Sunday, August 30, 2009

BCBS End of the Summer Party

Saturday night we went to the Blue Cross Blue Shield "End of the Summer Party" in Springfield. They had a Rod Stewart (or Rod Stuart) impersonator and an Elvis. They were both great! Here is a shot of Mod Rod in action.More Rod on stage. Check out that blue suit and those kicks.

He made the rounds including our table. We had a great spot by the pool and just far enough that Rod and Elvis were not in our face all night. They each played 3 sets!




Christy basking in the glow after he sang a little "Maggie" at our table.

Elvis!




Elvis rocked the house. Take note of the dirty white shoes, the Springfield Elvis I guess.




Here he comes to work our table singing "Viva Las Vegas".


He went straight for Cruddy and she loved it.



Working our table. It looks like Cruddy was going for the Devil Horns (not appropriate for Elvis) and switched to the standard #1 hand signal, good choice.



Alas, it was the fat drunk Elvis, but it was still Elvis!




Tight white jumpsuit on its way to the main stage.


Rod making a swing by our table for his last set cranking out some "Hot Legs".



Elvis making a pass by his favorite table.



They were both very good and it was a great idea for a party. A fun night.

Monday, August 24, 2009

August in Ottertail County

I spent the week on and around Ottertail Lake. My brother Lon and his wife Dureen were in Minnesota for a visit. Here is a shot of Ottertail Lake at sunset with the big boat (not sure it has a name) from the Graystone, now Prantes. A good shot of Mom's place, hanging around Khara has changed the way I take photos, and she thought I was not listening in Norway.


From the lake side of the house.






Mom's great summer flowers and plants.



The big news! The bench is DONE! Check it out, we started it on Mom's 80th with the help of many friends and family. It looks great.

A shot of some of the detail work.










I stopped at Beth's in Minneapolis and here is a shot of Roxy!


Sunset on Ottertail Lake.



We took Lon, Dureen, Mom and Roald to The Galaxy resort and steak house. A great old school place to eat.


Lon considering the menu.




Roald after he decided what to have for the meal.







A shot of Mom's place from the road.




A cabin built for Gnomes.


Christy's flowers look great this year.


I had to make a stop at Zorbaz! I bought a hat, look for it in my late May 2010 post from Greece and Turkey.



We also ate at Hotel Shoreham when we were in Detroit Lakes.



Bruce at the Hotel Shoreham.


Lon having a good time at Hotel Shoreham.
While in D.L. we ran to the Antique mall, here is a shot of Mom and Lon checking out the goods.

Lon and Bruce in the mall.






Lon collects old shotgun shells and Herters sporting goods and he found a booth that was full of the stuff. AND the lady had a garage full at home, so we ran out to her place and he found some good stuff.





At the lady's cabin these two cats kept us company.



A view of the lake at the sunset. I am not sure where we were, somewhere by Upper Cormorant Lake.





We also ran into Fargo to show off Mom's apartment. Here is a shot of Dureen, Mom and Roald in her pad.


Lon playing beanbag horseshoes.


Dureen giving the beanbags a toss.




The view from Mom's balcony and her new bird feeder.




Here is a shot of some of Pam's plants.






Her backyard is GREAT, check it out.




Another shot of her awesome backyard.



While in Fargo I checked out the Roger Maris museum. I know this already made the blog but it is Roger Maris so he can make the blog as many times as he wants. Here is a shot of a replica of his plaque in Yankee Stadium.




Replica locker when with the Yankees in 1961 with authentic gear.






Bingo, #9 for the Cards.




On the road to Fargo Mom and I saw a deer and stayed a while to watch it run into the woods.

Also while in Fargo the Blue Angels were practicing for the Fargo Air Show, it was cool and they were loud!
Bruce, Roald and I went to the Hjenkomst Center and took a look at the boat and the Stave Church. Below is a cross that they have on the south side of the Church, it is a replica of a cross in Norway and Luther Seminary also has a cross like this, as does my class ring.




A shot of the walkway around the Church, designed to shelter the people from snow.

The traditional dragons placed to ward off the devil but below the rooster (symbol of St. Peter) to keep the traditional elements below the Christian symbols.

A nice shot of the Church. If you are interested page back to May and check out the Stave Churches I posted photos of from the Norway trip.



A shot of the fantastic interior of the Church. Built to resemble a ship and the rafters reach to heaven.

Detail shot of the interior, haunting.


Roald looking at the rafters in the Church.


Exterior shot of the Church.Roald looking at the Hjemkomst. Interesting shot of Roald inspecting a copy of a Norwegian sailing vessel as he is named after Roald Amundsen.

Interior shot of the ship and the dragon head bow spirit.


A shot for some of the readers that don't know me as well as others. This is a shot from Campbell: the home that I grew up in.

It was chokecherry season in Minnesota. I took home three jars of Chokecherry jam.


Another great sunset on Ottertail.

The big boat making a lap.

36370 Augustana Drive.
This one is for Brad and a few others. We went to Stubs on Saturday night and I caught this old school poster. It lists the teen dances from 1984......nice.


And these jerseys were sold in every possible store.



A few shots of the farm/ranch.


Looking east.


Our barn. At one time this was a busy place.



Some final shots of peaceful Ottertail


Sunset.