The Baboon Congress

Castle Danger

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Today’s post is by Verily Sherrilee

When Chris from Owatonna announced on the Trail a couple of months ago that he had published his novel, I was thrilled – as a member of our blog community and as a reader. I couldn’t wait to get a copy and when Chris mentioned he was having a kick-off signing I asked for the afternoon off right away.  tim and I  both went down for the occasion.

It was a perfect day for a drive down to Perfect Day Cakes where Chris’ signing was held. The bakery was all set up, including a delicious-looking array of cupcakes and fancy doughnuts.  Chris signed several books and then spoke a bit about how he got to today.

During fundraising for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, an organization he has volunteered with for many years, Chris used to write long letters describing his own experience and the progress of his Little Brother.

Danger4Many of the recipients of those letters commented on his writing ability and eventually several folks encouraged him to write a book. While he was writing he was also researching the independent publishing industry which has evolved greatly over the past decade. Now that he is published, he hasn’t forgotten how he got his inspiration.  For every book that he sells, $1 goes to Big Brothers/Big Sisters; after he re-coups his hard costs, then he’ll raise that to $2 per book.

Castle Danger is a thriller with mystery, suspense and romance set in northern Minnesota during the height of blizzard season.  Chris is thinking about re-visiting an earlier unpublished book that will be a pre-quel and then maybe a sequel to Castle Danger as well.  Eventually he’d like to spread his wings a bit more and try some tween fiction as well.

I can’t wait to finish this blog piece so I can start reading my personal signed copy!

What author would you like to meet and get an autograph from?

 

The Baboon Congress

A Way of Seeing, part 2: A Happy Accident

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This post is by littlejailbird

I took three photography classes from August to December last year. In Digital Photography I, we spent several months learning such basics as exposure, depth of field, focal length, ISO, shutter speed and motion, and lens focal length. For our portfolio (final project), we had a lot more freedom than we did for our previous assignments. Our teacher gave us a list of 11 categories and we were to turn in 10 photos, one for each category minus one. Within these categories, it was totally up to us what we would shoot and how.

One cold day in November, I went out to shoot some pictures for an assignment in another class. I saw a pond, across the street from Cedar Lake, and stopped there. While setting up the tripod for the shots for that assignment, the pattern of the ice that was beginning to form at the edge of the pond caught my eye. So, I took a few shots of that, then went back to shooting for my assignment.

When I looked at my shots that evening, I saw that the shots I took at the pond for my assignment did not turn out well, but the pictures of the ice were pretty nice. But they didn’t work for any assignments in any of my classes, so I set them aside.

As time went on, I was having trouble getting all the shots I needed for my portfolio. I had 9 of the 10 shots, but everything I tried for the tenth one was not up to the standard I wanted for a final portfolio. So I asked the teacher if I could use Nature as one of my categories instead of his assigned categories… and he said yes. So, I picked one of the shots of the ice on the pond for my tenth shot.

Nature

Interestingly, when I got feedback from my teacher, the ice picture was one of his top three favorite pictures in my portfolio. And when we viewed the final portfolio pictures in class, that same picture received  more favorable comments from the other students than any of my other pictures.

I find it intriguing that some of my best shots are taken when I’m looking for something else.

When have you had a happy accident?

These photos are 8 of the 10 portfolio shots I turned in for my class. I left out the two shots of people in order to protect the privacy of the subjects.

The Baboon Congress

The Lasts

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Today’s post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale

We are nine days out from our move to Winona, and they are coming fast and furious now – the Lasts. I have been to my last Board and Committee Meetings; Husband has been to his last Story Theater rehearsal. We have been to last practices for two choruses. Yesterday eve we hosted our last Annual Circle Dance Potluck in the back yard. Sniff.

It is a bittersweet time. It feels good to be relieved of some of these responsibilities, but saying good-bye to so many wonderful characters, who have been a regular part of our lives, is… hard. Been in this city for 31 years, and in this house for 27. We’ll be only 2½ hours away, and can come back to visit. But a visit is not involvement in the same way. We leave behind a rich set of experiences and people.

