alexandriacardinals

I abhor a hoe. I am fond of flowers but not of dirt, and had rather buy them than cultivate them. ~ Lyman Abbott  [Editor’s note:  OK, I agree.]

Earth laughs in flowers.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Hamatreya”

The earth laughs in flowers.  ~ e. e. cummings [Editor’s note: You figure it out.]

I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.  ~ Emma Goldman

People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.  ~ Iris Murdoch,  A Fairly Honourable Defeat

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one. ~Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Afternoon on a Hill”

To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat.  ~ Beverly Nichols

The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks.  ~ Tennessee Williams

Summer set lip to earth’s bosom bare,
And left the flushed print in a poppy there. ~ Francis Thompson, “The Poppy,” 1891

Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.  ~ John Ruskin

Pluck not the wayside flower; It is the traveler’s dower. ~ William Allingham

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.  ~ Chinese Proverb

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.  ~Walt Whitman

The flower is the poetry of reproduction.  It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.  ~ Jean Giraudoux

Why do people give each other flowers?  To celebrate various important occasions, they’re killing living creatures?  Why restrict it to plants?  “Sweetheart, let’s make up.  Have this deceased squirrel.  ~ The Washington Post

Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul.  ~ The Koran

If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn.  ~ Andrew Mason

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.  ~ Claude Monet

Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair…  ~ Susan Polis Shutz

A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin. ~ H. L. Mencken

A wedding is a funeral where you smell your own flowers. ~ Eddie Cantor

At my age flowers scare me. ~ George Burns

Don’t send me flowers when I’m dead. If you like me, send them while I’m alive. ~ Brian Clough

Flowers are happy things.  ~ P. G. Wodehouse

Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts. ~ Sigmund Freud

Gardeners instinctively know that flowers and plants are a continuum and that the wheel of garden history will always be coming full circle. ~ Francis Cabot Lowell

Gather the flowers, but spare the buds. ~ Andrew Marvell

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed. ~ Walt Whitman

I hate flowers – I paint them because they’re cheaper than models and they don’t move.
~ Georgia O’Keeffe

I named all my children after flowers. There’s Lillie and Rose and my son, Artificial. ~ Bert Williams

I sent my flowers across the hall to Mrs Nixon but her husband remembered what a Democrat I am and sent them back. ~ Bette Davis

I take care of my flowers and my cats. And enjoy food. And that’s living. ~ Ursula Andress

I want my flowers while I’m alive. ~ Chubby Checker

I work with language. I love the flowers of afterthought.  ~ Bernard Malamud

If you want to say it with flowers, a single rose says: “I’m cheap!” ~ Delta Burke

One marked feature of the people, both high and low, is a love for flowers. ~ Robert Fortune

People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us. ~ Iris Murdoch

Reading music is like listening to flowers. I don’t understand the concept. ~ Paul Westerberg

The ballet is a purely female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener. ~ George Balanchine

There are always flowers for those who want to see them. ~ Henri Matisse

. . . and the flower of her eye:

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.  ~ A. A. Milne

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

As with the 4^th report, we will start this episode with the most recent event and work our way back.  The reason for this, of course, is Ms. Sami Steidl.

The supervisor and I became groupies of the local music scene about the time Sami started playing with everybody – when she was 11 years old!  Now she is, as we say in the middling part of America, “all growed up!”  She graduated from high school this spring and will be enrolling at the University of Colorado in the fall – to continue her education in the viola.

Her playing partners through the years decided she needed a proper send off from the locals – and thus was SAM-A-RAMA created.  Held Sunday, the 10^th, at the Phoenix Events Center, The Biddies and I were in attendance, having sent the kids back to Indiana that morning.  I had a feeling I would be taking a lot of videos and wondered about my memory capacity (mine, and the camera’s!).  Sure enough, I ran out at “half-time” and was not able to record anything with Cassie and the Bobs.

Sami played with, among others ( I have likely forgotten), her high school buds; Spencer Christensen, Ben Stoeck, et al; Terry Kennedy (who wrote and performed the baby song), whom she played with at nursing homes (they said they could put the residents to sleep without medication); Skilly & Duff (Mikko Cowdery, Bruce Kelly (the emcee), and Annie O’Flynn); Sax Appeal (Chuck Wencl & daugher Michelle); The Salty Dogs (Erik Schultz, Tom Mulder, and Bruce and Annie); and . . . well, here are six videos from the event:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/u/6/PbJF39wetIM

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/u/5/QONg3uH7LEs

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/u/4/L-QYve_ixoc

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/u/3/qDORiWeQ7yM

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/u/2/X5gnTlL3kEI

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/u/1/kI8mtd0IEgE

And some photos:

[The Biddies and I arrived a little early – a storm was on the way.  When we left 2 1/2 hours later, we could tell it had rained hard.  We did not find out until the following morning that 70-80 mph winds had hit Central Minnesota causing much damage throughout the area.]

[Sami performing in her signature barefeet!]

