alexandriacardinals

It’s Fourth of July weekend, or, as I call it, Exploding Christmas. ~ Stephen Colbert

[Sister-in-law Karen went to Cuba.  Had an emergency appendectomy.  Good thing Cuba has a good health care system!]

[Looking forward to this . . . ]

[Looking forward to this, too!]

June 26

[‘Tis the season.]

June 28

[Just a beautiful June day in a beautiful June.]

June 29

[Happy Anniversary to “the kids”! It was Number 14/15 (14 for marriage, 15 for first date)! I believe 14/15 is potato salad?]

[On their way to Arrowwood to celebrate with friends . . . and with Anthony.]

[Meanwhile, their intrepid parental units went off for Wednesday night fine dining at the AGC . . . stopping along the way to check the progress on the Big Guy.]

[At the club after dinner with Minnesota Golf Hall of Famer, Lisa Grimes. There will be a ceremony for her at the Resorters this year. I’ve never confessed to Lisa that I used to “steal” lessons from her. Whenever we got to the 9th tee and Lisa was teaching on the practice range, I would just keep her swing tempo in my head and play great for about the next 8 holes – such things, unfortunately, are always fleeting.]

[Then on the way to Arrowwood to join keep an eye on the kids and listen to Anthony, we had to momentarily stop traffic at the busiest turtle crossing in the area – on Arrowwood Drive at the curve around  Hole No. 1 at Atikwa – to carry this young lady or gentleman across the street.  Why did the turtle cross the road – we suspect the result of some sort of affair.]

[Arrived at Arrowwood . . . and yet another gorgeous day!]

[Passing through the pool area on the way to the deck . . . ]

[Running into Anthony, who was on a set break . . . ]

[HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!]

[Joined Deb and  Paul Trumm a couple of tables away – but immediately adjacent to Anthony.]

[Ain’t we got fun?]

[Arrowwood is a major summer employer of graduated Cardinal athletes.  I recognized our server as “K2,” Kalley Bistodeau, from the class of ’15.  I told her I missed her dad at the games.]

[Anthony . . . ]

[An anniversary request from you know who . . . ]

[Well, I always show the road in winter . . . ]

June 30

[The class of ’65 had its monthly fine dining experience at Arrowwood today. We find it’s easier to eat with a group because . . . you can share the teeth?]

[Central Junior High, from whence we all matriculated to Jefferson Senior High . . . ]

[And we discussed happier times.]

[Just a note to assure all that the duck house (the new and improved model) is alive and well at its usual spot in Noonan’s Park. We have it on good authority, however, the several ducks moved to Urbank during the transition period.]

[And then I was back at Arrowwood for the third time in 24 hours.  We had our Lake Darling Annual Association meeting there, and afterwards went out to the deck to enjoy King Louis and ’57 Chevy.]

July 1

Rest in Peace, Mr. Mayor . . .

Jami said it best for all of us, “The hearts in this household are with you all.” I’ll always remember the first time I met Mayor Dan Ness. I asked if I should address him as “Your Honor.” He replied, “I prefer Your Worship.” How could you not like that?

We are going to momentarily take you back to the glorious days of yesteryear, i.e., our trip’s beginnings in Budapest, to enjoy the photographic stylings of another member of our team, Pam Mathison.  Not only will it give you the opportunity to view our adventure through the ‘eye’ of another, but it gives me the opportunity to perform on the other side of the camera (mais oui bien sur!).  So, with somewhat further adieu, a much needed retrospective? . . .

[Our first night dining in Budapest.  We all went for the special.]

[Our first day involved a train trip to Szentendre – and the open air ethnographic museum, Skanzen.]

[Peeking in the windows of the inn (fogado) to see if anyone was there . . . ]

[We were pinched for Peeping Tom-ism!]

[Fortunately, Pam and Tom were able to bail us out. Here they’re raising the gates for our freedom!]

[Whew, after that we need a pastry!  As I recall, I got a poppyseed – which may have given me a false positive drug test?]

