alexandriacardinals

Sixth Avenue Wine & Ale, Wednesday & Thursday

[Brenda and BAT are road warriors, through a hub somewhere in the Great American Southwest.  They travel hither and yon to bring joy, music, and entertainment to the teeming masses (and sometimes just to audiences).  Alexandria is the only place in Minnesota where they have performed, this being their 3rd or 4th year (but who’s counting?).  The Super has yet to miss a performance.  This is Thursday night, where every chair in the place was reserved.  I ‘missed’ Wednesday night (my only BAT miss) because it was a Ladies Night Out.  I figured Ruthie and Jami and friends wanted a night out to do whatever ladies do when they aren’t chaperoned?]

***

Arrowwood, Friday

[On the deck, the most beautiful day in the merry, merry month of May.  We were happy to see “Baby Bruiser” had returned to work the summer here, and I had my first deckburger of the season!]

[People were boating over . . . standing in line waiting for open tables.]

[The Super says, “G’night, see you at the winery over the weekend!”]

[And as the sun sinks slowly to the left, we make our exit.]

***

Carlos Creek Winery, Saturday & Sunday

[We suspected the Saturday afternoon performance would be ‘weathered’ to inside.  It was a gray day, but the rain held off.]

[Self-admitted avid BAT fans who, to this day, do not appear to have suffered any visible mental or physical side effects as a result of such.]

[Whatta guy!]

The first of four BAT live videos featured here, Malaguena:

[BAT:  Whew!  That was pretty fast!  Me:  Adrenaline rush!]

[Closing with the avid fans . . . and the Super’s dream car.]

Sunday . . .

[On Sunday, the first annual!  I think it succeeded beyond the winery’s wildest expectations for yet another rainy day.  Great crowds.]

[As usual, the Super wins again . . . the first drawing for a door prize!]

[We’re inside today, so BAT has downsized from stocking feet to bare feet . . . the Super captures the action for Facebook.]

[Brenda visits our table . . . well, actually it was his table first.  The guy in the right background appears to employ my “camera grin.”]

[Let’s rock ‘n roll!]

[It’s a PAR-TAY!]

Video, Piano Man:

[Apologies for the cinematography, I was reaching into my pocket so the Super could “put bread in his jar!”  And to show this attracted an audience far beyond the immediate Alexandria metropolitan area, the Super’s late dance partner in the video is from Sartell.]

[Something about a winery that produces great dancing . . . well, enthusiastic dancing!]

[Conga line!!  The Super brings up the rear.]

[Well, OK, let’s go around again!]

[Local DJ Michael Wright and, I believe, Michelle of the winery  do another on the half hour drawing.  I never won, but then that’s appropriate for someone who’s trying to provide fair and balance reporting.]

[I win!  No, I win!]

[Over the years we have introduced hockey moms, basketball moms, baseball moms, all rightfully so, and now we bring you track dad!  Doug Hasz, of course, has twin daughters, juniors this year, who are Top 10 in the country in cross-country.  His kettle corn is pretty good too!]

[That keg, containing beer and wine (?), was auctioned off to the gentleman in the gray shirt, who is photo posing with the Schell’s beer guy and the winemaker.]

[Brenda wonders, “Should I have made a bid?”]

[The Super and I wandered out for the slow dances and rocked back and forth trying not to tip over.]

Video, More Than A Feeling:

[Get down, get funky!!]

Video, Don’t Stop Believing:

What a way to rock out!  BAT does it all from Willie Nelson to Steve Perry . . . Did I mention the guy never takes a break during a 3 – 4 hour show?

[Thanks to our table hosts, and . . .]

[Say good night, Christine!]

Wives are people who feel they don’t dance enough.  ~  Groucho Marx

Up next:  I think today’s softball game will be rained out, so likely cruising the Danube.

