Woodland Ave

KC, The Royals, and the Irish Fest

2010-09-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

Some photos from a student on the Greece/Turley May term

2010-08-28T12:37:00.000-05:00

"9 Ecumenical Counsels....7....9....7....Oh, Super Lutheran back there only recognizes 7."

On the Ferry

Welcome back!

2010-08-28T11:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the change, again, but now Wordpress has made things difficult for the free user and the old company blogspot added spellcheck and straightened out their photo uploads, so here we go.

The next post will be some photos from Greece and Turkey!

Last post here.

2010-03-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Greetings everyone.
Blogger made several changes in the last months that have made posting a real pain. It is very hard to upload and edit photos and they dumped the spell check.

The good news is that we have started a new blog with the same theme.

Here is the link:

http://woodlandave.wordpress.com/

Please remember to change your bookmark.

I will do a Puerto Rico post soon on the new blog.

Rainforest

2010-03-27T10:11:00.006-05:00

We spent a day in the El Yunque rainforest and it was fantastic! Here are some shots from our day. As it rained all day it was hard to get shots with great light but you can get a feel for the place.We were able to climb this cool old tower and get a look at the forest from above the canopy.These weird snails were everywhere!The waterfalls were spectacular.

Puerto Rico!

2010-03-20T22:30:00.004-05:00

Christy and I were able to spend my spring break in Puerto Rico!

We traveled with Beth and Mike and had a super time. Most of these shots are from Old San Juan and from the beach by our condo.

Christy and I located the bar that the Pina Colada was invented in and had a few.Just down the street from our condo there was a cockfighting area and we noticed a loose rooster hanging around our place.

Holiday Update

2010-01-06T10:56:00.003-06:00

Grendel as taken by the new Fisheye Camera

The Girl in front of the fire on a cold night.

The Girl in the sun.

Christy on New Year's Eve.

Ready to rock on New Year's Eve.

Christy discovered Diet Coke Bombs!

A quiet winter night.

Our home from the Fisheye.

My friend Dan Hensch sent me this cool T-shirt.

Snow day.

Our Tree.

Popcorn cakes, our neighborhood tradition.

At the Frank Lloyd Wright home in Springfield.

Luminaries at the Dana Thomas Home (Wright house).

Some homes in Springfield with excess lights.

Below are some shots of our home ready for Christmas.

Masters Update

2009-12-13T10:31:00.000-06:00

Well, time for a Historical Fantasy Baseball League Masters Tournament update.
Each time a manager wins a round (Division, League or WS) of the tournament another manager is eliminated. That also means that each round is harder. I killed in the first round, won the AL in the second and I am in last place in the third round.

The third round consists of an "open franchise" draft. That means that each manager selects a franchise and any player that had at least one at bat or one inning pitched is eligible. I drafted toward the end due to my stellar record in the first two rounds and took the Angles. Twins fans will recall the many superstars from the Twins migrated to the Halos later in their career. This team kind of sucks. Here are some stars and stats:

Rod Carew hitting .267

Lyman Bostock hitting .259

Dave Winfield hitting .238 (now that sucks)

Bert is the Ace at 7-4 with a 3.11 ERA
The rest of the team kind of stinks. I will give a final update but I thinnk I am done at the third round. It is good to be this far as I am in with the top 200 in this game (out of a few thousand),

Busy,busy,busy....

2009-12-12T10:35:00.000-06:00

It has been a super busy time these last two weeks. I managed to post a series of photos of the Girl playing in her pot. Enjoy!

Q*bert

2009-11-30T16:01:00.001-06:00

At one time Cruddy held the 3rd and 5th highest score on a Q*bert machine in Fargo. Take a look at a former champ in action at an antique mall in Chicago. According to sources she uses a L-R-L-L pattern.

Pixies

2009-11-29T11:02:00.000-06:00

We took the train from Springfield to Chicago to see the Pixies!

Here we are at the Aragone Theater with great seats

The Pixies on stage!

Black Francis

It was an outstanding show, They opened with B-sides only.

They then played the Doolittle album out of order,

Kim Deal and David Loverling.

A neat stage shot.

Mr. Joey Santiago

Rock On!

Like I said, great seats.

Mrs. John Murphy a.k.a Kim Deal.

We had a drinnk at the Uptown first.

While walking the neighborhood with Polly and Christy I captured this sign with baseball significance,

Ozzie and Charity

2009-11-18T10:48:00.002-06:00

This weekend Ozzie Smith made an appearance in Springfield.

Here are some shots of The Wizard and his huge security guard.

On Saturday night we attended a charity event for Jacksonville Independent Living. Here I am with the giant sheet cake our table won and Khara coming up a few digits short on a raffle ticket.

A shot of RJ and the table wine.

A shot of our President and her husband with Cori and Marc in the foreground.

The blog may be a bit rough. The changed the tools and they are not exactly easy.

Concordia Publishing House Book Sale

2009-11-10T08:36:00.003-06:00

As you can see, I made a killing at the book sale.
Some highlights:
Schlink's Theology of the Lutheran Confessions
J.A.O. Preus' The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz
Bente's Historical Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions
Schmauk and Benze's The Confessional Principle and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church
and
Reu's edition of the Augsburg Confessions

Concordia Seminary St. Louis LCMS

2009-11-09T12:53:00.011-06:00

On Saturday after the huge book sale I took a walk around Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.

Above, you will see their fantastic Luther statue.

They have incredible grounds. Very German with much attention to detail. Check out this crest above the dining hall. Most would put 1517 to commemorate the 95 theses. I like that they used 1530 as a date, the year that Luther really started to put out high end reformation theology. Well done.

The Luther tower. Looks like the lightning strike of 1505, no?

A beautiful fall day to wander the grounds.

Amazing archways and superb courtyards.

Incredible attention to detail. As most of you know this seminary is of German extraction from Europe and Luther in St. Paul is of Scandinavian, particularly Norwegian. Now I would put our (Luther's) grounds up against any but there is a theological lesson to be learned here. When these seminaries were established this was the German pietist seminary. St. Paul was the home of Norwegian immigrants, especially Haugian Lutherans. Haugians reject pietism and lean toward confessionalism. Haugians eliminated all ornamentation in music, theology, art and architecture. Thus, the difference between the two.

Double archway.

Excellent doors all the way around.

Inside the chapel. Note the ship-like interior and it is hard to see but the trademark open cross off-set from center on the arch and stained glass windows.

As I said, what a great fall day. And I met Khara and Marc for a stroll around the grounds.

The Luther Tower.

Great building names like Wartburg and Wittenberg.

Halloween Night

2009-11-04T14:08:00.005-06:00

We had 36 kids at the door Halloween night. Some of our favorites were a Rubik's Cube (he actually walked by), princess and the pea and an EMO. We gave out chocolate favorites and gummy bloody body parts. During the evening I dug out all the old Halloween costumes. Here I am as an Elvis Vampire.

Alien.

Weird vampire.

Cowboy pimp.

Our treat bowl.

Happy Halloween and Reformation Day!

2009-10-31T10:52:00.004-05:00

The girl posing in her "costume".

