Category Archives: Weather +Climate

US History, Weather +Climate, World History

Vietnam

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Fall?                                       Waning Blood Moon

Woke up again this morning to snow covered trees and lawn.  The snow hasn’t let up since then, but no snow accumulates on the roads and driveways and sidewalks.  We’re still warm at ground level.

The truck had passed the 3,000 mile mark for an oil change a couple of weeks ago, so I got it in to Carlson’s today.

While I was there, a Vietnamese man sat down and we got to talking.  He’s lived here 20 years. “I go back 2-3 years to visit my family.  They live in Saigon City.  No job.  Poor.”  In his opinion Toyota stopped making good vehicles about 8-9 years ago.  Now “they make them all over.   China.  Vietnam.  Korea.  Everywhere.  Quality not as good.”  He’s here primarily to earn money for his family since a job there often pays $40-50 U.S. a month.

We talked about Cambodia for a bit.  “Not safe.  Americans who live there left.  There a lot of Americans in Saigon City.  Looks like a small American city right in Saigon City.”  He went on, “After 1975, American’s left.  Ten years they’re back with their families.”

After he left, I worked on a tour for the MIA.  The subject matter?  Asian art.

Weather +Climate

Like A Snowball Rolling Down Hill

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Fall                                       Waning Blood Moon

The change of seasons has picked up some momentum in the past couple of days with two hard freezes in a row, then snow last night.  We’re not in late fall yet, that won’t come until November, so we could still have Indian summer, but for now, we’ve moved into meteorlogical simulacrum of early November.

It changes the feeling here.  Jackets come out, gloves go on, stocking caps replace billed caps.  There is, too, the phenomenon I used to notice most at Macalester College when I  lived in St. Paul.  One day with below freezing temps and certain Mac students would walk the streets in heavy down coats, hoods up, scarfs around the neck and insulated mittens.  Often, they would have special winter boots.  These were the wealthy kids from points south whose parents grew worried when they realized their darling would have to bear a Minnesota winter.   Freshman to a person, I’m a sure.

As for myself, I love to have on warm clothing when it’s cold outside.  The air braces me, kick starts the mental engines.  The combination of a warm torso and a cold face is a pleasure others–those outside the cold belt–would have a hard time understanding.

The snow blower got its mechanical freak on in May so it’s ready.  The furnace went on here today, set at 59.  We’ve had almost three weeks with no heating and no cooling.

Art and Culture, Weather +Climate

Dull Gray Day

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Fall                                   Waxing Blood Moon

Another dull gray day as my Aunt Roberta used to say.   The morning so far has been doing work for the Sierra Club, organizing issue briefs and selection criteria, moving our process along.  That’s done now.

Today I’m going in to the MIA for some interesting education about photographs.  I’ll also pick up my Louvre catalog.  Yes, at the last minute I got added to the list of docents touring this show that focuses on the concept of masterpiece.

Need to feed the dogs and get a nap in before the drive into the MIA.  Later.

Faith and Spirituality, Weather +Climate

Spelunking

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Fall                                           Waxing Blood Moon

Rainy and cold, October has come.  Though most don’t realize it, the rain of early fall is as important to spring as April’s showers.  The plants drink deep, ready themselves for the dry, desert like conditions of winter.  Without adequate moisture in the fall a plant can die of thirst even while the earth is white, covered with frozen water.

These days come as elixirs to my soul.  The outer becomes the inner.  Spelunking the caverns within has  a seasonal aspect for me, one I wrote about a week or two back.

Gotta go meet with our financial adviser.   Later on.

Garden, Great Wheel, Weather +Climate

Night, Cool Night

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Lughnasa                        Full Harvest Moon

Cool nights and perfect days, high 60’s to 70.  Blue sky with puffy clouds.  The occasional cirrus formation, mare’s tails prancing in from the north.    Clear air.   Bright stars and a moon full enough to navigate a country road without headlights.

This is the time of year, in the midst of the harvest, when the growing season pretty much comes to a stop here in the northern central U.S.  Garden clean up lies not far ahead, digging potatoes and pulling carrots, too.  Parsnip and garlic will sleep over the winter in their beds.  A few beets left to pull, a lot of squash still maturing and the beans have a bit more time before the pods dry up.

Life changes with the seasons.  Just how is not always predictable, but cooler weather inspires different activities than the heat of  mid-summer.  Snow and bitter cold different activities again.  You either enjoy these changes or you move somewhere else.

Family, Health, Memories, Weather +Climate

Fall

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Lughnasa                              Waning Green Corn Moon

Even though summer seems to have arrived, or returned this week, I can already feel social rhythms beginning to change.  Fall has begun to peek up over the calendar.  Ads for school supplies have begun to appear.  I remember getting a  mimeographed sheet (remember mimeographs?) in elementary school of the things we would need:  lined paper, #2 lead pencils, paste, a paint set.  Those are the things that remain in my memory.