[Approaching buildings more gingerly now . . . ]

[The Super eyeballs the windmill – the sun eyeballs the top of my head (yup, it was a sunburn day).]

[Ahhh, shade!]

[This looks like the prelude to a showdown in a spaghetti western?]

[C’mon out, you cowards!]

[Oh, it’s just a wine cave!]

[I think I found the tracks back!]

[Hi!  We’re on the train back to Budapest.  And the top of my head will be peeling by morning.]

[And then a jump to Buda Castle and the Hungarian National Gallery.]

[Here’s where the plot thickens . . . I lost my watch here, on that blue cushioned bench.  I took it off and put it next to my camera while we had lunch.  I only remembered the camera when we left . . . ]

[What time should we all meet up back here to look for Tom’s watch?]

[OMG . . . Kim Kardashian?]

[These two people had so many military top secret clearances between them that if we would have discovered what they were up to, we would have all been disappeared!]

[In the absence of a Stairmaster.]

[Coming in for a landing at the Hungarian National Museum.]

[Does anyone know where we are?]

[Aha, this looks familiar – we’re heading back to the funicular.]

[And now with our tour group at Heroes’ Square.]

[Our first dinner together on the boat.]

[Tom and I took all the “college prep” math courses together in high school.  Here we relive our discovery of the circle!]

Thanks, Pam!!

Hungarian guys don’t say to one another, “That chick is a 10.”  They say “Az egy bombanő.” (That’s a bomb woman.)

Up Next:  Maybe Passau?

June 21

[Hope you made it?  And if you didn’t . . . well, you missed it.  See you at the next one?]

June 23

After a day of rest, the first of the “6 in 3 days” begins . . .

Al & Friends

[The Super hosted the AAUW (no, not a union) at the house.  Danny and I didn’t fit the profile, so we fled . . . first to The Depot where we discovered Big Ole’s restoration to be in the Smurf mode . . . ]

[Then to Sixth Avenue Wine & Ale, where Al & Friends were playing.  I was sans camera, so I dialed up a video from a couple of years ago . . . you just have to think Terry Kennedy in the Mary Lou Thunselle spot, but Bill, Al, and Mel remained the same.]

June 24

Anthony Miltich 

[Anthony led off a “duo” of performances on Friday.  Carlos Creek Winery provided the venue that afternoon.  Oh yeah, the winery hosts weddings pretty much every weekend.]

[Missing U at . . .  (Her standard FB posting.)]

[A performer should never run out of guitars!]

[Now I can’t get this song out of my head!]

[Sang Landslide during a break.  Part of a larger group of alleged educators from Ashby -also claimed to be close personal friends of Helen and John!  Mostly, they just seemed happy that the school year was over.]

[More “upgrades” in the wine tasting building . . . ]

[That back wall will eventually be pushed out 12 feet.  The deli will be removed, and the  entertainers will perform in the middle of the new back wall.]

[The view from the inside to the outdoor performance area.]

[Anthony and . . . the educators.]

[And here comes the horse drawn wedding party.]

Dan Mahar

[After a short visit to the house (to make sure it was still there), it was on to . . . ]

[Always special when Mr. Mahar comes to town.  I decided the lighting was not good for a video, but here’s one from a couple years ago.]

[And on the way home, here’s that Ole guy again.]

June 25

Skippin’ Stones

[The first of a “trio” of events on Saturday, beginning at the winery.  Skippin’ Stones is a relatively new group from the Cities, though we have seen them here before.  The Super setting up her Missing U at . . . posting.]

[Yeah, I heard that too  . . ]

[Oh, I can’t believe that?  (Obviously, I have no idea what they were talking about.)]

[Tim, Elsa Lee, and Russell.]

[Gale force winds prevented any video activities.  This was the only video I could find on YouTube, but it gives a good cross section of their music.]     ]

Salty Dogs

[Rushed home to throw water on our faces, and then off to Bug-A-Boo Bay for . . . ]

[Beautiful evening with Lake Le Homme Dieu in the background.  Big crowd, lots of noise, and the wind was still an issue – no videos taken here either.]

