St. Paul 1

I moved north along the Mississippi River to St. Paul, and am now living with my good friend Michele Holzwarth and her family. They live very close to the Mississippi River - even closer than Pat does in Lake City. Michele helped me find my next volunteer project: helping the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center - http://www.miwrc.org/ . I volunteer for them 3 days a week, working on many different projects. I am assisting the children's learning center with organizing and marketing, I am helping the development director with her fundraising software, and helping out the library by cataloging historical documents for their system and other projects. It is a very good fit for me. The Center is located 10 miles from Michele's house, and I ride a bike borrowed from Pat. So I put on at least 20 miles a day, which is one of the best parts of this assignment!! I get to ride along the Mississippi River, and along the Midtown Greenway, developed just for bikes, and through the lovely St. Paul neighborhoods at the peak of summer bloom. I take a different route home every night, and soak it all in. Here are some of the photos from my commute:













I found this porch full of rocking chairs to be very friendly, warm, and inviting.









The white egret was photographed from a cycle path that runs right along an 8 lane motorway, 494, between St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The birds don't seem to mind the thousan
ds of vehicles that pass overhead every day.
It was quite noisy for me, however, so the next time I ride this route, I will bring my earplugs!



The other two days during the week I help out Michele and Rich around their house: finishing woodwork, washing windows, etc. In this photo I am floating concrete during a basement project with Rich last weekend. It has been a long time since I worked with concrete. Rich was pleased.







And I get to sleep in a tent in their back yard - which I very much enjoy. I borrowed the tent from my sister Sandy and her husband. It is more space than I need, but it is very comfortable. Especially now that I splurged on an air mattress and no longer sleep on the ground. I can now confirm that robins wake up at 3:30 in the morning!!!!

On June 8 I organized another Free Hugs event, and had double the number of huggers from last time: my sister Sandy joined me. We offered our hugs out at the Lake Harriet Band Shelter, during a performance of Japanese Taiko drumming. It was hot!




We had a great time, and lots of people got hugs.








In late June the Catalpa trees bloom. I used to have one at my house on Hillside Avenue, and so enjoy them when they come into bloom. Here are some photos of the trees and their beautiful, orchid-like flowers.















It took me a second to realize what this sign said, since it has been a while since I have used the mathematical symbol for 'greater than'. It is a great message.















I take a different route home every night, and stumbled upon the most amazing street in Minneapolis: Milwaukee Avenue. Two full blocks of these beautiful houses with the ornate woodwork, and only sidewalk and parkway in front of the houses - no cars. I had to show it to Michele, because I knew she would love it as much as I. One of the houses was for sale. A duplex, it is being offered at $495,000. All these houses have been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974. They were built around 1910 by the railroad as planned housing for mid-level employees.

These two cats belong to Michele and Rich. Tony and August are their names. Littermates, they rarely sleep together. Not surprisingly, this nap ended with fur flying a few minutes after I took this photo.


I attended my first ever Critical Mass cycle rally in Minneapolis. There were hundreds of cyclists who met in Loring Park, and took over the streets of Minneapolis for an hour or so. The cars had to wait for us to pass, just like an impromtu parade. Only I and one other cyclist waited at the red lights. So we were scrambling to catch up with the pack when the lights changed. It probably was not the wisest move, because a car thought all the cyclists were past, and turned into the bike path without looking carefully. She almost got me, but I have powerful protection, and somehow avoided her car and cycled on. We were close enough at one point that I could have taken that cell phone from her hand, but was concentrating on keeping from being run over by her car. I hope to participate in the ride again in July, and this time I will ride with the pack and incur the wrath of the motorists.

I have lately been very much inspired by Peace Pilgrim, http://www.peacepilgrim.org/, and have read her book. I take notes on books as I read them, and put them in my organizer (now my pocket PC), to remember the best parts and share them with others. You can see from the photo that her book resonated with me. One of the most inspirational aspects of her work for me is that when she walked on her pilgrimages, she fasted until offered food, and kept walking or slept alongside the road unless she were offered shelter. She carried no money at all.

So now, whenever I find myself the least bit worried about funds or having any of my 'stuff' lost or stolen, I simply think about Peace Pilgrim, and know that I really don't need those things. I can do what I am doing without any outside resources of my own. If you are interested, the Friends of Peace Pilgrim will send her book to you free, anywhere in the world. I highly recommend it.