Field of Dreams

"If you build it, they will come". Remember that last line from the movie, FIELD OF DREAMS? Well, they have come. About a million visitors have visited the farm site where the movie was filmed. Even Kevin Costner has come back to Iowa. It's not heaven, but it is nostalgic. That is one of Jon's favorite movies so we had to take his picture on the bleachers. He did not fall off or choke on a hot dog. There are two souvenir stands there which make money for competing sides of the family. The house is unoccupied. Apparently, they were able to pay off the mortgage because people did remember the game of their youth. We saw people with bats and balls hitting a few, and every conceivable FOD shirt or poster. Now if Minnesotans could just be as nostalgic about our baseball stadium and quit rebuilding them every 25 yrs. with public $$.

Chairman of the Bored

We bought new deck chairs yesterday. No, not the one Jon is sitting on. That is from a woodcrafters shop in one of the Amana towns. Remember Lily Tomlin's character ,the smart-mouthed little girl Edith Ann? They actually have a picture of Lily Tomlin sitting in this chair. It is a big version of the classic Amana rocker. We bought a set of four comfortable chairs with cushions and glass table at a good price. It was cheaper to buy the set than to buy just four chairs. We can give the glass table away and still come out ahead. Does anyone want a square glass table?

Life In The Middle Lane

Today's paper has a quote from Jerry Seinfeld, "After the TV series, I really didn't want to do anything and I still don't". I guess his life was well funded and he had that option.

I'm not advocating sloth, one of the seven deadly sins, but we have become a nation of overachievers in my opinion. I heard someone comment on the radio yesterday that she had seen a man running with an infant strapped to his front, while reading a book and wearing a headset. Multitasking at the extreme. We seem to have forgotten about smelling the roses.

My husband warned me about being retired. Everyone will hold you accountable for how you spend your time. At first I needed to be busy and continued to work a bit. Finally I realized I had worked forty years as a nurse and that was probably enough. I still run into people who are surprised I don't have a part time job. One newly retired friend occasionally asks me what is on my agenda today. She plans her days out in blocks. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. This week when we were able to get away spontaneously for three days I realized I love being free.

I'm sorry mom, I never understood why you didn't get another job after you quit waitressing.

This essay in "My Turn", a Newsweek feature, amused me.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19263099/site/newsweek/

Monkey or Bird Flu Anyone?

Son Andy has not written much, but I did get his latest pictures off his Picasa site. The group spent a long weekend in Chengdu, China last week. Apparently he saw the pandas. His caption on the picture of him with monkey on shoulder was something like, "Rabies shot, anyone?" I had read; stay away from wild animals. Our CDC recommended he get a series of rabies vaccine before going but he did not have enough time to get these shots. I also was nervous about the bird flu and hoped he would not be around too many poultry. (The chicken in the picture was on the bus with him.) That probably was moot the first trip to the market where every manner of "live food" like chicken, snake and rabbit is sold. There is another picture of them singing Karaoke which is big there. Collegeville and St. Joe are probably going to seem pretty tame to the Chinese students coming our way.

Bucolic Buddies

Jon has a thing for cows. He cannot resist stopping when he sees a herd close to the fence on a country road. When he talked to them, they all gathered in a semi-circle like relatives or school kids posing for a group picture. They really did. Some nudged their way in line so their faces showed. They posed. I had Jon pose too with his buddies. He can talk to the animals like Dr. Doolittle. They moo back. Our home movies and photo albums have many pictures of cows. Even foreign cows respond to his charm.

LA CROSSE

Not the game, the town in Wisconsin. We passed through La Crosse the other day and found the movie theatre Jon's Uncle Ralph used to manage. It is in what is now called the Historic Old Town. I think the Hollywood Theatre probably doesn't show first run movies anymore. Jon's uncle was a very distinguished, tall handsome man and took pride in his establishment. Like everywhere else, the movies are probably now at a cineplex in the suburban area.

I remember driving through La Crosse years ago and passing the "World's Largest Six Pack" on the main drag. We didn't see it the other day because be came through town on another route. I wanted to track it down but we didn't. When we got home I found out it had been painted over when the Heileman's Old Style brewery was sold. With popular demand, it was repainted a few years ago.

The other thing I remember in La Crosse was a giant chicken statue by a drive-in or restaurant. Jon thinks it was in a different town. I am not sure and can't find that by googling. Perhaps cousin Linda can solve that riddle for me. When I googled "big chicken" I got a KFC in Marietta, Ga. Maybe my sister remembers that place from when they lived in Marietta.??

Anyway, La Crosse is looking pretty good for a river town. They have a branch of the U of W there and have a neat bridge that crosses the wide Mississippi by hopping from island to island.

-52 today

Strange But True

We brought out bikes and got in a couple nice rides this week in Amana. Amana and East Amana are connected by a path that winds past pasteurs, fields and Lily Lake. I have never seen so many "wild" rabbits. Surprisingly, hassenpfeffer is not on local menus although they serve German cuisine. Wed. am we spoke to a local lady while we were waiting to cross a highway. She asked where we were from. "Stillwater", was Jon's replay. Her face lit up and she said, "I used to live in Stillwater! " She told us she was originally from Austria, but first lived in Stillwater and worked at our Lowell Inn when coming to America in 1962. While working there, a local noticed her accent and offered to introduce her to a young man from Germany who lived in the area. They met and married shortly afterwards. It is a small world, but gets even smaller when you meet and greet people you meet.