I received my new Bible yesterday and thought it a fitting post for Reformation Day! It is a Professors Bible built for lecturing. Lots of room for margin notes and 5-ring bound to add extras like a synoptic chart, historical timeline, translation cheats, etc.

And as you can see it is a GIANT! I am glad I have a teaching assistant to lug it to class for me.

Luther and Melancthon.

The battle cry of the Reformation!

A Fall Day at Lake Springfield

2009-10-28T10:51:00.004-05:00

We spent a sunny Sunday by Lake Springfield. Cruddy took s a few great shots of me walking on the bridge over the bay. And a shot of me sitting by the lake.

Mac Homecoming 2009

2009-10-26T18:14:00.007-05:00

Last weekend was MacMurray's Homecoming. Here is a great shot of a AC tractor in front of our chapel. JD power moving down the street.

Aboard our faculty float our own Colonel Cox.

Dr. Hoff attacking friends with a bag of candy.

Last minute decorating before we go in front of the judges.

Gilly in the back of the truck.

Marc getting ready to toss tootsie rolls.

A cool shot of two JDs and American flags.

Our truck and driver RJ.

Khara getting the float ready. She deserves a great deal of thanks for organizing the whole faculty float deal.

Marc and Khara decorating.

Dr. Ruppel getting ready to board the float.

Professor Staake decorating.

And pumpkins at our house!

Jack-O-Lanterns!

2009-10-19T09:39:00.015-05:00

This weekend was the annual Jack-o-lantern festival at the Rees Carillon in Springfield. This was the fourth year we have attended and it was great, again! Each year volunteers carve the same number of pumpkins as the year, 2009 this year. And then all the volunteer set them up and light them along a set path in the park. You pay a cover charge and walk through, with scary music, tours of the Carillon, movies shown on the side of the Carillon and hot chocolate. I am going to start with a shot of my favorite jack-o-lantern below.

The one below was one of Christy's favorite this year, the tiny pumpkin in the larger one.

And she likes the Jack-o-lanterns with eyelashes.

Fun fat-faced pumpkin.

Witch on the Carillon, scary.

Happy faced jack-o-lantern.

The Mark Largent Jack-O-Lantern!

Elvis Jack-o-Lantern.

By one of the fountains full of bubbles, note the St. Louis Cardinals Jack-O-Lantern.

A close-up of the Cardinal Nation Jack-o-Lantern.

Scary shot of a display.

Punk rock Jack-o-lantern.

This one was another favorite.

Scary shot of Cruddy with some Jack-o-Lanterns.

Fun one w/o flash.

We ran into our friend Marie and she took this shot for us.

Very well done!

Fun jack-o-lantern with crazy eyes.

Peace-eye pumpkin for Pam!

Another fun one w/o flash.

Scary monsters roaming around. This guy was great, on stilts and everything.

Scary!

Another cyclops jack-o-lantern.The only thing that disappointed was that they forgot to carve a set of pumpkins that read "2009", so I took my annual shot with this solo pumpkin that had 2009 on it.

Christy and Maire having fun.

A few fall shots of Washington Park in the fall.

How about that...

2009-10-16T16:16:00.003-05:00

An older shot off my phone. From the KC Irish fest.
I am standing with (L to R) Greg Pryor, Jerry Terrell and Dennis Leonard.

2009 Cardinals

2009-10-11T11:22:00.006-05:00

First, CONGRATULATIONS are in order for the St. Louis Cardinals. Central division champs and hoist another banner in Busch.

However, The Cardinal Nation expects more. The 3 and out to the Dodgers was unexpected and we underachieved.

Matt Holiday is not to blame for the loss. I love that the fans at Busch gave him a standing ovation when he took the field. Many note that Cardinals fans know the most about the game and I believe that claim. Sportswriters however need to sell papers and like to be lazy. The article in the State Journal Register called attention to Holidays dropped ball in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd paragraph of the story.

The choke artist for the Cardinals in this series was Ryan Franklin. With no closer and an anemic offense we were in a bad spot against the Dodgers.

Franklin's line in the postseason;

2 appearances, 1.1 innings pitched, 3 hits, 2 walks, 1 loss, 1 blown save. A disaster.

We need help in the pen next year.
Speaking of next year, here come some suggestions.

Brendan Ryan, quit toying with baseball metaphysics (you are not above it) get rid of that #13 if you expect to start for the Cardinals in the infield. Nothing good can come from wearing that number, take a look at your last defensive play of 2009, a muffed grounder against the Dodgers. Respect the history of the game, it is larger than you.

Albert, knock this BS off. If Ryan has no respect for the metaphysics of baseball Albert has not respect for THE metaphysics. Don't give God the credit for the home run, he does not care. Please, send a confessional Lutheran pastor to Albert's home this winter and straighten this theological mess out with my favorite current player.

Get back to this. Crank a home run, toss your bat, stare the pitcher down, trot the bases, tip your helmet to the Cardinal Nation and keep the game on the physical plane.

2010, sign Ryan Zimmerman. A great third baseman for the worst team in the big show. He is a power hitter from the right side and has a good glove and strong arm.

Sign Jason Bay and quit trying to make Rick Ankiel into Paul Newman from The Natural, he is no Roy Hobbes. Get Jason Bay out in that large Center Field in Busch and watch him turn into an all star for you.

Phone shots

2009-10-09T17:10:00.007-05:00

I took the time to pull some photos off our cell phone and posted them .
Here is a shot of a fox we saw running through a residential neighborhood in St. Charles, Missouri when we were on our anniversary weekend. He was just trotting along, in no real hurry. Grendel and Isabelle in the front window at the end of summer.

A super old school restaurant that Christy found in Springfield. It is called the Old Luxembourg Inn. It has an interior right out of 1967 and is still in perfect shape, the food was great and service was excellent. We would love to have drinks there sometime.

Excellent shot from the local grocery store taken last week. All Cubs stuff on sale 33% off, all Cardinals stuff FULL price. Why you ask? The Cards are in the post season (as usual) and the Cubs are not (as usual).

Beautiful Busch ballpark in St. Louis on a perfect fall day. Good guys in the field against a sea of red. Cardinal Nation.

MLB playoff post to come this weekend.

Pie, Chili and The Cardinals

2009-10-05T09:27:00.026-05:00

On Saturday we went to Greenfield, Illinois for the annual Chili Festival that Benefits the Public Library. Below is a shot of our gracious host and good friend Kathy chatting with Nadine.

Christy working the used book sale. She found about 10 books. They should last about 2 weeks during this season (Baseball playoffs).

Each year they have a mystery chili cook. Spooky this year.
Getting ready to judge the 18 pies! Nadine and I looking over the competition as a late entry arrives.

The pie table as we judge for appearance. Next, they take the pies outside for the tasting!

Khara and her "hold the camera" shot. I have to admit she has a knack for this shot.

Christy getting down to the serious business of judging. Bring in the Lefty.

Three hardcore judges.

The winner, an upside down pie....it was awesome. Note the unlucky #13.

Outside judging the taste!

I am a big fan of comparing scores.

Don't you love it when you are with such good friends that make you laugh until you double over.

Dual credentials, pie and chili......nice. Note the Sunday only Cardinals lid.

More dual credentials.....yes there was another theme going with this photo but it is a family festival so we will let it go.