Serbia

[The daily ritual.  The Super was always the first one on the bus . . . because she has to be! She would use various apparel and carry-ons to “hold” seats for the other seven of us.  But by this stage in the trip, most people had settled to a particular seat anyway.]

[So now we’re in Serbia, the capital city Belgrade to be exact.  And the city was the capital of Yugoslavia from 1918 until “things fell apart” in 2006.  I believe this building, the first important looking one we ran across, is the Austrian Embassy.]

[Once again, just to let you know where we are in the grand scheme of things . . . and in case you had to send a cab.]

[And this is where we’re going first.]

[We had been enjoying lovely weather throughout the trip, until this day.  Very windy and chilly as we force marched into the fortress.]

[There is a story here, but a rather lengthy one.  We’re going through Stambol Gate, and one remembers that because the cobble stone road through the arch is quite uneven so one is prone to “stumble.”  The fortress walls are from antiquity, but the clock tower is Austrian and rather more recent (as I recall).]

[This is our guide, Srdjan, and I wish I could remember his last name.  All our guides were very good, and I suspect are all teachers in “real life.”   I suspect Srdjan probably at the college level.  And why not?  A bus load of 50 tourists, a 3 – 4 hour guided tour, such as Srdjan may pick up a hundred bucks or more just in tips. That’s real money in this part of the world.]

[Watch your step!]

[An original Big Bertha, appearing about 85 years before the golf club version.]

[Entering the Fortress . . . ]

[Be afraid, be very afraid!]

[Srdjan came on the boat that night to give a talk on the history of Serbia. He’s writing a book on it, “Crossroads of the World,” where behind him here the Sava River enters the Danube (Belgrade has been destroyed 44 times and had 60 different controlling occupiers over its 2,700 year history). I asked if he would come to Alex for a book signing? BTW, everything in the background in his photo, on the other side of the rivers, is all new since WWII.]

[The statue overlooking the city is The Victor, constructed in the 20’s to commemorate victories in the Balkan Wars and WWI.  And probably the best view I got of the Sava River Bridge (background left), an engineering marvel featured in “Building It Bigger.”]

[It’s like May in Minnesota!]

[Hey, there’s a Human Cannonball in here!  Says he’s been stuck for two weeks and living on Jimmy John’s deliveries!]

[Again, in case there is confusion as to location.]

[This is obviously a planned effort . . . but graffiti is rampant throughout this part of the world.]

[One of those must be the Jarl!]

[Federal Executive Council (SIV) Building, built before Yugoslavia decomposed into six separate countries.]

[Apartment from the Soviet era.  Many are simply abandoned now.]

[Built to host the Basketball World Championship of 1994, it seats 25,000 (contrary to what I initially reported to Basketball Dan and Gus).]

[But you should see it during rush hour!!]

[The Sava River Bridge – we never really got a good view point for it?]

[Well, ya got trouble, my friend, right here, I say, trouble right here in River City.]

[Our first glimpse of the Temple of St. Sava.]

[House of Flowers (and Museum of Yugoslav History) was Tito’s winter garden and where he is buried.]

[Temple of St. Sava, a Serbian Orthodox church, that just happens to be so large that the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul would fit inside it!]

[Through fits and starts, construction began in earnest in 1989 with the lifting of the 4,000 ton central dome.  It is still under construction, funded only by donations.]

[Don’t build these kinds of places much these days.]

[The drive-away.]

[A 19th-century Mickey D’s?]

[The rain, the park, and other things . . . ]

[This is a defense building, Army as I recall, right around the corner from . . .]

[A first view of the Ministry of Defense building that NATO bombed in 1999 during the Kosovo War.  There are kids in high school today that were alive when this happened!]

[Again, I wonder if these buildings remain in this condition as a reminder?  This is in the heart of the city, there are streets and sidewalks passing this building.  I assume the building has been judged safe to walk or drive by.]

[A city boulevard . . . doesn’t get anymore exciting than that.]

[National Parliament]

[We disembarked for a walk around Republic Square with Prince Michael on horseback.]

