Surprise Flowers

This past Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day, previously called "Secretary's Day." One of my bosses surprised me with these beautiful tulips!

"The Sound of Music"

Nancy, Laurey and yours truly

Delicious dinner.

Capt. Von Trapp introducing his seven children

Maria teaching the children to sing

Bedroom scene with Maria and the Von Trapp children

The Von Trapp Family Singers at the festival.

Last night Laurey, Nancy, and I went to our church's dinner theater production of The Sound of Music. What a wonderful evening we had!

First of all, the dinner was delicious: salad and breads, tender beef, mashed potatoes, asparagus spears, and turnips, followed by scrumptious apple strudel.

The play was amazing! All of the actors, directors, instrumentalists, and crew - plus seamstresses - are from our church. We had front row seats, too.

I was taking lots of photos, but because of the lighting, not many turned out. I'm giving a small glimpse of the evening with these. We've decided we would like to make this an annual event.

Celebrating My Aunt Liz!

Aunt Liz and Pat (Pat's birthday was also this week)

Peder and yours truly

Sarah and babyAurelia pouring tea for cousin Ethan

Aunt Liz, Aurelia and Ethan

Last week my Aunt Liz turned 85 years of age! To honor her, several of my family members gathered at her home on Saturday for a little birthday party. I have always loved her and her sweet, spunky attitude. A more generous person I've hardly known. Here's to at least 20 more years, Aunt Liz! Happy Birthday!

Shiny, shiny, clean

Now and then I get a front row seat to see Peppi, my canary, taking a bath. This morning, while eating my breakfast, I was a witness to this fun event. It is an adorable sight. First he takes a drink or two of the water, then he hops into the tub and begins dipping his head in the water and splashing water all over. He dips and shakes many times over, followed by hopping out of the tub onto a perch to shake out some of his feathers. Often he returns to the tub to dip a few more times. Finally, he flies to his upper most perch and begins to preen, using his beak to smooth his feathers into place. He shakes and preens, shakes and preens. It's a necessary task for Peppi to stay healthy. And it's very cute.

Heavenly Sight

I love looking at the moon, especially when it is a full moon or only a sliver. Tonight it was a tiny sliver. I noticed it when I was walking to my car in a mall parking lot. Up to the left of it was Venus. While I didn't have my camera along, it wouldn't have mattered, because I have never been able to get a good picture of the moon. I guess it takes a better camera than what I have. The picture posted here is one I found on the Internet. It most closely resembles what I was privileged to see tonight. Isn't it beautiful!

Minnesota Twins

I'm a Minnesota Twins fan - have been all my life (well, as long as there has been a Minnesota Twins team). Even during the ten years we lived in Illinois, I remained a loyal Twins fan.

In the olden days, Steve and I would often attend the morning worship services at our church and then go to the Sunday afternoon game. Somewhere in my storage, I have Super 8 movies of camera day at the old Met Stadium, which is now the location of the Mall of America. A couple of the players at that time were Tony Oliva and Rod Carew. We were at the game when Harmon Killebrew hit his famous home run into the second deck of the outfield.

Of course, after Met Stadium was torn down, the Twins played at the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome, which is in downtown Minneapolis. I always liked games at the dome. I knew what to wear - rain or shine, or even snow - I could count on it being the same. One horrible memory there is the night I worked as a volunteer at a concession stand. It was a fund-raiser for the Bloomington Jefferson High School band. Had I known what I was getting into, I would have never offered to do it, but that will have to be another blog entry. There was one nice thing that happened that night: I got to talk to Joe Mauer. Before the game, just after batting practice, he was walking toward the dugout. I was sitting in the first row when he walked by. I called out to him, "Joe, I really like your sideburns." He replied, "Thanks. I think I'll keep them!" Last year he was named Most Valuable Player in baseball. Last year was also the conclusion of the Twins playing ball at the dome, which has since been renamed Mall of America Field.

Tomorrow is opening day at the brand new Target Field, also in downtown Minneapolis. It would have been exciting to go to the event. I understand it is state of the art, with fantastic dining opportunities, and plenty of places to stay out of the rain (or snow). It has been given an award for being "green." My sister got to go to an exhibition game there last week and posted these pictures.

