alexandriacardinals

MOTU

[MOTU @ SAWA, last Friday.  Dave Strom, keyboards, and Bill Engebretson, drums, of local Components fame; and Wally Warhol, steel drums and trumpet, of local Finestra fame.]

Salty Dogs

[Salty Dogs @ Carlos Creek Winery, last Saturday.]

[Photography by Berg.]

[Annie & Greg (not blocked by other customers as were the vocalists).]

[The proprietors, a/k/a, “Fred and Ginger.”]

The Cheese Bots

[Another gratuitous shot at the merry, merry month of May.  Almost had to pay a visit to the SAWA basement again last Saturday – tornado warnings in the area. We were there for the Cheese Bots and almost relived our previous trip downstairs there from July 2010 (about one month after the Wadena tornado). We got another inch and a half of rain Friday bringing our weekly total to 5 inches. Enough already!]

[SAWA basement, 2010]

Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra

[Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra last performance of the season at Alexandria Area High School, last Sunday. That makes four live music events for the Super and me since Friday night (yeah, it’s getting me way behind on the blog). Anyway, from the previous events I was surprised how many people still are not aware we have a symphony! C’mon folks, come out and support these musicians! They only do four concerts a year . . . we should pack the place. They are really quite terrific – it’s something most towns our size do not have. Oh, and the AGC folks would be interested in knowing the viola soloist was Ryan Jensen, Ken’s son, Alex class of 2009.]

Of the two lots, the woman’s lot of perpetual motherhood, and the man’s of perpetual babyhood, I prefer the man’s.  ~  George Bernard Shaw

Up next:  Back to Europe . . . or softball?

May’s weather can best be characterized as gawd awful . . . and then came yesterday!

[A beautiful day for a ballgame!  I hadn’t been to a Cardinal baseball or softball game all spring . . . we were either traveling or, well, that weather issue.  Here senior Danny Kuhn delivers the first pitch of the game to the Rocori Spartan leadoff hitter.  Danny struck out the side in the first – sometimes a bad omen.  The conference rivals came into game with almost identical records – 11 – 6 for the Cards, 11 – 5 for the Spartans.]

[I will feature Mr. Kuhn a lot, along with his senior leftfielder, Spencer Lucas, because their moms, Beth and Pam, have been longtime fellow gym attendees with the Fat Boys Walking Club.  Danny has missed part of the season with a bad back, and Beth said he’s pitching with a herniated disc.  Oy!]

[Danny is greeted by his teammates after his perfect 1st inning.  After the Rocori pitcher struck out the side in the bottom of the 1st, it appeared we would not be having a slugfest.]

[Pam (3rd from left) is the team’s photographer and was set up down the rightfield line so as to not have to shoot through a chainlink fence.]

[Unfortunately, the Spartan pitcher matched Danny’s effort in the 1st, here getting Brayden Amundson, junior centerfielder (also football and basketball).]

[Noah Hittle, junior first baseman (and hockey player), lead off the Card’s 2nd with a line single to left.]

[A good cut by Parker Revering, senior shortstop (also a hockey player).]

[Grant Toivonen, senior 2nd baseman (and basketball player), on first.  The Spartan leftie had the Card hitters off balance most of the game.  Surprisingly, Grant, our only leftie hitter, had the best swings all game – he hit the ball hard every time up.]

[The aforementioned Mr. Lucas, senior leftfielder.  And what a nice game he had –  a couple nice hits including a bunt single (he can move his puppies) and a couple of nice running catches in the outfield.]

[The Spartan leftie was tough.  We didn’t even have threat until the 6th.]

[Lucas]

[Amundson]

[And Mr. Hittle.  Though he mostly played JV hockey this winter, I really liked his game.  Great shot and always seemed mellow . . . not mellow disinterested, but mellow “everything’s cool.”  Had the big hit in the game to get us back into it.]

[Spencer’s on 2nd – must be our big inning.]

[I believe this is Kris Setterstrom, senior rightfielder (and basketball).]

[Hittle]

[And Noah on 2nd after a double.]

[Jack Steffl, junior outfielder (and hockey player), laid down a perfect bunt.]

[Chris Leary, senior pitcher (and hockey player), came in in relief.  Danny pitched well, but the Spartans scored twice in the 2nd and twice in the 6th, mostly on Card miscues. The Card comeback began in the bottom of the 6th.  We finally got the bats going and scored 4 runs to tie the game.]

[Things looked great in the bottom of the 7th as Lucas attempted to sacrifice the winning run into scoring position.  This was the only time my mentor, Jim Pohl, and I agreed it appropriate to sacrifice an out – to advance the winning run a base.  Spencer subsequently bunted for a hit.]

[Setterstrom sacrificed the runners to 2nd and 3rd.  The next hitter was intentionally walked to load the bases, with one out . . . ]

[Our 3rd and 4th hitters, Travis Krueger, senior 3rd baseman (and basketball player) and Hittle could not get the winning run in.  I stayed for one more inning but then I knew the Super had din-din waiting.  I knew that missed opportunity would bite us – the Spartans won 10 – 5 in the 12th inning.  But the Cards came back to win the nightcap, 8 – 4.]

I must be in the front row.  ~  Bob Uecker

Up next:  Another pastime?

[Our first river trip was to Kalocsa.  It is one of the oldest towns in Hungary, noted for its paprika.  It’s population is only 18,000 . . . so think Alex plus La Grand township.  Our first stop was at St. Joseph’s church where one of our tour guides introduced an organ recital by a local priest . . . ]

[And here he is!  Blew our socks off with Bach!!]

[Reetz ponders the meaning of life . . . as well as the state of IU basketball!]

[If you guessed “in the church,” you win a cookie.]

[Should you ever deign to visit Kalocsa, here’s a handy-dandy map for you.]

