After Part I was posted with all black & white photos, a friend queried as to whether or not future posts would be in color. The correct answer is: b) Yes! I quickly discovered the cheapest and most efficient way to catalogue my time on the island was through color slides. And in those two years, I took boxcar loads. In this modern era, however, the most effective means of display is digital. So a few years back, with time on my retired hands, I began scanning slides. I did not do them all (I think I just quit), but I think I highlighted about a thousand. Hang in there . . .
[As you’ll recall from the original posting, Okinawa is a small island. You can, and we did, circumnavigate it in a long afternoon. The trip was made easier when I ditched my 1965 Mazda for a brand new 1970 Daihatsu, for only $800. This may have been the first trip in that car in August 1970 . . . ]
[If you drove directly east of our base in Sukiran you would shortly arrive at the Pacific Ocean. So this is a good spot to include all the military posts on the island.]
[This, and above and below, are of the Navy’s White Beach Area on the SE side, i.e., the Pacific . . . ]
[Any time you crossed over the island to the east or the west, you had to traverse the central “mountainous” spine . . . ]
[Now we’re back on the west side of the island. I remember those buildings, just can’t remember what they were. Small town or resort?]
[You’ll get a feel for the location of the above photos as that’s the Motobu Peninsula in the distance . . . ]
[It’s the large jut out about 2/3’s of the way up the west side on the East China Sea, if that makes sense. It was known to us as Yaetake (yigh-tok-ee), because that was the name of the military installation there . . . ]
[Not uncommon here, or Hawaii, the occasional rain burst during the day . . . ]
[Sun may be here, but it’s raining there . . . ]
[A skerry is a small rocky island, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack (Wikipedia). Okinawa has thousands of these . . . ]
[We weren’t going all the way to Yaetake on this trip . . . ]
[It appears this was a photo op stop with, I believe, the town of Onna ahead. This is the photo that confirmed I was driving the Daihatsu because that’s its white roof in the foreground . . . ]
[Always stop for skerry views . . . ]
[Likely Onna, a local fishing village . . . ]
[Gorgeous scenery; skerries abound. The island of Ie Shima is in the left center of the photo, just off the end of the Motobu Peninsula. More on Ie Shima later . . . ]
[And this must be Camp Hansen, a marine base. Communications technicians from our Ft. Buckner also did a lot of work here . . . ]
[Another overlook of skerries, Yaetake, and the tall building in the center right likely marks the city of Nago, population 62,000, at the base of the peninsula . . . ]
[Ie Shima can be spotted between the two skerries on the left . . . ]
[It’s time for the beach map . . . ]
[Moon Beach and Manza Beach on the west side were our most frequented beaches . . . ]
[The neighborhood, looking like a sporty resort area 50 years ago . . . ]
[A part-time skerry?]
[The isthmus out to Manza Beach, with Yaetake looming in the background . . . ]
[And again . . . ]
[And now for a little 50-years perspective. Here is what Moon Beach @ Onna (top) and Manza Beach (bottom) look like today. Maybe it’s time for a return visit?]
[And now we’re heading back home. A beautiful drive along the East China Sea in the following 4 photos . . . ]
[Ahhh, ye ole Daihatsu. Ferried a bunch of guys to and from the beaches and golf courses . . . ]
[And based on the above 4 photos, as good a place as any to stick this in. “The Long and Winding Road” will always mark 1970 in Okinawa for me, it always seemed to be on the radio when we drove to the beach, as well as knowing it was the farewell song for the Beatles . . . ]
[And we’re home – looks like some ball games going on as the sun sets on China.]
I had examined myself pretty thoroughly and discovered that I was unfit for military service. ~ Joseph Heller
Up Next: Well, I did go to a track meet yesterday . . .
A classmate recently forwarded an inquiry from her husband regarding my military “career.” I then realized I had never inflicted that history upon any alleged followers of this blog. So, here it begins – but you can’t blame me. A brief summary of my time on Okinawa led off a blog post on March 20, 2012, italicized in the following two paragraphs.
[Self-portrait, in my Army barracks room with my Honeywell Pentax SLR camera with multiple lenses, Ft. Buckner, USASTRATCOM (a/k/a Communications), Okinawa, 1971 (Oy, my Minnesota ‘rithmetic tells me that was 41 [now 48] years ago?)]
In the summer of 1969, I received a very special invitation from Mr. Percy Unumb. Mr. Unumb was the Alexandria draft board, and he advised me that I was about to spend the next couple of years of my life in the service of our country. Now I always thought Mr. Unumb had a perfect name for his position, particularly in a time of war, because when you received his invitation, “you numb.” While the Vietnam War and its era are beyond my abilities to comment upon here, I can report from a personal standpoint I was incredibly fortunate to have spent my entire Army 2-year career on Okinawa.
For military personnel not in a war zone at the time, one of the requirements (as written in your employment contract) was to purchase the camera and stereo equipment to last a lifetime. Most of us did . . . and most of it would have. And thus began my stellar “career” as a photojournalist – meaning some of the time I carried a camera around with me.
I began my life as a soldier in August 1969 with basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Two months later I was off for two months of advanced individual training (AIC) in communications at Fort Gordon, Georgia. While at Fort Gordon, it snowed for the first time in some 50+ years and I watched the Vikings lose their first Super Bowl. After graduation from communications school, it was off to Okinawa (maps above and below), 7,000 miles from home, where I was stationed from February 1970 to February 1972. I will further delve into the whys, what fors, and where fors of Okinawa in future episodes . . .
[Now looking back in the archives, I can’t remember what I did in my first 7 months on Okinawa. That likely means it took me that long to buy my “camera for life.” But these black and white photos began in August 1970, and this first shot is towards the East China Sea from our barracks in Sukiran.]
[Okinawa is only about 70 miles long and 2-17 miles wide. Sukiran (Camp Zukeran on upcoming maps) is within and/or adjacent to the city of Futema (south central on the map) and about equidistant between the island’s two largest cities, the capital city Naha to the south and Okinawa (then, and forever after herein, Koza) to the north . . . ]
[Looking across the street from our barracks to other buildings and facilities within Sukiran – movie theater to the left, gym to the right, and shops and our NCO club (great tuna salad on toast sandwiches) in the middle mall area . . . ]
[Looking further to the left from previous photo – the movie theater now on the right, other military barracks, and the East China Sea in the distance. I will give the Army credit – they showed M*A*S*H, the movie, at the theater . . . ]
[Life in the open barracks. I actually remember this guy’s name was John Morton. I didn’t know him well, so why do I remember his name? Like a lot of guys in the communications field, a somewhat nerdy/geeky college type – such guys were useful sources when shopping for cameras, stereos, et al . . . ]
[Don’t remember him, but all barracks seemed to have guitar players . . . ]
[In the immediate foreground was the paratrooper barracks just below ours. Unlike us “office” types, they actually had to do army stuff. Down at the bottom of the hill was a fieldhouse . . . ]
[This was our workplace. Ft. Buckner was a top secret communications facility just a short drive from our barracks – by regular shuttle buses or you could drive if you had a car . . . ]
[This was the downhill drive from Ft. Buckner to our barracks. My first car there was a 1965 Mazda which at full power could go about 10 mph up this hill to work . . . ]
[From our barracks . . . ]
[We lived in open bays. Okinawa is a subtropical island, ala Hawaii, thus it could get a little hot. Air conditioning was sticking a leg out from under the covers. Since communications was a 24/7, 3-shift operation, there were always guys sleeping – you learned to do it amongst all the activity. When you made it to an E-5 level (specialist 5th class or buck sergeant), you could move into two person rooms which was like moving to the Ritz . . . ]
[Another cool nerdy/geeky guy whose name I can’t remember, but he’s set up back-to-back reel-to-reel tape decks to record from one to the other . . . ]
[Remember him but not his name – I believe I read Kirby on his fatigue name tag . . . ]
[Rain coming in?]