All fans in attendance tomorrow will receive an Opening Day Homer Hanky and an Opening Day 2010 commemorative certificate. Other things happening tomorrow include:

• 11:30 a.m. - The Twins unveil the Kirby Puckett bronze legend statue on Target Plaza.
• 12:00 p.m. - Gates open - legendary Twins players will ceremonially open their respective gate (Harmon Killebrew at Gate 3, Tony Oliva at Gate 6, Kent Hrbek at Gate 14, Rod Carew at Gate 29 and Kirby Puckett, Jr. at Gate 34)
• Special arrangement of the National Anthem will be performed by The Twin Cities All-Stars comprised of members of the Sounds of Blackness, The Steeles, Moore by Four and the Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir,
• Military flyover of F-16s performed by the 148th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard located in Duluth, Minn. with fireworks to follow.
• Other activities will be included, and then the Twins team will take the field and hopefully win their first game against the Boston Red Sox at this beautiful new field.

New Neighbors

After eleven months of having no one living in the apartment above mine, I have new neighbors. A young mother and her six year old daughter moved in a week ago. It has been an interesting week of getting used to sounds again - sounds of footsteps, both heavy and sometimes running; water running in the shower, bath tub, and toilets.

My previous neighbors were not very friendly. In fact, the wife was downright mean at times. I still remember the day I moved in. It was the end of July, the temperature was probably in the high 80's - low 90's. Many of my family members helped with the laborious task. Trip after trip we made from the moving van into my home, and all the while the woman upstairs sat in her window watching us (it felt like she was spying on us). Did she come down to introduce herself to me? No. Did she make a pitcher of lemonade? No. There was no "welcome," whatsoever.

Remembering that, last Friday night I dropped into one of my favorite grocery stores thinking they would probably have beautiful Easter cakes. Sure enough. They had many pretty things from which to chose. I picked out a pink bunny cake, which came inside a nice, clear plastic dome. I found a simple Easter card which read, "Happy Spring. Happy Easter." When I got home, I wrote a simple "Welcome! I hope you will be happy here. Here is my name and phone number should you ever need anything." Since they weren't home, I left it in front of their door.

Saturday afternoon I was working in my home when my phone rang. A little voice on the other end said, "We're the neighbors. Would you like to come up for a visit?" Yes! I would love to. I walked upstairs and was greeted by six year old Toni. She invited me in, and I stayed about an hour and a half. I had a delightful time.

Angie, her mom, is going through a divorce, but was very kind and shared many things with me. Toni is a bright, perky girl, with gorgeous, naturally curly ringlets that bounce when she walks (runs). We sat on their porch, drinking sodas and eating some of the bunny cake. They gave me a tour of the already settled home. Toni's room is right above my cottage. It's fixed up very cute.

Our schedules are such that I haven't seen them since Saturday, but I am happy to have made friends with my new neighbors. Once again, the Golden Rule plays out. I am trying to treat them as I would like to be treated, and hopefully, it will get passed on.

Ich bin äußerst müde.

After 8 straight days and nearly that many nights of extra activities, Ich bin äußerst müde. Translation: I am extremely tired. I left choir rehearsal early tonight due to constant yawning. I feared I wouldn't be able to drive home safely.

I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep and having nothing planned for the next two nights. I need some down time.

Mixed Emotions

Tonight I sat in this - the hard top version. What a beautiful car! A few months ago my brother told me this was going to be the last year for the New VW Beetle. I'm stymied as to why they would discontinue something that has done so well, but apparently they have a new concept car that will take its place. It is to be revealed at the German auto show next year.

The Aquarius Blue paint will only be used on these limited special edition 3,000 automobiles - 1500 sedans; 1500 convertibles - and it is really pretty. It's kind of like a robin's egg blue.

Okay, would I like one? Probably. But there is nothing wrong with my '98 model. Just last Saturday, while filling up my car with fuel, another customer came over to me and asked if the engines were still in the back of the VWs. I thought that was kind of funny. Then he asked me how old it was. I said, "How many years do you think it is?" He said, "Three?" He was taken aback when I told him it was 11-1/2. "No!" "Yes." I have a "first edition." And it was a small challenge for me to get it.

In early 1998, I saw my first New Beetle. Wow! I thought is was really cool! The first chance I got, I drove to a VW dealership to see one close up and to give it a test drive. Well, I wasn't the only one with this idea. There must have been 15 or 20 people in line ahead of me. My turn finally came. Get this. "You may drive it out of the dealership, get right on the freeway (highway 100), go to the first exit at which you must exit, cross the bridge, and come back down the highway to our dealership. I'll accompany you." I really wanted to drive it, so I agreed.

After the test drive, I looked around a bit and then drove home. I was hooked. I had a perfectly good (great) car, but I couldn't get this New Beetle out of my head. Later that week, I test drove a second one, and then I knew I was convinced. At the first chance, I went back to the original dealership and placed my order, with a $50 deposit. The cars were so popular, I was put on a waiting list. My order looked like this: I'll take a white, dark blue, or red one; leather or cloth interior; manual or automatic; sunroof or no sunroof. Whatever comes in first, that meets any of my criteria, I'll buy. This was the middle of May.