Chili judging. I was not swayed by an exotic this year, standard issue spicy red chili with big chunks of veggies won in my book.

The lefty working the chili table.

Calculating and making the final assessment.

Christy and Marc comparing scores.

We used the Garmin and found the most ridiculous Indian restaurant in St. Louis. It is on the 11th floor of a very old Howard Johnson's Hotel by the airport. It brags about having the best view of the runways and I believe them. At one time is was a super cool Tiki bar and when it changed to an Indian restaurant they just put up a few ethnically correct paintings and called it good. All the grass hut interior design remained complete with kayaks with outriggers floating from the ceiling. The food was great.

On Sunday I ran down to the Cardinals game to see the last regular season game of the year. They played the Brewers and lost in 10 innings.

Someday I hope to be able to say to all my blog readers "meet you at the Musial".The Cardinals played the Brewers for the last game of the regular season this year. Take a look at Prince Fielder playing 1st base. Now check out El Hombre......the intensity level tells the whole story. Each photo was taken as the pitcher threw the ball. Note the Sunday only Cardinals lid.

El Hombre at the plate.

The good news delivered during the game....the Twins won! Well done Minnesota, now deliver a beat down on the Tigers.

Future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffmann closed out the game for the Brewers.

Check out the grip on the pitch....breaking ball.Stretch it out.....
The HOOK!

Excellent shadows at Busch Stadium.

Check out the view that is available for almost every fan in the stadium

El Hombre breaks Buckner's record. La Roussa held the game up until Albert tipped his hat to the standing ovation......humility that you do not see in most modern athletes....and La Roussa is a real class act. And he did NOT do the colossally stupid move of pointing to the heavens, he just tipped his Sunday only hat.

Going to a Cardinals game is a real experience in baseball tradition. Look at that sea of red. I have been to many major league games and have never seen the fan base that the Cardinals have. Easily 90% of Cards fans wear the gear....very few at the game are "too cool for school." I did see a few Brewer fans in gear. They really have a lame logo.

Third deck $25 seat.

Right field view.

Anniversary Weekend!

2009-09-28T10:45:00.024-05:00

This weekend we took a trip to St. Louis to celebrate our 12th anniversary!

We started with a Friday night stay at the Drury and on Saturday we took a trip to O' Fallon Illinois (where everything was spelled correctly and made sense, see later in the blog) for the Strange Folk Festival. It was great but the batteries in my camera were dead! I have supplied a link so you can get a feel for the festival. It was fun.

After the Strange Folk Festival we ran over to St. Charles, Missouri to check it out. St. Charles is a great town and we recommend that you visit. Here is a shot of the historic riverfront district. Great restaurants, wine bars and cool little shops.

Waiting for Christy on a front porch.

On my way to the next stop.

Christy leaving a shop.

Another shot of the historic district.

Alas, we were in Missouri so we had to deal with a number of "interesting" things. Here is a prime example of what I am talking about. Note the sign in the background on the other beam. Nice work Missouri.

Another sign that could use an edit. I like being called "baby" but to call everyone that?
Was it the case that they were going for an Elvis theme, Baby?

This shot is specifically to tease Yancy back to Missouri for a visit. I don't think he has a pair of babyblue shades yet.

The buildings slope down to the river. It makes for a neat place to visit.

Ice cream!

We sat down by the Missouri river (which, by the way, flows north at this point) and had a snack on a beautiful late summer day.

All of a sudden a storm blew in. Christy captured these shots of the storm on the way.

It looked bad, but turned out to be just a bit of wind and rain.

We made our way to a tent at the Oktoberfest in St. Charles. Anyone catch that yet? Oktoberfest on September 26th? That fact did not escape Christy. Remember, we were in Missouri where they don't let the facts get in the way of an occasion to drink beer and dress funny.
Here is a dude in his German outfit, feather and all.

More lederhosen and a pink shirt. I guess he can handle himself in a fight if he is wearing that shirt or he turned in his "man card" a few years ago.

Christy caught this shot of me in my DropKick Murphys t-shirt. I recently read that Dropkick Murphys was a place in Boston where people went to "dry out". Several Boston Red Sox players from the 1949 team all went together in the off season. #58, Papelbon the Yankee killer....nice.

Dancing to German polka, with feathers. We had a few German beers and took in the show.
The sad Coors Light bottle after the storm. Can't say that I felt sorry for it given the politics that come from Golden Colorado and their boss. And the Cards clinched the NL Central against the Rockies!
A few German flags for the day.
Cool caboose from the 1950s.

Another older extended vision caboose from the KATY.

Saturday night we went to one of our favorite restaurants in St. Louis, Gian-Tony's. We strongly recommend it.
On Sunday we went to the St. Louis Zoo!

The awesome cheetah.

Christy watching one of the elephants.

Very cool.

Trying to mount a bug statue to look like one of Beth's figurines. Easier said than done.

Bear in the tree.

Now sleeping in the tree.

Flamingos at the zoo.

Penguin.

My favorite exhibit, the gorilla den.

Wow, what a powerful animal.

A great view of the gorillas through a waterfall.

Prairie dogs!

A touch of home, Otters!

Hanging out by the kangaroos on a great fall day.

Sleeping tigers.

Labor Day update

2009-09-21T11:34:00.005-05:00

Cindy sent us some fun photos from the Labor Day weekend extravaganza in Kansas City.
Dirk re-enacting George Brett coming out of the dugout against the Yankees.
Victory.

Having a great time with Jerry Terrell.

Terrell shooting his imaginary .38. I guess you had to be there. Don't miss that World Series hardware on my finger.

Dirk and Fitzmorris. They look a bit alike.

Dirk and his new Irish friend.

Cindy and the Royals mascot.

Dirk and the Royals mascot.

Me and Christy Hartner and her awesome boys!

I love these photos. Christy and me walking back from the Irish fest with downtown Kansas City in the background.

Another great shot of a super weekend.

Lincoln Gardens

2009-09-21T09:16:00.010-05:00

This weekend we drove over to Lincoln Memorial Gardens and took a walk around the lake. The gardens are located on the SE side of Springfield and they are great. We walked around them a few years ago when we went to a lame festival along the lake.

Here is a shot of the art deco style bridge across Lake Springfield.

Checking out the lake.

Walking along the paths. They are very well done, wide with mulch to keep the path clear.

Up in a tree along the lake.

No tree climbing for the Monkey, note the flip flops.

Old school wrist snap here.

All of a sudden I was assaulted by acorns. I turned around to see this!

Mushrooms growing on a tree.

The deer were really out in full force. We saw many and this young one was very close and did not seem to care that we were out walking.

We also attended the Edwards Place art fair.

It was fun, here is a shot of Edwards house and some of the tents.

Grendel and Isabelle in the west widow catching some sun before it all went away with the rain.

Our dogwood is starting to change for fall!

A Graduation, a Birthday, the Twins, and Minneapolis

2009-09-15T18:14:00.032-05:00

Christy, Roxy and Mike relaxing on the couch

Friday night we all had a graduation celebration at an Asian restaurant in Frogtown. Mary graduated with her B.S. from the University of Phoenix. WELL DONE! Here is a shot of Christy, Beth, Mary and Chris at the party.