[So, a tune of another day (plus, it includes Annie!).]

The Cheese Bots

[Do not pass ‘Go,’ do not collect $200, and go directly to SAWA for . . . ]

[Finally, a video taken on the day!]

Summer bachelors like summer breezes, are never as cool as they pretend to be.  ~ Nora Ephron

Up Next:  Passau?

June 11

June 16

[This is Merill Kiehne, the adopted father for the weekend.  He is an active 94 year old.  His weekend adoptees are all in the neighborhood of the big SEVEN-OH and feeling it.]

[His actual sons, Jerry and Tom, were in town from such disparate places as Florida and Texas, and the partying began here at the 125th birthday of the Echo Press.]

[The party continued later that evening at Sixth Avenue Wine & Ale.]

[This is Tom and that is Merill.]

[And this is Jerry (Alex class of ’63), Tom (Alex class of ’65) , and Merill (Alex class of ’42).]

[And this is Brad, Tom, and Tom (all Alex class of ’65.)]

June 17

[And this is the still new Alex high school.  Jerry had never visited the place.  We gave it a try, knowing school was out.  But now days, kids work out in the weight room year round. The gym, and thus the school, were open.  We advised on-site staff we were just looking around.]

[And then Greg (Alex class of ’65) came up from the Cities that evening, and we all had our first fine dining experience at the new Bello Cucina (the old Old Broadway).]

[And one point in the weekend, the Super admitted to becoming a bit overwhelmed by testosterone.]

June 18

[The winery and Josie.  It was hard to convince out-of-towners that “the winery and Josie” were a good idea.  Brad, and later Tom, were game thinking they would put in an appropriate polite appearance before leaving.  (This was Brad’s first visit to the winery; neither had ever seen Josie before.)  They stayed for her whole show.  We knew that they would.]

 

 

[Bad weather was in the forecast, as it usually is for Josie?  It looked threatening at times, but the smart phone guys kept an eye on the radar.  We made it through – actually a comfortable day for sitting outside.]

[This appears to have been shot through water.  Go figure?]

 

[We gave everybody a break until evening.  Then it was on to Bug-A-Boo Bay and Anthony.  Apologies to him for the limited coverage, but we were fully staffed in the audience and there was a lot of catching up to do (the Etniers were reunited with Tom, European cruise partners, and it was Deb Trumm’s birthday).  I pretty much forgot about the camera.]

June 19

[The actual Father’s Day.  We left the Kiehne family to their own devices.  The Super and I stayed indoors with the air conditioning all day.  I did four loads of laundry.]

June 20

[Continuing the Europe cruise reunion, Helen and John invited all out for a pontoon cruise around Pelican Lake in Ashby.]

[Helen and Tom discuss the finer points of cruising Pelican v. cruising the Danube.]

[Loading it up – pontoon cruises require a plethora of coolers and assorted food products.]

[Yup, another beautiful day in Vacationland USA – the warmer and more humid weather of the weekend had given way to a crisp cool front!]

[Jerry, Brad, Greg, and the Super on point.]

[Captain John . . . ]

[First Mate Helen (or should their titles be reversed?)]

[Pelicans . . . on Pelican Lake?]

[An eagle and its nest.]

[Bird Island – cormorants are everywhere in the treetops.]

[Pelican Lake is big – 3,760 acres or slightly larger than Lake Ida.]

[Refugee from Texas . . . ]

[We’re done cruising but too worn out to get any farther than the deck . . . ]

[A photo op of the Boys of ’65 (with Merill, the only surviving parental unit, keeping an eye on all of us).]

[The Coot is Ashby’s town symbol.]

The thing to remember about fathers is… they’re men. A girl has to keep it in mind: They are dragon-seekers, bent on improbable rescues.  ~  Phyllis McGinley

Up Next:  Back to Europe.