We’re into serious packing now, it’s really starting to look weird around here… that tripping over boxes stage. Still to come are things like packing up the Last Box, or removing the Last Piece of Furniture. Then in a couple of weeks we’ll come back to clean the Last Closet, wash the Last Window, and remove the Last Bits of Stuff.

What is a Last Time event or occurrence that you would welcome?

Baboon Blog Redux, The Baboon Congress

Baboon Redux: Zorie Story

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Today’s re-post comes from Verily Sherrilee

A 2016 note from the author:  My company is doing its usual “Summer of Love”.  The dress code is relaxed and flip flops will be an acceptable footwear for the next three months.  I don’t really have anything new to say about my massive flip flop collection, but if you’re looking for things to re-run for the holiday weekend, we could re-run my flip flop bit from a  couple of years ago.

My father’s sister, Joan, spent a couple of years in Japan, teaching English. I was four when she came home, bearing exotic gifts. One of these treasures was a small black enamel chest of drawers; since it wasn’t to my parents’ taste, I lucked out. For reasons that I’ll never understand, it was always referred to as “the Chinese chest”. I still have it; it lives in my dining room and now I’ve raised another generation to name it incorrectly.

The most enduring gift, however, were the zories; she brought 2 pairs for me and 2 pairs for my sister. I had never had anything like them and nobody else I knew had them either – not the older, traditional Japanese style with tatami soles on wooden platforms, but plastic zories. White. If my mom had let me, I would have worn them everywhere.

My parents were ecstatic because they discovered a perfect gift for me for any occasion. Zories weren’t popular foot ware when I was growing up, but they did manage to find zories in places like Ben Franklin and Woolworth’s. I didn’t know anyone else who wore zories; in fact, I was in college before I knew that everyone else in America called them flip flops!

The last 15 years have been zorie-heaven for me. These days you can get zories in any color, any design and they are CHEAP. I have an Old Navy account so that every year I am eligible for their $1 flip flop sale. I have white zories, blue zories, purple, yellow, coral. I have fourth of July zories, Halloween zories, Christmas zories, flowers, stripes. Four years ago my company started a super-casual summer program – the dress code is pretty much thrown out. This means I can wear my zories to work every day in the summer.

As the Old Navy sale was approaching this year, I thought I would do an inventory of my zories to see what colors I could add to my collection. I pulled them all out of the closet, paired them all up and laid them all out, beginning with the white and finishing up with the black.

Then I made my fatal error; I counted them. THIRTY-EIGHT!!! I own 38 pairs of zories. 38! I didn’t go to the sale this year.

I may not go next year either.

What do you have too many of?

 

The Baboon Congress

Minnesota Conservation Volunteer

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Header image: Male wood duck by John Bowden from MN Conservation Volunteer Facebook Page

Today’s post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

For the past maybe 20 years, we have been receiving a little magazine called the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, which celebrated its 75th year in 2015. It is an amazing publication, measuring just around 5” x 8”, issued bi-monthly. Each issue features richly illustrated articles on conservation efforts in Minnesota, and various outdoor activities, from fishing and hunting to snowshoeing.  Regular departments include:

–          “This Issue” – a summary of the issue’s main article

–          “Letters” from readers

–          a “Young Naturalists” segment, used by science teachers across the state (all Minnesota schools and libraries receive MCV)

–          “Minnesota Profile” – two of the last pages in each issue, highlighting a plant or animal you may or may not recognize

–          and my favorite, “Natural Curiosities” – questions from readers about some unexplained natural phenomenon seen, often, in readers’ back yard, and answered by the staff

Once or twice a year there is a “Sense of Place” issue, in which the material is connected to a particular landscape.

The website’s “About MCV” section describes the magazine thus:    “Minnesota Conservation Volunteer is your guide to wild Minnesota. This flagship publication of the Department of Natural Resources delivers in-depth, in-the-field coverage of the state’s outdoor news and conservation issues. The MCV mission is to encourage conservation and sustainable use of Minnesota’s natural resources.”

Although I believe you can still receive MCV free of charge, it is readers’ contributions that keep MCV magazine, together with its education and outreach projects, afloat. And it is unique – “[n]o other state conservation magazine has this model of reader support.”