Saturday we had lunch at a super cool Cuban cafe.Beth took us to lunch, we were excited.

I looked up at the ceiling and caught sight of the home teams flag....nice.

Walking around Beth's neighborhood we spotted an albino squirrel. (insert Danielson joke here)

On Saturday we ran over to Max Salon and Mr. James cut Christy's hair.

Hula.

Christy playing with Hula and Roxy.

Throwing the ball with the puppies.

Roxy.

On Saturday afternoon we went to a surprise birthday party for our friend Michelle. Here we are waiting for the guest of honor to arrive.

Getting ready and visiting.

She arrived with her husband Pete and she was surprised! Yes, she is expecting, congratulations!

The great spread of Indian food.

Mingling at the party.

Getting our photo-ops with the Birthday girl.

Singing "Michelle" to Michelle.

James regaling us with stories.

On Sunday Polly, Ann and I went to the Twins game.

The exterior of the Metrodome, home of the 1987 and 1991 World Champs.
The cheap World Champion banners the Twins use. I hope they upgrade the banners in the new stadium. Yes, these are plastic.

Impressive.Robinson, and retired Twins jersey numbers: Killer, Carew, Tony O, Hrbek and Puckett.
Great shot of seat #34 in center field. If you have to ask......look it up.

Standing by the Puckett seat.

Hell yes...Carew.

Ann and Polly in their seats.
Ann and Polly at the game.

Joe Mauer warming up the cannon.

Batting champ.....

Will we retire #7? Big Ann at the game.

Crowd shot at the game.

No comment. However, Royals fans will recall the signs that fans put up at Kaufmann for Bert.

Great shot from our seats. I sat at the end of this row for Game 6 in 1987.

The Metrodome.

Mauer coming in to score.

Sweet old-school Gagne jersey. She got booted out of our section for not having the correct ticket.

Mauer v. Oakland pitching...

Generate a bit of bat speed and.....
Ding Dong the Wicked Witch of the West is DEAD. I managed to catch his HR off the bat.

Cuddyer with the sweet old-school leg kick. #5 is growing on me.

Ever run into a long lost friend? While getting a coke I ran into Ryan Wateland! For those of you who know him, locate him in the crowd shot below.

Cathedral shot. Canadian flag front and center.A great shot of a mediocre stadium. However, a stadium full of good memories.The end of the line. Twins getting ready for the 9th inning.

Turining on the gassssssssss.
Nathan the termiatior.

Labor Day in Kansas City

2009-09-09T09:07:00.035-05:00

We spent the weekend in Kansas City with Dirk and Cindy. Here is a shot of Cindy's pad in KC.The Full Monte!Cocktails after the long drive to KC.The excellent view from Cindy's condo.Warm greetings upon our arrival.The famous fountains of KC were colored bright green for the day. Here we are on our way in to the festival.

The fountains were VERY green.Cindy and Dirk having lunch, fish and chips and a meat pie I believe.
Christy and Dirk at the fountains.Christy getting some lunch.A few items that you may only see at an Irish fest.

#1 The "Irish Northern Aid" booth, send you money directly to the IRA. #2 a Yankees lid specific to the Irish players on the team. Man, I hate to say it but the Evil Empire looks good this year. A Yanks/Cards showdown?#3 shoes with toes?#4 an old photo of a Priest with a double barrel shotgun posing with young Irish baseball players.OK, you need an explanation about #4. They had a nice display of the Irish in Baseball and the above photo was from a team called the "Peacemakers".....you make the connection. Below is a shot of a guy in a kilt talking baseball at the 1/2 scale 1880's ball field.Two guys in Kansas City Cowboy baseball uniforms and Dirk. They were drunk, I think. Here I am with the K.C. Cowboys.The music was excellent, this group was called Cara (almost Khara).Christy loved this shot. The kid doesn't stand a chance.

A dancing machine.More Irish from Springfield, Illinois.A really great part of the KC Irish Fest was the Royals Alumni table. Here is a shot of Dirk talking to AL Fitzmorris and I am chatting up Jerry Terrell.This is super cool. Jerry Terrell let me try on his 1985 World Series ring! A once in a lifetime opportunity. What a great guy.Still talking baseball with Terrell. He was also a Twin so we had much to discuss.Fitzmorris telling us stories about Brett, Carew, Oliva and Bostock. We had unfettered access to these guys for over a half an hour and they love to talk baseball.Cruddy and Cindy playing house. Nobody won.
Irish oatmeal meets Norwegian steel!

Serving guests tea.

Cindy's new friend tried to come in through the window.

Cruddy mounted the children's' pirate ship for some fun. Cindy was watching closely and wanted to come aboard. Think that is a bad idea? Have a feeling this goes south in the end? Yes, to both.

Bonk! A head-shot from the yardarm of the ship. Christy thought it was hilarious.

Then they found an unattended plywood cut-out cow.
The moon over a Celtic Cross.

Sad but true.
One of the many Irish on the ground at the fest. Irish Yoga I guess.

Relaxing at the end of the Irish fest watching the people leave.

Cruddy relaxing.

I swung by our old pad in Prairie Village, still looks great.

On Saturday I visited the historic 18th and Vine district in KC.

And I toured the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for the second time. It is a excellent place to visit and less political than one might think and more about the game.

An out of sequence photo of Cindy and Christy at the fountains.

Game Time! Kauffman on a beautiful summer day.

Almost in the stadium. I had not been there since the big remodel. They did a spectacular job, it is a great ballpark.

Dirk flashing Royals gang signs at his favorite banner.

George Brett against a summer sky, as we all like to remember him.

Frank White flying above 2nd base.

Patriotic Royals.

Christy arrived in a Cardinals T-shirt. I give her credit, she is a tough Irish chick but eventually spotted a nice Royals T-shirt and changed before the first pitch. Cardinal Nation!

Cruddy with a margarita at Kauffman.

Obligatory "cathedral" ballpark shot.

Here I am at the "Pine Tar Pub", I love that they pay attention to tradition. Well done KC!

How you like them apples! Nice shot Christy.

Vlad.

Torii Hunter, the former Twin great in Center Field.

Cardinals fans behind us. Cardinal Nation!

A few action shots of the Roylas great Ace Greinke.

Big man on campus.

All killer no filler.Ace.

Kauffman.

Dirk and Cindy at the game with her new "ring".....no news to report.

Moon rising over Kaufmann as the bullpen started to blow the game for Greinke.

Brett at night.

Leaving the ballpark after a clinic by Greinke and a loss by the Royals.

Thanks for the great weekend you two!

The famous fountains at the ballpark.

KC can't get enough Brett so here you go, a taste of KC.

A Few Others

2009-09-02T10:10:00.006-05:00

Just a few other shots and news before Labor Day. Here is a shot of our home on the 4th anniversary of our ownership. On our walk the other night I saw this cool IH pick-up. Harry will love this one.

Interior shot, check out the gearshift handle.

Excellent truck, Christy was mildly impressed.

Typical street in our neighborhood in Springfield.

Masters Tournament final update. Readers of the blog will recall my first entry into the Masters tournament at my Classic Fantasy Baseball League. I made it to the Pennant game but lost to a team dominated by Cardinals. We went 84-78, it was a tight race all way the with only the top managers in the league fighting for the title.