They achieved totemic value for me.  These simple items carried the promise of learning, of new areas to explore, a new year away from home and in the company of other kids, at least for most of the day during the week.  Mom and I would go to Danner’s or Murphy’s 5 and 10 cent stores.  To this day I love going into office supply stores.  They bring back that anticipation and wonder.

Many of our vegetables have matured and others are well on their way, the harvest season has begun as the celebration of Lughnasa marks.  The angle of the sun has begun to change and the days have continued to grow shorter since the Summer Solstice.  At the Autumn Equinox we will be halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Winter Solstice.

Jon and Jen have started their new school years, back with the elementary school kids in Aurora, Colorado.  There’s news in their family, too.  Jon has partial shoulder replacement surgery this Wednesday, still fixing a skiing injury now three years old.

Gabe has had 13 bleeds in the recent past, including a spontaneous bleed on his back and a swollen hand.  In trying to get factor into him he has suffered many sticks.  He has small veins.  He will get an internal port on August 27th so he can  receive factor infusions prophylactically instead of acutely.  This should give him a normal childhood and relieve the anxiety for Jon and Jen.  There is, though, one potential problem.  It is possible the body will develop antibodies against the factor.  That would make things tougher.  A balancing act.

Kate’s going out there on Wednesday and will stay through Saturday.  We go see a neuro-surgeon tomorrow morning, still trying to track down more effective treatments.  She’s done very well with this degenerative disc disease, but it has not been easy.  She’s tough.

Great Work, Politics, Weather +Climate, Woolly Mammoths

A Yellow Moon

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Lughnasa                        Waxing Green Corn Moon

A yellowed moon hung in the sky tonight, almost full.  It made the drive back in from Minneapolis a delight as it sailed in and out of view.

In tonight for the Land Use and Transportation Committee meeting.  What a dynamic group!  They are still fighting the Stillwater Bridge issue after all these years.  They also have transit oriented development on their agenda as well as a new issue called Complete Streets.  In essence Complete Streets wants street planning to have all users in mind (pedestrians, bicyclists, cars and the handicapped in particular)

A crisp meeting that ran on time.

Thunder has begun to roll in so I’m going to have shut down soon.  After the Sierra Club meeting, I drove over to the Black Forest where the Woolly’s first monday meeting had just begun to wind down.  I saw Mark and Frank and Stefan before they left.  Warren and Scott stayed and we talked about Moon, Scott’s 95 year old Cantonese mother-in-law who lives with them.  She’s having a show of her calligraphy and painting at the Marsh.  It goes up on August 16th.  There will also be a book of her work available at the show.  Amazing.

China tour tomorrow for 7-8th graders.  I added a tour this Friday of Chilean students connected with St. Johns who want a tour of American art.

Art and Culture, Family, Politics, Weather +Climate

A Good Day

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Summer                         Waxing Green Corn Moon

A good day to work outside.  Still gotta fix the netaphim since other matters interfered the last couple of days.  Lots of weeding to do.  Even in a drought our watering supports the weeds just as it does the vegetables and flowers.

The Minneapolis Art Institute balanced its books.  That’s a good thing.  Those who work and volunteer there know the last year saw colleagues cut from the work force and strain was present.

Sierra Club legislative work is in a quiet spot right now.  The legislative agenda setting process kicks into high gear next month, then moves like a freight train rolling down hill right through May of 2010.  The work requires attention and building of new relationships.  That all takes time.

solomonThe kids have a new puppy, Solomon, continuing the theme of traditional Jewish names for the German short-hair in the house.

It’s funny the way camera angles often emphasize the head.  This shot looks like Solomon has the head for making wise judgments put on the body of a Chihuahua.

Herschel, Solomon’s elder, has cancer and is not expected to live much longer.

The Star-Trib weatherblog has gotten less attention than it deserves this last month and a half.  Three blogs  Sierra Club, weather and Ancientrails proved too demanding.  Even two can be a lot.  Giving up the Sierra Club blog made sense when the Legislative Committee Chair position came along.

Travel, Weather +Climate

The Sun! The Sun! The Sun!

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Beltane            Waning Flower Moon’

Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Imagine the little guy on Fantasy Island.  If he were here on Hilton Head Island instead, he would be running around saying, “The Sun!  The Sun!  The Sun!”

Yes, on our last day here the sun has come out for the morning and it makes all the difference.  The gloomy, chill atmosphere of the last few days falls away and the Island takes on its vacation place cast.  Everything sparkles and the trees now provide shade rather than reinforcement for gray mornings.

I’m glad because it gives me a chance to see this place in all its parts, not only as it looks under the influence of a tropical depression.

It was laundry time today, so I drove over to a laundromat not far from here, washed clothes for the further journey to Panama City and the train ride home, then went to the Plantation Cafe for a true country breakfast.  All the while I marveled at the transformation created by the sun.  It is no wonder so many societies have worshipped that flaming presence in our sky.

Gray and gloom appeal to me in their place, such as a Minnesota early spring or late autumn, but when they defy sunny expectations their affect proves that much more intense.