The Minnesota State Fair - Part 1

We spent this afternoon at the Minnesota State Fair in Saint Paul. I'll post more tomorrow but here are a few highlights.

The Fair is about FOOD!

This year, Bacon on a Stick returned.
What can I say beyond the pictures?




We didn't just eat the food, though. We enjoyed the artists' displays, like this picture of Barbie going "where no man has gone."


And we always enjoy the people-watching. Would you call this a fair-haired child?

The Fourth of July House

We've lived in our neighborhood for sixteen years. During all that time, we always have called this the "blue house."


You can barely tell why from this picture, but look on the left side. It was painted blue. Blue trim surrounding the windows. At one time, a blue spruce in the yard. At Christmas, it was decorated in blue lights. We always wondered if there was blue carpeting too.

But it changed hands a year or two ago. The new owners considered the situation with considerable care. Patches of paint appeared near the garage, then changed color. Next, in a bold move this spring, the blue paint on the bricks (lower front) turned white.

The final scheme began to emerge as a red patch grew to encompass an entire section on the right.

Finally, late in June, the final answer emerged. Red it would be! With that splash of white for accent.

And as I drove out to the store on June 30 to buy some items for our Fourth of July celebration I saw the work in progress. A red, white and blue house! Quick! Back home for the camera. I'll bet no one else caught the celebratory mood.

The actual photo doesn't do justice to the original blue color. Perhaps 16 or more years of sunshine has faded it a bit. If only you could see it as it appeared in my mind.

Here Comes the Parade!

I was back in Solon Springs on Sunday to watch the parade. Solon Springs knows that it can't compete head-to-head with Gordon on the Fourth of July. The Gordon fireworks display is known throughout the northland. They call it "world class" and they aren't kidding. It bests many major city displays.

So Solon Springs holds their "Summer Festival" a week later. Bingo, Toilet Races, they've got it all. As the Northwoods shopper schedule shows, the parade is held on Sunday afternoon. So I headed into town and took a few photos.


Naturally, the parade started off with a presentation of the colors. They came from Legion Post 499 in Gordon.


The fire department followed close behind distributing candy to the youngsters.


Smokey the bear followed next behind the fire department. Seems appropriate!


Now this bear didn't seem as happy about his situation. He belonged to the bow-hunters' exhibit. I hope these guys take care of the local bear that has been picking our raspberries and scaring the daylights out of Linda!


No politician can resist a parade. Both the incumbent and the challenger rolled out for this one.


Even the long-term powerful state senator, Bob Jauch, made an appearance. Jauch represents an area of several counties in northwest Wisconsin and has done so since 1986.


Ole's IGA (visible in a couple of the photos above) was closed for the parade. The staff was out marching in it!


And, of course, no parade is complete without a brass band. Solon's played a joyful tune.


Well, that's it. It was over in thirteen minutes. Still, it was worth the drive to see a genuine small-town celebration.

A Visit to Solon Springs

We were at our lake cabin in Northwest Wisconsin in the spring and took a trip to nearby Solon Springs to visit The Garden House, our nearby nursery. They stock a surprisingly large selection of plants.


Solon Springs is our nearby center for the arts. They host a summer concert series, "Music in the Park" at the Lucius Woods Performing Arts Center. There are a few artists in residence.


And the village contains a number of terribly cute homes.


In short, this is about as close to Carmel-by-the-Sea as you are going to find in the north woods of Wisconsin.


But, as we approached the town along U.S. 53, I could see that something was clearly missing. That blank billboard had long held a sign for Prevost's restaurant and bar.


I had always thought of Prevost's as the heart of Solon Springs. For many years this was the place to stop for a hearty dinner. Roast beef, pork or turkey served with a big heap of mashed potatoes and gravy. Green beans? You bet. All on a heavy white oval platter. 1950’s small town cuisine preserved into the twenty-first century. I can hardly believe it is closed.

What happened? When did it happen? The sign behind the bar gives a clue:


Later, I found this article in the Superior newspaper that tells the sad story. Was it the location? Was it a failure to keep up with the times? Hard to say. But here is the building, visible on the corner in the second photo, taken from a long block away.


When we stopped at the nursery just outside of town on our way back to the lake, Linda asked about restaurants.

“Since this is Wisconsin’s ‘Vacation Land’, where do people eat?”

" Well," the lady began slowly, "for dinner, White Birch, but after that, the pickings are pretty slim." "Blue Moon has great cinnamon rolls and she serves sandwiches and soups."

We need more information. We have never heard of Blue Moon. She describes the location and it is a place we passed on "Old 53" near the ballpark. We check it out as we leave. No sign of what the business is, but sure enough there is a blue moon out front. We’ll have to give it a try. Perhaps it will become the new Prevost's.

A Visit to the Garden

We brought wonderful warm weather home from Egypt to Minnesota. You might not believe it based on the post right below this one, but temperatures have reached 50 or more on all but three days in the past two and a half weeks. Yesterday and today were both in the 70s.

Naturally, that prompts one to take a walk through the garden. Now, in the summer months, our backyard garden looks like this:


But autumn and winter transform that into a much bleaker landscape:


It's always amazing to watch the transformation once the snow is gone and the plants begin to spring up out of the ground.

