Kerstin and Dan - the post date is actualy 11-30-09 on this.

Last week I went down to Fairmont to visit my family. Kerstin was home while I was down so I got to spend some time with her. I don't get to see her nearly as much as I would like so I was quite pleased. I even remembered to take a picture. This one is much more current than the photo of Trista and me.

We had a nice time together catching up on what's been going on in our lives, playing cards with my dad, and having ridiculous singing/piano time. I had a sore throat that became a mutilated from shouting x-mas lyrics throat. I learned my lesson not to sing loudly and obnoxiously when I'm already sick.


Early last week I went up to Apple Valley to visit Daniel. I hadn't been up in his neck of the woods in quite awhile. We took advantage of the nice weather by visiting the archery range. He has a bow that he enjoys shooting and sometimes he lets me play too. While we were there, I saw a man who thought his back pants pocket was an acceptable place to keep his arrows. I thought it was pretty silly so I took a picture of him. It's a secret though--I didn't get his permission. ;)














In my last post I talked about my house plants. I was recently given a new plant. Catherine gave me one when I moved in to my old place. It thrived quite well, but didn't take well to the move to the new place. I named her Mrs. Nezbit and was quite sad when she died. Catherine replaced her for me. The new plant is named Lurlene. I decided she should inherit the last name so it's Lurlene Nezbit. The first plant on the left in the photo is Gwen. She has recently started growing new sprouts to replace her sad, tipped over parts. I'm quite please and hope she flowers again soon. The second plant is Anne Frank. She seems to be doing well with her move to my apartment. The third plan in is the aloe plant which I've decided to name Peter. And finally on the end is Lurlene Nezbit. I haven't been home since last Thursday morning so I hope they aren't all dying of thirst. I watered them right before I left and will water them as soon as I get home. I'm most concerned for Gwen right now because she seems to be the most fussy about getting fed on time.

Andy Land

This weekend was spent in Minneapolis with Andy at his mom's house. I have met his mother a couple of times, but we've never spent a large period of time together. I had a lot of fun with both of them. On Friday night Andy and I went out with some of his coworkers. It was nice to spend time with them since I hear basically everything that happens with them from Andy (someone likes to complain). I had a good time.

On saturday we cleaned out a bunch of boxes that Andy had in the basement. We trashed a bunch of stuff and sorted out what would come with when he moves in in two weeks. Then we had a nice supper and played cribbage and hearts with his mom. I haven't played hearts a whole lot and it makes me really nervous. For some reason it stresses me out far more than it ought to trying to develop some sort of strategy, but it was fun none the less. Then sunday we cleaned out a bit more stuff, dropped a bunch off at good will, played some scrabble, had another nice supper, and I headed home with 6 boxes of stuff to unpack.

My job today was to spend time unpacking. It kept me busy most of the morning, but it's work I enjoy so I had an ok time. I listened to a Stephen King interview on MPR while I worked. Daniel Came over at three thirty. I stole Shanna's idea of visiting Rasmussen Woods-a park area in Mankato- so he and I headed there right away. I'd never been there before but it was fun. We only walked one trail because we were scared of getting lost and it started to rain. I intend on investing more time exploring the area in the future.

I haven't made any new guitar videos and I don't have any new pictures. So to make up for the lack I'll link you to a video I enjoy. I came across it randomly and have no idea who the girl is, but I like the song a lot. I have a feeling it won't impress a lot of you. But I hope at least a few will enjoy it like I do. Sometimes music can do great things for you or to you. They can stir up feelings that you can't even name. Even if you don't know what the song is about....sometimes even if you don't even know the lyrics. Those are the really good songs. Even if their effects do not last forever. SONGTIME

T Borg! and Plants.

Yesterday I got to hang out with Trista Bear a.k.a. T Borg. We've been friends and practically sisters since high school. (The picture is from a two summers ago because I'm lazy and didn't want to search for a more current one) We haven't been able to see each other in about two months because she is so crazily busy with school and I used to be busy with work. I went to her place and we caught up on what has been happening in our lives. Then we headed over to her Andy's house (said in this fashion because I also have an Andy that I claim, and so does Emily). We played boggle, then watched "Up." The movie was silly and entertaining. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes the typical pixar flick. We also swapped plants. I gave her an aloe plant (which I hope survives) and she gave me a piece of her Wandering Jew plant, which she's name Murray Lebowitz in honor of his heritage. I decided that my plant needed a good Jewish name as well. I decided to go with Anne Frank since I'm pretty sure mine is a girl plant.

I have a nice little collection of plants for my apartment, but two of them really aren't looking too well. Andy gave me a calla lilly for Valentine's Day last year (I named her Gwen) and while she hasn't died, she sure seems like she's leaning in that direction. I re-potted her in hopes that she would be able to revive, but so far my efforts have not been rewarded. My other plan is an Aloe plant (which I have yet to name) that Annette gave me when I first moved to Mankato. It got really large so I decided to break it up. In the process, the largest "mother" plant died. Now I just have a little bit left that I'm hoping pulls through. At the moment, Anne Frank is looking the best of all my plants.

Tomorrow I'm off to visit Daniel in his neck of the woods (Apple Valley) before heading to my Andy's house. We're going out for drinks with some of his co-workers which should be entertaining. I think the weather will be nice this weekend so I'm hoping to have take advantage of it.

