I took a day off of work (yes, I'm still employed) to visit my friend, Monica, out in Redwood County in southwestern Minnesota.  Monica is like a character from an Anne Tyler novel.  She once told me how she was on her way up to communion at mass one Sunday morning, and felt something brushing around her ankle.                                                                       

When she got back to the pew, she could see one of those little nylon knee-highs hanging out of the bottom of her pant leg, so she began to pull on it.  She pulled and pulled and pulled.  She said it was like a magic trick.  She pulled an entire pair of pantyhose out of her pant leg.

We went to Redwood Falls for a couple bowls of chicken dumpling soup at the Calf Fiend Cafe.  I love it there, and it rivals any metropolitan coffee houses I've seen.  I give them the Minnesota Country Mouse Stamp of Approval for their homemade baked goods.  Heavenly. 

We wrangled an interview with Cat, one of the owners of the cafe which you can listen to on Minnesota  Country Mouse Radio.  These episodes are 15 minutes of my nonsense, a touch of reality radio, and a tribute to Minnesota talent.

After a splendid lunch, Monica and I drove down to Alexander Ramsey Park to visit the animals at the zoo and then we trekked across the suspended bridge to Ramsey Falls which was looking at majestic as ever.

We saw bison, elk and ducks, but we're wondering . . . where are the goats??  Maybe it's just too early in the season for them.  I hope they come back because they're my favorite!

Melanie and I barely know how we wound up in the Chelsea Rose Antique store in Afton, Minnesota.  First of all, we had no intention of going to Afton.  We were avoiding a traffic jam due to a motorcycle rally in Prescott, and took a side road which led us to this historic little town with a huge marina on the St. Croix river.  Afton was virtually bustling with people.  It reminded me of movies I've seen of the deep South where women always have their hair done and their make-up on.

Women streamed across the street of this little old river town, from the Afton House Inn where they had just enjoyed lunch and a fashion show, to the clothing store across the street. They were chattering and laughing and it took them several minutes, sometimes having to stop and wait for occasional mobs of motorcycles to pass by.  Clearly, Melanie and I weren't dressed to be included in the party.

It struck me that I was watching a beautifully orchestrated cooperative effort between the businesses of Afton.  The shops connected to the inn had their doors thrown open wide in the sunshine and there were colorful banners and signs.  The only reason we stopped here was  because we were captivated by it all.

But, back to the Chelsea Rose Antique store.  After eating crab cakes and a delicious salad, Melanie and I, being ever on the nosy side, were peeking around corners in the Afton House Inn and were spotted by someone who worked there.  She graciously filled us in on the merits of the inn which included dining rooms and, among other things, an antique shop down the long hall and to our left. 

Wow!  Though not a huge place, my first impression of it was pure elegance.  The furniture was of the finest quality finish and upholstery, and the crystal light fixtures dazzled.  If God had decided to call me home at that very moment and his  instructions were to go toward the light, I would have known just what to do.

http://www.explorejordan.org/

I'm not looking for perfection.  I much prefer quirky and interesting.  And if like attracts like,  that's probably why I'm so crazy about Jordan, Minnesota located about 20 minutes south of the Twin Cities.  While Melanie was digging around in the antique shops, I was poking around where I didn't belong looking for, who knows what?

I wasn't disappointed in the gems I spotted.  Jordan is full of little old, imperfect buildings and old-fashioned gardens.

There were courtyards between buildings and surprising spaces along Sand Creek which runs through the city. 

 It couldn't have felt more like a Sunday afternoon from bygone days if it had tried.  Jordan has the most wonderful small town feeling about it.

Then, to top things off, there were some great places we could stop to have a treat after our antiquing expedition. 

Jordan has maintained its integrity and not given way to the kind of "improvements" that turn towns from charming to commercial.

There's just something soulful about a river town . . .  

I know, I know.  What next?

I can't help it.  I was helping a friend figure out the technology for Podcasting and I got lured in.  You can listen to an episode by clicking on the arrow at the top of the right hand column on this blog, or simply click here.

I recently completed episode two, featuring music by Jerry Ostensoe and snippets of our conversation when Melanie and I visit River Falls, Wisconsin.

