All posts by Barbara in Rivertown

The Baboon Congress, Travel

À la manger, en Francais (To eat, in French)

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Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

The four of us (my sister and her son, Husband and moi) were on our own for five days in Paris. We learned a lot about food and about eating as the French do one evening at Le Petit Baigneur just a short walk from “our flat”.

We discovered that we should not first have a snack at home. We didn’t realize that ordering from the menu would consist of a (fixed price) a three course meal: a starter (which they call the Entrée); a main course with vegetable; a cheese and/or dessert course(s); and café – a small cup of espresso. And wine, of course. And bread – I learned that the French bread brought to the table is so good it does not require, or come with, butter.

 A glass of wine, and chocolate

That was a lot of food. There is, to my knowledge, no such thing as taking food home with you in a “to go” container. The idea is to order something marvelous (no problem), and then take two or three hours to eat, drink, talk, and ENJOY it. You have to shift gears, especially if you’re an American usually in a rush.

No wonder breakfast is usually a light “continental” affair – i.e. croissants and jam, a beverage, and that’s about it. We could walk around the corner from our flat and find pastries from a patisserie (dessert bakery), baguettes from a boulangerie (bread bakery), or crepes and quiches from a crèperie.

Luckily, our Paris eateries often had someone who spoke some English, so we pretty much knew what we were getting. Our waiter at Petit Baigneur brought us an English version of the menu, and my tiny bit of French helped at times. But there are other differences to negotiate – there are more manners in France – “merci” and “s’il vous plait” are expected. We heard about a brasserie (bistro) where the following was part of the price list, aimed no doubt at unthinking tourists:

  • Une bière ou vin – €2
    (One beer or wine – 2 Euros)
  •  Une bière ou vin avec “s’il vous plait”  – €1.5
    (One beer or wine with “if you please” – 1.5 Euros)

When have you mis-communicated with your server in a restaurant?

The Baboon Congress

Vieux (OLD)

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Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale

We’ve been back from France for just short of a month, and I’ve been trying to come up with a post that would encompass the entire trip. No small trick, as the journey had three very distinct segments: being tourists in Paris, memorial ceremonies for my uncle in a village in Brittany, and a Viking River Cruise in Provence.

What I fell in love with was how OLD everything was, everywhere we went. In Paris, I loved walking in the Left Bank down mazes of cobblestoned alleys (called streets) that have been around for centuries.

The Sorbonne University has been there since the 12th century.

My favorite Museum was the Cluny, officially known as the Musée national du Moyen Âge (Middle Age) – Thermes et hôtel de Cluny, part of which was built around 3rd century Roman baths.

The building that housed our air.bnb flat on Rue Lecruirot (south Montparnasse area) was built in 1893.

The Paris Metro has been around since summer of 1900.

In the village of St. Pere en Retz, we got to stay in a 150 year old manor house, and our suite was a former kitchen that has become a B&B.

In Provence we spent time in Avignon, the center of which is a walled city.  And the countryside sported farmhouses and wineries.

I can’t wait to go back.

What’s the oldest building you’ve seen or been in?

The Baboon Congress

Ask Dr. Babooner

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We are ALL Dr. Babooner

Dear Dr. Babooner,

Since I am a regular reader and commenter on “Trail Baboon,” I have come to feel kinship with these noble creatures and have occasionally described myself as “a baboon” with what I thought was justified pride.

Then few weeks ago I saw a show titled “The Secret Life of Primates” on PBS, which inspired me to do even more research online.

After that I became somewhat identity-confused because there were several baboon traits that I liked, and then there were some others.

What I liked:

  • In several species of baboons, the alpha female rules. She gets the first and best food, water, sleeping spots.
  • The adults groom each other in a “significant social function” and ritual.
  • Young baboons are active and playful, especially while the adults groom each other.
  • The females tend to be the primary caretaker of the young, although several females will share the duties for all of their offspring.
  • Baboons are completely at ease in trees, thanks to their long arms and legs.

What I didn’t like:

  • The weakest female develops a real inferiority complex.
  • Among the males, there is a lot of infighting for lead position.
  • Baboons  eat EVERYTHING they can find – fruit, insects, small fish and animals, and seed pods embedded in anything including dried out dung piles of, say, a rhino.

That last part about picking seeds out of rhino dung completely put me off the feeling that I am in any way like a baboon.