Seven Mile Creek Land

Today Andy and I went for a walk at Seven Mile Creek since it was such a nice day. I'd never been there before. It was really pretty awesome. We walked on "Trail 1." There were a couple really steep incline that were rewarded with amazing views. There were a million different trail options, but we were scared of getting lost so we went on the one that Andy had already been on. Another day we will have to try another trail. I really like living in Mankato because it is surrounded by such awesome hill/valley landscape. I'm really looking forward to next summer when I can take my motorcycle out on some of the roads that have awesome views (such as county road 16 for anyone who's interested).






































This morning we decided to have some pancakes. I got creative and made some in the shapes of animals. I'll let you try to guess what they are. They didn't taste as amusing as they look. :(

Sailor + Nature

I finished my sailor quilt on thursday just in time to show it for quilt club. My aunt Tracy let me use her long arm quilting machine again. I did most of the quilting myself, but she helped me on the star outline in the red square (which may be difficult to see in the picture). The middle square is a lighthouse. The blue squares have either lighthouses or sailboats in them as you can see in the picture below. I also took a picture of the back so you could see what the fabric looked like and how the quilting looks on the back. I'm not really sure what I'll do with this quilt. I don't know anyone who is having a baby boy (the quilt is about 50 x 50) at the moment so I don't have anyone to give it to. It will probably just live in my closet until I find someone who could use it. I think the ladies at quilt club think I have no life (which is only half true) since I always seem to have something to show each month during show and tell. They think all I ever do is quilt which is just not true at all. I also guitar (as I think you know) and read.



On a completely new topic, I was looking through some old picture from the cabin two years ago. My friend let borrow his fancy camera. It had a setting that let it take some really awesome night time pictures. I took a whole bunch of pictures looking over Leech Lake. There was a little bench/porch area that I took a few pictures from and another raised bridge area that I took a bunch from. This view is one that I hope I get to continue to see over the years and one I hope I never forget.

Cleaning Party

Yesterday I went down to visit my grandma and help clean out her attic. It's a project that has been talked about for a few years but which has never actually been accomplished. Weird, I know. Any who, it took about three hours of work and it really seems like it's not a whole lot cleaner looking. I took a "before," "during," and "after" picture for comparison. Somehow it got remarkable more messy-looking midway through the project.


While cleaning, I managed to make a pretty impressive stack of boxes. It reminded me of a time in seventh grade when I stacked bowling balls. I got five stacked up and took a picture of them, but it was on regular 35mm films, and I don't have a scanner to upload it with.

After all was said and done, I walked away with two souvenir t-shirts. The first is from when my grandparents ran a cafe in Ledyard, IA. I don't think they had it very long, and it was before I was born so I never got to see it. The second is a t-shirt from a Charlie Pride concert my grandma must have gone to see. She was reluctant to let me have it (she LOVES Charlie) but I told her there was another one exactly like it so she shared. All in all I think it was a pretty successful day.

Friends...

This video below is something I came up with on my own. The whole thing is sort of improvised. I had little bits that I've tinkered with and decided to smoosh them all together and record it. I don't have a name or lyrics for it, but I like the sound. The tuning is far from standard (dgddad rather than eadgbe if you understand such things). I discovered it while learning this Nick Drake song. I recorded myself playing that song too, but I'm not thrilled with how it turned out. The playing is really sloppy and the tab not as close to the actual song as I'd like. If I ever get a recording I'm ok with, I'll post it. In the meantime, you get this.



I've always been more of a "a few close friends" type of person rather than worrying about being miss popular. In high school I had a great group of friends. The type of friends that you read about in Stephen King books for those who can understand. I'm the same way still and I try to keep in contact with the friends I had in high school. My senior year, we had a photo shoot of (almost) all of us together. I wish that you could go back and watch parts of your life like in a movie. Just hit the menu button and pick a scene. I think we did some oddball stuff that would be worth watching again. It seems like the farther I get from high school, the less meaningful the relationships I have with people become. It probably has something to do with how temporary my positions have been since then. I hope that I can fill the gap now that I don't have these friends so close and now that I've found a place I want to call home for awhile.

Killing Time

This past weekend was rather uneventful. It was my final weekend working for the mortuary, and all in all it was a pretty easy one. I worked until four on Saturday and only had to go in on Sunday for a removal at four in the afternoon for an hour and then again at ten for an hour. It was nice to have to work so little because I always feel bad leaving Andy home alone. He's still getting over the last remnants of H1N1 symptoms. I have been around him a lot but managed to avoid catching it. Two points for my immune system.

Since he wasn't feeling the best, we didn't to a whole lot. Last weekend we picked out some fabric for pajamas, and this weekend I sewed them for him. They turned out pretty nice, but considering I've made about fifteen pair in the last few years, I should have the skill down by now. I made him model them for me.

I also made a test block for my sail quilt. I was pretty pleased with it, so I hope to get to work on the rest of the blocks soon. I'd like to get it done by the end of the month. I'll post pictures when it's complete.

Halloween was rather uneventful. I bought two bags of candy in case anyone came trick or treating to the apartment. No one did, so now I have a lot of candy to eat. If anyone wants some smartees, come over to my place

Silly picture/story time. This photo is from this past summer at the cabin we go to in Cass Lake. My dad as I explained once is a silly guy. One day he decided he'd try out the "hip" way to wear pants by tugging them down on his waist. He then pulled his tighty-whitey underwear up a little more and raised his shirt so we could admire his handy work. He and Andy showed off their pants together. I think it was a good bonding experience for the two of them and a great laugh for everyone who got to watch. :D