And a couple from the archives:

The kids left at oh-dark-thirty the day of Sam-A-Rama . . .

but they left some memories.

[Father/son bonding in front of the tube.]

[The grandson received a stipend from the supervisor for this; Mr. Maintenance does not!]

The day before they left, we all went on a road trip to . . . Fergus Falls (well, to the Prairie Center Learning Center, actually) – with stops along the way at the Quilt Shop in Garfield and the Evansville Art Center (the smallest member of the Smithsonian):

And some photos there by Danny:

Then it was on to Fergus, where we lunched at Cafe 116 – the waitress remembered Ruthie’s women’s group visit there a while back:

[Rita with the founder of Fergus Falls.]

[The kids in downtown Fergus.]

[The girls say, “Dam!”]

[Jami and friend.]

Then it was on to Otter Park and the egret rookery.  The Otter is the high school mascot for Fergus – and Ruthie and Rita both went to Otter Creek school in Terre Haute, Indiana.  The egret photos are by Danny:

Then it was on to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Prairie Wetlands Learning Center:

The girls had listened to our Lisa Lynn CD all week and were looking forward to seeing her at SAWA on Thursday night.  Jami and Rita bought a CD from her, and Lisa autographed them.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/a/u/1/wD2hrZb9Des

May we present at least anecdotal evidence that summer has indeed arrived with three spectacular days in a row over the holiday weekend.  Let’s begin with the most recent and work our way back . . . because who doesn’t like a good fireworks display?  Well, the kids and grandson – who are all of an age now where it’s “been there, done that.”  For the supervisor and her sister Rita (a/k/a, The Biddies), and I, however, we are all of an age where it’s “how many of these do we have left?”  So the three old(er) denizens of Darling Heights Place ventured out in the Moby Obie to enjoy the conclusion of the 4^th on the lake at Arrowwood with thousands of our close personal friends.  Here’s the video:

 http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/a/u/0/VdrVGLTIceg

 [p.s.  The voting so far in the “pick the columnist photo” have been for No. 7 from the top, and a split vote between Nos. 23 and 25.  Voting has been light allegedly because of the fine holiday weather.  Polls remain open until they are closed.]

[The Moby Obie by Grundei.]

Morning excitement on the 4^th begins and ends with the Lake Carlos boat parade.  This annual event of unknown origin is believed to go back to the time of the Vikings – hence, the popularity in the area of the “Johnson” outboard motor.  Anyway, it’s an opportunity for we usually stolid Scandinavians to blow off a little steam before we go out later that night to . . . blow off a little steam.  For this trip, we were joined by grandson who was coerced by an offer that he could drive the boat.

The video:  http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/a/u/1/UfgjN_H7Us8

[Above:  Neighbor “Dangerous” Dan’s family prepping their boat; kayakers were everywhere over the weekend; family traversing down to the Moby; neighbor Jo & Arnie’s pontoon ready; Tom cooling it till he takes the con; the channel from the Lake Carlos side.]

[More from parade assembling on Lake Carlos.  The blog is behind schedule because of golf and family here, but family afar is demanding updates!]

[The shoreline attack squad masses – water cannons and water baloons are the weapons of choice.]

[The Vikings . . . or some “horny” guys.]

[Our next-door neighbors, the Lees.]

[Blog contributor, Al Grundei.]

[We motored past the Trumm compound . . .]

[ . . . then on past the Donley’s.]

[We passed the 43rd POTUS – it appears Jenna and Barbara were onboard.]

[Then the skipper pointed the Moby north – to the end of the lake and Carlos State Park, about an 8-mile boat ride from the Moby’s home port.]

[The other next-door neighbors, the Nelsons.]

[Moby at full throttle.]

[Carlos State Park was closed, of course.  The State of Minnesota is closed.  Still, these are not the signs one wants to see when you have have been on the boat for two hours.  But we had lunch there – and there was walk-in use of the beach.]

[Looking south from the park.]

[The Moby and The Biddies beached.]

[When we returned from the wilds of northern Lake Carlos, The Biddies immediately commenced to chop.  It’s what they do in lieu of therapy.]

Upon return from Lake Carlos, the Moby was parked thusly because – it is now time for another episode of . . . Mr. Maintenance!  The light at the top of the canopy had broken loose from its moorings a couple years ago – again, another design flaw that was expected to stay attached with metal screws only (rather than bolts and nuts).  By leaving the Moby at the end of the dock, handyman son-in-law and grandson could get at it for the fix prior to going out for the fireworks at night.  The local constabulary frowns upon the idea of being out on the lake at night without such light prominently displayed and lit!  Well, the Moby sat there all afternoon bouncing in the waves and wakes.  When we went down at dusk, such lurching had pulled the dock post loose from the dock – it was dangling in the water attached to the mooring line.  Rather than trying to figure it out in the relative darkness, we just laid the post on the dock behind the bench and went out to enjoy the fireworks.  We when got back it was dark, of course, and when I stepped out of the Moby onto the dock I accidentally kicked the unseen dock post into the water.  The supervisor spent a restless night worrying about the dock post.