And yet I still admire the tree-swinging and grooming and females-in-charge aspect. Is it wrong to accept kinship with only the admirable baboon traits, while distancing myself from the negatives?

With concern,
Barbara in Robbinsdale

I told BiR that her somewhat tentative baboon-affinity is no different than the difficult choice politicians face when they are asked to take a picture alongside some random stranger. One wants to be friendly and accepting, although if the price of putting your arm around someone (or following them on Twitter) means you endorse everything they have done or will ever do, it quickly becomes impossible to socialize. I suspect before long all our public associations will have to be accompanied by a detailed disclaimer statement – fine print that will clearly lay out what we like and don’t like about them.

But that’s just one opinion. What do YOU think, Dr. Babooner?

The Baboon Congress, Travel

View Point Ahead

54 Comments

Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

One of the reasons I like to travel – especially when it’s “over the surface” of the country by car or train, is that I always come home with a slightly different perspective on my life.

Being in touch with all that space just gives one pause, and last month’s road trip to Utah is no exception. The highway (I-70) that we drove through Colorado’s Rocky Mountains was lined with aspens that look like yellow flames in the dark evergreen forests.

In southern Utah, one canyon made you think you’re in a cathedral, and the second must have been dropped there from another planet.

We noticed all kinds of little differences between there and home – names like Grizzly Creek and Hanging Lake; towns called Eagle, Leadville, Rifle, Yellowcat. Road signs warned of “Falling Rocks” or “Avalanche Area”.

And sure enough, several times along Utah’s scenic Highway 12, we slowed for small groups of cattle grazing in the ditch.

The Cathedral-like Zion National Park, Utah
Undeniably True
Bryce Canyon – Extraterrestrial Scenery

My favorite road sign, “View Point Ahead”, echoed my mood.

I am prepared to come home from any journey with a change in point of view – I look forward to it. This time I’ve arrived with shifted priorities, ready to explore what I can and cannot do with my life.

When have you known a change was coming?

The Baboon Congress

Early Evening on the Screen Porch

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Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

7:00 p.m.
One of the books that (some of) our Baboons read for a recent Baboon Book Club (BBC) gathering was A Slender Thread by Diane Ackerman.

In it she told some of her experiences helping to staff a volunteer crisis hotline for humans, juxtaposed with her observations of the squirrel population in her yard and their crises. I am not, as she was, gathering material for National Geographic, but reading her work has changed me in this way: I’m allowing myself to sit for more than a few minutes to watch the wildlife just outside our back yard screen porch.

Last night was outstanding.

Our big yard must be heaven for the critters. Lined with hedges and a terraced “rock wall” (the chipmunk highway), it has plenty of trees for the squirrels, flowers for the bees and butterflies, and berries for the birds. The huge once-majestic box elder tree has lost all its major limbs now, and the last two are still sitting where they landed beneath it – these now provide another hiding place for the animals.

Box Elder and Sons

We have several resident cottontails that we see regularly for silflay (the morning/evening meal in the meadow, as told in Richard Adams’ Watership Down.

Mombunny

I’ve dubbed them Flopsy, Mopsy, and Mombunny, though of course I can’t tell the younger ones apart. I am watching them closely tonight, because earlier a hawk of some kind (Northern Harrier?) swooped toward a chipmunk who was hanging out by the herb garden.

Hawk 2a

7:30
There are now three robins hunting for stuff through the grass – no wait, four – no… five robins. A squirrel just shot across the lawn with a huge green (unhusked) walnut clamped in its jaws. Flopsy scampers around the fallen tree sections, with Mopsy close on his heels. Careful, Flopsy – that hole is where the beehive is, I think. Mombunny is now over by the rock wall on her hind legs, now nibbling on a wild rose twig, now heading for the back 40 – lippity lippity, not very fast.

8:00
It’s quieter – just two bunnies left feasting on the clover, Flopsy washing his face like a cat would. He only hops off when Mopsy gets too close, and then they’re racing around again.

8:30
Really getting dark now – if their ears didn’t twitch, I’d never see them in the grass. I leave them finally – all I can make out is two darker spots in the dark green of the “way back” lawn/meadow, where they’re probably contemplating how to get back into the veggie garden just beyond.

And that story is for another day

What has been the most critter friendly place you’ve lived?