[The bottom middle is a backboard – played a lot of basketball on that court . . . ]
[On top of the hill, “Top of the Rock,” the officer’s club . . . ]
[Our neighborhood, again . . . ]
[These guys were the local braintrust regarding all things electronic . . . ]
[And this is where I discovered I wasn’t in Alexandria, Minnesota, anymore. This is Koza, our nearby big city, with a population of 138,000 . . . ]
[This brings back a lot of memories, my first contacts outside my cultural comfort zone. I loved it . . . ]
[I’m thinking these had to be taken from Koza versions of skywalks . . . ]
[I played a lot of handball – real men played handball and not racquetball. Handball turned your hands into calloused feet!]
[This is Wayne Coleman, my regular playing partner. We hung out together a lot. But he went home, to North Carolina, long before I did, and we just lost touch . . . ]
[I went home for my only leave in August 1971. We stopped at Hawaii on the way home. I took a photo of Diamond Head from the Honolulu airport that may appear sometime in future posts. Home then was Arlington, Virginia, and this is my brother Chris, then 19 and a true peacenik . . . ]
[When your camera has a bellows . . . ]
[Yup, still have these. I was drafted . . . ]
[What the army does to your body . . . ]
[It seemed I ate well, but I was 6-feet tall and weighed 150 pounds. I could slide under doors . . . ]
[I remember him but not his name . . . ]
[It’s hard to believe that to reach retirement age I had to put on 80 pounds?]
[Going topless reduces laundry expenses . . . ]
[Oh, I could generate a grin, at least . . . ]
[Back to the locals. I’m going to throw in the Wikipedia report of the Koza riots of September 1970. This photo was some time after that, but the Okinawans regularly protested our continuing occupation of their country 25 years after the end of WWII. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koza_riot . . . ]
[Despite what you see here, there was never any problem about GI’s going out and about in the local economy . . . unless. Occasionally, a GI would stay out too long at a bar, do something unlawful, leading to protest marches. I think our base was under Condition Green (or was it Red), meaning GI’s had to be back on base by midnight, the whole time I was there . . . ]
[I left the island in February 1972. In May 1972, the U.S. turned Okinawa over to Japan. (Maybe my leaving had something to do with that?) But the locals weren’t particularly happy over that either. They wanted total autonomy for themselves – they are not Japanese, they are Ryukyuans. And then after 25 years of driving on the right, they had to change to left side driving . . . ]
[Views I believe of Futema . . . ]
[With a Ferris wheel on the roof of what I believe was the East West Export store . . . ]
Free The Army
[In this section, we’ll visit the FTA tour performance on Okinawa in 1971. And while the military tried to make it difficult to attend, it did not prevent us from doing so. Lest you forgot, following is an LA Times report on the tour. I think the anti-war aspect was largely supported by our soldiers – we were mostly draftees, were opposed to the war, and any attempt to bring it to an end was appreciated. Shortly that general desire led to a troop draw down, many soldiers in Vietnam were transferred to Okinawa to finish their tours, and even then many got general early outs – including me, 6 months early.
Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere. ~ G.K. Chesterton
Helpful Household Hint #42: What old(er) people often do when up and about at 3:00 in the morning is giggle softly over funny quotes about things . . .
[This is Amanda Seim, with her mother Carol. Amanda is the executive director of the Runestone Museum. We had been at the museum the previous day for its annual meeting, and Amanda suggested we come back the next day as they would be featuring an artist with local roots . . . ]
[This is a photo of Amanda’s dad, John. He’s standing on the far left. Your cub reporter in the St. Louis Cardinals cap is standing in the middle. John and I grew up as next door neighbors in Victoria Heights . . . ]
[This is all about the Runestone and the museum . . . ]
[Here is said artist with local roots. Hans Hintzen graduated from Alex in 1976, and, as I subsequently discovered, lived in Victoria Heights for a couple years in the mid-60’s.]
[I hate flowers. I paint them because they’re cheaper than models and they don’t move. ~ Georgia O’Keefe]
[His story and two photos from the EchoPress . . . ]
[Photos from me again, here’s Hans with the Super . . . ]
[Yes, this picture has a further role. Again, your faithless cub reporter standing in the middle – standing on the far right is Pete Hintzen, Hans’s first cousin. Pete lived up the hill from John and me in Victoria Heights. There are no other Victoria Heighters in the photo. Pete’s dad, Carl, created Carl’s Fireside Steakhouse, which later became Sonny’s, then Weston Station . . . ]
[There are lots of other Victoria Heighters in this picture, but that’s a story for another day . . . ]
[I went to a museum where they have all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums. ~ Steven Wright]
While we were in the museum, two friends came in and said they had just been to the see the Prince quilt exhibit in Ashby. Well, we had no idea? We had somehow missed the following photo and storyline from the Echo Press, May 10, 2019 . . .
Global quilt exhibit coming to Ashby
Ashby’s quilting center, the North Star Retreat Center, will host a nationwide traveling quilt exhibit featuring a tribute to Prince Rogers Nelson, the Minnesota musical artist who died in 2016. The exhibit will be in Ashby from Thursday, May 9, to Saturday, May 18.
The exhibit is part of an annual quilting challenge issued by Baxter-based Cherrywood Fabrics, and draws entries from around the globe. Themes in previous years have included Van Gogh and the Lion King, and the 2019 challenge is a tribute to PBS painting instructor Bob Ross.
The Prince challenge drew 388 entries, and 165 of them became finalists, broken into three separate tours to travel the country. North Star will host two of the tours simultaneously.
Barbara Williams of Alexandria will be among five finalists appearing with their quilts on Friday, May 17, from 1-1:30 p.m.
Retreat owner Heather Thormodson said she asked Cherrywood Fabrics several years ago to bring the tour to her retreat, and they agreed.
[We have friends in Ashby (population 446, 25 miles from Alex) so we gave them a call. They didn’t know about it either? We said we were coming right up and would see them there. Here’s Ruthie at the exhibit – 90 quilts in hanging panels of three . . . ]
[This exhibit had already been to such places as Virginia Beach, Virginia; Houston, Texas; California – way to go Ashby!!]
[One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art. ~ Oscar Wilde]
[Hey, Marcus, do you know this guy?]
