So It Goes . . .

May 26

. . . that is a very, very, common phrase to comment fatalistically on things one can’t change or can’t prevent to happen. “That’s life”. . . .

As I type this, all TV is covering Uvalde. This, about a week after a similar mass shooting in Buffalo. A tornado tore through Alexandria. The Super and I went to three celebrations of life this week. One is left just thinking, “and so it goes” . . .

May 19

What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive. ~ Arnold Palmer

[After Joyce Kakac’s celebration of life earlier in the week, in mid-week we were at the Catholic funeral mass for Bob Annen (a golfer, a fan of golf and of Arnold Palmer). I posted a couple blog stories about our 20-year friendship with Bob and Vivian. After the service, there was a military salute to Bob outside the church . . . ]

I don’t like to commit myself about heaven and hell – you see, I have friends in both places. ~ Mark Twain

[Shortly thereafter, the Super stopped in for the Runestone Museum’s annual meeting. Seated in the back row middle, checked shirt, is John Seim, father of the museum’s executive director and my next door neighbor growing up in Victoria Heights. (Echo Press contributed photo.)

[Amanda Seim, the museum’s executive director on the left, with her parents John and Carol (photos here and below in Fort Alexandria taken by Ruthie) . . . ]

…That’s why we have the Museum, Matty, to remind us of how we came, and why: to start fresh, and begin a new place from what we had learned and carried from the old. ~ Lois Lowry

I love doing normal things … I also love to go to art and history museums. ~ Christina Aguilera

Nobody ever flunked a science museum. ~ Frank Oppenheimer

May 21

[Another museum, the Legacy of the Lakes Boat House, where the Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra (CLSO) hosted it’s donors . . . ]

I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums. ~ Steven Wright

Museums are like sports stadiums, hotels and hospitals: they are in the category of captive-audience dining. ~ Danny Meyer

I’ve seen beautiful art on the sides of buildings. I’ve seen beautiful art in museums. I’ve seen beautiful art in galleries. Beautiful art is everywhere. ~ John Mellencamp

Museums are good things, places to look and absorb and learn. ~ Alan King

I’m one for rushing off to museums at the crack of dawn, eating fabulous things on terraces for lunch, and enjoying long dinners on balmy evenings. ~ Jane Birkin

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. ~ Walter Isaacson

[Tim Tharaldson’s, an Alexandria native and brother of Theatre L’Homme Dieu’s (TLHD) executive director, Nicole Mulder, first compostion for symphony orchestra would be performed by the CLSO the next day . . . ]

I write as a sow piddles. ~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

[Brad Lambrecht, CLSO’s maestro . . . ]

[CLSO violinists, Lesley and Greg Donahue . . . ]

[John and the aforementioned Nicole Mulder . . . ]

[Nicole and Jim Pence, president of the TLHD board of directors . . . ]

May 22

[A late addition to the day’s activity calendar. We had a mid-afternoon date with CLSO but discovered an old favorite was performing at the winery (further down the page). Also in the direction of the winery from where we live is Government Point on Lake Le Homme Dieu. We hadn’t ventured there for a while, always a scenic drive, and the word is a local famous person had recently purchased the propery on the point . . . ]

[Trending straight ahead to the point on the dead end dirt road . . . ]

I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list. ~ Susan Sontag

[Well, what have we here?]

Still, round the corner, there may wait, a new road or a secret gate. ~ J. R. R. Tolkien

[The end of the road is nigh . . . ]

[And this is as close as one can get. There is more than one building on the property. You really can only see the point by rounding it by boat . . . ]

[We had a full day planned – then we noticed BAT was at Carlos Creek Winery. He was a late addition to the winery’s music schedule as he and Brenda were wending their way north from Florida for our alleged summer season . . . ]

[Since we have been in his audience for I would guess at least 10 years, we had to at least drop by the say ‘hi’. We enjoyed a full half hour of his show before we had to leave . . . ]

It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than to be absolutely boring. ~ Marilyn Monroe

