Month: July 2015

Our wandering took us to the Cathedral of Saint Paul, which is a gorgeous building conveniently located by Summit Avenue, where all the rich people built houses.

 

 

I learned (from Shawn) that the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) all have animal symbols to go with them.  Thus, we know that this is Mark, because he’s got a lion with him. Okay wait.  Below you will find a picture with something that is clearly a lion.  So this must be Luke with the Ox?  Although that doesn’t look like an ox to me.

 Here is John with the eagle.

 This delighted me to no end, because I imagined people coming in with big gallon containers and filling them with holy water for home use.  But Sara told me that really I should be thinking of containers that would make it through security at an airport. Apparently a little holy water goes a long way in the home.

 Here’s Matthew with an angel.

 Really great goose lamp.

 Detail of the main light hanging from the dome.

 Great proportions, eh?

 Here is Mark with the lion.

 One of my first exposures to the candle lighting at Catholic churches was by reading a somewhat scary middle-reader novel.  The name escapes me at this juncture.  But something wasn’t going well in the main character’s life, and he went to church and lit a candle quite often.  I loved that idea, and thus always enjoy when I come across the candle section in the church.  I’m sure the candle section has an official name.  But I’m not looking it up.  Shawn?

 Sara and Shawn on the steps.  Sara was telling me to envision it to be winter and the entire steps and all the way across the street and down the hill are covered with ice.  Then to picture people skating down them.  Or you can watch this video.

 Here’s the capitol dome.  Though a tour of the capitol would have totally fit my theme of Houses & Homes (house of government) no tours are happening because of a big renovation. Phooey.  I love me a good capitol tour.

 Exterior.

 

We were somewhat fried after our afternoon in the sun, but we still managed to make it to the fireworks.  We picked this spot down the way from the Stone Arch Bridge.  It was nice to walk to the fireworks and to stand while waiting for them.  For future reference Sara and Shawn can try these various suggestions for fireworks viewing.

Two (very mediocre) shots.

 

Happy birthday America.

We returned home to resupply and then headed to the Macalester College campus for a taping of A Prairie Home Companion. It was the 1,433rd show.  We arrived just after the gates had opened so we could find a good seat on the lawn.

Good seats obtained, program and ticket were photographed.

Then it was time to eat.  We had more than just plates.  There were sandwiches and salads and olives.  It was a feast.

I spotted this NPR shirt, probably a pledge gift.

In the middle of our feast/waiting, a band of pipers came by.  Just you wait, they will return.

Sara and I went to wander/find more beverage (it was very hot in the sun)/perhaps locate bubble tea.  We did not find bubble tea, but we did find lemonade.

I took pictures of the lineups for this show.

 

This smartly dressed ice cream seller was hanging out on the outside of the fence.  I liked his style.

And his display board.

Waiting around feet shot.  You can see we’ve been eating cherries.

As the show began, we broke out the dessert: angel food cake with strawberries.

Because we were so early, we got to hear Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele rehearse, and see them perform.

Joe Newberry told us a story and sang us some songs.

I really liked this woman’s skirt.

Fred Newman, Tim Russell and Sue Scott perform the Lives of the Cowboys.

JD McPherson was once a middle school art teacher. But he was laid off.  So he became a singer songwriter and brought along a band.  The saxophone looks like he’s not far out of middle school.

I like to take pictures of the camera guy. And I enjoyed the “On Air” sign.

Mr Keillor reads from his script.  I didn’t grab a picture of him telling us about the “Quiet week in Lake Wobegone” but he does that extemporaneously.  This picture makes him look like a scary old man, but I like it.  He can be quite curmudgeonly.

This guy found a good tree.  My hips didn’t like sitting on the ground for so long.

Look who came back! It’s the Macalester College Pipe Band!  I didn’t realize that when they were wandering through before it was their rehearsal.

Self-Portraits are everywhere!

Fred Newman is my favorite part of the show.

I was quite happy to (finally) see a live taping, especially since Garrison Keillor’s retirement from PHC is immanent.  I figured they taped the show and then cut it down, but our performance came in right at 2 hours, so they must not do as much cutting as I think.

St Paul’s neighborhood of St. Anthony Park has its own parade, which ends at Langford Park.  We went to take a look.

Here’s our pre-parade self portrait in which I’m noticing the increasing amount of “salt” in my formally all-peppered hair.

The parade begins with the flag and the Boy Scouts.

Here’s the Pig’s Eye Jass Band, which plays traditional Jazz.

Regimented hula hoopers.

Advertising for the St. Anthony Park Garden Tour.

State Senator.  At some point I noticed how all the placards were hand written, which was cool.

Another politician, this time a Representative.