[Just down the road a bit from the Super’s sister Rita in Nashville, Indiana . . . ]
[A picture is worth a thousand words – particularly if you can’t read. ~ Harry Hershfield]
[Graham Sutherland’s portrait of me makes me look as if I was having a difficult stool. ~ Winston Churchill]
[Whistler, with all his faults, was never guilty of writing a line of poetry. ~ Oscar Wilde]
[Henry Moore’s sculpture in Hyde Park looks like something that’s fallen off a jumbo jet. ~ Laura Milligan]
[If the old masters had labelled their fruit, one wouldn’t be so likely to mistake pears for turnips. ~ Mark Twain]
[Heather is the owner of this Center, which recently hosted the Ashby high school prom in this room, and is a participant in this challenge . . . ]
[If you have a burning restless urge to paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass. ~ Fran Lebowitz]
[I would never have taken up painting if women did not have breasts. ~ Pierre Auguste Renoir]
[If a painting can be forged well enough to fool experts, why is the original so valuable? ~ George Carlin]
[When their backsides look good enough to slap, there’s nothing more to do. ~ Peter Paul Rubens]
[I’ve always been partial to Little Red Corvette . . . ]
[This is either a forgery or a damn clever original. ~ Frank Sullivan]
[Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves they have a better idea. ~ John Ciardi]
[Rembrandt painted 700 pictures. Of these 3,000 are in existence. ~ Wilhelm Bode]
[This was the Super’s favorite . . . ]
[A final look around . . . ]
[To draw you must close your eyes and sing. ~ Pablo Picasso]
[North Star Retreat Center quick facts: Sleeps 24, over 11,000+ square feet; Fully equipped commercial kitchen; 17 new single beds with 1 double and 3 king sized beds; 5 bedrooms all with own bathroom, 2 rooms with over-sized Jacuzzi tubs and walk in showers, 1 room with jets in the tub, 1 full bath & 1 room with a 3/4 bath; Main area is 40x 30 feet with 16 foot high pressed white tin ceiling with 2 beautiful cathedral style windows with a ton of natural light. Great lighting so leave your lamps at home!; New adjustable height tables, new armless task chairs, new telescoping LED Ott lights, 2 big boards for ironing and big irons, 3 cutting mats, and fireplaces; Linens, towels, washcloths and hand towels provided.(www.northstarretreat.com).]
[And 11 room shots from the Super . . . ]
[Having a camera means you never have to pass up an opportunity for a selfie . . . ]
[He was our greatest living painter, until he died. ~ Mark Twain]
[Our local Ashby friends arrived and were greeted by the aforementioned Heather . . . ]
[The Center was originally a church, so there is a spiral staircase to places on high . . . ]
[The view from on high . . . ]
[And that’s Ashby’s Pelican Lake in the distance . . . ]
[The Super shooting photos in this top room . . . ]
[And here are four of them . . . ]
[Helen and John were blown away by this exhibit in their little town’s midst . . . ]
[So, we obviously had fun having them model it all . . . ]
[As the Super would say, Missing U at the Prince quilt exhibit . . . ]
[Exiting the Center, heading for fine dining in downtown Ashby . . . ]
[Back home with our Hans Hintzen mug . . . ]
[Also from the museum, Big Ole. You’re suppose to take him with you on overseas trips for photo ops. He’ll be going with us to Norway . . . ]
Art is anything you can get away with. ~ Marshall McLuhan
Anthony Miltich will be at Carlos Creek Winery on Saturday, May 18, 2 – 6:00 . . .
Uncle Anthony and Nephew Sam together . . .
Patchouli will be at Central Square in Glenwood, Saturday, May 18, 7:30 . . .
The Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra will be at the Alexandria Area High School’s Performing Arts Center, Sunday, May 19, 2:00. This is the last concert of the season, completing CLSO’s 10th year . . .
All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff. ~ Frank Zappa
So, get out there and enjoy! And Happy Mother’s Day!
Well, finally made it to a spring sporting event. The weather thus far has not been conducive to outdoor activities. But I had been looking forward to seeing our girls and boys track teams, both of which had been outstanding in earlier meets. And I was especially looking forward to seeing our girl throwers, by all measures the best in the state. So, let’s begin at the end with a short video of McKenzie Duwenhoeger and Mya Lesnar, the top two in the state in shot put and discus . . .
[Upon arrival, looks like a pretty nice day – but it was still heavy jacket temps . . . ]
[Across the road is Grand Arbor where we have our Community Ed movies . . . ]
[And from the far side of the field looking back at the school. This meet was a makeup from a postponement two days prior. It did reduce the field from 5 schools to 3 – we hosted Willmar and Little Falls . . . ]
[A track meet is impossible for one person to cover. The are multiple events happening simultaneously. In the one meet I attended last year, the girl throwers competition was delayed by muddy conditions. I finally left for the comfort of home before they started. This time I was determined to cover them, so I did to the exclusion of all else . . . ]
[Here, they’re doing team warmups . . . ]
[Then off to the field – they need room to operate . . . ]
[Bad weather always looks worse through a window. ~ Tom Lehrer]
[I’m still learning the team, but here I believe we have Hailey Gill on the left, I’m not sure of who’s in the middle, and Mya, McKenzie and Christina Palmer on the right . . . ]
[Beginning with Hailey in the discus . . . ]
[I had the camera on continuous shoot through their throws . . . ]
[And thar she goes!]
[Christina is next up . . . ]
[Then Mya . . . ]
[Then McKenzie . . . ]
[And then we have not had enough meets for me to know our 5th discus thrower?]
[The Amazing Mr. Ripley is still around covering events. And I still have white lens envy.]
[In search of her identity . . . ]
[With Mya looking on . . . ]
[Back to Christina . . . ]
[Big effort . . . ]
[And follow through under the eye of the judge . . . ]
[And Mya again . . . ]
[Unfortunately the throwing cage support often got in the way . . . ]
[And away . . . ]
[I lost it in the sun?]
[Then Mac again . . . ]
[The launch angle appears to be about the same for all of them . . . ]
[And it’s off . . . ]
[And our mystery-to-me thrower again . . . ]
[No foul . . . ]
[I go running when I have to. When the ice cream truck is doing sixty. ~ Wendy Liebman]
[Hailey . . . ]
[Ye Olde Southpaw . . . ]
[I hope there were no low flying ducks . . . ]
[I love watching gymnastics, swimming, and track and field. ~ Mia Hamm]
[Christina . . . ]
[I don’t think the discus will generate any interest until they let us start throwing them at one another. ~ Al Oerter]
[Mya . . . ]
[To be number one, you have to train like you’re number two. ~ Maurice Greene]
[Mac . . . ]
[And release . . . ]
[Running is like mouthwash; if you can feel the burn, it’s working. ~ Brian Tackett]
[And the boy sprinters have been doing great. Here is our No. 1, Drew Olson . . . ]
[Looks like our 4 x 100 team, in the top 3 in the state . . . ]
[You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can’t know what’s coming. ~ Frank Shorter]
[Unknown Cardinal high jumper . . . ]
[It hurts up to a point and then it doesn’t get any worse. ~ Ann Trason]
[I don’t think jogging is healthy, especially morning jogging. If morning joggers knew how tempting they looked to morning motorists, they would stay home and do sit-ups. ~ Rita Rudner]
[There were a lot of relays in this meet. And I believe we set a few school records . . . ]
[I’m sorry I don’t know her – looks like a sprint medley . . . ]
[Track and field was very big when I was growing up. ~ Usain Bolt]
[The trouble with jogging is that by the time you realize you’re not in shape for it, it’s too far to walk back. ~ Franklin Jones]
[Done with discus; warming for shot . . . ]
[When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~ Theodore Roosevelt]
[Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. ~ Will Rogers]
[This looks like the multi-talented Kaye Paschka in the lead . . . ]
[Kristen Hoskins in the foreground, likely leadoff on a relay, looking to Drew Olson bringing it home . . . ]
[And there’s Drew . . . ]
[Summer Gerhardt leading off the shot . . . ]
[She’ll likely be a starter on the basketball team – tall and speedy . . . ]
[We can’t all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. ~ Will Rogers]
[Community Ed folks should recognize the judge – Mike Donahue who helps us establish the movies for the year . . . ]
[Summer’s a spinner – I haven’t seen many high schoolers using that technique . . . ]
[MARK IT!]
