Monty Python’s Flying Circus!  🙂  ]

Within the sudden plethora of spring sports events (two softball games and a track meet to follow this missive), we had the 2nd Annual Kentucky Derby fundraiser for Theatre L’Homme Dieu (TLHD) at the Alexandria Golf Club and the usual assortment of music, music, music.

[Local icon and gadabout, “Dangerous” Dan, toasts one and all on behalf of TLHD.]

[And looking lovely with the supervisor.]

[Appears to be having fun (and below) despite a total disinterest in horse racing.]

[Doing their bit (a play on horse racing?) for the arts.]

[The supervisor and someone who shares my birthday.]

[A natural ponytail (a play on horse racing?) . . . and one made out of taffeta?]

[The supervisor and a known area tenor.]

[Thanks Michelle and Chuck!]

[Pretty as a picture.]

[Dancin’, yah!]

[Reaching the height of her profession.]

[Here’s lookin’ at you, kid!]

[He won’t mind being used as an event break.]

[The following weekend (a/k/a, the last one) began with another premium performance by the Salty Dogs at Carlos Creek Winery.  Though a pretty day, it was quite windy meaning any videos would have come with a howl.  Apparently that also dissuaded use of the camera’s still photo capabilities.  We just enjoyed the music tucked under our blankies.]

[But, hey, Mikko was there!]

[Sunday was the annual Mother’s Day brunch with the Annen’s at the club.]

[Several people enjoyed the goodies!  🙂  ]

[Here he is again – with his fashion designer!]

Then it was on to the winery, which was introducing a new wine, Aurora, made for the first time from grapes exclusively grown on the property.  And Bruce Hecksel, of Patchouli fame, was the artist who designed the label – and he and Julie just happened to be there to perform on that day:

[Local fan with camera shoots from behind local druggist.]

[Same local fan with same camera shoots Patchouli again.]

[Local fan shoots local fan.]

[And the supervisor was just delighted to be there.]

[Sue Elliot, traveling fan from Burnsville in the foreground, advised that, as with the previous day, it was too windy for videos.  She took several good photos, however (soon to follow).]

[Julie and Bruce together as “Patchouli.”]

[A red sparkling wine, making it rather unique.]

[Zing went the strings of my heart.]

The remaining Patchouli photos were submitted by Sue:

[This is what’s called a comedic interlude – either that or an old man.]

[From here we’ll just laugh our way to the next story.  Thanks, Sue!]

[New Ulm co-eds (from other schools) frolic on the grounds at St. Thomas University.  And whom amongst us doesn’t like frolicking?  Photo from the StarTribune.]

[Happy Mothers’ Day, Happy Fishing Opener, Happy National Junk Rotation Day!]

Meanwhile, back to the subject at hand:

[Bob “Weakie” Annen (light cap), glad to be a snowbirder no more, resumes his elite status as a Cardinal Super Fan.]

The Cardinals were hosting the Rocori Spartans Friday afternoon.  The supervisor and I thought it a perfect prelude to the final Central Lakes Concert Association performance of the season later than evening (Metales M5, a brass quintet from Mexico, who were terrific).  OK, not quite perfect.  As you can see, “Weakie” is in winter attire though it appears to be a beautiful day.  Super Fan Ruth Anderson was present in her snowmobiling outfit.  A stiff breeze made “just sitting there” a chilling event.  The supervisor decided to stay in the car and read.

[JV fans at the abutting field – future Cardinal softballers watch intently from the back row.]

But the ladies mucked up our timing a bit.  They have been on a roll – winning their 5 previous games by a 51 – 9 run scoring margin.  On this day, they continued their onslaught.  Sophomore hurler Taylor Ellingson was terrific in not giving up a single walk (that I can recall) – and the bats kept producing.  The game was called in the 6th inning when the Cards reached a 10-run advantage – and a 10-0 victory.  The game only lasted one hour.  The supervisor and I had an hour and half to kill before the concert.  We determined a butter burger would make a fine time killer – and it was despite that fact the place was overrun with patrons, many of whom we assumed were on the road for the midnight fishing opener!

The game.  The following video is of the Cards 4-run fourth inning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Rt3rfs4Rk

We scored 3 runs in the first, 4 in the fourth, and 3 more in the sixth, thus ending the game.  And the hitting has been up and down the line-up.

[Taylor (7) was the first hitter I captured in the 1st inning – she bats 5th.  Yeah, we were a little late.]

[Emily Kuennen (4), sophomore 1st baseman, batting 6th, badly bruised the ball all day.]

[Taylor]

[Junior shortshop Danielle Carlson (2), and lead-off hitter, makes a play.]

[Junior 2nd baseman Jess Syvrud (1) bats 2nd.]

[Emily at 1st (and below).]

[Senior rightfielder Mikayla Lucas (9) in rightfield.  I failed to get a photo of our leftfielder in this game, junior Rachel Peterson (12), because that would have required me to get up out of my comfy chair and move to a different sight line!]

[A happy centerfielder, sophomore Amanda Christianson (5).]

[Senior catcher Lauren Trumm (3) snags a high hard one.]

[Danielle continues a tradition (at least since we’ve been following the team) of great shortstop play!  🙂  ]

[The half inning meet and greet.]

[Jess]

[LT, batting 3rd, has another successful plate appearance (and the next 3).]

[Sophomore 3rd baseman, Sarah Bruzek (13), batting clean-up.]

[“Baby Bruiser,” the only player I could occasionally shoot without having chain link in my way!]

[Taylor helped her own cause by ripping a double.]

[And then Emily drove her home, as I recall?]

[I must have been right – there’s Emily on 1st base now!  🙂  ]

[Players are running around everywhere!]

[Amanda?]

[Junior infielder Danielle Strater (14).]

[I believe it was a pinch hit situation for Dani . . .]

[So, she hit it.]

[Because this is the last photo of a swing, must have been the play that ended the game by “Baby Bruiser” . . .]

[Sarah by the Echo Press in the Brainerd game.]

[ . . . because her comes a Cardinal heading home . . .]

[As another heads to third.]

Game over.  Next home game Monday v. Tech – and v. Apollo on Tuesday (and a track meet, as well)!

Because you either know the participants . . . or you are them!

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhee

The above site includes all the YouTube videos posted in this blog, I think.  And if you want to go back even further, the videos posted under Ruth Obert go back to the Lincoln-Douglas debates.  I thought of this last night when the lead guitar player for Funky Gumbo Trio, Spencer Christensen, told the supervisor he has watched every video we’ve posted – and wished we would do more!  🙂  [Editor’s note:  I have subsequently been advised by the supervisor that she meant Spencer Johnson.  Accordingly, please disregard the preceding and following sentences.]  A young man of refined tastes with a descerning eye for amateurish cinematography.  Then today I decided to post the little over one minute video of our Norwegian Star leaving port at the beginning of our cruise (note The Biddies waving about halfway through) – and I noticed that the other videos not only didn’t have mass appeal, they didn’t even have mass play.  Since the blog generally receives enough hits to “finance” my jelly bean habit, I could only conclude that the readership didn’t have time for a movie at the time?  So, here they are – all in one place.  Alexandria’s finest athletes and musicians – in a family-friendly format, nothing should be beyond the scope of a PG-13 rating.  And because they are of limited duration, there will be no time for popcorn – and its subsequent after mess!  Without further adieu, and absent the usual still photos, we bring you Alexandria in sound and motion.