[The city may be small but is of some import.  This is St. Mary Cathedral in Holy Trinity Square . . . ]

[And this is the Archbishop Palace.  Yup, they housed an archbishop.]

[Various statuary in the Square, accented by The Biddies.]

[Leaving the city (and the Cathedral), we passed Franz Liszt, the great Hungarian composer who visited Kalocsa many times.]

[On the road again, through the Great Hungarian Plain.  Karen also ponders the state of IU basketball as we pass by another rapeseed field.]

Do you like horses?

[We were busing inland from Kalosca to see a performance of traditional Puszta horsemanship.  Now, I’m not a horse guy, but this was a terrific show with skilled riders and well-trained horses.]

[This guy entertained our arrival with traditional Hungarian flute.]

[The Super checks things out . . . ]

[Popcorn, peanuts, Cracker Jack!]

[The family Gross settled into the first row.  I’m glad we didn’t . . . ]

[First, the beasts of burden (I know how you feel guys – I’ve been on shopping trips with the Supervisor!).]

[The guy with the cute “little ass” was a crowd favorite.]

[There was a mud puddle in front of where we were sitting (intentionally, we believe), so whenever they flew by at a high rate of speed we got splattered a bit.  Kind of like being at a Gallagher concert.  And the guy riding the 10 horses at once is like one more horse away from setting a world record!]

[I wanna pet the baby!]

[Wagon ride!]

[Who has more fun than The Biddies?  (Or did I ask that already?)]

[Cows!]

[Cornelia and Reetz reminisce about the good ole days.  Remember the night we got into the slivovitz? Oy!!]

[Never, ever turn your back on a 70-year old woman with a whip in her hand!  Well, it was time to shop at the horse place.]

[Take my picture with this flowery bush.]

[Then it was back to the boat for “in case the boat sinks” practice.]

[We’re No. 1!]

[Destined to be a family Gross holiday card photo for years to come.]

[This is Jarl.  Our boat was named after him.  He was a grandson of Odin.  Quite the dude.]

[Our final quick stop in Hungary.  Mohacs is a customs check point.  The countries along our route are in various stages of application to the European Union.  Until then, you have to play the passport game.]

[From Mohacs we round the bend heading for Croatia.]

[And here’s their customs boat lest they have to run us down.]

[Once again, your job is to match the food to the menu . . . ]

[Say good night, Gracie.]

If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.  ~  Katherine Hepburn

Up next:  A surprise?

Boat

It only took a week, but we’re finally there . . .

[Since my “whoop-dee-doo for my Subaru” cub reporting on river cruising has elicited inquiries regarding such, the following is offered as a public service. This was our room on the good boat, Jarl. We opted for lower lever, porthole windows, because most of the cruising was at night, and it saved us $1,500. If you’re going to be doing day cruising, you may want upper deck for bigger windows. The quarters are always going to be small, but you only use the room for sleeping.]

[Our window “view” and the boat ramp with Chain Bridge in the background.]

[Once we’d settled in our rooms, it was time for our first shipboard nosh.  The Biddies seem quite happy about that!]

[After lunch it was time to hit the city again.  We wouldn’t departing until later in the evening.  And lest you were wondering where the rest of our party was during the morning bus tour, Anne reports:  Yes, it is when Bert and Kathy went to the opera, Bill and I went to the synagogue and some other places and then met B&K at the Parliament in the afternoon.]

[A ginormous bookstore.]

[The Dohany Street Synagogue is the largest in Europe and the 2nd largest in the world. We decided it was a must see, not only for its size but for its uniqueness.  It’s very churchlike.  Built in the 1850’s, it was restored in the 1990’s to fix damage from WWII.]

[A guide seemed very young (well, to us, that’s anybody under 50) but her unaccented English was better than mine.]

[A kippah was a requirement for entry.  Quite dashing, n’est pas?]

[Over 2,000 people are buried in mass graves here.  They died from cold and hunger in the winter of 1944-45.  There is also this memorial to the 400,000 Hungarian Jews killed in WWII, and a memorial to those who tried to save them.]

[And then it was back to the boat for dinner . . . ]

[“Cornelia!!”  That’s what The Biddies shouted when she first appeared on our bus to welcome us to the cruise.  She’s the Program Director, meaning she’s in charge of everything to keep the customers happy.  And the coincidence is she was also our Program Director on our not without incidents Portraits of Southern France cruise last summer!  We thought she did a great job of trying to track Reetz’s forever lost luggage, and of guiding us through the days of boat immobility and the nationwide train strike.  Needless to say, we were happy to see her again.  She’s a lanky Austrian who is, of course, multi-multi lingual.]

[Your job, should you accept it, is to match the shown dinner courses with the menu!]

[A little evening stroll topside to walk off dinner, then back down for the evening’s entertainment . . . ]

[Cornelia introduces, for our dining and dancing pleasure, Hungarian folk music and dance!]

[Bravo!]

[In Hungarian folklore, if you can balance a bottle of Grand Marnier on your head for three consecutive dances, you will eventually have brunch with Kim Kardashian.]

[The Super practicing cinematography.]

[What fun!  And no cover charge!]

In the fine tradition of Budapest river cruising, you hoist anchor at 9:00 PM, boat under Chain Bridge, do a U-turn, and head down river where all the landmarks you have now all grown to know and love – the Parliament, Buda Castle, Matthias Church, et al – glow in an incandescent wonderland that alone is worth the price of admission.  Enjoy (reminder, you can double click each photo to see them full size) . . .

[As we head off into the night under Elisabeth Bridge, Cornelia (far right) leads the assembled masses in a rousing chorus Edelweiss (OK, I made that up.)]

Fifty percent of the world are women, yet they always seem a novelty.  ~  Christopher Morley

Up next:   Next port.