[Christina . . . ]
[MARK IT!]
[Hailey . . . ]
[Much to the joy of herself, her teammates, and the fans, Hailey joined Mya and Mac in the 40-foot club in this meet . . . ]
[MARK IT!]
[Once they say set, I’m in beast mode. ~ Sierrah Negrette]
[Mac . . . ]
[MARK IT!]
[Mya is a spinner . . . ]
[Who is probably No. 1 now . . . ]
[Balance is tough for spinners, but Mya held it together on her last throw . . . ]
[Summer Gerhardt]
[Christina Palmer – 38 feet]
[Hailey Gill – this was her 40-footer]
[All top international athletes wake up in the morning feeling tired and go to bed feeling very tired. ~ Brendan Foster]
[I believe this is Bethany, one of the three distance running Miller sisters . . . ]
[In a moment we hope to see the pole vault over the satellite. ~ David Coleman]
[Run like hell and get the agony over with. ~ Clarence DeMar]
ALEXANDRIA TOP THREE FINISHERS- GIRLS 3200M- 1st- Aleah Miller 12:18.20, 2nd- Heavyn Bordak 13:34.20; BOYS 3200M- 1st- Noah Struck 10:34.00, 3rd- Joel Brault 11:20.00; GIRLS 1600M- 1st- Emma Ecker 5:42.89, 2nd- Stormy Hegg 5:44.82, 3rd- Taylor Dummer 5:49.37; BOYS 1600M- 1st- Brian Denke 4:45.34, 2nd- Joseph Carlson 4:57.55; GIRLS 300M HURDLES- 1st- Kaye Paschka 45.95; BOYS 300M HURDLES- 1st- Joshua Kietzmann 42.29, 2nd- Daniel Jantzen 45.00, 3rd- Adam Pohlen 45.14; GIRLS HIGH JUMP- 1st- Addison Rodel 5-00.00, 3rd- Sierra Cory 4-08.00; BOYS HIGH JUMP- 2nd- Adam Pohlen 5-06.00, 3rd- Sean Klein 5-04.00; GIRLS POLE VAULT- 1st- Alexis Cole 7-03.00, 1st- Bria Luepke 7-03.00; BOYS POLE VAULT- 2nd Jaegar Steele 10-09.00, Xavier Holmvig 10-03.00; GIRLS LONG JUMP- 1st- Isabella Schweich 14-10.50, 2nd- Anna Doherty 14-09.00; BOYS LONG JUMP- 1st- Kristen Hoskins- 20-10.00; 2nd- Derrek Piepho 20-08.75; 3rd- Cody Branson 20-07.00; GIRLS TRIPLE JUMP- 1st- Margaret Shercliffe 32-03.05, 3rd- Tausha Lang- 31-04.50; BOYS TRIPLE JUMP- 1st- Joshua Kietzmann 41-10.50, 2nd- Graham Peterson 39-02.50; GIRLS DISCUS THROW- 1st Mya Lesnar 137-02, 2nd- McKenzie Duwenhoegger 133-07, 3rd- Hailey Gill 121-09; BOYS DISCUS THROW- 1st- Jamison Wolkow 135-10; GIRLS SHOT PUT- 1st- Mya Lesnar 43-06.00, 2nd- McKenzie Duwenhoegger 41-10.00; BOYS SHOT PUT- 1st- Jamison Wolkow 49-05.00
On May 7, both the boys and girls claimed True Team Section titles. Of note, each team could enter three competitors in each event – it looks like if the Cardinals could have included Christina and Summer in the shot, we may have finished 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Amazing.
BOYS TRACK AND FIELD
On Tuesday, in Brainerd the boys track and field team claimed our first True Team Section title since 2002 and have earned the right to compete at the True Team State Track and Field meet next Friday, May 17th at Stillwater High School beginning at 3:10pm. The Cards recorded 19 personal bests in the meet. Team scores: 1) ALEXANDRIA 989, 2) Moorhead 910.5, 3) St. Michael-Albertville 872, 4) Brainerd 823, 5) Bemidji 739, 6) Sartell 721.5, 7) Apollo 705, 8) Sauk Rapids 595, 9) Tech 495, 10) Buffalo 472
Individuals in the top 10:
110 hurdles- Daniel Jantzen, 6th, Joshua Kietzman 9th (personal best 16.63) and Adam Pohlen 10th
100m dash- Drew Olson 1st, Kristen Hoskins 2nd and Nolan Morical 6th
400m dash- Ethan Schoreder 2nd (personal best 51.13), Jack Theien 6th (personal best 52.08
300 hurdles- Joshua Kietzmann 2nd (personal best 41.18), Daniel Jantzen 6th and Adam Pohlen 8th
200m dash- Drew Olson 1st (personal best 22.32), Kristen Hoskins 2nd (personal best 22.85) and Derrek Piepho 4th (tied personal best 23.38)
3200m run- Dane Galloway 9th (personal best 10:14.63)
High Jump- Adam Pohlen 10th
Pole Vault- Nic Huss 10th (personal best 11-0)
Long Jump- Cody Branson 5th and Joshua Kietzmann 6th
Triple Jump- Joshua Kietzmann 4th and Graham Peterson 7th (personal best, 40-10)
Shot Put- Jaymeson Wolkow 4th and Beau Granning 10th (personal best 44-7)
Discus- Jaymeson Wolkow 1st (personal best 142-6)
Top 3 relays:
4×200 1st- Derrek Piepho, Cody Branson, Graham Peterson and Wade Odland
4×100 1st- Kristen Hoskins, Cody Branson, Nolan Morical and Drew Olson
4×400 2nd- Caden Scheunert, Graham Peterson, Jack Theien and Ethan Schroeder
Other personal bests not yet mentioned:
1600m- Myles Sansted (-12.85)
400m dash- Caden Scheunert (-.74)
800m run- Nathan Schneiderhan (-.67) and Lewis Lindner (-1.33)
3200m run- Jacob Kleven (-2.29) and Brian Denke (-4.58)
Pole Vault- Xavier Homelvig (+6″)
GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD
Alex Girls Track & Field Secure the Three-Peat at 8AAA Section True Team Championships
The emotions were high after finding out that BOTH the boys and girls track and field teams won the 8AAA True Team Section, punching our tickets to the state meet! We train with each other (boys and girls), so to share in such a special, team-orientated, victory was incredibly meaningful, especially since our program has not experienced a shared win at True Team Sections since 1987! Overall, the girls were fierce competitors, had incredible mindsets, and supported each other from start to finish. This win was truly a measure of our entire team’s depth as every athlete earns points based on how she places (30pts for 1st place, 29 pts for 2nd place…all the way down to 1 pt. for 30th place) and there is an opportunity for the entire 1st place team to advance to the state meet in Stillwater, MN. This type of meet celebrates not just the athletes who typically place in the top 8 – every single athlete contributes to the team total and is fighting to scrap one point at a time as they work to pass, out jump, or out throw their competition.
