Five years

Our Chinese wisteria has finally reached the woody stage where it puts out some spring blossoms. Suddenly there's color everywhere, with the nearby Weigela Red Prince competing for the crown, apparently trying to drown out the more subtle purples of the showy vine.

Extremists

Detective Virgil Flowers, one of Kathleen’s very favorite detectives, wasn’t featured in the latest John Sandford thriller “Extreme Prey," but no matter: Kathleen zipped through the pages almost non-stop, loving every turn, and savoring each delicious passage.

The handoff. Kathleen's done, John will take his lap.

She’s got all the Sandford novels in her lending library, of course, so it wasn’t long before fellow fan and good neighbor John Gerken was invited by to check out the latest hardback.
John’s a recent laser surgery graduate, so for the first time he’ll be reading a book without lenses, a cappella, as it were. He’s loving his new visible world.
We don’t know if he’ll turn the Sandford pages as fast as Kathleen did, but if he does, Stan offered him free use of his paperback biography “Eisenhower, Soldier and President” by Stephen Ambrose.
Despite a couple rainy days ahead and with his spouse away in Iowa, John still didn’t think he’d be needing it.

Good timing

Our clematis sneaked up on us this year, Surprise! Suddenly it was here in full array and just in time for Kathleen's birthday. No elaborate plans, but if it is May 24 you can be sure that full racks of Baby Backs from a specific source on the Third Floor of the Mall of America are involved. (Original sauce, of course.)

Something we agree on

The brothers Rolfsrud duel with rock candy swizzle sticks in the Art Deco bar at the prohibition era
Commodore Hotel, frequented by F. Scott Fitzgerald and others looking for fun on a Saturday afternoon.
That's St. Paul Katie in the background -- Kim took the picture.

We shared a drink and appetizers with Virg and Kim this afternoon at the famed Commodore Hotel bar in St. Paul. Stan and Virg finished with a "Root and Rye," served on the rocks in the Art Deco setting. Virg likes a brandy manhattan, Stan favors a whiskey version, but this complex rye cocktail inspired by the Jazz age and speakeasy roots brought agreement to both: it's a damned fine drink. It's also $13, but what the hey, Virg's treat.
Here's the description furnished by the management:

Root n Rye  --- FEW Rye, Door County Dried Cherries, Orange Peel, Frostop Red Birch Bark Beer, Dashfire Old Fashioned Bitters -- $13

The Rock and Rye is an apothecary style elixir and was typically rye with rock candy and citrus. It went from the bar to the pharmacy during prohibition as a cure all so to speak. We offer this up using FEW Rye, believed to be named after Francis Elizabeth Willard. She was the first dean of women at Northwestern and appeared on the 1940’s postage stamp. She had a strong belief that alcohol created corruption, and worked hard to help structure the prohibition movement in its early stages.

Tidy Bowl?

Looks like The Superintendent over-tinted his clubhouse pond again, dumping too much Blue Lagoon into the mix. (Sorry, but everyone's a critic, Duane. You're the expert.)

Chester cleared in debunked Goldfish murder spree

Chester sniffs the air, now that it has been cleared, and he's no longer under suspicion -- just ugly.

Surfaced

Last summer, Chester the Molester, our resident snapping turtle, was fingered in the untimely disappearance of a charming school of goldfish, a dozen lovely specimens, all sadly missing, unseen, despite weeks of diligent searches. Circumstantial evidence linked the missing goldfish to the prime suspect, a known carnivore, with an ugly look and nasty reputation. Accused of mass murder, Chester successfully dodged the authorities, cleverly avoiding capture, despite their best efforts to net him.
Today, in a stunning turn of events, two dozen goldfish have miraculously emerged from the deep -- and all charges against Chester have been dropped. Turns out they weren't dead after all.
The prodigal goldfish have been counted and photographed, along with other countless bait fish that look to be crappies, as well as a particularly large goldfish that looked quite motherly and could be responsible for the expanding population.

The goldies are easy to spot, look closer for the crappies.

Clearly the best spring day we've had so far. . .

Photos by Stan Rolfsrud

What could be better than a gorgeous spring day in May? A gorgeous spring day in May viewed through clean windows!
Our long-time window guy Scott Mosher showed up bright and early today and went right to work.
According to Scott's records, this is the latest we've ever had our windows done.
It's his busy season now, so we kept the chatting down to a minimum, (how's your wife? the new house?) but we do love these visits.... even though the best part comes right after he drives away.

Squeak, squeak. The world's greatest windowman is also patient with photographers. 

This could be the year

This won't be the year for the Minnesota Twins, but we take heart: This could be the year for our wisteria.
It takes five years, we are told, for a Chinese wisteria to mature to the point that it will bear flowers. We planted this scrambling trellis vine about four years ago and it looks like the promise will be fulfilled this year. Blooms are fragrant, smell like grapes. We noticed the first buds today. We'll closely monitor future developments.
The Twins are on their own.

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They help us remember

Grandma Rolfsrud died in 1935, a hardy pioneer who struggled to survive on the lonely prairies of western North Dakota. 

We’re told that these iris descend from bulbs she nurtured at the homestead, saved from rooting hogs and punishing drought, just for the joy they might bring. 

We don’t know if it's true. 

We don’t care. Each spring they help us remember the grandmother we never knew.