With a very busy program for both me and Gina, Jacques was scared we were not going to have time to set up the Christmas tree – so he jumped in and did it all himself!
Ensuring a White Christmas
A good eight inches of snow and cold weather ahead means that we will most likely have a white Christmas. Of course the two boys enjoy the snow!
Wilhelm makes a snow angel! You push him over to fall neatly on his back in the virgin snow and then he waves his arms and legs on the snow. The resulting shape is that of an angel with wings.
Sticky Snow
Beatiful sticky snow has been falling and it transforms all the grey trees to be part of the fairy tale landscape.
This is different from the ice rain that freezes on the tree branches and hangs from them in glistening crystal decoration.
November 2003
This little gallery of photos show Wilhelm’s 13th birthday and Thanksgiving with Troy and his family. the photo of my face shows what happens if I get too cold a wind blowing on my skin – it swells up and make me look like a bulldog, and it itches unbearably. Allergic to cold?!?
Church and Soccer
It is fall (autumn) soccer season and Jacques enjoys the outdoors. So does parents next to the soccer field, untill a cold rain falls!
The other photo shows Jacques reading in church.
Fall Colors even include Black
As if every shade of orange, red, brown, yellow and green is not enough, some trees even turn a dark purple black….
Reflections from a car window
This morning we took a drive into the countryside to visit our favorite butcher, Greg’s. I let the boss drive so that I could get some photos from the car as we were driving; and here they are!
Even though we are experiencing a very severe drought, it does not mean Minnesota does not have water – we still have all our lakes – we just did not have even average rainfall this summer. And in Minnesota you do not drive far to see one of the more that 10,000 lakes!
The road to Hampton is a nice smooth open road that will eventually take you past Rochester, where the world famous Mayo Clinic is. But we only travel about 24 miles from home – at a nice fast 65 miles per hour (105km/h), as you can see on the road sign.
The roadside reminds you of the Transvaal Highveld (South Africa) in winter – the corn (mealies) is being harvested and the lands lie yellow and dusty.
On the field in the next photo a strip of corn have already fallen to the huge combine harvesters that work at their ful capacity this time of year.
Last month the corn had huge yellow patches in most fields and we attributed that to the drought, but we heard now that the weather in July determines the corn yield – and that was not too bad. The big damage of the drought was in a 30% loss of the soy bean crop – that depends on the August weather.
On the above photo you can see a very typical Minnesota farm: Close to the road so that the buildings are easy to access in winter without a lot of snow ploughing – painstakingly neat with not a broken implement in sight anywhere – and very quiet; around the farmsteads you seldom see movement. You see the farmers out on the fields or must asume that at other times they are in their barns, where they work with most of the animals.
It is not long until we are back in a fast expanding suburb in the town of Rosemount. Here you can see the very typical houses of these parts. Before building starts, the grounds are landscaped so that the front of the house will have two storeys and three at the back – a walk-out basement, in other words.
Just a mile further and you know you are in John Deere country – green and yellow catches the eye where lawnmowers are being sold – little miniature sit-on tractors. And believe me, even in suburbia the lawns often warrant more that the push-me-and-sweat that we mow with.
Just a five minute travel to the north lies Eagan, our city. One of the long, backbone streets of the metropole runs past our church. You can see here how a very curious little white van is just leaving our church grounds – it belongs to the mail carrier – designed in such a way that the guy never needs to leave his van as he drives from mailbox to mailbox in even the worst weathers. Our mailboxes are all situated right on the street at a very spesific height – by law – so that they are accessable from these little vans.
Eighth Trip
Kayak Trip Eight
August 23rd, 2003 – Lake Hariet & Chain of Lakes above Lake Calhoun
Lake Hariet was the first on our list and we hoped to do all the lakes from there, but there was no outlet from the lake and we had to pack up the kayak and drive to Lake Calhoun.
From there we could reach a number of lakes all linked by channels or streams.