True Team Section champions included the 4x800m team of Hattie Galloway, Myah Kremer, Caitlin Bright, Emma Ecker (9:58.77); Kaye Paschka in the 100 Hurdles (15.21), 300 Hurdles (45.21), and Triple Jump (35-7.5); Mya Lesnar in Shot Put (47-1.5); and McKenzie Duwenhoegger in the Discus (135-5). Kaye Paschka also broke her own school record in the 300m Hurdles, which is extremely impressive given how early it still is in the season!
Individuals placing in the top 10 include:
· 100m Hurdles – 1st: Kaye Paschka (15.21), 9th: Sydney Gray (17.45).
· 100m – 9th: Erika Roderick (13.46)
· 1600m – 4th: Jaelyn Miller (5:23.99), 5th: Aleah Miller (5:25.75)
· 400m – 4th: Erika Roderick (61.89), 6th: Addison Rodel (62.09), 9th: Meg Shercliffe (63.27)
· 300m Hurdles – 1st: Kaye Paschka (45.21), 7th: Lexi Cole (50.80)
· 800m – 3rd: Aleah Miller (2:24.86), 5th: Myah Kremer (2:27.90)
· 200m – 6th: Anna Doherty (27.58), 8th: Micah Summer (27.86)
· 3200m – 3rd: Caitlin Bright (11:40.19), 9th: Stormy Hegg (12:01.49), 10th: Taelor Dummer (12:13.11)
· Long Jump – 3rd: Kaye Paschka (16-8.0), 8th: Meg Shercliffe (15-6.25)
· Triple Jump – 1st: Kaye Paschka (35-7.50), 3rd: Hailie Kent (34-2.5)
· High Jump – 5th: Bethany Miller (4-8), 10th: Sierra Cory (4-8)
· Shot Put – 1st: Mya Lesnar (47-1.5), 2nd: McKenzie Duwenhoegger (41-1.5), 3rd: Hailey Gill (38-1.25)
· Discus – 1st: McKenzie Duwenhoegger (135-5), 2nd: Mya Lesnar (133-3), 4th: Christina Palmer (116-1)
Relays placing in the top 3 include:
· 4x800m – 1st: Hattie Galloway, Myah Kremer, Caitlin Bright, Emma Ecker (9:58.77)
· 4x200m – 3rd: Addison Rodel, Christina Drown, Anna Doherty, Erika Roderick (1:50.29)
· 4x400m – 2nd: Addison Rodel, Aleah Miller, Jaelyn Miller, Myah Kremer (4:09.56)
Personal Bests: Sierra Cory (100m Hurdles), Jaelyn Miller (1600m), Kaye Paschka (300m Hurdles and Long Jump), Caitlin Bright (3200m), Stormy Hegg (3200m), Taelor Dummer (3200m), Rachel Boyden (Pole Vault).
Season Bests: Kaye Paschka (Triple Jump), McKenzie Duwenhoegger (Discus), Aleah Miller (1600m, 800m), Erika Roderick (400m), Addison Rodel (400m), Myah Kremer (800m), Whitly Netland (200m).
Team Scores: 1. Alexandria 1089.5, 2. St. Michael-Albertville 1020.5, 3. Brainerd 994.5, 4. Moorhead 934, 5. Bemidji 678.5, 6. Sartell-St. Stephen 668.5, 7. Sauk Rapids-Rice 570.5, 8. Buffalo 481.5, 9. St. Cloud Tech 473.5, 10. St. Cloud Apollo 425.
The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again. ~ Erma Bombeck
And Run for the Roses is the prelude to the season . . .
2019 Summer Season
Theatre L’Homme Dieu celebrates its 59th Season with Musicals, Comedies, and Dramas, as well as a Curated Concert Series, bringing Minnesota’s Greatest Artists + Arts Organizations to the Lakes Area. 2019 Theatre Series
Bright Star – June 25 – 30
Shapeshift – July 9 – 13
Til Death – July 16 – 20
Kevin Kling – July 23 – 27
Church Basement Ladies – August 6 – 10 2019 Concert Series
Neil Diamond (Matt Vee) – July 5
Glen Campbell (Jeff Dayton) – July 31
Six Appeal – August 14 – 15
[The day’s event unofficially (for us) began at 2:00 with Elsa Lee in the tasting room . . ]
[The Super’s Run for the Roses bonnet . . . ]
[My Run for the Roses bonnet . . . ]
[Elsa . . . ]
[And before we left for the stables, the Super made this request of Elsa . . . ]
[And then it was over to the stables for the main event. The Super always promotes early arrivals so she can get the best seats . . . ]
[Entertainment courtesy of the Salty Dogs . . . ]
[When you feel like you’ve only got a bit part in your own life, write the script yourself. ~ Benny Bellamacina]
[Satisfy people’s desire for the ridiculous and they will accept your idea of the sublime. ~ Maurice Willson Disher]
[The Hulk before intermission, Bruce Banner after it. ~ Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter]
[The 2019 season in poster, the next three . . . ]
[What is that unforgettable line? ~ Samuel Beckett]
[Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practicable entrances. ~ Victor Hugo]
[We discovered that theatre board members also make terrific greeters . . . ]
[Theatre is a voyage into the archives of the human imagination. ~ Natasha Tsakos]
[Look . . . I made a hat where there never was a hat. ~ Stephen Sondheim]
[I am interested in the shape of ideas, even if I do not believe in them. ~ Samuel Beckett]
[I think the theatre is as essential to civilization as safe, pure water. ~ Vanessa Redgrave]
[A shout out to the organizers!]
