Starts in Eden Prairie

Despite cost over runs, controversy, change orders, surprise obstructions, changing laws, finger pointing and public flogging, like most construction projects, the lightrail greenline extension just keeps chugging along. A month ago a beautiful new indoor transportation hub was opened at Southwest Station, and is already being used by buses, including our favorite, the Twins Express.

Today, green line history was made as crews began stretching a 17-mile power cable from here to Target Field.

Crews began gingerly lifting the copper wire into waiting stanchions. By noon today, they hadn’t made the first turn. Patience. They’re building infrastructure for the next 100 years. They won't be done tomorrow.

Tradition revived!

 It’s been six years since the prized Strawberry-Rhubarb jam was produced in Kathleen’s Kitchen. So we’re delighted to report that after years of disruption (Covid, broken neck, stroke, moves, etc) we can witness the revival of the ancient tradition of homemade preserves, right here at Southwest Station.

There will be many jars filled, but many takers, so get your requests in soon.

Above, Kathleen has just sterilized her jars and lids, as the reduction of rhubarb boils behind her.  Yesterday, her daughters took her to the Farmer’s Market, where she delighted a Hmong farmer with a purchase of eight bundles. He happily threw in a ninth. While there, she met a young girl named Emily, who was genuinely interested in the process. Today Kathleen is texting directions and videos to the enthusiast, passing along her family recipe and procedure.

It’s been a lovely Father’s Day gift, seeing her industriously scurrying about the kitchen again.

In 2017, Kathleen produced this batch at our Abbey Point home.

A sharper focus

 She used to be an almost daily feature on this blog, as her grandparents doted and watched over her childhood, often while her mom was at work. Visitors to this blog saw her grow and thrive, amuse and learn. Readership, thanks to Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and the myriad social media, has dwindled readership here, and that’s fine, as new technology replaced previous media, much as the internet replaced the physical paper. With a loss of readership came my loss of interest in producing material. I would still occasionally post to Facebook, etc, but I’ve taken a rest.

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Our granddaughter, Emily, 17, takes a practice exam for college entrance. She earned a 4.0 this year as a junior, and teachers are enthused about her artistic talent. So we're confident she'll qualify wherever she chooses. We're looking at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design presently, but there's plenty of time for decisions. We hope she'll truly enjoy the experience, without the pressure experienced by her precedents. I am sorry about the brag, all I can say is that there will be more, and you can always change the channel. :)

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Until today, as I watched Kathleen thumb through the almost daily record I have produced of our history and interesting things that happened in our lives. As our memories fade, it’s great to have this record to remind us of the good times and bad. It has settled any number of disputes with a permanent record, easily searchable, of our past. 

It’s a bit like hoarding, keeping things that don’t have much use, but holding onto them as valuable, anyway.

So I’ll try to do better, only now with a more focused approach, more personal, intimate, realizing that the audience for this collection of anecdotes is no longer the community at large, but simply for the historical reference of people like Emily, who one day, we hope, will remember her family through the handy use of this blog. 

All are welcome to view this blog, and I will continue to try to respect privacy of the subjects, but I will sharpen the focus to more personal events and ideas, a legacy, a compendium of memories for whomever cares about our aging lives. 

Fancy Like, the Ladies Who Lunch

 

They’re in their 80s now, but these ladies still go to lunch regularly. This week the childhood friends went ”Fancy Like” and split a combo and chicken tacos at Applebee’s Neighborhood Restaurant. Lunch was okay, but certainly not up to the standards at the nearby Champs sports bar, another luncheon venue. Eventually, they found their way home, after an afternoon of conversation and laughs. M’liss has since ordered an upgrade to Kathleen’s standby walker, a handy basket attachment, a must-have for any senior on the go. It will be delivered by Mr. Amazon soon and we will attach the attachment pronto. 

Father of the Groom

 Between Covid and a broken neck, it's been six years since Kathleen has seen Hai Dang. That was remedied when Hai came to Minneapolis for his son's wedding May 20. It was a wonderful event, the product of good planning and loving extended families, now joined as one. 

The bride and groom work at the University of Minnesota Hospital system. He's a physician and she's a PA. Lots of photos available on demand. (Katie danced)

Share the Road

 Lots of bike trails in these parts (trike, in my case) shared by hikers, bikers, dogs and deer. The deer still look a little shaggy, they're molting their winter coats and have suffered a long winter. They're making up for it now, browsing on the sudden burst of green stuff in the area. Still haven't seen a fawn, more to come.

Tree hugger

 This creative remodeler in Vietnam couldn't bear to cut down the tree. Photo by Hai.

They’re off!

 Heading to the old country, this time for two-month visit. The globe-trotting couple, that I like to think of as my kids, departed LA today for a country that has totally changed from its war-torn years. Thanks to their citizens' short memories and hard work, Hai finds a new culture emerging that is vastly different from the one he left, but still uniquely his home roots. Owing to its many changes, they’re more comfortable visiting there now and will enjoy relatives and the many new sights. Among many other things, Hai is a biologist and an accomplished, self-taught photographer. He will busy himself capturing floral still life, while Xuan focuses on active social life. She is taking a break from her thriving nail salon in California.

Of course, they’ll monitor everything expertly on-line.

The new sheriff

 

Meet Bubbles, our new 3-year-old foster cat that we plan to adopt, once she's undergone some dentistry for a cracked canine. We know nothing of her history, but her previous owners must have shown her love, because she's a perfect lady. . . adapting immediately to the litter box, and socializing with everyone she contacts. We'll formally adopt within a week or two. The foundling was abandoned at the back door of the humane society in Chaska.

The name is borrowed from a favorite Aunt, whose childhood moniker stuck with her for life.