I am always amazed by the photography accompanying the articles – I have cut out photos and made little books with them for children in my life. I save my MVC issues (which measure about 5” x 8”) on a bookshelf, and am having a hard time discarding them even though I am moving. (Let me know if any baboons would like some back issues.) I will make sure that my Minnesota Conservation Volunteer subscription follows me as we move to Winona.

What is your favorite magazine/periodical, either paper or electronic?

Baboon Blog Redux

Baboon Redux – Nature Gets Louder Than Trump

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Billions of noisy cicadas are set to rise from the ground in the northeastern part of the United States.   It’s about time something outshouted you-know-who.

The Weather Channel included them in the spring bug forecast, and a TV station in Ohio now claims the relentless critters are crawling out of the dirt even as we speak.

I have written about cicadas before – to be precise in June of 2011.

I was in central Illinois, visiting my father for the better part of a week. We worked around the house doing some routine maintenance – cutting grass, plugging woodpecker holes, fussing with the water softener, replacing broken windows, slathering roofing tar on a leaky overhang, etc.
We did all this in the midst of a prodigious hatch of cicadas, which is a humbling event for humans who are accustomed to feeling dominant, or even merely significant.

The bugs called the tune that spring – a tune that literally filled the air, resembling the constant ring of a busted wheel bearing early in the day, and by mid afternoon becoming a steady rattle, like the nonstop shaking of a huge tambourine. It’s the males who make the loudest noise, relentlessly advertising their sexual availability.

Why can’t they just quietly post some images of their parts on Twitter?

Working outside, we were subjected to a random sideways rain of buzzing, bulgy-eyed revelers who covered the trunks of trees and erupted in clouds from the shrubbery whenever branches were disturbed. At a nearby grocery store, the girl who tended the cart corral did her work with one hand wielding a flyswatter to keep insect invaders from getting tangled in her hair. This small gesture gave her necessary courage to face the onslaught, though she was bailing the ocean with a teacup.

The cicadas will do their work. They have an assignment to hatch, mate, and die, planting the next generation in the process. Six weeks of glory and see you in 2024! There’s no confusion about purpose or wondering ‘what I want to do when I grow up’ in the cicada world. I envy their focus and devotion to the task at hand.

I guess that’s really the task “at leg.”  Thank God they don’t have hands!

Choose an animal to do a six week infestation of your life.  

 

The Baboon Congress

I Changed My Mind

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Today’s post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale

Well, I Changed My Mind

Husband and I got a call on Monday from the Winona realtor who has been working with the seller of “our” house (See East Side, West Side).

Let’s call this House A. He said, and I quote, “I don’t want to complicate your lives, BUT…”  Turns out another east end house we had looked it has jumped back on the market – the newly divorced woman who had bought it has figured out (just before moving in) that she’s not ready to be a homeowner. Let’s call this House B.

When we viewed House B a couple of months ago, we were instantly ready to make an offer, until we found an offer had already been made, and it was no longer available. It was exactly what I was looking for in a house – smaller, so we’d have to downsize; lots of light; hardwood floors; gas stove) – and has several features not found in the House A, the house we thought we were buying. (House B is still on the east end of Winona, close to our friend Walken and a community of people we know, just not quite as close as before. It is only a few blocks from The River.)

MEANWHILE, the Seller of House A has, in the last 10 days, discovered she would like to back out of the sale, for a number of reasons we don’t need to go into here. I have to wonder how many times this situations occurs – a seller reneges on offer to sell, and the buyer gets to have a house they wanted, after all, which just happens to be available again. (Remind me not to go into real estate.)

So in short:

  • We will travel to Winona early next week for an inspection of House B, after which we will probably make an offer, when we are legally released from our offer on House A.
  • We will have to re-do several change of address notifications we have already sent.
  • We need to tour our current house again (House C?) and see what else we can discard, as House B is considerably smaller than House A.
  • We are still planning a move to Winona on June 8, with several of our late son Joel’s friends helping us load the U-Haul the evening before…  We just don’t yet know WHICH HOUSE we’re moving into.

What has been your most dramatic Change of Mind?

The Baboon Congress

A Modest Request

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Today’s post comes from Clyde of Mankato

A couple years ago I did a guest blog about parking issues near us. I can today report nothing has changed.

I am still parking a tiny Scion amidst the behemoths. Why are there so many monster trucks in this area? I call it Testosterone Town.