I don't eavesdrop on purpose.  Sometimes I have no choice.  Like for instance, yesterday, when Melanie and I settled into a couple of fat, comfortable chairs way in the back of the Dish and Spoon coffee house in River Falls, Wisconsin, Melanie ended up closing her eyes for a little while.  I don't think she was asleep, but I didn't want to disturb her, so I sat quietly.  It was our intention to visit the River Chocolate Company and hopefully get a glimpse of its inner workings.  Having already experienced a good part of the community, we required a breather first.

I noticed three beautiful Asian women visiting at a nearby table, but hadn't paid much attention until I heard one of them say, "I was practicing for my concert in Taiwan and soldiers were walking around the hall with rifles. I found it quite distracting." 

Suddenly I wasn't minding my own business.  I had to interrupt them and find out more.  It turned out the three had met just moments before when the girls, Teresa Lu and Kristy Lin who are foreign exchange students from Taiwan, were taking a picture  outside the coffee house and speaking Chinese. The concert pianist overheard them and wanted to learn more about these young women who were speaking her native language.  Apparently Chinese is not commonly spoken in River Falls, Wisconsin. They struck up a conversation and agreed to share a cup of coffee.  That's how they came to be there.

Lucky for us, the concert pianist was familiar with the area and able to give Melanie directions on how to get the the River Chocolate Company outside of town.  Meeting those three brave and fascinating women was the highlight of the day.

As far as our visit to the River Chocolate Company, we have to save that for another day.  Sometimes you just need to call ahead first.  Tell that to Melanie. . .

Yellow Medicine and Hawk Creek are low according to Butch Halterman & Travis Zachman.  Kayakable but barely. 
Canoes are definitely out.

Chippewa River is good according to Ralph Heidorn.  There is a new strainer between Sonstegard's bridge and Lagoon Park but you can squeeze past it for now.

Tom Cherveny and Shawn Anderson have been out on the Minnesota for some nice flood stage floats.  In some ways, this is the best time of year to be on the Minnesota since the water is high enough to see over the banks.

What is the word on the Lac qui Parle or the Pomme de Terre?  If you know, let me know and we'll pass it along.   CURE

Our friend, Sandi, from A Legacy of Stitches blog has extended an invitation to Melanie and me to visit the Crazy Quilt Exhibit in Shakopee, Minnesota at the Stans Museum. The exhibit opened in March and continues through the end of October and showcases the work and collections of the Scott County Crazy Quilters.

Sandi tells us, It's great "eye-candy". We have a delightful time stitching together. The group evolved from quilting projects done at Murphy's Landing. It's worth a visit. :-)

Oh boy!  I love museums, and I love folk art.  This is gonna be great.

It seemed a trifle early in the season for us to be visiting a garden center when Melanie and I stopped at the Tonkadale Greenhouse in Minnetonka, Minnesota a couple of weeks ago.  Spring was fairly tentative, and if I remember correctly, it was cloudy and the wind still had a bite to it.  But when Melanie gets an idea in her head, you might as well forget it.  There's no turning back, baby.

There were a surprising number of people getting ready for gardening.  Lucky us!  We ran into some of the Red Hat Society ladies.  I just love 'em.

We saw a precious little fairy garden, complete with precious little fairies.  But the thing that creeped me out, just a bit, were all of the frogs.  Generally I don't take photographs of things my nightmares are made out of, but my co-worker, Jenny, is crazy about them.  I did it for her.

Ugh!  I almost can't look at the picture above.  OK.  Here's the thing.  I grew up with a lot of brothers.  Four of them were older and one was the same age.  My little brothers didn't cause me too much trouble.  But the older ones?

So one day, the big boys caught a frog, which I suppose wasn't so unusual, but for some reason they had me believing there was something very interesting about this frog.  And maybe there was, but being smaller than they were, I couldn't see what it was that raised this frog to such a level of intrigue.  So, I fussed.  "Let me see!  Let me see!"

And I can't honestly say whether it was intentional or not, but my oldest brother, who was holding this fascinating frog, got just plain sick of me whining and shoved it at me.  "Here," he said.  "Now can you see?"

I ended up kissing that frog.  And no, it didn't turn into a prince.

Contributed by Patrick Moore

Cindy is a girlie-girl.  She loves pretty girl-things like scarves and purses.  Whereas, although I am a girl, I lean a bit more toward, oh I don't know, practical, I guess.  Durable. Functional. That's not to say you can't buy durable, functional purses at Lillian's.  On the contrary.  It just means I don't shop for purses often.  Now that I think about it, the last two purses I've owned have been gifts from Joy and Kasey.  Hmmm.