The day turned out very good and I will specially remember our simultanious thought at the end of the trip that we would have loved to indulge in real South African “slap chips” – french fries made with vinegar and salt and wrapped in white and newspaper! And the two flies that bugged me on Lake Calhoun and kept biting me on the back (yes – we have few flies in Minnesota, but those we have, pack a visious bite!).
When we return home after a day like this, it is nice to see that kayak on the car roof – kind of a symbol of a activity that invigorated you and the fact that all is well and you are returning to your family.
Now our sights are set on the half-marathon we hope to do in two weeks time – down the Minnesota river – into the Missisippi river!
Seventh Trip
Kayak Trip Seven
August 9, 2003 – Lake Nokomis and Lake Minnetonka
Unlike many other places in the world, where we are here in the midwest of America, a lot of the original place names remain. Original, as in American Indian names. The state is named after the Minnesota river, so named by the Dakotah people – “minne” means water and “sota” means ‘that refelcts the sky’. So Minnesota is the water that reflects the sky.
I am sure they never dreamed how true this would one day be of this state when you fly in on an aeroplane – the almost 15,000 lakes all reflect the sunlight and sky.
Another Dakotah word, “tonka”, means great. You all know Tonak Toys! Great toys – made right here in Minnesota in the city of Minnetonka (Great Water) – have a look at their website at http://www.hasbropreschool.com/tonka/
Well, that is where Troy and myself (or I and Troy or Troy and I or myself and Troy – whatever grabs your fancy) went kayaking today. We went out very early and first hugged the shore of Lake Nokomis – a bit disappointing – the water was smelly and there was nothing really to the lake – I’ll put a few photos here when I get them from Troy.
We were done with that at nine, and so we decided to go to Lake Minnetonka and explore there.
We spent three and a half hours on this huge lake and only saw a tiny bit of it – it is Minnesota’s tenth largest lake – worthy of its name.
At last the kayak is back on the roof of the car and we are ready to head back home – with tired arms and a nice kayak sunburn: face and neck, shoulders and arms and then the part of your legs that are open to the sun!
Sixth Trip
Kayak Trip Six
August 3rd, 2003 – Lake Elmo
This lake is adjacent to “Stinky Lake”, Eagle Point Lake, where we did Trip One!
This time we had a deadline, the mommies at home wanted to get to bed early and we did not have a lot of time for rowing. We put to water around 7.00pm and made the best of it – less leisure and more workout was the theme of the evening. But the beauty was immediately there as you can see on this photo Troy took of some seagulls on a diving platform. He took the photo directly into the sun, but the digital camaras handle that without a problem! (OK, I know, the seagulls flew away just before he could take the photo, so you will have to imagine them on the platform!)
We do not just row for the exercise, but also to explore and see a part of the planet relatively few people people see – at least from the angle we view it. On one edge of Lake Elmo, we found this huge expanse of water lilies.
Most of the blooms had just reached above the water and was starting to open. We did not want to do any damage, but it was in any case not easy to row in these conditions. We do, however try to go into as many unique spots as we can find.
The difference between kayaking and canoeing is the splashing in a kayak – the canoeists seem to sit high and dry – like being in a sedan. We think of Kayaks as being the motorcycles of watersports – you are right there in the thick of things, getting wet, being fast and zipping in and out.
At the end of this trip we met people who were taking a large motorboat out of the water and they asked if we had tipped over. We said no, but it was only when we got home and realised the fronts of our shirts were wet through, that we knew where their questions came from.
Photography is tricky – Troy has a waterproof case for his camara, and so photo time means no paddling and splashing. And for one of us to appear in the photo, you stretch out a long arm with the camara at the end to put some distance between the camara and the person.
Sunday evening trips mean that we are still out on the water when the sun starts to go down after eight in the evening – tranquillety prevails.
All these wonderful photos of our trips are courtesy of Troy – you can see his own journal at http://www.dalldorf.com/adventures/ (Just do a search on ‘kayak’!)
