Speaking of the Past

This past week I was in my hometown visiting my parents. During a free moment I drove past my high school and took this shot. From the looks of things, I guess it is under construction. Either that or the school is now accomodating the smokers - making things more comfortable for them.

In reality, the school has expanded extensively and is now twice as large as it was when I attended it so many years ago. The senior parking lot is now an athletic center with an olympic sized swimming pool. The courtyard has been covered over to create a new lunchroom and gathering center. Many of my friends' kids now attend the school or graduated. I know my friends are careful not to become too nostalgic and bore their kids with stories of the hardship of walking in the snow across the baseball fields from the underclassman parking lot over on 40th Street.

I enjoyed high school and it's fun to visit, but it's really the friendships that developed there that are much more important than the building.

Hope it's better now...

Every so often I reminisce about Minneapolis, then quickly get over it. So just allow me this reverie and then I will be done.

At the dawning of the 1980s, I lived in the building pictured below in a studio apartment that was...well let's just say "rough around the edges." But it was mine. The first place I ever lived alone, no roommates, just me to blame for all the dirty dishes in the sink. Besides, the location was great, situated between Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis' trendy Uptown neighborhood.

My Mom and Dad saw it once. God bless them. I don't think I would have their wisdom and patience say nothing while my kids willingly lived in a...well, let's call it and "urban experience."

Nonetheless, when I am restless and trying to fall asleep, I still think about how I would remodel this place, but instead of a crappy Pier One location on Excelsior Boulevard and Knox Lumber in Hopkins, I would use IKEA and Lowe's. The thought is so remote, I usually go to sleep right away!


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I paid eight bucks for this picture...

...that's the toll for the George Washington Bridge. This photo was taken on the eastbound lanes. That's the first bridge pier up ahead. I took this shot this past Wednesday afternoon while on a business trip to New Jersey and Connecticut. It's about 4:10 PM at this point and traffic was pretty good except for the truck that broke down at the other end of the bridge. After a pretty drive on the Merritt Parkway, we got to our destination in eastern Fairfield county Connecticut at about 5:20 PM.

It was a humid day and I was driving, so NY skyline photos were not worth the bother. We could see the Empire State, Chrysler Building etc. but not very well. No skyline on the return trip. We stayed north taking I-287 crossing the Hudson at the Tappen Zee bridge and heading home on I-80. Overall it was a good trip, but one I am glad not to have to make every week.

200th Post!!!

This is the 200th post to the Little House! Thanks for reading and coming back!

To mark this event, we have redesigned the site!

Please keep coming back and as always feel free to share what you think.

Festival Time

Here's Janine and Nana, hand in hand at last week's festival at Nana's church. We all enjoyed eating dinner and playing some of the games. It was a more subdued time this year than last. Click here to compare. This year we stayed close to Nana who did not venture from the picnic tables.

The "rides" at this year's festival were rented giant inflatables manned by teenage volunteers. When I said same to the parish priest, he replied, "Nicer than the carnies last year. Right?" Funny, I felt the same way. Here is John on the slide. The new Lumix did a good job here. I held the shutter button down half way. The camera readied itself and took the shot exactly at the right moment...however blurred.