One of the mascots for the Minnesota State Fair.  (which I hope to someday attend.)  I’m guessing that guy in the background is being above board and not unzipping his pants to expose himself, as he sort of looks like in this picture.

Spirit of the Park!  I don’t know what this means, but I very much like the car he is riding in.

Why not have the Board of Education in the parade?

Middle school students.

And their principal.

And why not have the elementary school principal too?

And, of course the high school is in attendance.

And a track star and Como Park’s coaching legend.

This truck of soccer kids was fun.  The ones in the truck tossed the soccer ball to the guys on the ground who would head it back to the truck.

This tractor and float advertises a tree farm.

Clown with cannon.  We saw him later in the park and the cannon shoots bubbles, which is fun.

Probably my favorite of the walking participants.

And what’s a parade without the Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy Association of Minnesota?

We’ve got a veteran.

Here’s the council.

Encourage a lifestyle with fewer cars.  I like their “drop a car” logo.

Here’s the Methodist Church.  It’s too late for Vacation Bible School this year, but perhaps you can plan it for next year.

The truck with the parade’s sponsors.

A quartet of pipers.

I’m glad we’ve moved through that period of yellow fire trucks.  They never looked quite right.

At the end of the parade are two people with a long jump rope stretched between them.  They hold back the bike parade and all the “joiners.”  That’s right!  At the end of this parade, you the onlooker gets to stand up and walk to the parade’s terminus in Langford Park.

We were looking out for Old Navy flag shirts.

 

 

At the park the Saint Anthony Park Community Band was playing.

I noticed the Pig’s Eye Jass Band was hanging about to listen to the Community Band Performance.

Though we did not stay to hear the Patriotic Essay Contest winners, it was still a grand start to our Independence Day.

Are you ready for a fabulous children’s bookstore? (with a so-so website)

You know what they have besides books?  Cats.  Also many other animal friends.

In the bathroom you can find a fish tank where the mirror usually is.

As well as these tiles signed by visiting authors and illustrators.

This is where all the scary books live.

Some chinchilla friends.

Everyone should have a boat and a lake on their ceiling.

 In addition we found Waldo (part of a local business campaign for the month of July) and I bought a packet of Where’s Waldo postcards for my Postcrossing friends.

To fit my theme of “Houses and Homes,” we visited the American Swedish Institute, which is also the home of the Turnblad Mansion.  Settle in, because this is a very long post.

The modern side of the museum, with the Turnblad Mansion in the background.

Another view.

The joining of the mansion and the modern part of the museum was seamless and gave us this opportunity to see this great drainpipe.

On the first floor this is the main foyer with a two-story clock and fireplace.

Sitting on the stairs.

Beautiful room with a harpsichord.

Fabulous detail from the ceiling.

Music room. Noticing the detail on the upper moldings along the ceiling.  We could see the other side of parts of the moldings, and we checked to see if both sides were elaborately carved.  They were.

Nice vase.

View of the side street and gate.

Ceiling detail.

Flower arrangement in the dining room window.

Fireplace in dining room detail.

Gorgeous, if blurry, sideboard featuring convex and concave glass.

In the kitchen we explored the flour bins.

And noted how the shelves were adjustable.

The porte cochere entrance.

The mansion has 11 tile stoves, which were purchased out of a Swedish catalog picked out by Mr. Turnblad himself.

Ceiling detail.

Stained glass detail.  This is outside the solarium.

The solarium was wonderful, and would probably be quite lovely in the middle of winter.

Headed upstairs to the ballroom.

Wall paneling detail.

On the third floor I caught a glimpse of this gnome.

More tile stove.  The TV is an exhibit of the history of Swedish Music in three minutes.

More stove.

This might be my favorite lighting fixture.

More stove.

And more stove.  There was a postcard with pictures of all the stoves.  I sent it to someone.

This is a downstairs stove.

More lighting fixture.

More stove.

More fixtures.

Outside the house on the roof:  bees!

A sign that cracks me up.

The Turnblads had one daughter and she was an artist. This stove is in her studio.

After rocking out with the guitar/keytar cutouts you can see on the right, Sara and I played Mad Libs.

Our final product.

And yet more stove.

And more light!

A nice view of the ecoroof on the new building.

 

Here we are in the ballroom, which has a stage.

 

Portraits of famous Swedes.  Sara assumes the pose.

As does Shawn.

We were encouraged to play the piano.  Shawn did.

More drainpipe.

Good roof detail.

Look at this craftsman with his horse.

Which Sara went for a ride on.

Outside views.  The solarium and the porte cochere.

 

 

 

Good view of the tower.

The front entrance.

 

 

More front entrance.

One last self portrait.