[If you were born with the ability to change someone’s perspective or emotions, never waste that gift. It is one of the most powerful gifts God can give—the ability to influence. ~ Shannon L. Alder]
[Known patrons of the arts . . . ]
[The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster. ~ Oscar Wilde]
[An actor must never be afraid to make a fool of himself. ~ Harvey Cocks]
[Without wine there is no longer love nor any other pleasant thing for men. ~ Euripides]
[Without writers, stories would not be written, Without actors, stories could not be brought to life. ~ Angie-Marie Delsante]
[Theatre is a voyage into the archives of the human imagination. ~ Natasha Tsakos]
[Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand . . . ]
[And now she’s in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand ~ Elton John]
[Coverage also provided by the local fourth estate . . . ]
[I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost – it’s there and then it’s gone. ~ Maggie Smith]
[Anatomy is to physiology as geography is to history; it describes the theatre of events. ~ Jean Fernel]
[The theatre, when all is said and done, is not life in miniature, but life enormously magnified, life hideously exaggerated. ~ H. L. Mencken]
[Theater is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve theater. ~ W. R. Inge]
[It’s one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work — the night watchman. ~ Tallulah Bankhead]
[My only regret in the theater is that I could never sit out front and watch me. ~ John Barrymore]
[Shift change of board member greeters . . . ]
[Coughing in the theater is not a repiratory ailment. It is criticism. ~ Alan Jay Lerner]
[The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life. ~ Arthur Miller]
[The best thing about the Kentucky Derby is that it is only two minutes long. It is the quickest event in sports, except for Sumo-wrestling & Mike Tyson fights. Maybe Drag-racing is quicker, but I have never been attracted to it. ~ Hunter S. Thompson]
[But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses. ~ Jane Smiley]
[To pilot a racehorse is to ride a half-ton catapult. It is without question one of the most formidable feats in sport. ~ Laura Hillenbrand]
[Come, let’s stroll, Stroll across the floor . . . ]
[Come, let’s stro-oh-oh-oll, Stroll across the floor ~ The Diamonds]
[DNA tests have proven both to be Flying Dutchmen . . . ]
[And close relatives of the executive director . . . ]
[The theater is a great equalizer: it is the only place where the poor can look down on the rich. ~ Will Rogers]
[This is really a lovely horse, I once rode her mother. ~ Ted Walsh]
[It is best not to swap horses while crossing the river. ~ Abraham Lincoln]
[A horse is dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle. ~ Ian Flemming]
[And the award for best dancing couple goes to . . . ]
[Sin is what is new, strong, surprising, strange. The theatre must take an interest in sin if the young are to be able to go there. ~ Bertolt Brecht]
[A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! ~ William Shakespeare]
[It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse. ~ Adlai E. Stevenson]
[The rules . . . ]
[Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. ~ W.C. Fields]
[You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him participate in synchronized diving. ~ Cuthbert Soup]
[We thought we had a winner. Helen bought one raffle ticket and this was it . . . ]
[She donated her winnings back to the theatre and left for her 30-minute trip home to a distant Alexandria suburb. I don’t think she knew at the time her horse had been DQ’ed. But thanks, Helen, it was the thought that counts . . . ]
[Our hosts, Nicole and Phil . . . ]
[Readying to announce to awards for . . . ]
[Scanning the floor for winners . . . ]
[Still scanning . . . ]
[Best hat!]
[Best dressed!]
[Best original!]
[Best first-timers (as I recall?)!]
[Go and play. Run around. Build something. Break something. Climb a tree. Get dirty. Get in some trouble. Have some fun. ~ Brom, The Child Thief]
[Also known as patrons of the arts (and wine, as well) . . . ]
[Even the world’s greatest actor cannot fake an erection. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana]
[There are those who go to the theatre as they would go to a brothel. ~ Antonin Artaud]
[Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed. ~ Derek Landy, Death Bringer)
[There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it. ~ Andrew Jackson]
[I didn’t want to spent a lot of close time with someone who believed that fun is a bourgeois indulgence. ~ Howard Zinn]
[Yes, this is their second appearance. I was promised a better seat at the next book club if I did so . . . ]
[I know. In fact, I am never wrong. ~ Oscar Wilde]
[Family, thy name is entertainment . . . ]
[Food to eat and games to play. Tell me why, tell me why. Serve it out and eat it up. Have a try, have a try. ~ Brian Jacques]
[To be able to say, I knew him when . . . ]
[Well-known couple about town. As president of the board, Fred would like to thank all the sponsors, contributors, and participants in this event. Say good-night, Fred.]
The theater is one of the few places left in the bright and noisy world where we sit in the quiet dark together, to be awake. ~ Sarah Ruhl
This excerpt from Carl Sagan’s book “Pale Blue Dot” (1994) was inspired by an image taken, at Sagan’s suggestion, by Voyager 1 on Feb 14, 1990.
The earth is shown from a distance of about 6 billion km (3.7 billion miles).
Voyager 1 had completed its primary mission, and was leaving the Solar System when, at the request of Carl Sagan, it was commanded by NASA to turn its camera around, and take one last photo of Earth across a great expanse of space.
The attached video’s accompanying words, spoken by Sagan, and written almost 24 years ago, are still relevant today.
[The prelude to Earth Day appeared in the cloud mornings Easter morning . . . ]
[And Earth Day begins . . . ]
[I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use. ~ Mother Teresa]
[The Earth is what we all have in common. ~ Wendell Berry]
[Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. ~ George Bernard Shaw]
[Time spent among trees is never time wasted. ~ Anonymous]
[Away, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood and the downs, To the silent wilderness, Where the soul need not repress its music. ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley]
[He that plants trees loves others besides himself. ~ Thomas Fuller]
[Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead]
[One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken. ~ Leo Tolstoy]
[The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. ~ Lady Bird Johnson]
[The Earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations. ~ John Paul II]
[Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty. ~ John Ruskin]
[Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries. ~ Jimmy Carter]
[Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise. ~ George Washington Carver]
[Only dictatorships use templates for their banners. ~ Heinz Valk (Estonian artist who coined the terms “Singing Revolution” and “One day, no matter what, we will win.”)]
[You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make. ~ Jane Goodall]
[You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares, So go downtown, things’ll be great when you’re, Downtown, no finer place for sure, Downtown everything’s waiting for you ~ Petula Clark “Downtown”]
[They say the neon lights are bright on [B]roadway ~ George Benson]
[A shout out to Roers Family Bakery for greeting the marchers . . . ]
[With a tray full of pastries (why, yes, I did enjoy a chocolate covered doughnut) . . . ]
[Our first sighting of our destination – Big Ole . . . ]
[The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard. ~ Gaylord Nelson]
[Media coverage (other than from the cub reporter) . . . ]
[In 2015 the town raised $26,000 for Big Ole’s repair after an inspection uncovered numerous cracks in his body. Alexandria then decided to go all-out and gave their big he-man a total makeover, which was completed in August 2016. Big Ole should now be invincible into the mid-21st century (www.roadsideamerica.com).]
[If we saved Big Ole, we can save Earth . . . ]
[So, we posed for destination photos with Ole . . . ]
[And after I finished . . . ]
[The local media took some more (published on Voice of Alexandria) . . .
[Rousing cheers for the record . . . ]
[And now, back to the library . . . ]
[What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on. ~ Henry David Thoreau]
[We do have a men’s shop! Who knew?]
[We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do. ~ Barbara Ward]
[The proper use of science is not to conquer nature but to live in it. ~ Barry Commoner]
[The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for. ~ Ernest Hemingway]
[A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt]
[To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. ~ Helen Keller]
[Environmentally friendly cars will soon cease to be an option … they will become a necessity. ~ Fujio Cho, Honorary Chairman of Toyota Motors]
[Local DNR representative Al Schmidt gave a presentation on . . . ]
[The effect of climate change on fish and other critters . . . ]
[Emeritus biology professor Van Gooch gave a presentation on the effects of climate change on life in general . . . ]
[The idea was to find out what owls could not digest and would thus throw up . . . ]
[This was led by Paul Meyers, Professor of Biology at UMM, who also talked about the effect of climate change on insects. Seated on the far left in the photo is Professor Gooch, appropriately attired in a U sweatshirt . . . ]
[The skeletal remains of small rodents . . . ]
[The following were gifts from Kirby and Chris Karpan. The bags also included seeds: Pink Swamp Milkweed, Purple Coneflowers, Dill, Black-eyed Susan.]
