The raccoons won...

...they managed to tear off the steel grill covering of the pond and they ate all the koi and goldfish in one night
 .... then shit on the steps on their way out of the garden. :-(                                                                                                                      

C.Wonderland @ SXSW

Nephew Chris and Meg recently attended the Austin music party for the third year.  Before they left I was looking at the schedule of a whole bunch of contemporary groups I'd never heard of ( "Popular culture no longer applies to me" ). Carolyn Wonderland's name jumped out at me. Of course I asked if they were going to see her show. They weren't familiar with HER, and I suspect they don't value duffer recommendations very highly, so they saw someone else instead. ??? Bummer. Maybe what they heard moved them more anyway. What they missed, Carolyn playing a little guitar and singing her own song, Judgement Day Blues:

Another Toe-tapper From the Duct Tape Messiah

For The Rev.

A Blaze of Glory

Kind of a downer. A while ago I wrote about the late alcoholic, homeless songwriter, Blaze Foley. Here's covers of a couple of his songs. 

From a Forefront to a Backwater?

As I read this it struck me that even now the balance has shifted toward Asia, and now America is in the process of transforming from a forefront to a backwater.

"The great English moralist of the Eighteenth Century, Dr Johnson, once said that public affairs vex no man.

So it is not astonishing, either, that so many of us in Europe continue our lives without noticing, let alone thinking about, the seismic shifts in world power that have occurred in the last two or three decades. In part this is because we have already lived with a seismic shift without really noticing it: the transformation of Europe from forefront to backwater. We in Europe are at the front end of nothing, except perhaps taking holidays. Not that I am against holidays: in fact, speaking personally, I rather prefer them to exercising power.

It seems to be an unfortunate fact about the world, however, that one can maintain one’s position in it, reduced as it might already be, only at the expense of effort. You cannot just coast along in the hope of remaining where you are. But our mentalities have not changed with the change in the world situation." continued

Johnny Winter

Brewing TV

Albert Lea had a brew pub at the Green Mill for a while. Apparently we didn't support it well enough as it is now a banquet room. I miss their Big Island Porter. So now it's the 30 minute drive to Northwood.

My First Lover

No reason to post this other than I just heard a cute, chubby amateur girl sing it on T.V., accompanied by her long-haired boyfriend playing rudimentary guitar. It was a valiant, even courageous effort ... which completely missed the minor key sound and tight harmonies. I get the feeling that this may not be an entry level tune to try out on the local telethon, or whatever it was. Or at least it wasn't in their case, but then again, when it was over they seemed quite pleased.

1410 Oakwood, End of the Day: October 7th, 2010

Sometimes we surrounded by things which become the norm and we don't see them anymore. Addy took my camera for a walk a couple of days ago and came back with a couple of hundred stunning photos simply capturing the end of the day in our backyard. I have to remember to look at my world.

Day's End at1410 Oakwood

Fisherkids on the south dock

Great Blue Heron on the north dock

Lakeside lane to the north

Lakeside lane to the south

Elvis Is In the Building

I tend to become enthralled with the newest bike, so I've been mostly riding the McLean this summer. Yesterday we went for an extended ride and I pulled out the old white Kvale. I had forgotten. This thing is an absolute dream to ride.

We also saw a mature bald eagle pick off either a cat or rabbit out of a field along the road. Spectacular. I've seen them soaring and sitting high in trees. I think this was the first time I've seen one in real action.

Peggy and Food

In the past I may have mentioned our friends, Frank and Peggy.  Frank: former veterinarian, raptor (not rapture) specialist at the Minnesota Zoo, and for the past 20 years or so, rhubarb grower and spoon carver. Peggy: Lawyer, lobbyist, liberal activist, chef and generally a force of nature. She does a food blog for Featherstone Farm CSA and for herself. Cook Out of the Box. This is part of a rant about eating a meal after listening to Francis Moore Lappe, famous global change agent and author of Diet for a Small Planet:

"Now that I have set the stage a bit, I would like to tell you about the dinner we were served at the banquet.  Remember now - - the speaker was Francis Moore Lappe.  The woman who has been talking for forty years about food and social justice and sustainability of resources and planetary limits and good health.  And we all had just spent two days learning about:  nutrition, food insecurity, causes of obesity, global poverty and hunger, the importance of small scale farming in the developing world, the impact climate change will have on agriculture, equitable access to diverse foods and seeds, the organic and local food movement, taste in our food and food ethics and philosophy.  Whew.

Our dinner menu was:
Salad greens (quite conventional)  with industrial croutons, a few carrot shreds and vinaigrette
White dinner rolls and sliced (7 grain?) bread and butter
Steak - I would estimate half a pound per person- with mushroom sauce
Wild rice pilaf with a few small pieces of vegetable, including zucchini
Thinly sliced potatoes with a very few slices of winter squash and onions and a generous amount of cream
Cheesecake with caramel sauce and sliced apples

So this is what I need to say.  This was a reasonably tasty meal.  It was nicely presented.  I ate everything except half the meat.  (Frank ate that.)  There were beautiful flowers on the table and good conversation.  But I would not call it a "good" meal.  By many of the measures discussed at the conference, it was a pretty bad meal.   There was a shocking disconnect between the talk at the conference and the "walk" on the table.  Given the quality of ideas, curiosity and imagination of the conference speakers and participants, I expected much more."   More

Jack, This Why I Loved George, R.I.P.