There are still 28 handicap parking spots in front of Scheels Sporting Goods and only two in front of Barnes and Noble.

It is still chaos in front of Target with the handicap parking right by the door at the busiest place where pedestrians stream right behind you, beside you, in front of you, and pretty soon over you. And my neck is worse making it harder for me to turn around to see.

Cub Food still has no cart corral near the handicap parking. The corral is still dead in the middle of the parking lot. I can report one change here. A few people without legal right think it is acceptable to sit in the vehicle, often a behemoth, with the motor running only half parked in the end handicap spot.

No one is listening to me.

Why don’t people just listen, you know?

The Baboon Congress, The Future, Travel

Road Trip!

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Today’s post comes from Verily Sherrilee

I’ve been thinking this about California becoming the first state to legalize self-driving cars.

I was thrilled to hear this when it was first in the news, although careful attention revealed that it’s just the testing of the cars that became legal.  We still have a way to go before self-driving cars will be chauffeuring our kids to their ballet lessons and baseball games without us.

Where roadways are concerned, I am the most directionally-challenged person I know.  A friend of mine loves to tell the tale of the time I got lost in a church parking lot.  In my defense it was dark when we came out from the concert and the parking lot had quite a bit of one-way directional signage.  It’s always been this way for me, but the advent of MapBlast and GoogleMaps seems to have made it worse the last few years, as if having the printed paper in my hand somehow eggs on the traffic/street sign gods.

I keep a 3-ring binder in my breakfast room with printed directions to most of the places in my life. I grab the sheets out of the binder when I need them and put them back at the end of the trip.  Some of these directions are not used anymore; I have finally memorized how to get to the Teenager’s pediatrician and it got too dangerous for my pocketbook (& my waistline) to go to St. Agnes Bakery once a month.  Some of them were used once and have never been used again, like the gym in Big Lake where there was a gymnastics meet 3 years ago.   I’ve added quite a few pages in the last couple of years:  BiR, BiB, tim, Jacque & Lew, Steve, Caroline.   Many of the sheets have been spindled and mutilated from repeated trips in the car; some of them have coffee stains.   I even added alphabet tabs to the binder last year to make it easier to find the directions I want.

I expect that I’ll have this disability the rest of my life. I just hope that self-driving cars will come with GPS!

Where do you want your self-driving car to take you?

 

The Baboon Congress

Packing is Such Sweet Sorrow

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Today’s post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

Without realizing it, I have come up with a little system for packing up the goods. (For the novice reader of this blog, Husband and I are moving to Winona, MN in June.)  Part 1:  I have been through each area of the house once, armed with an empty box or bag with which to remove the obviously unwanted items. This first round wasn’t so bad – when you’ve lived in a place for 27 years, you’ve forgotten half of what’s in the back of closets, under the basement stairs, in that bottom drawer. “Oh, I kept these skirts?” or “I don’t even remember ever having this calendar from 1984!”

Basement is ground zero – the holding tank, as it were. There is a “sawhorse table” where the stuff from above is dropped off until it can be boxed and carted away. There have already been several trips to Valu Village and Half Price Books; for each meeting or gathering I go to, I bring along a bag of something for people to paw through (just ask the Babooners who attended Book Club at Occasional Caroline’s in April).

But now I’m starting Part 2 of this system, sorting through a second time as I actually pack it in a box. This takes more time and thought. Hmmm, do I still really need three mixing bowls that size, and does the one from my grandma win out over my favorite color? Will I ever really play all this piano music again in this lifetime?

Luckily, I have help:  I’m almost finished reading a best-selling book by Marie Kondo – The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

There are many good ideas here, as well as some quirkiness, as she almost gives her possessions human feelings. But the most profoundly useful tactic is her insistence to work by category, rather than room by room. Say my category is “candles”: I travel thought the house and gather ALL the candles into one place, one pile; and then pick up each item to evaluate, based on whether or not it brings me joy.

This is what I want, to have all my possessions be things I use and/or love. So now there is a box of candles leaving, and a box of candles coming with us. And I feel almost euphoric after discarding – there is something about lightening up that… well, actually lightens me.

When have you needed to create a system on order to complete a task? 

Did it work?