The Baboon Congress, Travel

Return of the Winter Getaway

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Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

Several weeks ago Husband and I had an afternoon appointment in Stillwater, about an hour from home, and he delighted me by saying we should make it a winter getaway and stay overnight there. I was elated – the winter has been long and grueling, and we had not yet been able to “get out of Dodge”.

But where to stay in this river town overflowing with Bed and Breakfast places? I’d stayed at one of them decades ago, was charmed by the antique oak furniture, lace, and florals. Still, I wanted to try something new. We searched online and eventually came up with The Elephant Walk Bed and Breakfast, whose byline is Tour the World One Room at a Time.

They are not kidding. Although the house is an 1883 “stick style” Victorian, walking in is like taking a trip to the Far East, where owners Rita and Jon Graybill spent twenty some years, he in military and diplomatic service in Bangkok, Thailand. Downstairs parlors are a veritable bazaar of large and small antiques from Thailand, Bali, Spain and Italy, and the Americas – many of the items for sale. Elephants abound.

They’ve given the upstairs guest rooms names like Rangoon, or Raffles (for the British Colonial Hotel in Singapore), and filled them with exotic and colorful furnishings. Bedrooms are also equipped with a whirlpool in a private bath, a gas fireplace, small fridge with soft drinks, and a sound system. Ours was the Chaing Mai, named for the mountainous region of north Thailand.

We found the place so enchanting we didn’t even leave for dinner… we’d eaten a late lunch in historic downtown Stillwater, and we were provided with complimentary wine, cheese, fruit and nuts, and homemade crackers! The bay window in our room faced west, and we could see The Sunset. Breakfast the next morning was outstanding.

It was so refreshing to have entered this exotic world. I used to think I’d like to run a Bed and Breakfast, and though I probably won’t at this late date, The Elephant Walk has had me thinking of what unique theme I could use for an inn that was something out of the ordinary.

What would be the theme for your B & B?

The Baboon Congress

Darkness, Darkness

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Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

A couple of times a year, the sun comes in my south facing bedroom window at just the right angle to warm my face while waking me up.

Sunlight!

This morning being a “day off” in the midst of the merry-go-round that is December, I let myself stay in bed – watch the designs on the insides of my eyelids, and let my mind drift. This kind of quiet time happens so rarely, and I encountered this perception: Here I am, one of billions of humans who, at some point today, will get up while my side of earth is facing the sun, basking in its light and warmth. We will run around and do stuff for roughly two-thirds of this rotation. Then, while our side of the earth slips into darkness, we’ll lie down for roughly the remaining one-third of it, to “re-charge the batteries” while asleep. We will all get up tomorrow and do it again, for probably thousands of more times.

But ironically, right now we get sunlight for only one-thirdof the spin, which means we spend about eight of our waking hours in (relative) darkness, too. (This would have been much more noticeable before all the electric lights.)

Fireplace, sort of

This year I decided to do something about all this dark in my environment – I asked for, and have received, one of those cute little heaters disguised as a fireplace. I usually don’t like fake things, but this is close enough to a real-looking fireplace, that it’s helping me with winter’s cold and the dark. I’ll find myself edging closer to as I’m reading. (Now I just need a fireplace sound-track.)

Luckily, this being the end of December, we’re at the turn-around point. But it will be a while till we’re out of the long, dark nights.

How do you cope with the shortest days of the year?

History, The Baboon Congress

Story Theater

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Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale

It sounds like Husband is mumbling something to me from the front room, but no… as I approach I realize that he is just rehearsing again. Tomorrow his volunteer group will present two stories at our regional library, and he has one of the leads – Little Beaver – in one; he will be Narrator in the other.

Michael is part of a group called Story Theater, a collection of Senior (and I don’t mean high school) volunteers in the Robbinsdale School District, who act out tales from books for elementary school kids. (I’m aware of at least one other district that also has Story Theater.) During the school year S. T. members rehearse every other Monday, and then travel to a different school almost weekly, in their Story Theater t-shirts and headgear, with their props and script stands, and to promote a love of reading for 1st – 5th graders.

Photo courtesy of Gina Purcell, Crystal-Robbinsdale Sun Post
Photo courtesy of Gina Purcell, Crystal-Robbinsdale Sun Post

They’re really pretty good – adopting different characters’ voices and inflection, projecting their voices, and engaging the kids whenever possible. The group used to read the script standing behind their stands, till George Lillquist – a former middle school drama director, among other things – came on board as Director a few years ago. Now there is more memorization of lines, and therefore more eye contact and communication with the other players and the audience.