Highlights:

Carew hit .307 and stole 24 bases.

DiMaggio hit .292 with 39 Home Runs

Ruth hit .291 with 60 Home Runs

Mantle hit .291 with 36 Home Runs

Carter went yard 17 times and gunned out 40 would-be base thieves.

Gaetti hit 14 long balls

Killer and Keller teamed up to hit a combined .290 with 40 yard balls.

My starting pitching was hot and cold.

Hot:

Big Ed Walsh went 22-10 with a 3.80 ERA

Pierce went 18-8 with a 4.28 ERA

All this with Coors Field as the home ballpark.

Cold:

Cicotte 10-19 with a 5.55 ERA

Russell 7-16 with a 5.44 ERA

Farber 7-12 with a 6.18 ERA

TOTAL DISASTER:
Tim Burke my closer 26 saves 13 blown saves and a 6.28 ERA

I could not turn the ball over to my pen and that really taxed my rotation's arms. Too many innings that got out of control because my pen sucked and my closer was a disaster.

My MVP?

DiMaggio hit .292 with 39 HRs, 129 RBIs, .536 slugging, drew 46 walks, 2.81 range factor in Center Field, .993 fielding average (league leader) and gunned down 15 from Center. Well done Joe.

Next round. Dual Franchise. Again, I pulled a high draft spot and I think I will end up with a Cards/Reds team. Looks good again.

BCBS End of the Summer Party

2009-08-30T10:58:00.009-05:00

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.

August in Ottertail County

2009-08-24T09:32:00.025-05:00

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.

The Quad-Cities

2009-08-12T18:18:00.013-05:00

Last weekend Christy and I met Beth and Polly in the Quad-Cities or as some say, the 4-cities. We took a walk along the Mississippi River in the morning. Here I am rocking the Royals T-shirt.A large old bridge along the Mississippi. The 4-cities span the Mississippi so you are constantly on a bridge, it gives the city a neat look and great walking paths. Many tugboats move up and down the river and at night their searchlights are cool.Christy asked me to take this great shot. We stayed at the Casino and it was "old school". Think Swingers (the movie) here. I ran over to the Casino and checked it out. Beth shopping for the goods at one of the many Antique malls we hit.We had a few Cocktails on Friday night. Here is a shot of Polly in the bar. It was a sports bar and they had a baseball game on but the good company distracted me.Christy and Beth with Budweiser Select. I blew this one out a bit with the new camera on the cell phone.We ran out to Galena Illinois and it turned out to be a great town. Here is a shot of the downtown area as storm #2 rolls in. We were hit by a rather large storm on our way in but it turned out ok. Christy and I would like to return to Galena in the fall.
It looked like they had some great restaurants but we decided not to eat on Saturday.

I caught these bottles of hot sauce in a shop. I am not sure how "hot" Twins hot sauce would be but the bottles were cool. Next to the Twins were the Brewers....I know they can't cut it in the AL so they moved to the NL, a good old joke.
Christy, Beth and Polly on the street in Galena.

Rock'in the Crazy for Swayze T-shirt!

At a micro-brewery for lunch with Beth. Rock'in the Memphis Redbirds t-shirt in Cubs country. Cubs fans are so ignorant of baseball that I am sure it got right past them. Speaking of Cubs fans did you see that class act last night (August 12)? Visiting Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino making a play at the ivy in center field and a cubs fan (in all the gear) dumped a full beer on him. What a disgrace to the game. Check out the link to the act. Also, a Phillies player? He is lucky he escaped with his life with Philies fans in the crowd. I also recall the time I rolled into the Billy Goat in Chicago in full Cardinals gear and they served me. So much for tradition with the Cubs.

As expected The Irish found a Hibernian Hall. What is that you ask? Check out the hotlink or the next photo.

I did not find a Sons of Norway hall but I expect that there was one.

Oddballs

2009-08-11T09:19:00.004-05:00

A few Miscellaneous photos before I upload the set from the big weekend in the 4-cities.
Here is a shot of my new koozie with Grendel in the background. I think I will have a few fans of this one. A shot of Christy's flowers in our front yard. She did an excellent job this year!

The Carillon in Washington Park at sunset. This is the park we take our walks in.

Last weekend Yancy and Emily were in St. Louis and I was able to run down and have supper with them at McGurks Irish Pub. It was a great time and very good to see old friends.

The Last Sliders Game of the Year.

2009-08-07T10:19:00.004-05:00

Wednesday night a bunch of us went to the Sliders game. It is the last one of the year for us. Christy grabbed the camera and caught me at pre-game. Just in case you are keeping score at home: Sliders lid, Cardinals t-shirt. Marc, Laura and me in the stands.

Khara grabbed the camera and took their standard shot.

Early in the game at Robin Roberts Stadium.

Later in the game from dead behind home plate.

Beautiful sunset at the game.

Quincy Gems player that REALLY likes Jeff Bagwell. Check out that batting stance.

Bagwell back in the day

Our home then and now

2009-08-05T12:18:00.009-05:00

This week Christy's friend Matt found some super cool photos of our house on the Sangamon County web page. Every so often the assessors office takes photos of homes for tax purposes. The county has scanned some of them into their data base. I have posted two photos of our home today. The first one was taken in 1967, the second in 1973.

Our home was built in 1918 in the Williams neighborhood of Springfield. The person that built it was a surgeon named Marshall Yetter the second owner was John Hunter the Director of Public Works for the city and has a lake named after him, Hunter Lake south of Springfield. The home was then owned by two public librarians in a row, both named Kinkead, a mother and then the daughter. We bought the home in August of 2005.

The 1967 photo:

The Photo from 1973:

Here is a shot of our home in 2008:

Boring week

2009-07-31T10:37:00.004-05:00

Not much to report this week yet....

What is it like to be a philosophy professor on a tenure track line? Not as glamorous as you think. I have spent the entire week alone in my office. All my friends that have tenure are spread all over the globe for the summer. At least I can crank the tunes. What am I doing? Digging deep into Kierkegaard's more obscure works? Editing a killer article on Maclean? No.

I am writing a massive assessment report called a Self-Study by the Higher Learning Commission. It is incredibly boring and detailed.....Wow does it suck.

Good news from the Cardinals this week.

Mark Derosa is starting to hit. Great number, I can't believe #7 was available.

Matt Holiday hit his first yard shot last night. Check out that wicked leg kick...old school.

They made Manny Ramirez look like a fool at least three times. Unbelievably lazy, did not know the count twice, did not know there was only one out in the bottom of the 11th, basket catch in a tied game, thrown out at home on an easy sacrifice fly to RIGHT field, struck out 3 times in game 2.....the best quote I have ever heard about Manny. The guy was talking about Pete Rose and Manny. He said of Rose "Never has a player done so much with so little" and about Manny "Never has a player done so little with so much". I could not have said it better.

El Hombre hit a game wining double in the bottom of the 15th Wednesday night. He is a real class act all the way around. El Hombre and Manny have almost matching career stats and are exact opposites when it comes to character.

Cindy's Photos from Paris

2009-07-25T10:09:00.008-05:00

Cindy uploaded her photos from the Paris trip and they are excellent.
I might as well start with my favorite. Christy looking for trouble outside the hotel window.