Arising at oh-dark-thirty the next morning, as I usual do, I awaited the dawn’s early light for the attempted rescue.  Hoping to not have venture into chest deep water, I went to the outside tool storage closet for a rake.  The storage closet is one of those plastic put knob A into slot B configurations that seems perpetually on the verge of total collapse.  The supervisor had joined me by now to  . . . supervise. When I opened the closet to retrieve the rake, it’s removal caused me to accidentally lift the top of the closet thus causing the door to fall off.  Another dismal project!  Anyway, we went down to the dock – the rake worked as a retrieval device, and I was able to re-install the dock post in surprisingly minimal time.

[The Moby Obie’s maiden voyage of the year, July 3rd (remember, we’re working our way back in time), after being “installed” in April!]

[Jami netted a “16-ouncer.”  We try to be green.]

[The grandson piloted us around beautiful Lake Darling.  The Biddies went for a swim – and both subsequently got a smidgeon of lake itch.]

[The supervisor and I led the celebration of the Moby’s seasonal debut.]

Saturday, the 2nd, was the first day of the beautiful weekend.  Danny was already here – Rita, Jami, and Tommy would be arriving from Indiana later that day.  Early on Danny gave a shout out that there were two baby raccoons by the back door.  We went out – got some photos and a video:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/a/u/2/1xjn9f3Q-Rs

We later learned that “Dangerous” Dan captured them and will try to rehabilitate them (actually, they appear to be orphaned, and Dan needs to raise them until they can take of themselves before he releases them).

Before the late arrivals, Danny and I went over to hockey fest for a while – nothing like a little July hockey to bring one in out of the heat.  Alex high school boys were playing for the orange team – they lost in a shoot-out:

[Danny . . . waiting on some “friends.”  When they arrived, we all sat outside and witnessed the first really boat day of the season.]

Lake Darling:  http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/u/3/jrFQ8HJb0B4

Beginning a 4-day continuous stretch of fun and excitement, half of the 2008 Alaska cruise ensemble reunioned for Triple Espresso at Theatre L’Homme Dieu on June 22.  This is a “play” that has been around for a while indicating some degree of success.  We went on the second night – those who went on the first were immediately lighting up the internet with e-mail and Facebook postings saying such things as “funniest play ever” or “I laughed till I cried.”  [OK, they never went to  early Woody Allen movies – with such as “after the accident, he was only able to communicate through the use of hand puppets!”]  I did laugh – so hard the supervisor had to give me a throat lozenge to quell my laughter induced hacking.  In fact, the play was so successful at TLHD, it will be making a return engagement August 9 – 14.

[TLHD board director, Al Grundei, is a blur of activity as he tries to herd the sell-out crowd into the theatre.]

Erik Schultz and Tom Mulder, 1/2 of the usual Salty Dogs, were at SAWA on Thursday:

On Friday, Oscar-nominee, John Hawkes, debuted his latest movie, Earthwork, before another packed house in Alex:

Thank you for the nice review in today’s Strib.  John Hawkes was “home” today and hosted the film’s debut in our local theatre – and then he stayed after and answered questions from the audience for close to an hour.  He did the same with “Winter’s Bone” last summer – so we locals are justly proud of his accomplishments.  He was part of the rather illustrious Alex graduation class of ’77 that also included Tom Lehman, a pro golfer of some repute; and John Hammergren, CEO of McKesson, Inc., the largest health care company in the world.

Tom Obert, Alexandria (though class of ’65)

 Dear Tom Obert,

Thanks for your nice note. Wasn’t that a fine movie? Alexandria’s pride in John Hawkes is well justified.

Best, Colin (Colin Covert, Film reviewer, Star Tribune)

[Apparenty this KSAX TV reporter had previously captured me – giving me brief air time on the 5:00 news that night.]

[Mr. Hawkes with the supervisor.]

[John took many questions from the audience at the end of Earthwork.]

Tommy Vee and Matt Veline did two versions of Bobby Vee’s Take Good Care of My Baby at Carlos Creek Winery 0n Saturday:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/u/2/euFKjA07W6E

And Funky Gumbo was at SAWA last night – here performing Take a Load Off Annie:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ruthobert#p/a/u/0/A7szkAx8pHk

 

Finally, Cardinals are back – the blog namesake have been revived in the Trumm files.  Here is the note from the staff photographer family:

Hi…

Lauren’s travelling U-19 soccer team took first place in the Fargo soccer tourney last weekend!  Lauren is a “newbie” to soccer, so is very thankful to be a part of this team!  It was fun to watch…and we are learning a bit about soccer 🙂

Have a great 4^th… Greg and Val

I recognize Lauren Trumm and Joie Warnes and others look familiar – we’ll try to catch up on them all:

[Joie]

[Lauren]

[Lauren & Joie]