Around the middle of June I was getting antsy, so I called the dealership and asked where I was on the waiting list. My salesperson put me on hold and after a couple of minutes, he reported his findings. From then on, I called every Friday to ask. Finally on Thursday, September 3, I got THE call. "We have a red, hardtop, no sunroof, automatic. Do you want it?" Of course I wanted it! I told him I was taking off in the morning for Jacksonville for a weekend with my son, but would pick it up on Tuesday, the 8th, after my plane landed.

When I entered the dealership, my salesman greeted me. He confided in me, your name hadn't really come to the top of the list, but last Friday after you called to see where you were on the list, my manager said, "The next time we get in a car that meets her choices, call her. We're getting tired of looking on the list every Friday!" Persistence paid off.

Did I Wake Up In San Diego?

It's March and I didn't wear a coat today! And I definitely won't be wearing one tomorrow. Why? It's in the 70's today and tomorrow it is supposed to reach 80. This will be the first March in record-keeping history in which we got absolutely NO snow in Minnesota. In fact, it was 125 years ago that there was no snow during the month of March here.

When I was in high school - about a hundred years ago - we could always count on big snows in March. They became known as the high school basketball tournament blizzards. But this year is different. An outdoor baseball game was played just last Saturday at the brand new Minnesota Twin's stadium! Imagine that on March 27th. I thought it was chancy at best. But it was played with no delays.

Nice to know we won't be wearing mittens and boots for Easter this year!

Laugh for the Day

A young executive was leaving the office late one evening, when he finds the CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand. "Listen," said the CEO, "this is a very sensitive and important document here, and my secretary has gone for the night. Can you make this thing work for me?" "Certainly," the young executive says. He turns the machine on, inserts the paper, and presses the start button. "Excellent, excellent!" says the CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine. "I just need one copy."

Signs of Spring

Three weeks ago my friend, Carin, who is from Sweden, gave me a small bundle of birch branches she had picked in the woods. She had done this about six or seven years ago knowing I have some Swedish ancestry, and and at that time, she also gave me an envelope with brightly dye-colored feathers. She told me it was a Swedish custom to put the birch branches in water and attach the feathers and that in a few weeks, in time for Easter, the branches would sprout leaves. This year I couldn't locate my feathers, so in place of them, I tied plastic eggs.

Last Wednesday I got a little impatient because I was only seeing the buds which were on the branches when she gave them to me. I called her and she said, "Well, it isn't Easter yet. Just be patient." Friday I noticed the first change - the little brown buds were nearly all turned green. And this is what I am seeing today. Isn't it fun! There are many more buds to open, and I think the leaves will continue to grow.

Bakery

Saturday my kitchen was a bakery. I had invited Rosy, the young girl I tutor each week, to come to my house to decorate cookies. Before I went to bring her to my home, I baked 4 dozen cookies and picked up 4 additional dozen from a bakery. To tell the truth, I think I went a little over-board, but I wanted to be sure we had plenty.

I've had Rosy over once before to decorate cookies - Christmas cookies. She really had fun with it and then taught her mom and grandmother to make and decorate cookies. I love it that Rosy likes to share what she is learning with her family.

Once at my house, I turned on some music - Itzhak Perlman - and we started mixing up some frosting. Rosy helped me with opening bottles of color, flavoring, and stirred and stirrred the mixture. Then I showed her one example of decorating a bunny, and let her chose whatever she wanted. She did a great job. We worked well together as a team - and got all of those cookies decorated. We made two beautiful trays of cookies for her to take home.

An Exciting Year for My Brother

In 1978, my brother took a sabbatical, of sorts, from the US Navy to be the "doctor" for Palmer Station, a science research center in Antarctica. He was there for about 13 months, being one of 9 that "wintered over." Just last night I ran into a web site in which one of the 9 had included records of those months. I have found them fascinating. Jerry is mentioned in most of them. You can read these "situation reports" - sitreps - by clicking on each date on the left column of his website which can be found here. Note: once the date opens the entry, do a left click on the small print to enlarge it. To read them in chronological order, begin at the bottom of the list. On the 12/12/79 entry, you can read about the Chilean submarine that was brought in by a Japanese film crew to shoot part of the movie, Virus. Also on this site is a photo of the 9 that "wintered over." You can click on Jerry's name to see a stand-alone photo of him. This individual returned to Antarctica for 19 additional years. Check it out on this site. His photos are very nice.