Costumes are an amazing array of headgear (and have become more elaborate and sophisticated over the years), fashioned by the Props Committee. For instance, Little Beaver’s hat is brown plush with white trim for teeth, and has a beaver’s tail/paddle at the back.

Little Beaver and Otter
Little Beaver and Otter

As I see it, Story Theater serves several purposes. It shows the kids how reading can be fun, and that older folks can have fun volunteering. It keeps alive the art of oral storytelling, and each story has a moral for the kids to take with them.

But the most fun for me is seeing Husband and his colleagues out there, stretching their skills, having a ball as they make a bunch of little kids laugh.

What children’s story would you include in Story Theater’s repertoire?

The Baboon Congress

Gloss – a – Rama

79 Comments

Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

OK, Babooners, the now almost-annual addition to the Glossary of Accepted Terms is a bit overdue, as the last update was March 3, 2012. Here are some of the new terms we’ve come up with or accessed since then. I’ve left in the dates so you can see what prompted us to use some of these gems… As you can see, Baboons love word play.

Acacia Dentally – a tree of teeth, OR an alternative spelling by a creative Baboon of the adverb “accidentally”, brought about in reference to an ectopic post (see G.O.A.T.)
November 29, 2012 at 1:29 pm

Action-y – full of action, as in “If you want to see a movie at the theater, then just see one, since you want to feel action-y afterwards. If you see two, you will be too tired to be action-y.
November 9, 2012 at 9:31 am

All hat and no cattle – description of a person who is all talk and no substance; as in:
t: “maybe we could have tpaw become a north dakotan and wear boots and a gentlemans cowboy hat. chew a little copenhagen and visit the oil frackers. i think hed fit in no time.”
R: “People here would take one look and say ‘All hat and no cattle’
August 14, 2012 at 9:56 am

All y’all – Y’all is impervious to the normal rules of grammar… Y’all is plural, but “all y’all” comes in handy for emphasis in certain scenarios…                                                   
June 7, 2012 at 12:27 pm

Blogular verbosity – related to the frequency of a blogger’s comments, as in this comment from the Alpha Baboon, “Now that I’ve revealed the recent ranking, let me emphasize that there is no prize here for blogular verbosity .” (Dale) Also considered farther down on the page:
verbose blogularity
vorbose irblogularity
verbosious blogularium
verbo-a-blog d’baboon
April 25, 2012 at 12:40 pm

Cannardly ² – an alternate definition referring to diamonds or other gemstones that are so small you cannardly see them, i.e. “The center stone is so large that the ½ caret side stones look like cannardlies.”
September 13, 2012 at 1:10 pm

chipmonks – a variation on the name of a familiar mammal, living at tim’s place, “that calls to mind the image of a bucktoothed friar.” May 22, 2012 at 8:08 am Chocolate covered raisins – bioflavinoids wrapped in decadence. March 12, 2012 at 8:41 am 

Compassion fatigue – acquired PTSD for therapists from being around too many other people’s traumas
November 9, 2012 at 5:54 pm

Ethical polyhedron – the case that there are many points of view to consider, as in:
“one sees so many sides to an issue that it can be difficult to come down resolutely in one camp or another…there is ALWAYS another side–an ethical polyhedron, so to speak”
June 28, 2012 at 7:54 am 

Glossarization – what happens to a post or reply when it is being prepared the Glossary of Accepted Terms, as in: “Thank you for the glossarization … One of the things I loooove about this group is the mutual joy in wordplay.”
March 3, 2012 at 9:33 am

Gludge – a combination of snow and slush or sludge that accumulates only in late April, when the last thing one wants to do is remove it when we should be seeing buds pop out on our trees and shrubbery. Ex: “16 inches of gludge at the bottom of my driveway from the plows this morning.”
April 19, 2013 at 10:05 am

Golden Banana – an award given here on the Trail to a Babooner for particularly distignuished writing or idea. It was started by the Baboon named Jacque, an award “given … by whim and whimsy for achievements above and beyond the Baboon Call of Duty. If I feel like it.”
June 10, 2012 at 10:49 am


