SPAM I Am

Wasn't that a movie with Sean Penn?

Pictures courtesy of Jon's Picasa site. A lady circulated passing out samples of broiled Spam on a pretzel stick. I had forgotten I actually like the stuff. Last weekend Mary and Mike had a cook-out for friends and family. One of their friends is researching a new Spam recipe for a state fair contest. After seeing the exhibit, I wish her good luck. There is a great diversity of recipes already tried by people all over the world. They have a big Hormel Spam factory in Beijing, China. Wonder if Andy toured that. I would hope not! Spam is marketed in dozens of countries around the world. I looked at the map and it doesn't look like it is sold in Germany. Perhaps they are more hooked on Schnitzel or just have better taste. Many of the asian countries are big buyers. Some of that taste probably was cultivated by Uncle Sam sending Spam with the WW2 GI's. Hawaiians love the stuff. I suppose it is a tougher sell in Asian countries with a large muslim population because it is pork. Anyway, you have now been "spammed".

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Cowabunga !

Early Tuesday morning, husband Jon mentioned we should throw the bikes on the rack and take a little trip. In less than 30 minutes we were on our way to the Amana Colonies in Iowa. It is still fun to do things spur of the moment. We had to do a little back-peddling by cell phone to have our mail and newspaper picked up and plalnts watered, but it was fun.

Years ago, we arranged a three week road trip to California with three kids in three hours. That is a lot of "3s", but a true story. Jon had applied for a new job at 3M and knew he would not get three weeks vacation for five years if they hired him. We were young. We charged our way from Holiday Inn to Holiday Inn, hoping he would have employment when he returned. He had been self-employed for four years with all the time in the world to travel but no money. We lucked out when they did hire him. It helped pay our Holiday Inn charges.

This little jaunt had so little planning that one can expect a few glitches. I was the navigator. About twenty years ago my sister and mom and I had toured the Amana colonies. We stayed in Cedar Rapids the first night, then in a B & B in Homestead, one of the seven little towns. We were on the way driving down the Mississippi river corridor, when Jon asked me what route to take. I said we should aim for Cedar Rapid, which is close. I then made a big boo boo and told him Cedar Rapids was SW of Des Moines. "In that case," he said, "We should take I 35." We corrected our course by driving across southern Minnesota on I 90. When we got to Iowa, we stopped at the visitor's center and got a map. Guess what. Cedar Rapids is not southwest of Des Moines. Our original route would have been more direct. We drove a bit out of our way, but did get to visit the SPAM Museum at the Hormel plant in Austin, MN. I am not sure that is a destination drive, but a fun stop if you are in the neighborhood.

With my recent dieting and weight loss my wardrobe is limited. I am not buying a lot of clothes yet. Most of my clothes were in the laundry and I grabbed what I could. I have a shirt someone gave me with, "County Cow Tipping Team" printed on it. The illustration is of an upside-down cow. I grabbed that thinking if I can wear this anywhere, I can wear it in Iowa. Strangers commented on my shirt. One museum docent asked if I had ever heard of "Cow Bingo", a game her daughter had played. Nope. She explained a large grid is marked off and numbered on a field. People are assigned numbers. Then the cow is loosed and where ever it "drops it's patty" (her term), that number wins. Bingo! Maybe I will tell this story to the couple who gave me the cow tipping shirt after I told them about cow tipping. They might get me a "Cow Bingo" shirt too. You think I am making this up, don't you? See link: http://www.k94life.org/cowrules.htm

Things I Should Have Learned in School or Did Learn and Forgot

I just got around to reading, or studying, the book "Eats, Shoots, & Leaves". It was a best-seller a few years ago. The good nuns taught me grammar and punctuation well. I was hard to trip up some forty years ago, but I have forgotten many of the rules of punctuation. I thought it was time for a review.

As well as tuning up my punctuation skills, I learned a new word: solidus, meaning forward slash.

I checked the Webster's New College Dictionary for their definition. It says, "1. An ancient Roman coin used until the Byzantine Empire."

"2. A virgule."

A virgule? What is a virgule? Now I had to check that definition in the V's. Sure enough it is defined as "a diagonal mark, (/) used esp. to separate alternatives, as, and/or, to represent the work per."

Did everyone know this but me? I have never heard the word solidus, or perhaps I just don't remember it much like I don't remember when to use that drat semi-colon. Maybe when I finish the book I will know when to use it.

Here is a cute quote from the book's jacket: "A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

'Why?' asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

'I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. 'Look it up.'

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'

So, punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death. "

PS. I hope Andy didn't run into any Chinese pandas with poorly punctuated wildlife manuals.

Pals

Just cute pictures. Got to appreciate good friends. I talked to a longtime friend yesterday who may be coming for a visit in July. We were bridesmaids in another good friend's wedding in June 1967. They will celebrate their 40th anniversary this summer and hopefully her two slightly older bridesmaids can attend together. I also talked on the phone with another friend of 40 some years who is on a weight loss program. We are encouraging each other to continue on.

Another Endangered Species; A Good Father

Happy Father's Day to all the dads. I am an orphan. My dad died in 1987. One of our sons took his dad out to breakfast at his favorite diner. I can't duplicate that at home and Jon loves eating the big breakfast there. He has been a good dad to our kids. He was a hands on father, changing diapers and rocking babies. He will occasionally mention he misses the smell of a new baby's neck. Hopefully there will be a few more grandbabies to cuddle.

My dad was a quiet, shy man but as a child I remember well his gentleness. He didn't say often he loved you, but showed it. Those Norwegians are reticent.

We have the national holiday to mark our appreciation. Many cultures and countries have a patriarchal respect for the father. In our Judeo-Christian heritage we have the fourth or fifth commandment, the only commandment that came with a conditional promise. (I was raised in a denomination that called it the 4th. Protestant tradition has different numbering and the specific commandment my church omitted forbidding building graven images. Guess they couldn't give up all those religious statues.) Anyway, God said, "Honor thy father and thy mother that you may live long in the land I am giving you." I know there are many who have had absent or abusive fathers who may struggle with that commandment, but I think you can honor the position even if the respect is not earned.

For Sale

My husband's observation when he sees a sign like this is, "Why do they have to put 'by owner'? Who else would be selling it?" Good point. Even if the bank were selling a foreclosed home or repossessed car wouldn't they be the owner?

Out of the Woods

My sister in-law shared a website of the Minnesota Historical Society that displays old photos. ( Link: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/search.cfm?bhcp=1. ) Enter a small town or location and access digital images from the past. My husband perused pictures of his old neighborhood in North St. Paul. I went to my roots and found an interesting link in my history.

I was born in Sandstone, MN. My parents lived on a nearby Pine Lake. A search for photos revealed the typical old general store and high school. Then I found a picture of the world’s largest pile of logs from the days when they were clear cutting those white pine forests. It shows men standing on top of a pile 100 feet high. This area was big in the logging industry.

When I was a toddler we moved to a farm south of Little Falls, MN. Guess what I found in that photo search; more logging pictures. Pictures of sawmills and the Mississippi clogged with log jams and men with pike poles managing the flow of floating pine trees come to life. The Mussers and the Weyerhausers were lumber barons in the young town.

Well, I now live in Stillwater. As you can guess there are many pictures of the river pigs and lumber industry in bygone Stillwater. The town is famous for Lumberjack Days for a reason. I guess my life all ties together around the lumber towns.

I grew up in an old log cabin. I love piney forests and sure would take a step back in time and see those virgin old growth woods. I think I will have to settle for the old pictures for now.