My vacation - 2014 - all of it - in These titles mean nothing.

(new stuff at the bottom)

Day 1 was Wednesday
I was at home. An ordinary day. Mid-morning I went to town to the library to print out my train ticket. I printed four copies - just to be sure. I intended to do two but four was accidental. I bought two small sheets of very pretty stamps - landscapes. And I bought some groceries. And sorry to report that is all I can remember. Some laundry maybe but that’s not awfully exciting.

Weather was gray but pretty warm.

Day 2 was Thursday
I had my 10:30 appointment at Goodyear to have the Buick’s tire rotated. That didn’t take long. I waited in the waiting room slash office slash showroom and talked about small town life and grandchildren with the very pretty dark haired woman at the counter. On the way home I paid my twice a year property insurance premium at the storefront downtown. On the way out a tripped on the down step and fell landing on all fours on the sidewalk. I twisted my ankle a tiny bit while observing irony of falling outside insurance office. I stopped at the bank for some cash.
When I got home Jim was talking to Gracie’s uncle in the driveway. I joined in. That lasted for a while, then I gathered my stuff together and we left for La Crosse. It was a very pretty drive as it always is. We treated ourselves to lunch at Fayze’s. I had a Zeus burger and I’m not sure why. Then we grocery shopped at Woodmans. Since we had extra time we stopped at Good Will and bought some stuff. What, you ask? Two long sleeved button front shirts for Jim, some loose pieces of silverware, a calendar diary for Katie, stickers and plastic skeletons for Will.

By then my ankle was hurting so we got some ibuprohen and I initiated my minor injury joint, muscle and ligament program. It has two steps: pain mitigation with pain-reliever of choice and moderate use of the affected body part. So I took one fairly large ibuprophen and walked around some.

We went to the train station and waited and walked and explored. It was a perfect fall evening and we waited outside and watched various train traffic. Amtrack came in on time and left a few minutes later with me aboard. It got to Union Station on time too, and I found son John and he drove us home. Train travel is easy for me but less easy for other people. Still I’m glad I did it.

Day 3 was Friday
Will raked leaves.

Katie brought some of them in the house.

Deb and I went a mall to shop. We visited Old Navy, Maurices, Victorias Secret and a shoe warehouse. Deb made some purchases and I observed. My ankle was all better.

Day 4 was Saturday
Deb and I and the kids went to a play. It was a dramatization of Zen Ties a book by Jon Muth. Zen Ties and his other book Zen Shorts are wonderful books about a giant panda whose name is Stillwater. He gently teaches the children in the books and us Zen lessons. This one features his nephew Koo, who speaks in haiku. The play was in an intimate studio and was very good. The actor who plays the giant panda is remarkable.

Later we went seeking Garrison Keillor’s book store that fellow Proseboxer LaserGirl was so kind as to find for me.
The trip involved a sweep by the city.

John says the tall building on the left is by Philip Johnson and was the tallest building west of the Mississippi for a long time
The book store is near Macalaster College in St. Paul.

It’s a lovely book store. I bought a book for everybody and a bunch for myself. I found THREE!!!! James Sallter novels, three novellas by Joyce Carol Oates and a thick book of Mary Oliver prose.

John asked for recommendations for a place to eat. We had parked near the Kyber Pass which had wonderful flower boxes in front but we weren’t feeling that adventurous. We were sent to French Meadow which was a Fayze’s on St.Paul steroids. We had to wait a bit, it was very busy, but we were treated well and the food was very good. I had pear cider and a pulled pork sandwich and I stole forkfuls of Katie’s mashed potatoes. We took sweets home with us.

Day 5 will be Sunday
The weather has been luscious and I really should be going for walks. Maybe today. I’m camped in the lower level living room and right now it’s 4:47am and I seem to be awake. Pearl Jam is in concert tonight and John and Deb are fans. The concert is the reason this is the weekend I’m here.
*(new stuff)
Guess I wasn’t very clear. I came to stay with the kids while John and Deb went to the concert. They stayed at a hotel overnight so the kids and I mutually baby sat each other. It worked out quite well Katie spent some time with friends and Will and I went to the nearby park and played on the playground. Then we had supper and watched the Simpsons and went to bed. *

Day 6 will be Monday
I go back on the train - it leaves at 10:30 am. I’m expecting Jim to pick me up at some point. I haven’t talked to him since I’ve been here.
(more new stuff)
Kids and I got up and got ourselves/themselves off to school

Truman was waiting for the bus too. I told him some Harry S stories.

Train ride back was very nice. I’ll tell you more later.

There was surf on Lake Pepin.

Or somewhere.

Last updated October 21, 2014