Googleholic – a Baboon addicted to doing very frequent searches on Google.com, as in: “It isn’t 10:30 AM yet, and I have done at least 15. Makes me a Googleholic, maybe.”
March 3, 2012 at 10:25 am

Holy Goat! – an exclamation used to express bewilderment, surprise, or astonishment, but in a more goatly manner than, for instance, “Holy Cow” or “Holy Batman.”
December 10, 2012 at 9:01 am 

Leucistic – an animal with a reduced pigmentation caused by a recessive gene…“Unlike albinism, it is caused by a reduction in all types of skin pigment (Wikipedia)”, as in: “There is a small population of leucistic squirrels in Waterville. They’re not albinos because their eyes are black. “
April 18, 2012 at 10:55 am 

Lexiconolic – a Babooner addicted to doing very frequent use of a dictionary, as in: “10 times a day online; I’m a lexiconolic.”
March 3, 2012 at 6:58 am 

Todoplegia – a form of paralysis triggered by too many items on a Baboon’s “To Do” list.
March 19, 2012 at 10:56 am 

Truffle shuffle kerfuffle – Exemplified in the following Baboon conversation:
“I’m thinking that the next Blevins meeting could be a truffle exchange. Everybody bring a couple chocolate truffles and then we’d shuffle ‘em and eat ‘em…” (Steve)
“Then, if we got into a disagreement of how the truffles were to be allocated, we could have a truffle shuffle kerfuffle. (ba-dum-BUM)”
March 29, 2012 at 10:14 am

New Acronyms:

GLOTTMBD – Great Lists of Things That Must Be Done
May 23, 2012 at 7:20 am

LIFO – In inventory management, Last In First Out, as opposed to
FIFO (guess what that means). As in, “For Robin’s freezer contents to turn in a timely manner, she’d have to use FIFO.”
February 21, 2012 at 10:50 pm

OPT – On Previous Topic
March 28, 2012 at 10:54 am

SWMBA – She Who Must Be Adored
May 23, 2012 at 8:59 am

TRoUBLE – Team Responding on Unusually Big Lighting Events:
“I spent the whole day trying to come up with the words to fit ‘TROUBLE’ because I want to be in charge of that. All I could get was the end: _ _ _ _ Been Lighting Events”… “Team Responding on Unusually Big Lighting Events (TRoUBLE) maybe??”
Feb 3, 2012

S.L.A.P.D.A.S.H. – Slobs Leaving A Permanent Document About Sloppy History: a club for concerned people who don’t want to erase our story with reckless overuse of soap.
April 11, 2013

STW – Schuyler Tyler Wyler, Trail Baboon’s Rhyming Poet Laureate
April 12, 2013 at 10:27

What is your favorite word game?

The Baboon Congress

Snow Art

66 Comments

Today’s post was imagined by Barbara in Robbinsdale, with contributions from Clyde, PJ, Jim in Clarks Grove, Linda in St. Paul, Anna and Kelly.

The national news is far too disheartening to face today, so with the help of a baboon platoon we’re going to re-wind to last weekend in southern Minnesota when a Sunday snowstorm temporarily softened the landscape.

A deep coating of fresh snow can transform the harsh, grimy world into a fantasyland. The to-do list is momentarily suspended and plans are re-shaped to account for the scene’s new contours. A second (or third) cup of coffee is poured and we watch as the schedule for the day is re-written by nature.

But eventually duty calls and a path back to reality must be cleared. As BiR wrote:

Husband and I headed out around 3:00 for the “first wave” of shoveling and snowblowing. My first task was to free up some pine branches out front which were dangerously low, so I could then get down the steps to the drive.

The hours and days that follow are all about slogging, shoveling, brushing, and if you try to go anywhere in a car, waiting and muttering. A big snow can quickly come to feel like an annoying burden. A week later when the roadside dirt has accumulated and the rain comes, the beauty of fresh snow may feel like a distant memory.

But in the heart of a major storm that arrives on a day when you can simply watch and appreciate it, there are surprises and blessings all around.

The photos here were all taken last Sunday by Trial Baboon readers. The addition of snow can turn pedestrian scenes into works of art, so take a look at our gallery. Click on any one of the pictures to see an enlarged version, and leave your comment in the box below!

Suggest a title, or describe what might have happened here just after the photo was snapped.

#1
#7