Monkey see monkey do.....Cindy looking for trouble. The street outside the Hotel. A great way to get a feel for what Paris is like is to hit the streets.

The Hotel, close to Matt's and a nice place.

Christy and I walking to the Louvre. I had to lighten this photo and I am afraid I blew it out.

Evening at the Louvre.

Having a wonderful supper at Matt's pad.

Prepping for the next day. As a few of you know I set a wicked pace when abroad. This was also the first time Matt and Cindy saw me in reading glasses.

A great shot of Paris from the top of the Arc de Triumph.

Another great shot of Paris from the Arc. No matter the weather Paris is beautiful.

At a great cafe outside the Orsay. This is a shot before we got kicked out of the window seats for those eating and moved into the interior seats for those just drinking.

Christy's salad at the Orsay. The cafe in the Orsay is not one to be avoided, it was great.

Typical street cafe in Paris.

A great shot of Christy in the Metro at the end of a day in Paris. Almost sleeping.

Back at the hotel with 2.5 Euro wine!

A great shot of Christy and I on the street in Paris.

On my way to buy some postcards.

A great street shot.

On tour with Bob Steves.

A shot of the view from Matt's apartment, not bad.

Wow, spectacular.

Check out that food selection in Paris!

New Phone

2009-07-24T10:05:00.004-05:00

Our cell plan was up last week so I started the process of selecting a new plan and phone. It turned out that our old carrier (T-Mobile) wanted to keep up so they offered us a great plan and a fancy phone that takes 5mp photos! The first night we had it we walked in Washington park and I took these photos of a great bridge in the park.Another shot of the bridge.Wednesday night Christy got free tickets for the Sliders game. It was a great night, in the 70s.Speedy the mascot. The Sliders lost by 6 runs and played poor defense, 4 errors. Both Christy and I are big fans of defense and hate sloppy play, but it was a fun evening.

Sunset as the Sliders fight to win in the top of the 8th.

Friday Night Graveyard Walk

2009-07-20T11:57:00.005-05:00

Friday night we took a walk with our friend Marie in the cemetery that houses Abraham Lincoln's tomb. It was pretty neat. Here is a shot of Christy and Marie walking. Me at Lincoln's Tomb.

Lincoln's Tomb with flowers.

Christy at a neat grave with a chair.

Greek style.

Art Deco grave.

Indian Motorcycle themed grave.

The old Abbey.

A Mausoleum for a former Illinois Senator.

Kansas, Elvis, and Trains.

2009-07-13T09:45:00.021-05:00

Elvis night and the girls went crazy!

Friday night was "Elvis night" at the T-Bones game.....so we went to the game in style.Pre-game activities at the Morgans.Elvis on the way to the game.

At the gate.

We met our friend Matt Waldschlagel at the game. He was a bit confused or shocked by the Elvii.

Dirk got into the act at the 7th inning stretch.

The T-Bones game at Community America Park. A new ballpark for a great team in the Northern League. The T-Bones played the Fargo Moorhead Redhawks.

Bad photo, good argument. The long-time manager of the Redhawks Doug Simunic got tossed for this discussion.

The T-Bones killed the Redhawks 16-7 despite a great 7th inning rally by the Hawks.

It was hot and humid but a great night at the ballpark.

RedHawk Elvis at the park. Note my jersey. It is a Bittiger jersey that Pam bought me at a RedHawk parking lot sale a few years ago. Bittinger was in the BIG SHOW and played for the 1987 Twins.

Elvis in the crowd. We had great seats, 3rd base side of home 12 rows up.

Saturday Harry and I ran down to Baldwin City and caught a ride on the Midland Historic Railroad. Of course we jumped on the Great Northern caboose for our seat on the train.

A great shot of their Rock Island E units.

A shot of the engineer in the cab of the RS-3 #142.

We rode between the Caboose and the locomotive on part of the trip.

Former KATY RS-3.

Hooking up after the run-around.

Harry on the train.

Harry's friend the conductor.

Across the trestle bridge.

Typical Kansas railroad shot from the back of the caboose.

Another shot of those beautiful Rock Island E units.

He looks like he is going to turn that brake wheel!

The station in Baldwin City Kansas.

A tall Kansas grain elevator in Baldwin City.

The Sliders

2009-07-06T09:09:00.006-05:00

Last night we went to the Springfield Sliders game for the first time this year.They play at Robin Roberts Stadium a beautiful old ballpark. The Sliders lost 10-6, but had a huge rally in the bottom of the 8th.

Robin Roberts Stadium has been the home of a former Cardinals minor league club, a professional female team in the 1940s, the Springfield Sallies ,and for a short time a Negro League team after they got kicked out of Columbus, Ohio.

The Sliders are managed by former Cardinal great Jack "The Ripper" Clark in the center of the photo below. Looks like he gained a bit of weight from his days in the big show. He went 205 at that time.

And former Cardinal great Danny Cox is the pitching coach, #34 below.

The Spirit of Peoria

2009-07-04T15:59:00.010-05:00

For the 4th of July celebration Christy's Mom Ann came to visit. We started her visit with a trip on the Paddleboat "The Spirit of Peoria". The paddleboat starts in Peoria and goes north up the Illinois river for 8hrs to Starved Rock State Park. We stayed at a wonderful lodge built in the 1920s by the Civilian Conservation Corps and then took the boat back to Peoria.

Here I am checking out the bridge as we leave Peoria.

Christy and Ann checking out another bridge as we make our way north at 7.5 MPH.

The paddlewheel was the only source of propulsion for the boat.

A sailboat coming along side.The Spirit of Peoria docked at Starved Rock State Park. The spectacular view from the top of Starved Rock. Note the small tour boat docked in the river.

Another great view.

Hiking in the state park. Before you start to mock the "hiking" take note that Starved Rock is LOADED with poison ivy and the only way to get around in the park is on a developed trail. We saw a tree that was covered with poison ivy to a height of 10 feet or more.
One of the many waterfalls in the park.
Back on The Spirit of Peoria. I am checking things out with the binoculars.

Christy watching Illinois flow by.

Relaxing out of the sun. We had great weather with highs in the upper 70s. Note the dew on the table.

A beached tug we named the Harry Lee Morgan.
A view from the back of the boat.

Relaxing.
Cruddy reading and watching the scenery.

July Weekend

2009-06-29T12:17:00.006-05:00

We had a easy weekend before we start a round of visitors and traveling this summer.

We hit a few antique malls and in one Christy tried on this crazy dress. She looks like the "Queen of the Irish" in this getup.

I also lost a ten spot to Brad as I bet on the Cardinals over the Twins this weekend.

Sunday night we had some excitement. A White pick-up ran the stop sign and right up on the neighbors yard stopping about 5 feet from her kitchen. The person took off faster that I could get a plate number.

And, we painted our front door.

Masters Update

2009-06-26T10:23:00.002-05:00

My team, the Colorado Smokejumpers is in 1st place in my division.
18-13 overall.

Strategy has already shifted a bit. Opposing pitchers are walking Ruth at an unbelievable rate. They would rather put Ruth on and face Killer or Maris (both hit around .260) and then get to Gaetti. I moved Ruth to hit 3rd and then Mantle in clean-up.