[Where we were dropped, I believe the building is a theater of some sort, right across from St. Michael.]

[Into city center, a block from Republic Square . . . ]

[Here Srdjan left us to our own devices for an hour and a half of so – the usual practice at most tour stops.]

[Before we struck out on our own, he mentioned something about this chocolate shop.  Not surprisingly, a lot of us ended up here!  🙂   ]

[With my extensive knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet, I translated the above building name and came up with bupkis?]

[Back on the boat that evening, we were again treated to the dance and music so proudly displayed reflecting the local culture and traditions.  And then we had to wonder how this was any different than what we saw in Croatia?  How could these countries, so alike in so many ways, fight a war, with many atrocities, over perceived differences?  A riddle mankind has yet to resolve.]

Men marry because they are tired; women marry because they are curious.  Both are disappointed.  ~  Oscar Wilde

Up next:  We’ll see.

Croatia

[The Croatians are coming, the Croatians are coming!!  On board to check everybody’s passport – apparently my passport photo still looked enough like the current me to pass muster.  Fortunately, their records did not show my past history of addiction to Tootsie Roll Pops.]

[We’re moving into serious recent history here.  This is driving through our port city of Vukovar, the largest Croatia river port at 28,000.  The city was 90 percent destroyed in the war with Serbia that ended in 1992, only a generation ago.]

[An ancient archaeological find, the peace dove has been adopted as a Croatian symbol.]

[Our bus guide passed around the dove and the map.  It’s always nice to know where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going.]

[More Great Hungarian Plain.]

[Meet Adela Sabo. Just your typical Croatian single mom, with a 16-year old son and a dog who has a doll, who works 186 hours a month as a nurse and runs a bed and breakfast. She lives in a small village just outside Osijek. The Serbs did not capture Osijek during the war (whereas the previously mentioned Vukovar was 90% destroyed), but it was under fire for a long time. She lived in the basement during that time and is still frightened of fireworks. As part of the Viking cruise package now, small groups go to spend an hour or so with a local. This was a typical residential neighborhood.  It’s been very popular – fun and interesting.]

[So, Osijek, population 108,000 (4th largest in Croatia) and about 25 miles NW of Vukovar, was next on the visit list.  These walls are from a 17th century fortress built by the Hapsburg Empire.]

[The main city square, Ante Starcevica, featuring St. Michael’s church (immediately above).]

[Leaving the main square area, I guess it’s OK to store your heating fuel on the sidewalk?]

[This is a TOP SECRET church . . . because I don’t recall its name and can’t find it anywhere in Osijek searches?]

[Maybe because nobody could ever report on it?]

[But it’s apparently a regular tour group stop where students from a local area music school come and perform for tourists.  Sometimes its classical, may be groups, but on this day it was a young lady name Mija (I’m told the Croatian spelling for MY-ah).  She sang several familiar rock and folks songs in English, such as Hallelujah, and reminded a bit of our own Josie Nelson.  I tried to track a Croatian Mija on YouTube lest she had posted anything – unfortunately, not.   ]

[And one would think this would be useful in tracking the church.  Statuary made from the spoils of war?  But, no?]

[The bus tour over, we lunched back on the Jarl then ventured out into the environs of war torn Vukovar.  The big building (top) in Franjo Tudman Square (our mooring area) may be left as a reminder as it’s still riddled with the marks warfare.]

[We walked along the river to a restored museum, a/k/a, Castle Eltz.  We entered to find a large contingent of school children overseen by a young man who on that day apparently was in charge of the place.  If it had been the 50’s, he would have been considered a beatnik, and he was full of exuberance and in broken English was delighted to have we Americans tour ‘his’ museum.  He didn’t even want us to pay an admission fee, but of course we left a donation upon departure.  🙂   ]

[The Castle after the war and now during restoration.  It’s not done yet.  The war torn tree on the river side remains . . . probably for as long as it remains.]