[For whatever reason, it seemed appropriate to end Earth Day with a pizza at The Depot?]
Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of each. ~ Henry David Thoreau
[Before we left our Cordoba hotel room, I had to get a picture of the ubiquitous Honeywell thermostat, for “Weakie” . . . ]
[And a final photo of the art, for me . . . ]
[In the lobby, doing a final social media check before heading out to Madrid . . . ]
[The place had a nice lobby . . . ]
[At the train station . . . ]
[For the 250 mile trip north to Madrid . . . ]
[Another high speed ride . . . ]
[Our hotel in Madrid . . . ]
[Checking our neighborhood . . . ]
[In search of, of course, fine dining . . . ]
[And fine dining would be incomplete without . . . ]
[Then off to a familiar neighborhood from our visit here a week ago . . . ]
[Nepune Fountain . . . ]
[Where we would meet our bus . . . ]
[For the 45 mile ride south to Toledo . . . ]
[Exiting Madrid . . . ]
[A drive-by of Catedral de Sta Maria la Real de la Almudena . . . ]
[Cityscape . . . ]
[And the cathedral again . . . ]
[And we passed the Dear Hotel where we stayed in Madrid the previous week . . . ]
[On the road again . . . ]
[Unknown – somewhere along “the road again ‘ . . . ]
[Toledo is a city and municipality located in central Spain; it is the capital of the province of Toledo. Toledo was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive monumental and cultural heritage. Toledo is known as the “Imperial City,” and as the “City of the Three Cultures” for the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims and Jews reflected in its history. Toledo has a long history in the production of bladed weapons, which are now common souvenirs from the city. As of 2015, the city had a population of 83,226 and an area of 232.1 km2(89.6 sq mi) (Wikipedia).]
[The photo above is mine. Here’s the story: In 2001, a firm designed a series of escalators and covered walkways from an underground garage into and through the ancient walls. Instead of one very long escalator, as was used in Medellin, Columbia, recently to climb a quarter mile into the hillside slums, the architects planned a total of 6 differently angled ones protected from the elements and taking advantage of the views. Their international award-wining project won the Elevator World – Project of the Year Award for 2002/2003. To build the escalator meant a section of the centuries-old fortifications had to be bulldozed so the old and new could meld into an unobtrusive and sculptural egress. I cringe at the thought of the initial destruction, their medieval ramparts breached by shiny stainless steel, but the resulting structure is simply astounding! It works! The reconstructed walls look as if no stones were touched, while the escalators sinuously wind their way through and behind them. At peak usage, as many as 40,000 people a day ride those escalators. It is an amazing accomplishment (http://travelingboy.com/)! The following 4 photos are also from that website, and we were delighted we didn’t have to climb stairs to the top.]
[Back to me again, we’re at the top . . . ]
[The Plaza de Zocodover is the city square. It was the nerve center of the city during most of its history, acting as its main square. Here horses, donkeys, foals, mares, mules and other beasts were sold, when the city of Toledo was Spanish-Muslim city. It has been celebrating for centuries, it is a weekly market (Wikipedia).]
[And it looks like it’s going to be party time . . . ]
[But it also looks like rain . . . ]
[Walking down this lovely pedestrian way toward the Toledo Cathedral . . . ]
[And various views thereof . . . ]
[The Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo, a Roman Catholic church, is the seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toledo. The cathedral of Toledo is one of the three 13th-century High Gothic cathedrals in Spain and is considered, in the opinion of some authorities, to be the magnum opus of the Gothic style in Spain. It was begun in 1226 under the rule of Ferdinand III and the last Gothic contributions were made in the 15th century when, in 1493, the vaults of the central nave were finished during the time of the Catholic Monarchs. It was modeled after the Bourges Cathedral, although its five naves plan is a consequence of the constructors’ intention to cover all of the sacred space of the former city mosque with the cathedral, and of the former ‘sahn’ with the cloister. The spectacular incorporation of light and the structural achievements of the ambulatory vaults are some of its more remarkable aspects. It is built with white limestone from the quarries of Olihuelas, near Toledo (Wikipedia).]
[The Town Hall in Plaza del Ayuntamiento, Cathedral Square . . . ]
[A walking tour around the cathedral . . . ]
[The tower was designed and built mostly by Alvar Martínez; it is Gothic, with some decorative Mudéjar influence and reaches a height of 92 m (301 ft) (Wikipedia).]
[We did not go in the cathedral. It was either closed, or too expensive based on time constraints . . . ]
[The Jewish quarter of Toledo is a district of the city, in Castile-La Mancha. It was the neighborhood in which the Jews lived in the Middle Ages, although they were not obliged to live within it. The Jewish community of Toledo which became, in the 12th and 13th centuries, the most populous and rich of the Kingdom of Castile. And coexists for centuries, more or less peacefully, with Muslims and Christians, in which it would be called city of the three cultures (Wikipedia).]
[Bill checks the city map . . . ]
[In the red light district?]
[Not likely in a “red light” district . . . ]
[It’s a pastry shop . . . ]
[Mazapan de Toledo . . . ]
[In Spain, various convents of cloistered nuns are keeping centuries-old traditions of dessert-making alive with their sweets, marmalades, chocolates and more . . .(tastingtable.com)]
[And Bill & I say our final good-byes to Spanish beer . . . ]
[Working our way back to the bus, we had to fend off more rain . . . ]
[On what otherwise would be a pretty setting . . . ]
[You can always stop at a candy shop for protection from the rain . . . ]
[Yummy!]
[(Hmmm, I wonder how many Spanish ham sandwiches I could hide in my suitcase?)]
[Shooting, out of focus, back at the cathedral tower . . . ]
[Acitivities appear unscathed by the weather . . . ]
[Escalators – going down?]
[Back on the flatland where we would catch our bus . . . ]
[The bus circled the city on the way back to Madrid. It would have made for a lot of great photos if the bus windows hadn’t been streaked by rainfall . . . ]
[Adios España!! The last photo in Spain. Your next selection of family vacation slides will likely occur in July, featuring Norway and the British Isles. I know you can hardly wait.]
We’ve come up against the church, Sancho. ~ Don Quixote
Our penultimate day in Spain. How ’bout a train ride from Seville to Cordoba, 90 miles to the northeast . . .
[As I recall, our train came in to a gate about 50 yards to the left of this one . . . ]
[Then it’s not often that the first dozen photos in a new city are of the hotel room?]
[But our monster suite in the Macia Alfaros Hotel was impressive . . . ]
[With art!!]
[And a bathroom!!]
[And a bath tub!!]
[A living room with desk!!]
[Enough room for a par-tay!!]
[A bedroom suite, with columns!!]
[And a bed!!]
[And a big mural in the hotel entry way – may guess it’s of Cordoba!!]
