Short Vacation Day Two – Part b

What I like about digital photography is that you can capture things like the sun’s reflection in a rock pool without fancy equipment.

We could not resist the ice that formed on top of the rocks.

Gina has a camera too…..

Not all of Minnesota operates in Winter – for obvious reasons: winter and its cohorts!  This sign is painted on the boarded up door of a restaurant.

We were lucky to see quite a bit of wildlife close by – mostly scavenging on dead deer carcasses (roadkill mostly) that is emerging from the snow as it melts.  There were many crows, two bald eagles and a wolf.

We disturbed this elegant guy that was eating within two feet from the pavement and it flew into a nearby tree.

Short Vacation Day Two – Part a

Getting up on our second day, we heard weather forecasts of nasty winter weather arriving, so, even though the view out the window would have been good to look at all day long, we decided to go on a small road trip to see the local scenery.  But first I had to see if my camera could also see the nice things we were seeing…!

Try to find the previous photo in the next one – I love the little camera’s zoom and steady image capabilities.


All the time we were aware that the coast here has five elements that make for nice photography:  water, ice, snow, clouds/sky and the rocks. 

Every scene we saw invited us to take a few photographs each, so believe me, we took many more than just the select few you see here.

Not all the scenic stops were open, but there were enough for our leisurely drive.

At Grand Marais we stopped at Artist’s Point and it was soon clear why this spot was so called.  Every direction you looked, the scenery was spectacular (except for the lady that decided the sun was so nice and warm, picked a ice-free spot and lay flat on her back where she could have ended up as the foreground in quite a few photographs).

It was hard to believe they were predicting foul weather in 24 hours’ time!


Pre-Christmas at the Mall

Naomi alerted me that there would be a FlashMob Carol singing at the Mal of America and as it was on my way home, I decided to stop in and see it for myself.
The Mall was beautiful – all in silver and light blue.  In the Rotunda area, live music was continuesly being performed.  In the photo above you can see the piano player dwarfed by the huge Christmas trees.  And below you can see him a bit better.
Although the Mall was busy, it did not feel crowded at all, but just very festive.  I really enjoyed killing time and seeing all the people – many of them smiling – and all the nicely decorated stores. 
Please notice something about the photo below – the two stores that ‘happen’ to be across the passage from each other – I think the Apple store was there first, so I wonder how much it cost Microsoft to get the ‘opposing’ spot?!?!?
Of course, one of my favourite stores is the Lindt store where VERY good chocolate can be had – leaving even Cadbury way behind ….
One of the displays that had changed since I had visited the Mall before, was that of  the Lego store – they have HUGE firgures, built of Lego, on the open-air roof of the store.  Here are a few of those:
On the side of their store, they had a wall with “paintings” done on Lego blocks.
At last I returned to where the carolers would start to sing:
And sure enough, at the appointed time, they did start.  Slightly disappointed, because they had so few people, but the roads were a mess and these were not a very organised group.   But I am still glad I went and saw it and experienced the Mall before Christmas.

Wilhelm gets a haircut …

….and not just a haircut – an old style one – by a real barber – a barber with a revolving red/white/blue pole outside, wooden benches for kids to fit on his swivel chairs and old style charm and friendliness.   South Saint Paul is turning out to be a real-rural-town-like town.

After the haircut we proceeded to look around a local flea market.

Steamdriven?

So I walk into church and there is the music director and the choir director – pouring water (or something) into the piano!   I had never seen this before!  At first the term “steamdriven” comes to mind, or maybe there is a plant growing under the hood …  or  … use you imagination!

Morning Market

Early Morning at the Saint Paul Farmer’s Market!   Wow, what color!    and when we got home, we had some of the freshest mealies (corn) I have ever tasted!  And the tomatoes were the same – 100% more tasty that the ones you buy in the supermarket.

Enjoy these colors – the photos do not do the real thing justice!

290 5th St E
St PaulMN 55101

(651) 227-8101

(651) 227-6856

farmersmarket.com

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Boerewors

We worked too hard for this batch of 75 punds of Boerewors to take too many photos, but at least the end product is impressive!

Worsmaak - 75 pond boerewors - vir net 3 families.img_4042.jpgKom on tel net eers weer die lae....

We made the wors at Mark’s house and the result was split in three, Mark, us and Steve Gross.  What a nice culinary delight awaits us!

Out with The MACS – Trip #6

The group, Men About Christian Service, from our church went on a canoe trip down the St Croix river and I joined them, of course in my own boat!

Most of those thoughts are probably : “How easy do these capsize...?”Arms raised in supplication, joy, despair, disbelief....?The scenery was very differnet from water level.Johan decided to bring his own transport.The end of the trip is in sight - just after the bridge.

We went down from Taylor’s Falls to Oceola – 8 miles and a good three hours of leisure.

Thanksgiving ’06

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It was a good Thanksgiving this year – hosted by our beloved adopted South African American family.

(NOte Jacques’s very red ear – he had a cold and this is a sure sign of a slight fever….)