Knobby at 9th is doing great. He is hitting .354 with all those strikes to look at, opposing pitchers would much rather throw good pitches to Knobby than Carew.

It is early but things look good.

Big Ed Walsh is the star on the mound: 5-2 with a 3.78 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP.

Masters Tournament

2009-06-22T10:05:00.007-05:00

I was asked to enter the Masters Tournament at my Historical Fantasy Baseball web site.

Time to play with the big boys.

The first round is a custom league with a complex draft. Each manager drafts the following: one franchise outfield,infield, starting rotation, relief core and catcher and stadium. We used a snake draft with a random draft order. I pulled #1! Your team will be made up of the above, only players that spent the majority of their time with a franchise are eligible.

I selected the following:

Yankees Outfield

Twins Infield

Expos Relief Core and Catcher

White Sox Rotation

Coors Field.

Here we go:

Batting first and playing first base, Rod CarewHitting second and playing center field: Joe DiMaggio:

Hitting in the three hole and playing right field: Mickey Mantle:

Hitting clean up and playing left field: Babe Ruth:Protecting Ruth against lefties: Killer at DH.Protecting Ruth against righties: Maris at DH:

Hitting in the 6 hole and at 3B, Gary Gaetti:Hitting 7th and catching, Gary Carter:
In the 8th slot and playing SS, Greg Gagne:And, after watching a ton of Cardinals Baseball I have become an advocate of La Russa's "second lead-off hitter" at 9th in the order. Playing 2B chuck Knoblauch:

Talk about a murderers row!

Carew,Di Maggio, Mantle,Ruth, Killer/Maris.

I have excellent defense in the infield and great range in the outfield with an excellent arm in right.

I played it all or nothing by going with Coors field, the ball will really be flying out of the park.

My pitching will suffer.

Updates to follow.

Coors Field:

Busch Stadium

2009-06-19T10:44:00.005-05:00

Last night I met an old friend from Graduate School for the Cards v. Tigers game. I was able to get to St. Louis a bit early and take some shots of the stadium before the game.

The entrance to New Busch Stadium. When people compare ball fields to cathedrals I get their point.

Inside with the Cards in the field.

Approaching the stadium from the NW.

The attention to detail is incredible.

The Musial statue outside the main gate inspires awe.

The inscription on the base reads "Here stands baseball's perfect warrior. Here stands baseball's perfect knight."Outside the ballpark the Cardinals have erected a statue park of great past players. I can't emphasis enough how much they honor their rich past in the game. I hope the Twins take a hint and erect a statue park at their new stadium.

Twins statues: Puckett, Hrbek, Killer, Oliva, T. Kelly.

Possible:

Bert: He played for many other teams, has a ring with the Bucks, but he is a huge media presence for the Twins.

Carew: There is that nasty period of time when he played for the Angels. Did he go into the Hall as a Twin or Angel?

Bostock: Short career, also an Angel.

Gaetti: Most of his career with the Twins but many other teams.

Walter Johnson: Honor our past? The great Washington Senators pitcher.

Others? Feel free to post.

AC/DC

2009-06-18T10:13:00.004-05:00

Wednesday night Christy and I went to the Sagamon County Fair to check out an AC/DC tribute band.
Here is a shot of the midway.

Elephant rides! It made us think of Water for Elephants, an excellent book. Buying a corndog on the midway.

On our way to the grandstand. Last year the fair had a Van Halen tribute band. I like it!

AC/DC tribute band Hells Bells on stage.

Angus!

Nice.

Highway to Hell.

Malcolm, Bon Scott or Brian Johnson? and Angus. I think it was Bon Scott as they played a bunch of songs from JailBreak.

Rock on!

Good Citizen

2009-06-15T10:01:00.009-05:00

Friday, we went to St. Louis for the opening of Khara's show at the Good Citizen Gallery.
The title of the show is later rather than sooner.
I took a few photos of some of her work and the explanations I give here come from her.
This is one of my favorite pieces below, it is titled The Silent Lure of Attention. She says that when she was a child her grandfather would lure the formerly shy Khara to him with M-n-Ms. This is a shot of the piece from the side with Khara standing by it. What you see here is M-n-Ms stuck to the wall.

Another shot of the piece straight on.

When you stand against the wall in just the right spot this is what you see. A reproduction of a photo of her grandfather sitting at his desk, all done in M-n-Ms.
This is a shot of Cori, Laura and Christy looking at In Case of the Eventual. Khara wrote notes to people she has something she wants to share with them and they are to be distributed after her death. Each note has been shredded and placed in a small plastic cube.

This one is titled Fleeting Efforts at Reassurance. She says, "...bottles of breath have been collected from the most influential people in my life in order to never allow them to take their last one."

This is a close up of my bottle, #56. Christy's bottle is #57.

Christy and Khara talking by the piece titled Attempting To Mend the Distance. Pieces of maps from places she has visited are woven into a map of the United States, the pieces trace the route from Jacksonville to her home in Pennsylvania.

Dr. John Cox checking out The Inescapable Inevitable.

The Good Citizen Gallery in St. Louis.

Last Norway Photos

2009-06-14T17:29:00.004-05:00

Here are some last shots from Norway. They are all of me as it takes a friend to take your photo and Christy was at home. All these photos were taken by Khara Koffel so please don't download them w/o asking me first.

Here is a shot of me as we enter Oslo on the cruise ship. Here I am at the Fram museum talking to Laura. The black and white photo that is in focus is of Helmer Hanssen, a long lost relative on Mom's side. He was with Amundsen on the Fram and was on the polar assault team.

In this photo I am looking at the Baptismal font that Kierkegaard was baptized in. I am about to lecture on his theology of baptism.

Skipping stones in Balestrand,

On the train to Flam.

Waiting on the fast ferry in Flam.

"Above" Bergen with Mac Student James.

Syttende Mai

2009-06-10T09:41:00.008-05:00

Syttende Mai means May 17th in Norwegian. It is their Independence day and do they celebrate! We started the day by securing a great spot to watch the parade. These are two locals in their traditional attire called a bunad. Local dignitaries.

The Norwegian navy. They have a very proud tradition going all the way back to the Vikings.

WWII vets, they received a unchecked round of applause as they rolled by.

More from the Navy. We had no idea that the parade would last over 3 hours and run both ways on the street. If they would have run it one way it would have lasted over 6 hours!

The flag was flying on every available pole.

A shot of the crowd. I expected a few people in Bunad but well over 50% were in their local traditional attire. Each Bunad is from a specific region in Norway and they are all different.

Cadets.

School children.

More school children. Education is free and excellent all they way through university and even graduate work if you are accepted.

We were in Norway during the time when high school age students are graduating. They all wear these very interesting pants/overalls and they are decorated. Each student wore them all the time to make it known they were a graduate.

Flags everywhere.

After the parade we climbed up to the cathedral in Bergen, here is a shot of the city from the steps of the cathedral.

The Bergen cathedral.

A cool Viking statue in Bergen. Note his wide stance, as if he was holding his balance on the open sea.

Yes! Motley Crue in Norway.