[After the exhaustion of touring our hotel room, we were hungry . . . ]
[Unfortunately, fine outdoor dining was spoiled by rain (which is suppose to fall mainly on the plain) . . . ]
[But on the inside they were hanging ham. Seven Spanish jamones are covered by European law . . . ]
[I can’t remember what we ordered, but I’m sure Bill and I had the local beer . . . ]
[Then it was out into the rain, crossing the street to . . . ]
[And this is where we would spend the day . . . ]
[The Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba, also known as the Great Mosque of Córdoba and the Mezquita, whose ecclesiastical name is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, is the Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Cordoba. The structure is regarded as one of the most accomplished monuments of Moorish architecture. According to a traditional account, a small Visigoth church, the Catholic Basilica of Saint Vincent of Lerins, originally stood on the site. In 784 Abd al-Rahman I ordered construction of the Great Mosque, which was considerably expanded by later Muslim rulers. Córdoba returned to Christian rule in 1236 during the Reconquista, and the building was converted to a Roman Catholic church, culminating in the insertion of a Renaissance cathedral nave in the 16th century (Wikipedia) . . . ]
[From the original Muslim minaret to the current Bell Tower, this structure has played an important role in the image and profile of Cordoba. While throughout its history it has maintained the same essential function, summoning the faithful, its forms and styles have changed over time. Standing at 54 metres, it is the tallest building in the city (mezquita-catedraldecordoba.es).]
[Since the early 2000s, Spanish Muslims have lobbied the Roman Catholic Church to allow them to pray in the cathedral. This Muslim campaign has been rejected on multiple occasions, both by the church authorities in Spain and by the Vatican (Wikipedia). This apparently is still the case, which seems odd since the officially accepted name for the place is Mosque-Cathedral?]
[A further review at the end of this missive . . . ]
[The Bell Tower – though you already know that . . . ]
[Once inside, it’s an amazing collection of different “rooms” in different styles through the ages . . . ]
[The building is most notable for its arcaded hypostyle hall, with 856 columns of jasper, onyx, marble, granite, and porphyry. These were made from pieces of the Roman temple that had occupied the site previously, as well as other Roman buildings, such as the Merida amphitheatre. The double arches were an innovation, permitting higher ceilings than would otherwise be possible with relatively low columns. The double arches consist of a lower horseshoe arch and an upper semi-circular arch. The famous alternating red and white voussoirs of the arches were inspired by those in the Dome of the Rock and also resemble those of the Aachen Cathedral, which were built almost at the same time. Horseshoe arches were known in the Iberian Peninsula since late Antiquity, as can be seen on the 3rd-century “Estela de los Flavios”, now in the archaeological museum of Leon. A centrally located honeycombed dome has blue tiles decorated with stars (Wikipedia).]
[The building’s floor plan is seen to be parallel to some of the earliest mosques built from the very beginning of Islam. It had a rectangular prayer hall with aisles arranged perpendicular to the gibla, the direction towards which Muslims pray. The prayer hall was large and flat, with timber ceilings held up by arches of horseshoe-like appearance. Hisham’s mosque covered an area of 460 by 280 feet (140 m × 85 m). It was flanked by stout, fortified walls, with watch towers and a tall minaret. There were nine outer gates and eleven inner doors. Each door led to an aisle within the mosque. The court had spacious gates on the north, west, and east sides, and fountains for the purification of the pious. The eleven north-to-south aisles were crossed by twenty-one narrower ones running from east to west (Wikipedia).]
[The Super, with one of the 856 columns . . . ]
[And I believe there are 37 chapels contained herein. I’d go crazy trying to figure out which is which. So, to make it easy on myself, just enjoy the photos . . . ]
[And here comes the Zamboni?]
[Yea, it is all kind of unbelievable . . . ]
[The intricacies of the ceilings . . . ]
[In the Saint Theresa Chapel . . . ]
[An up and coming cub reporter?]
[Walk this way . . . ]
[High Altar of the Mezquita Cathedral . . . ]
[Time for an outside walkabout . . . ]
[The weather limited our excitement for covering a lot of ground . . . ]
[The Roman bridge of Córdoba is a bridge in the Historica centre of Cordoba, Andalusia, and southern Spain, originally built in the early 1st century BC across the Guadaliquivir river, though it has been reconstructed at various times since. Most of the present structure dates from the Moorish reconstruction in the 8th century (Wikipedia).]
[The Mosque-Cathedral as seen from the bridge . . . ]
[In nicer weather, we likely would have crossed the bridge to see why the chicken did . . ]
[Appears to be an aardvark . . . ]
[I believe there were thoughts of walking back to the hotel . . . ]
[The remains of a Roman temple, which was discovered in the 1950s during the expansion of City Hall. It is located in the angle formed by the streets Claudio Marcelo and Capitulares. It was not the only temple that the city had, but it was possibly the most important of all, and the only known by archaeological excavation. It is a Pseudoperipterus, hexastyle and of Corinthian order temple of 32 meters long and 16 wide. Its construction began during the reign of Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) and ended some forty years later, during the reign of Emperor Domitian (81-96 CE). Presumably it was dedicated to the imperial cult. The temple underwent some changes in the 2nd century, reforms that coincide with the relocation of the colonial forum (Wikipedia).]
[But after finding these, I seem to recall we took a cab?]
[Seems odd this was the last photo taken in Cordoba? The Super, as the masked avenger outside the cathedral?]
[The further review as previously promised . . . ]
[This was taken as we were exiting the Cathedral. I thought it strange I could find nothing about this specific sculpture. Teno, who died in 2013, is probably most famous for his Don Quixote sculpture in the Kennedy Center. A special case is that of Aurelio Teno, silversmith of initial office, draftsman, apprentice sculptor, painter by effusion of his temperament and expansive man in thought and will, who found no space in Cordoba necessary to his eagerness for progress, marched to Madrid to achieve a place among modern artists.Difficult task has been his, but, finally won the game.He was applauded by the public, the most demanding critic with his abstract paintings, his audacity in the “pot-art”, in his sculptures, and, above all, in the happy realizations of pieces of goldsmith’s work about informalist design and metal applications precious, rare stones and tree roots.Teno won international awards for some of his works, and, lately, he was awarded the realization of a monumental statue in the United States (cordobapedia.wikanda.es).]
Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun every year. ~ Unknown
My first was 1976. Indiana beat Michigan for the national championship, the last undefeated team to do so, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. For some reason I do not have a program from that Final Four. The following, however, are all the rest. I believe I have been to 24 between 1976 and 2010. I missed a few years, here and there, when I was probably performing brain surgery. We stopped going after 2010 for three practical reasons: 1) It was getting exceedingly difficult to score tickets through the lottery (several times we bought scalped tickets on the street), 2) basketball was not made to be played in football stadiums, and 3) the big screen home TV. I appreciate all those road trips through the years – it’s how I saw the country. For further background on all this go to: https://alexandriacardinals.blog/2011/01/17/basketball-dan/
[And the 1943 Cardinals were: Walt Grodahl, Lawrence Schmidt, Captain Hal Haskins, Pat White, Duane Brown, Don Nelson, Leigh Peterson, Oliver Pederson, Stan Max, Lyle Bergner, Coach Harry Falk, and Manager Romaine Lake.]
Not only is there more to life than basketball, there’s a lot more to basketball than basketball. ~ Phil Jackson
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