130.August 24

Spring Grove, MN

I slept in late, because of my room to myself on a big bed, and woke at 09:30. I went to Chris and Rhonda's at noon, met Chris and John walking in the door at the same time, and had lunch, courtesy of Rhonda. Christina and I sorted the sparklies that I brought her from Grandma.

I went shopping for bike necessaries, lights, tubes. Then Walmart where I saw Heather Raveling upon entering. We hugged slightly, her in a totally brown corduroy outfit and her friend awing at our sappy sweet smiles. She's already starting back at Luther as a registration assistant. I felt old, but too young. I bought bungee cords.

I went back to Chris and Rhonda's, who helped me take some of Chris's bike accessories and put then with mine. Then I went home and mounted it to the spare tire of my Mitsubishi Montero with the bungees. That was fun and secure. I changed the oil, checked the fluids, and then went to dinner at the Skyline with everyone.

Now to bed. It is blissful to have this recapping time, but only when the day seems to take 2 full pages. This is a bit skimpy.

I'd like to wake with the sunrise daily, and go to bed at sunset on my trip. Esp. if I'm camping. I called Dan, an opera singer from Luther now living in Rochester, NY about staying with him on my way back.

I called Sam about rent duties. He'll be at our apartment on Saturday, Sept. 2. I must call Keith and tell him tomorrow.

1995

Alte Plastik Museum, Frankfurt, DE

I woke with Lars at 6:50. He went back to sleep, so did I, but I missed the next time he work and woke again around 8:30. The Muellers were going to a Berei at 9:30, so I joined them. It was fun, just like old times, except with great pastries and coffee. I had pain au chocolat.

Lars called, and made a plan to meet for lunch, which we did, after I helped usher the Mueller's off with Lars's dad Wolfgang to Nurmburg, which is his hometown. It was raining "elephants" on his way, so he was a bit late.

I got showered and washed my clothes and headed off by the S-Bahn again. I didn't buy a rail pass, forgot, really, until I was on, thought I could onboard like in Berlin. But no. So I got off at the Main train station, just in case. I ran to the next station, where I found Lars' workplace "Freshfields" and waited. I wrote the postcard below while I waited:

I'm at the foot of the Freshfields office, where Lars works. He stopped down a few minutes ago to report he's got to stay for a short meeting. So we'll have a later lunch. Fine with me, though I am hungry. Lars will pay. I have planned out the rest of my day until Lars gets off work. I'll go to the museum area. Along the Main (pronounced MINE), there are a number, ten, I think, of museums. I plan to spend this rainy day going to all of them. Then, when Lars is done, he can meet me at Zum Gemalt Haus, which is an Abfel Wine bar, which seems to be a hard cider of sorts. Its hung with lots of paintings of Old Frankfurt, and they have some oil soaked cheeses. Tonight, I believe we will go drinking or to beer kellers, which will involve drinking I dare say. I think I'll buy some packets of post cards to send to my favorite people, this rainy day seems the perfect time to prepare them.

We ate at Indigo, supposedly the best Indian restaurant in town, and it was wonderful. I made Lars pay, because he made we wait so long. We made our next plan to meet at Zum Gemalt Haus, at 67 Sweitzestrasse. Lars went back to church, and I wandered through Frankfurt's old city.

I viewed a few churches and Roms, an open square, more of a circle, probably built by Romans originally. When I bought postcards and decided that the weather was nice enough to dry my clothes outside, and got on the train to do so, it was already 17:00, so I went to Lars' apartment and had two beers while I practiced my wedding song, clipped my left hand nails and played more, and did email stuff. So my clothes were now dry.

Now I'm at "Zum Gemalt Haus" still waiting for Lars. ON my second glass of apfelwein and I'm sure there are plenty more coming. The server walks around with a tray of them to pass out to anyone who enters. I guess that's why people come here. It is the local drink, and this is the heritage hall, of sorts. People look very different here than they did in England.

I'm looking greedily at the "Slaughterhouse Plate". Lars is late. I wrote some poetry to pass the time while drinking apfelwein. I had a thought that perhaps I could write my own song to sing at the wedding during the time. I continued to ponder that until it was time to sing it.

If the Seine was close as the faucet, and the

Louvre was in the next room

enclosing all the pyramids of Egypt

It'd feel as real as you

lying next to me.

If Rome was lit by the lamp-post

or the bathroom were the Taj Mahal

there'd be nothing more to give

to prove our love.

You are as beautiful as anywhere,

as untouchable as everywhere,

as embraceable as the pedestal's seventh wonder.

2004

Ossian, Iowa

I just played 9 holes of golf in Ossian after work with Llew, Chris, and my coworkers from Deco. Llew drove down from Spring Grove at 1600 to play too, and he drove me to Ossian and back at the end of the evening. We all had a lovely time, as it was such a beautiful evening to be out on the course. I will join Rachel and Jill tomorrow in Shakopee, MN for the Renaissansce fest.

2012

I just adapted a table to fit into an unlikely room in our house to use as my "office." This will be a place to do bills, and also do my Deco work when the rest of the house is loud or otherwise occupied. I feel very Harry Potter like here. Rachel and I had guests of Julie and Kirsten and her beautiful baby girl for the weekend. Rachel has gone off to the church to practice organ, and I must relocate the items I've taken from under the stairs.

2013

Rachel performed in a Lanesburo, MN church this morning instead of in Spring Grove. They'd invited her as the guest main performer for a service dedicated to local talent. She had a great time. While she was gone, I cleaned the house, and got it looking good again. I also mowed the rest of the lawn, and feel like I've got a handle and the house again. We cleaned more when she got home, but then watched a few movies based on the end of the world. The first was about losing each of your senses, in the same sense that Blindness caused everyone to lose that sense. But it started with smell and ended with Blindness in this case. It was a shared disease, and seemed more of a statement on how we rely on and abuse our senses. We loved it, called 'Perfect Sense'.

2014