[The peace dove]

[There’s never enough mustard . . . ]

[‘Unknown” painters are finding a place here.  🙂   ]

[We happened to meet Dale from Chicago along the way, so he joined us . . . ]

[The peasants are revolting . . . ]

[Gotta love it . . . a museum with a “selfie” mirror!]

[Homage to at long last, a free press?]

[A cursory phrenological examination of the subjects determined the bust on the left to likely not be of Hungarian or Magyar lineage.  More likely to be from an evolutionary branch that dead-ended millenia ago.]

[I’m surprised the Super didn’t make an offer to buy some clothing?]

[Again, the aftermath of war.]

[I believe this was shot through a window on an upper floor toward “town.”]

[We walked back on a main commercial street.  Building on the right has been restored; the building on the left remains battled scarred.]

[Pock mocked by war.]

[A commercial square and . . . a shoe.  Was waiting for a photo op for The Biddies but we recognized the current user group from the boat so just used her.  😉  ]

[Heading back to the boat through Franjo Tudman Square.     ]

[It must have been happy hour on the Jarl, with The Biddies enjoying an aquavit shooter?]

[The Vukovar water tower (upper right) after the war; and as we boated away (below) . . .]

[Come out with your camera! There’s a lightning storm in the distance!  And so out I rushed, shooting all of the above hoping to catch a bolt.  They’re worth it just for the lighting though.]

[And whom amongst doesn’t like champagne hand delivered?  Kathy and Bert in the background are looking very formal (was there another opera on tap)?]

[The Super really took a shine to these guys.  My guess would be a coif admiration.  They were from Philadelphia and were experienced world travelers.  Still the question remains, where was Jay Sieling?]

[Bon apetit!]

Women dress alike all over the world:  they dress to be annoying to other women.  ~  Elsa Schiaparelli

Contrary to popular belief, English women do not wear tweed nightgowns.  ~  Hermione Gingold

Up next:  Depends what happens over the holiday weekend.

Today’s softball sections began with . . .

[The Super preparing the field?]

[I arrived late . . . yes, it was a previously scheduled eating event.  The game was in the bottom of the 4th and our Cards were losing to the Sauk Rapids-Rice Storm, 3 – 0.  I had not been to a game yet this year, so it was my first time at the new high school field.  It was very nice, but it was completely surrounded by chain link fencing, the number one bane of the photographer.  I got my bearings, then shot Kaila Dewanz, senior infielder/pitcher (and hockey player).]

[Nope, don’t like that one.]

[Card dugout excited at the prospect of runs . . . ]

[And here comes Kaila with one.]

[Coach Albers addresses senior outfielder Carly Dropik (and basketball), suggesting she hit one where outfielders fear to tread.]

[The Storm discuss how to prevent that.]

[Ms. Dropik, a known power hitter, hit a shot but right at the rightfielder.]

[Ellie Ronning, sophomore infielder, hit a nice line single to center here scoring Emma Ziegler, sophomore shortstop (and basketball), from 3rd.  The Cards rallied with 2-run innings in the 4th, 5th, and 6th, that potentially could have been much more.]

[Anna Lee, senior outfielder (and soccer and backetball)?  Guessing ‘cuz I can’t see her number.]

[Yay for us!  I didn’t get much coverage due to my late arrival.  Then a Storm dad dropped by to chat for a few innings – he had a daughter on the team, an 8th-grader, who was also the starting point guard on their basketball team.  I think I remember her.]

[Jana Roste, senior outfielder, gives it a go.  I’ve noticed in previous game reports she’s been doing very well.]

[We win!  And an nice comeback at that.]

[Sophomore catcher McKenzie Revering (Little Rev from hockey) leads the handshake parade.]

[I hope I’m available for the next game . . . ]

A woman will buy anything she thinks the store is losing money on.  ~  Kin Hubbard

Up next:  Time for Croatia?