Finally we went to a party for the local youth. Our students had a great time. There was a DJ on a fake ridiculous viking ship with smoke and disco lights. This is the venue were I was introduced to the techno version of John Denver's County Roads.

Old School Trigger Swing

2009-06-09T09:28:00.009-05:00

I had to interrupt the Norway flow one more time for a tribute post to the "Old School Trigger Swing".

Here are a few practitioners (old and new) of the coolest swing in the game.

Ruben Sierra.

Darryl Strawberry:

Bo Jackson, nice:

Ichiro with the softball follow-through.

Holiday in Colorado

Zimmerman.

Old School Mell Ott

Jose Cruze Senior.

The great Clemente.

Perhaps the greatest power trigger swing of all....Sadaharu Oh.
And the sweetest old school trigger swing......Kirby Puckett.

Bergen

2009-06-08T09:12:00.004-05:00

We took the famous Fast-Ferry from Balestrand to Bergen. It hydroplanes on two small rails and hits speeds of over 60mph. Here is a shot of the ferry throwing an impressive amount of spray as it hits speed.In the Fjord.

As soon as we hit Bergen I grabbed the map and compass and headed for a famous fly-fishing shop on market street.And here it is!

A nice shot of the Bergen harbor. Again, this is a working harbor and not just for show so there was a huge mix of pleasure craft and working boats.

On the city tour a neat statue of Ibsen.
Dried cod in the fish market.The fish market in Bergen. Yes, it stank.
One of the narrow streets in the old city.
We took a tram to the top of a mountain that overlooks Bergen, here is a shot of the city.Bergen's harbor in the evening.

Another shot of the harbor.

The entrance to King Haakon's castle.A statue of King Haakon VII as he overlooks Bergen's harbor. He was king during WWII.

Norway Interrupted!

2009-06-05T09:35:00.003-05:00

I had to interrupt the flow of images from Norway because we went to the Cardinals game last night.
Here is a great shot of the stadium with a view of the crowd. We had great seats, about 10 rows up from 1st base. If you are going to sit anywhere in Busch today it should be on the first base side so you can make a study of Pujols. A shot of more of the stadium. It is a beautiful ballpark with much attention paid to the history of the game and the Cardinals franchise.

Here is a shot of Pujols at the plate. He is the Roy Hobbs of our generation. If you ever have a chance to see him play, take it. It will be the kind of story you will tell later in life. You saw the "best there ever was" (for our generation).

#5 went 2-5 with a double and a HOME RUN deep to center.

Flam to Balestrand

2009-06-04T10:03:00.008-05:00

Lunch! We asked for traditional Norwegian food and we got it, tail and all. After lunch we went kayaking. Below is a shot of the area we started from on the Fjord.

Babs interpreting while in a kayak on the Fjord.

The view as we set out for a day on the Fjord. No hurry to get up at the crack of dawn as we had something like 20 hrs of sunlight a day.

Students on the fjord.

One of our guides.

Where we stopped for lunch and a hike to a waterfall.

The view from the hike.

At the waterfall.

Back in Flam. A bit of American Baseball culture, a Norwegian Yankees hat. No Twins or Cards but I think they used the Yankees to stand for Norway (NY).

Babs fighting with her suitcase for the trip to Balestrand. In this instance the suitcase won.

A Norwegian farm on the cliff of the Fjord.

Another classic Norwegian farm.

Balestrand, population 400. Campbell on the Fjord?

The view from Balestrand.

The view from my hotel, note the fact that I also had a great deck to sit on.

Stave church in Balestrand.

Detail shot of the Stave roof.

There were some great homes in Balestrand.

Another great house.

Detail shot of the roof.

Detail shot from the window frame.More homes along the Fjord.

Balestrand is also the resting place of several Vikings in burial mounds. They erected a statue to watch over the graves.Time to go to bed. This shot was taken about midnight.

Oslo to Flam

2009-06-03T11:13:00.003-05:00

Our high-speed train to the Flam Railroad. At the Flam rail head, above the tree line and into a whole bunch of snow.

Leaving the Flam rail head on our way to Flam.

A few stops to check out waterfalls. They were so numerous that we stopped taking photos of them and it allowed you to really see them.

On our way into Flam, Norway.

A decent looking trout stream in Flam, it was glacier fed so it should be good fishing.

Our view from the hotel.

The rail stop and ferry dock in Flam.

Oslo

2009-06-02T09:31:00.007-05:00

We started the day with a city tour of the Knut Hamsun sites. The National Library has a display of his work, draft editions, notes, 1st editions, etc. The city also installed two statues of "stock" female characters from his work. Below is one of the statues, we stopped and read from Hunger and I gave a short lecture on the role that women play in his work.

We also stopped at the National Contemporary Art Museum and here is a shot of Khara lecturing by a piece and Babs interpreting.

The Oslo harbor.

A royal yacht in the harbor.

One of my favorite spots, the Amundsen museum. Here is a shot of the exploration ship the Gjoa parked out front.

A statue of Roald Amundsen in front of the Gjoa.

Amundsen in front of the Fram.

The ring of shops around the Oslo Cathedral, these shops are very prominent in Hamsun's book Hunger.

A traditional Norwegian barn with a sod roof, dandelions and all.

A traditional Norwegian barn, animals underneath, work space on the first level, living quarters on top.

A beautiful Stave Church.

Norwegian cops on horseback.

Bacon in a tube, a hit with everyone.
Our train to Flam.

Norway!

2009-06-01T09:49:00.005-05:00

Our first view of Norwegian soil. I was finally home! The back of our Cruise ship entering Norwegian waters.

Cool house on the water in Norway.

Oslo, the Oslo opera house in the neat slanted building in the photo.

Oslo has a great ferry system.

The Viking Ship museum.

Khara and a Norwegian Troll.

In the Oslo Harbor.

Oslo City Hall, the location where the Noble Peace Prize is given each year.

My 9th floor deck at the hotel.

Leaving Copenhagen and on to Norway.

2009-05-31T12:35:00.009-05:00

From the night before....sorry. We visited Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Here is a shot of the Chinese Gardens. An across the lake shot of Tivoli Gardens.

A carved Viking head at Tivoli.

City view of Copenhagen from the top of a 14th century Church.

On our last day in Copenhagen we took a guided Kierkegaard tour. Our fantastic guide was a historian (in the red jacket) that specializes in Kierkegaard, it was very well done!

We started with a stop by the Church that Grundtvig held his post and SK visited him here. The courtyard has a great statue of Gruntvik and a neat bust of him looking out on the courtyard from his former office (next photo).Grundtvig looking out on the courtyard.The baptismal font that Kierkegaard was baptized in.
A pair of Kierkegaard's glasses from an optometry shop that dates from his time and is still in business.One of his many apartments. Lower center window was his. We visited all of his former apartments, but this one is special. He lived here when he wrote The Concept of Anxiety, the subject of my dissertation.And finally.....room #3 at the University of Copenhagen. It was in this room that he defended his Dissertation (or thesis, the European model is a bit different) The Concept of Irony.We moved by Cruise ship from Copenhagen to Oslo, it was very windy.

Danish wind farms on the open sea.Leaving Denmark.Sunset about 11pm. It did not get much darker that night.
Small interior cabins, but you are not on this trip to spend time in the cabin!