 But let's face it, even I could appreciate the beauty in all the colors, shapes and textures on display at Lillian's in Excelsior, Minnesota.

I was wandering around looking at the purses and I noticed this woman in a green satin dress, which seemed a little out of place what with all the overcoats milling around in the store. But, after a brief discussion with her it dawned on me that this was her store.  The proprietors were emulating Tippi Hedron, (a Minnesota girl, by the way) and we were being treated to a scene from the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds for a city-wide promotion.

How fun!  And just a touch creepy.  But the zaniness didn't stop there.  They clang a bell when a man walks in and yell,"Man in the store!"  It's pretty funny.

Melanie had a blast trying out each little purse organizer she found, searching for the perfect thing to coordinate with her new yellow purse. Who buys a yellow purse??  Clearly a lot of women do.  And blue, and pink, and striped and polka-dotted.

It's glamour galore at Lillian's. 

Click here to view an updated version of the MN's Grandpa Moses video. 

SLAVE TRADE ABOLITION PAPERS

MAY - SEPTEMBER. 2009

Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum

902 E. 1st Street, Duluth, MN 55805

218-728-0630

Open Noon Until 4 PM - Tuesday through Sunday

ADMISSION IS FREE

I wanted to be sure and post an announcement of the Slave Trade Abolition Papers display, which will be hosted at the Karpeles Mansucript Museum Library in Duluth, Minnesota, in plenty of time for groups and individuals to make arrangements to view them.

We're at a very empowering point in history regarding race issues, but Minnesota may not be doing as well as one might think.  Click here for a short video from 1000 Friends of Minnesota discussing racially and socially segregated schools in the Twin Cities area. 

I had no idea.

Gatherings at Excelsior Florist

952-474-8843

241 Water Street, Excelsior, MN 55331

 That's me in the picture.  And guess what I'm doing.  I'm leaving the Gatherings at Excelsior Florist shop with over two dozen Kiwi roses to share with my cohort in crime.  This sort of thing is very rare for me. In case you aren't familiar with them, Kiwi roses have a hue of green which melts into a blush of pink.  They give you the sense they're not ripe yet. I've adored them for years, but they're not your run-of-the-mill rose and not always so easy to find.

So when the proprietor walked out of the cooler with an armful and plopped them on the counter, I was drawn to them like a groupie.  I may have been a bit of a nuisance, but I just wanted to be near them.  To smell them.  You get the picture.

Melanie and I knew when we walked past the shop earlier that our curiosity would require us to stop in.  I mean, there were rose petals scattered on the sidewalk in front of the building, and the front door was from a castle.  How could we resist?

It was so much more than just a florist shop.  It was cluttered with wonderful antiques.  While I pestered the proprietor about the roses, Melanie scoured the store for some gem.  She wasn't disappointed.  And neither was I.  The roses I had been admiring were left over from a wedding the day before and we struck a deal on them.

I left the shop through a castle door with over two dozen roses in my arms.  I'm still overwhelmed.  I mean, who does things like that? 

I seldom have an original idea when it comes to exploring Minnesota.  I'm more of a "go along for the ride" kind of person.  I'm fairly happy just riding along and hanging my head out of the window like a dog, stopping to snap a few photos when I get a chance.  Thank goodness Melanie has ideas.  It was her idea to drive by the Hungry Point Inn near Red Wing, Minnesota.

We got lost, at first, because even though we had perfect directions, Melanie didn't believe them.  Thanks to the kindness of a stranger, we managed to wind our way along the gravel road that leads to this remarkable place called Hungry Point.  The estates along the way have houses that look like a page out of a history book.  I was enthralled.

As I stated earlier, Melanie has lots of ideas, but I don't think they're all good ideas.  When we finally got to the inn, she parked the car and started to get out.  Not a soul was in sight.  When I asked her what she was doing, she told me she was going to go up to the door and see if she could get a look around.  Now, I don't know how Melanie was raised, but my stern mom always made sure we called before we dropped in on someone.  "You can't just walk up to someone's house and bang on the door," I scolded.

""But I drove all this way!" 

So she did it.  She got out and went up to this beautiful red house and knocked on the door.  I stayed in the car, mortified.  (Why must I always be the voice of reason?) Someone answered the door, and Melanie came back to the car with a brochure.  "Melanie," I said, "there is something seriously wrong with you."

She handed me the brochure and smiled.  Whatever.