Music is the only noise for which one is obliged to pay. ~ Alexander Duma

Three farts and a raspberry, orchestrated. ~ John Barbirolli on modern music

[Over the years I took many videos of BAT. You can find them on YouTube (search “tomruth1933”) . . . ]

[We left BAT for the final performance of the season for the Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra at the high school’s Performance Arts Center . . . ]

My voice is small but disagreeable. ~ George Gershwin

A musicologist is a man who can read music but can’t hear it. ~ Thomas Beecham

Composers should write tunes that chauffeurs and errand boys can whistle. ~ Thomas Beecham

Usually composers need a reason to write. I need a deadline. ~ Krzystof Penderecki

Let us not forget that the greatest composers were also the greatest thieves. They stole from everyone and everywhere. ~ Pablo Casals

. . . and the band played on . . .

Music-making as a means of getting money is hell. ~ Gustav Holst

Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them. ~ Richard Strauss

[Sandy Susag, CLSO executive director, member of the school board, and all-around good person . . . ]

I was always drawn to Broadway musicals, and obviously composers like Gershwin, Rodgers, Berlin and Porter were writing music that I found wildly impressive. ~ Marvin Hamlisch

My music is best understood by children and animals. ~ Igor Stravinsky

[Mike Odello and his magic tuba . . . ]

A tenor is not a man, but a disease. ~ Hans von Bülow

[The Central Lakes Symphony Chorale also performed. I somehow managed to not get a picture of the them?]

Thanks again, Fred!

[After the symphony, we hied to La Ferme in downtown Alexandria for a celebration of life for Beth McKay Teeuwen. Our family had known Beth since we were kids growing up in Alexandria. She was best friends with my sister Gretchen, and they regularly kept in touch with each other even after Gretch moved to Washington, D.C. in the late 60’s . . . ]

Obituary

Elizabeth “Beth” Helen (McKay) Teeuwen, born April 3rd, 1949, died on December 26th, 2021. A widow at her death, she was married to Paul until his passing in October 2012. She is preceded in death by her parents: George and Myrtle McKay of Alexandria. Beth is survived by her brother: Bill McKay; and her two children: Stephanie (Paul) Drange and Christopher (Cecilia) Teeuwen. She had 5 adoring grandchildren: Noah (12), Carlos (12), George (10), Elsa (8), and Jack (6). Beth will always be remembered for her quick wit, generous spirit, and never-ending honesty. She enjoyed working as a social worker for Douglas County and her travels in retirement that followed. She would not want us to travel in this cold winter weather, so a celebration of her life will be held in May 2022.

[Beth and her husband Paul at a hangar dance in 2011 . . . ]

[Terri and Bruce Kakac at La Ferme . . . ]

[We had just been with them earlier in the week for Bruce’s sister Joyce’s celebration of life . . . ]

The imaginary friends I had as a kid dropped me because their friends thought I didn’t exist. ~ Aaron Machado

A good friend is a connection to life — a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~ Lois Wyse

It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. ~ Marlene Dietrich

[Beth’s son Chris . . . ]

[Beth’s brother Bill . . . ]

[The front door to La Ferme on Broadway . . . ]

Friends are the family you choose. ~ Jess C. Scott

‘Are we going to be friends forever?’ asked Piglet. ‘Even longer,’ Pooh answered. ~ A.A. Milne

Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected. ~ Charles Lamb

[The back door to La Ferme in the alley . . . ]

There’s not a word yet, for old friends who’ve just met. ~ Jim Henson

[The old bank vault with the penny floor . . . ]

[It was a relatively nice day, so we decided to check on Theatre L’Homme Dieu in the aftermath of the recent storm. The landscaping makeover is in process . . . ]

[The main lodge, looking back toward to entrance/exit and the lake . . . ]

[It appears the foundation of the old lodge may now be listing to the left . . . ]

[The old cabins . . . ]

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. ~ T.S. Eliot

The two hardest things to say in life are ‘hello’ for the first time and ‘goodbye’ for the last. ~ Moira Rogers

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. ~ Dr. Seuss

Up Next: I think there’s some summery stuff ahead . . .