Now, what's this?


Yes, there's a little speck of purple next to the sidewalk. Let's take a closer look.


Spring has sprung! While the tulips are barely getting their leaves out of the ground, this lone crocus has bravely poked its whole head out to celebrate.

Other signs of spring abound. Men in shorts and sandals!

But is this normal - or some weather extreme? Monday afternoon I was at the University of Minnesota on my regular weekly trip to the Charles Babbage Institute rummaging through historic computer documents. As I left the parking lot, I commented to the attendant, "What a beautiful day!"

She replied, "Yes, and when has it ever been in the 70s in March in Minnesota?"

"I remember 83 degrees on March 30," I said. "The year was 1968."

I remember the date and temperature like it was yesterday (well, it was March 30 yesterday.) That was at the end of my first winter in Minnesota. After struggling through the long winter, suffering from frozen feet on the twin cities buses, living with a 1956 Dodge that refused to start when it was more than ten below zero, winter had ended. I was driving down Franklin Street, stopped at the traffic signal at Chicago Avenue when I heard the temperature on the car radio (WCCO, of course).

Maybe this wasn't such a bad place to live, after all. When the end of March arrived, all was pleasant again.

One year later, March 29 of 1969 brought a brisk low temp of minus 5.

Back Home Again

The trip home from Amsterdam was uneventful. The weather we brought back from Cairo was very pleasant. We've been home for over 24 hours, much of which was spent sleeping. I headed out to the grocery store in the early afternoon. I saw my first sign of spring here, a Minnesotan in shorts.

Well, with this temperature, why not.


Of course, there are still a few traces of snow on the ground.


But compare that to a couple of days before we left for Egypt:


It might not look a lot better to people who don't live here, but there is a 60 degree difference in the temperature! I still can't take the Christmas candles in since their cords are still buried in the ice but maybe tomorrow?

I've spent most the afternoon going through the mail.


And those warm temperatures have now resulted in this banner at the top of the weather page:

Blogging from Beanos

We made it to the airport at about midnight for our 4:10 a.m. departure to Amsterdam with KLM. Since we had a friend driving, we didn't have the usual mixup about Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Almost all international flights to Europe leave from Terminal 2 (the new terminal) but KLM flies out of Terminal 1.

After minor run-arounds like, "You have to wait until 1:00," "Not until 1:30, then go through entrance 3." and the like, we finally made it to the KLM counter. Then past Passport Control manned by someone who really doesn't seem to like his job.

This year they have someone directing people to the third floor waiting area where all the modern coffee shops are located. A good idea and there are quite a few more people here.

Choosing from Cinnabon, Starbucks, Beano's, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and McDonald's was easy. Beanos has the most comfortable seating.


Of course the line is over at McDonald's. I hear someone behind me in a loud voice saying, "Do you take dollars?" at Starbucks. No. You have to plan carefully to have just enough Egyptian pounds left for your food in these places, or plan to return to Egypt. Pounds are not good outside of Egypt and nothing else works at this Starbucks.

Linda's spicy Mexican Wrap has arrived. I think I'll have her take a picture and make this my last Egypt post.

Fateer on Faisal

We had dinner on Faisal Street tonight and then took a walk for a few blocks. Since it was Thursday night, the start of the weekend, there were lots of people out. It had been a warm day. The report from the Cairo airport indicated 102 although we didn't record anything over 87. Go figure.

Faisal street and the surrounding side streets had cafes, coffee houses and smoking establishments with tables on the sidewalks and out in the street.


We stopped for desert at a Fateer shop. I mentioned this "Egyptian Pancake" treat at the end of the Khan el-Khalili post. There are many small Fateer stands in neighborhood areas and along the main commercial streets.

We headed into this one.


Fateers come in two basic types. Savory or sweet. The savory type have meat and peppers. The sweet have honey, nuts and raisins. We were looking for sweet. The crust is a bit like filo dough. A bottom crust is spun, the filling is added and a second crust is placed on top. Into the oven and in a few minutes it is ready.

Here the owner is working on some dough before taking it for a spin.


When ready, they look like this.


This was my first one and it was very good.

Cruising the Nile from Luxor to Aswan - Part 3

(Think you may have missed something? Blogger and I limit the size of this blog when you enter it at the top. Since the next several posts have lot of pictures, you probably will only see about five posts in total. Click on the BLOG ARCHIVE in the left column to find previous posts.)

In addition to watching the people, there is plenty of other scenery between Luxor and Aswan.

The buildings in the passing villages provide interesting views.


The contrast between the green area next to the Nile and the desert, not far away, demonstrates the importance of water in this part of the world.


Some animals are hard at work moving some of that water.


With a little water, these banana trees grow well here.


On a previous trip, I had photographed the Wadi El-Rayan waterfall near Fayoum. That is reported to be the tallest waterfall in Egypt. I had the chance to capture another waterfall here. (That is the Wadi El-Rayan waterfall on the right.)


You know the cruise is about finished as you glimpse this modern lighted bridge in the distance. It marks your arrival at Aswan.