[A few days before a major birthday, it’s always a nice touch to order up fresh blanket of snow for the sake of appropriate decor . . . ]
[And, it worked . . . ]
December 31
[For birthday eve (sometimes passing as New Year’s Eve or The Super’s sister Rita’s birthday), an evening with Tuesday Night Club at the Garden Bar on 6th hit all the right notes . . . ]
[For those keeping score at home, this boy band consists of (from l – r): Terry Kennedy on guitar, Jim Faber on bass, Bill Riggs on trumpet, and Mel Lamar on guitar . . . ]
[With just a few more years experience, they could get to be pretty good . . . ]
[And they promised to keep us up not much later than 9:00 . . . ]
[We were with our usual fellow music groupees: Karin and Dave Berg . . . ]
[Paul Trumm and the birthday girl . . . ]
[And the exuberant Deb Trumm . . . ]
[We were fortunate to have a real professional photographer at the next table . . . ]
[Thank you Mark Weise for the group shots . . . ]
[The aforementioned Mark with Peggy . . . ]
[While Karin and Dave cut a rug (well, concrete floor), The Super visited with even more fellow music aficionados, Barbara and Bob Foss . . . ]
[She was having fun until . . . ]
[Meanwhile, back with Karin and Dave . . . ]
[And the not to be outdone, Barbara and Bob . . . ]
January 1
[The actual birthday arrived . . . ]
[Always patronize (in the good sense) your local independent bookstore and your previously local author . . . ]
[And make sure you don’t get the cheap stuff . . . ]
[Ready for action . . . ]
[OK, pop the cork already . . . ]
[Well, after a few more artsy shots . . . ]
[Ready, drink!]
[And, of course, this was the other big news of the day . . . ]
[After the game, The Super wanted to pay a visit to Deb Paulzine’s (her friend and hairdresser) home to see her Christmas lights, which were featured on the front page of the Echo . . . ]
[And here she modeled to provide perspective . . . ]
[Then back home for the standard New Year’s Day fare of pork and sauerkraut. Happy Birthday, dear!
Women deserve to have more than twelve years between the ages of twenty eight and forty. ~ James Thurber
The Journey Begins
Thanks for joining me! This is the follow-up to the original, “alexandriacardinals.wordpress.com,” which overwhelmed the system’s ability to handle it any more. Thus, this is “Part 2.” As the original was initially described:
10-26-07-4
“It all began in a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California” . . . wait a minute, that was Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show! Let’s see . . . oh yeah, it all began in 2003 when retirees, i.e., old people, in Alexandria, Minnesota, who had no desire to become snow birds, went looking for mid-winter entertainment here in the frozen tundra of West Central Minnesota. We discovered girls’ high school hockey, fell in love immediately, and it remains our favorite spectator sport to this day. Initially, and for several years, reports on these games were e-mailed to those who were actually snowbirds but wanted to keep abreast of things “back home.” It was ultimately decided a blog would be more efficient, and it evolved into a personal diary of many things that attracts tens of readers on occasion. It remains a source of personal mental therapy and has yet to elicit any lawsuits.
~ The Editor, May 9, 2014
p.s. The photo border around the blog is the Cardinal girls’ hockey team after just beating Breck for the state championship in 2008. It’s of the all-tournament team. The visible Breck player on the left is Milica McMillen, then an 8th-grader – she is now an All-American for the Gophers. The Roseau player in the stocking cap I believe is Mary Loken, who went on to play for UND; and the Cardinal player on the right, No. 3, is Abby Williams, the player we blame most for making us girls’ hockey fans who went on to play for Bemidji State.
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Photos contained herein are available for personal use. All you have to do is double click on any of the photos and they will become full screen size. You can then save them into your personal “My Pictures” file. They make lovely parting or hostess gifts, or holiday gifts for such as Uncle Ernie who wants to see how his grand niece is doing on the hockey team. If any are sold for personal profit, however, to, for example, the Audubon Society, National Geographic, Sven’s Home Workshop Monthly, Curling By The Numbers, or the World Wrestling Federation, I only request that you make a donation to the charitable organization of your choice. You have two hours and fifteen minutes. Pencils ready? Begin!
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View all posts by tomobert63
Happy Birthday Ruthie!!! Great photos.
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