During the time Jerry was stationed there, he surprised us with phone calls - via phone patches done with ham radio. I'm sure Hans remembers this well; Peder and Heidi, I'm not so sure. It was a thrill for us to get that phone call - usually from someone in California - who "patched" us through to Jerry. Jerry would speak for a little bit, and when finished, would say, "over." Then we would talk, ending with "over." I believe we may have heard from him more that year than any other year of his Naval career. I'll never forget how excited we were when a package arrived from Jerry with sweatshirts and t-shirts from Palmer Station for my 3 kids. They proudly wore them often.

So long . . .

I'm saying Auf Wiedersehen, au revoir, arrivederci, adiós, cheerio, Sayonara, 再見, Do pobachennya, farewell, good-bye, good riddance to snow! As of today, most of our snow (lots of it dirty brown) has melted away, and I'm not at all sad about it. We got about 20 inches or so over the Christmas weekend, and it had the nerve to hang around until Thursday and Friday of this week. Thanks to warmer temperatures and some rain (also thunder and lightning), I'm beginning to see signs of Spring! Another sign that Spring is on its way - we turn our clocks ahead before heading to bed tonight.

Family Time

On Saturday cousins Linda and Diane and my sister and I gathered at my Aunt Liz's for a time of visiting and having dinner together. It's funny how we come from many directions and all manage to arrive around the same time. Linda drove up from Chicago; Janet from Rochester; Diane from Blaine. It had been a while since we were all together, and it was fun to catch up on everybody and hear about Aunt Liz's time in Arizona with Pat and Pudge this winter. I have to say, I sure miss Pat at these get-togethers, but I know she is having a great time in the Southwest. You can peek into her blog here. We always have fun during our family times.

You've Got Mail!

"You've got mail!" It's an exciting thing to open the mailbox and see that special envelope - you know, the kind without the window in it. The envelope may be white, or it could be pink, yellow, brown, or whatever. You take it inside your home and can't wait to open it.

Another exciting piece of mail is e-mail. Every one in my family is now "online" and I look forward to hearing from them, as well as my friends. Today I got my first ever email from one of my grandchildren - from my oldest grandchild, Josiah. I could hardly wait for the email to open. It was wonderful! - a thank you note for a card I had snail-mailed him. He typed it entirely by himself (he's 5 years old). I was so happy about it that I phoned him (in Germany) and when Rachel answered the phone, I asked to speak to Josiah. He took the phone and said, "Grandma, did you get my email?!" I loved the excitement in his voice. He was so happy, and I was thrilled! I hope there will be many more emails from him in the future.

The Goldbergs

I'm a subscriber of Netflix and am so happy to be finding old classic TV shows. I've now watched the first two seasons of Father Knows Best. Many of the episodes are so good that I watch them twice before returning the DVDs.

Tonight I started watching my new selection The Goldbergs. I can't say that I remember ever seeing this before (created in 1955), but I sure liked the first two episodes: Social Butterfly and Member of the Jury. One of the things that intrigues me with these vintage shows are the furnishings of their homes and their clothes. It reminds me so much of my childhood - and the stories have good, clean humor with good morals. They bring back good memories of growing up in my old neighborhood.

Aurelia's Sleep-over

Peek-a-boo!

On Friday night Aurelia came to spend part of the weekend with me. We played and played, read a couple of books, and on Saturday watched the movie Lady and the Tramp. She was such a good girl - per usual. I let her stay up past her bedtime because she was playing so nicely. Then Saturday morning she woke up somewhere around 6 o'clock. I told her it was too early to be up. "Let's sleep a little longer, okay?" We slept until 8:10.

My Olympic Pin Collection

One of the things I wanted to do while in Vancouver was to trade Olympic pins with folks from various places. I wasn't sure how this would work, but to prepare myself, I bought 10 pins online prior to my trip and was willing to trade 7 of them. The night before we went to Vancouver, Heidi and I shopped at an Olympic store in Birch Bay, Washington, and the owner, a former Olympic athlete, showed me how the trading happens. He said to wear my pins on either a scarf draped over my shoulders, or on a lanyard. I chose the lanyard method.

I placed the 7 pins on the lanyard and proudly sported it on the outside of my coat. I stopped the first person I ran into in Vancouver who was wearing pins. He was from Quebec City and agreed to make a trade with me. After that, I found only two people who were willing to trade. I got one pin from Finland, one from the Moscow 1980 Olympics and one from the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. The rest of them on my lanyard are ones that I bought.