Thursday, May 29, 2008

And Now for something completely different.

MILY FREDRIX , Associated Press May 28, 2008 MILWAUKEE -" Love it, hate it or laugh at it — at least it's inexpensive. Sales of Spam — that much maligned meat — are rising as consumers are turning more to lunch meats and other lower-cost foods to extend their already stretched food budgets".
spam-maps

I couldn't help but think that this article is pure politically motivated BS. Has Mily ever shopped for groceries? Spam (which I have never bought, but I might now for nostalgia) costs about 3.50 - 4 dollars a pound. It is sold in 12oz tins. Is 4 dollars a pound an inexpensive ...er.. meat? For Mily's it is. I'll bet shes never even tasted it. Personal experience has taught me that other cuts of meat are less expensive.... and can stretch your budget, - if food is a place you look to stretch your family budget.
The truth is; Hormel has mounted an extensive marketing campaign for this popular product, and other new Spam products:

Original SPAM® Classic
SPAM® Lite
SPAM® Less Sodium
SPAM® Hot & Spicy
SPAM® Hickory Smoke Flavored
SPAM® Oven Roasted Turkey
SPAM® with Bacon
SPAM® with Cheese
SPAM® with Honey
SPAM® Single Classic
SPAM® Single Lite
SPAM® Spread
Also the well known and advertised Spam Recipe Contest has been widely covered. There are Spam festivals for pork's sake!

Mily is just a media drone...
And remember - backwards it spells "maps"

Sandy Beach solitaire

An empty Sandy Beach
Wednesday evening was cool, but with enough breeeeeeze to send sailors and sailboats into a midweek flutter.
"Sandy Beach' reveals Deephaven's non-creative naming skills. It is just off Lakview Avenue. A little further down the road lay "Rocky Beach". The major City Beach is named "Deephaven Beach".
empty beach
I'm
SandyBeachdock

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Deephaven Old Men's Tennis

The laser printed sign inside the Gazebo is beginning to wash out with the weather and rain. The Gazebo was empty....
Gazebo
Excerpted braggadoccio reads as follows:
"Now is the story of a group of old men
Trying to capture their youth once again
We¹re out on the tennis court mornings to nights
From dawns early rays thru evenings flood lights
Some hit with power, some hit with spin
some call the ball out when it really is in
Some have new hips, and more have new knees
the game sure is fun , but no longer a breeze
Our hearing's gone bad, so we can't hear a "let"
And our most difficult move
is a charge to the net"
A Tangle

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Birds-I-view

The Golden Geese
bending

Free Sailboat rides

freesailboatrides
All the information is here - on this (above) camoflaged sign.
LMYactclub

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Wazata Art Experience

A stroll down Lake Avenue by the waterfront in Wayzata found the street lightly populated. It was a limited art experience. The artists' displays lined two sides of the street for about one city block. The artists sat in weighted white pole tents to protect the work and themselves from inclement weather and sun.
Two large Irish Wolfhounds drew attention while I was there. Gourmet hot dogs were going for 4.50.
Mr. Joe Bangles
An odd character and his accolite sold his CDs from their moving inventory

Can one judge a street exihibit in the same way one might review a lofty presentation at the Walker? No, this is art in the physical world, outside the white cube. For the artist this is art in the trenches. I know I have been there. Competition from the "Art-A-Whirl" in Minneapolis thinned the crowd.
I enjoy looking for artist that look like their work. A bright and cheery blond sat at a table behind her sunlit pastel acrylic still lifes. A eccentric curmudgeon displayed his pen and ink hatched & cross hatched Train Stations from throughout Minnesota and the Midwest. A very talented printmaker displayed some well printed colored etchings and intaglio prints. I was somewhat dismayed with his "artist statement" and morose subject matter - where is a person going to display this?
I am also somewhat dssappointed when an artist's symbolism is particularly obvious and treadworn... but that is me.
Pictured is the refreshingly fun-loving, romantic and slightly retro paintings and colllage/mixed media work of Westy Caswell
Copeland.
Westy
westy#p1

Cottagewood Sunrise 5:30am Sunday

Monday 5am in Cottagewood
Within 30 minutes the clouds had moved, only temporarily. I was up early working on an abstract water color.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Wayzata Art - on Lake Street

They call it the Wayzata Art experience. May 17@ 10am - 5pm. In the past this has not been quite in the league of Excelsior's Art on the Lake, (which I highly recommend on June 7, 8th). If the weather is ammenable it is a very nice to stroll down Wayzata's main drag and look at the crafts. Make the "Walkable city " crowd happy. See the oft-disputed commercial rail line and depot that James J Hill built.
Hiawatha

Wayzata Thursday 6:30am

Wayzata_red
Wayzata sail_row

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Ridgewood Road

Once there was a little country road; Ridgewood Road... a curvy little 25mph road that connects Vinehill and Highway 101. Continuing growth has transformed this little road into a busy thoroughfare. New construction lines the road. The little Par 3 Municipal golf course is long gone. Replaced by townhomes and man-made ponds.
Sigh!...I think of the many golf balls I lost in the encroaching rough on this little course. I think of a last round of golf shot there with a friend who is now also long gone.
But that is development, and I am admittedly a mild reactionary with Luddite tendencies... not always the most visionary. Still it is sad to see this road dissappear to the City of Minnetonka expansion.
developement
They are laying sewer drains and other infrastructure there now.
P5120007

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Opening Day Weekend

Fly Fishing

A Sheltie in Deephaven - A Toonie Update

Toonieontonka
The winter weather didn't really affect this dog who was bred for the cold and rocky climes of the Shetland Islands. But that does not mean that she is not thrilled with the warmer weather. She races around the yard with her eyes pealed for visitors.
She has worn a path on our 3/4p acre wooded lot, carrying in tree branches and shrubbery in her mouth .. and in her furry coat.
I never expected this Sheltie to grow to weigh (over) 30 lbs... a very large lap dog indeed.
Toonie_May08

A Little Bridge

stream&pool

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

A Lake Minnetonka Morning 6:15am.

Gray's Bay looking west. The morning sun at my back.
Minnetonka_morning
moby_heaven
I left my car to walk across 101 and shoot a few of the sunlit homes. I sometimes take an inventory of items left behind, but it was very clean, except for a single well-worn New Balance running shoe. The morning sun beamed underneath the ochre colored bridge. I calmed down. A few mintes earlier a well-acoutremented forty-something bicyclist ran a stop sign directly in front of me. It was a close call for him, and he never even noticed.
I enjoyed the Morning sun.....

Thursday, May 01, 2008

The morel of the story

Every year at this time I write about a subculture that exists in our fast paced world: The "Morel Mushroom Hunter". A strange breed indeed.
Some are gentle, carbon-based humans wearing little straw hats and garden gloves. Others are more secretive and stealthy. You will see them wearing camoflage jackets and writing in code. They can be spotted taking soil temperature measurements and mapping the riverside terrain for decomposing elms and oaks.
Morel
I also make one or two feeble attempts to find the illusive morel in my own neighborhood... usually resulting in the discovery of old pop bottles, linoleum cutting tools and squirt guns (all actual finds).... and about 3 morels.
For now, just like morels hunters, these mushrroms are not very common. We need more warmth and rain. The exotic morels exist in various types and colors (yellow, grey, and the dreaded false morel).
Take care.

In the distance - a new bridge

Locust Hills Bridge

It was early in the morning, Spring is late, and so I just took a quick shot at a distance. Locust Hills Development. This bridge replaced the old one.
A sign said "Keep Out" and so I did.

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