Amphitheatre Ruins

Coming soon, amphitheatre reconstruction along the Rum River.

Faded Advertisement

Painted decades ago, the work stands the test of time. This looks more interesting than a fresh coat of solid color paint. I hope they keep this building this way.

Easy Parking

So many advantages to a Vespa. They are affordable, easy on the gas, nimble manueverability, and best of all, easy to park. You can park these things nearly anywhere. fun to ride too, I sure wish I had one. but not so good for winter driving in the cold and snow.

Hosta Parade

Paths lined with hostas lead up to the gazebo at Veteran's Memorial Park in Champlin.

Gated Community

Ornamental gated basement windows on 1st Ave and Main Street in Anoka. Wrought iron seems to be a lost art these days.

Gasthof Main door

Oktoberfest Patrons hanging outside Gasthof zur Gemutlickeit. That was a great Bavarian meal. We must return next weekend!

Oktoberfest!

Last night we made a trip to North East Minneapolis to celebrate Oktoberfest at Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit. We spent much of the evening in the restaurant enjoying our dinner, beers while listening to the accordion strollers meandering the restaurant, playing fovorite polka tunes. We negver made it outside to the beer tents, maybe next weekend.

For dinner, we split the Bayrische Hausplatte (Bavarian House Platter) the platter for two includes:
Rouladen, Kasseler Rippchen, Jagerschnitzel, Bratwurst, Spätzle, Bavarian dumplings, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, red cabbage, and two shots of Apfelkorn Liqueur. The dinner was fabulous! I highly recomend a trip to NorthEast; you are sure to have fun eating, drinking, and singing along.



Of course she had 1/2 liter of Gösser Export, and I enjoyed (2) 1/2 liters of Spaten Oktoberfestbier.


A Salute to Your Health or Well-being!
Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemiitlichkeit
Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemiitlichkeit (Cheer!)
Eins, zwei, Drei g'suffa!
Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
Prosit

Sit Down Strike

I'm not sure why they decided to walk out and sit down, but they did in our office parking lot. They succeeded in slowing down traffic too. The instigator, standing in the center, is in the process of 'putting his foot down'. he has had enough and will stand no longer.

3:05 or 15:05

Almost time for the weekend to start on Main Street. A special weekend; tomorrow is the beginning of Oktoberfest! So enjoy an evening brew of Oktoberfest beer.

For September 21st

Barrel of apples, simple delicious! So many crates and varieties of apples to choose from. the choice is difficult, but twhatever your choice, you will not be dissapointed.

Autum has arrived, come early and spend the morning and afternoon to pick the apples you desire.

Grape vines cling to the trellis on the etry to the wine barn at aamodt's Apple farm new Stillwater, MN

Coffee Bar

And one that I have not tried, yet. I sure wish I passed this shop on my way to work. Right next door to the Amish Corner filled with Amish built furniture.

Suburban Barn ( Update; It is an Old Red Shed...or not)

Close to home on our Urban Treks, we pass this old red "barn" regularly. This structure is located in the heart of suburbia, and may be classified as a shed rather than a barn. But as you can see, this structure is red, it is quite old looking, and it represents that classic barn style construction.

The question remains, is this a barn? A barn houses animals, I'm sure there are mice living inside, perhaps a squirrel or two. There is a St. Bernard that lives on the premisis. Yet many barns of today are used merely for storage, not homes for livestock. Oh the delima.

To be, or not to be,
A barn is the question.

I leave the decision to our Esteemed Panel of Judge, MK to decide whether this can be classified as an Old Red barn, or, merely an old red shed. We shall wait patiently for MK's verdict.


The verdict is in. Judge MK declaired that the photo in question, (above) is indeed an Old Red Shed. This is not an example of an Old Red Barn. The ruling was based upon the tree-height principle; whereas any structure that is old, colored red, and is higher than the surrounding trees is indeed an Old Red Barn.

Thank you for your partience and ruling. We here, at this Blog, work hard to maintain a compliance with correct terminology, adhereing to steadfast rulings from our ever helpful panel of Judge. (though our spelling may be suspect).

Whoa! Evidence has been submitted concerning the nature of this structure in question. We shall now reopen tis case for our Panel of Judge for further reviewal.

Halloween Capitol

Welcome to Anoka, self proclaimed Halloween Capitol of the world. I'm not sure about that, but getting around the far north metro during the Halloween parade is impossible.

Anoka is located on the Rum River and is derived from the Ojibwa word Onokay, meaning oworking waters.

Rum River Channel

Looking up the Rum River as it passes under the Main Street bridge in Anoka. The Rum River starts at Lake Mille Lacs and ends in the Mississipi River.

The Metro Dome

A view from the new Mill City Park; the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The home of Minnesota Vikings football, and now, temporary home of the Minnesota Twins baseball, and University of Minnesota Gopher football. (An experiment for baseball that never should have took place). The Twins season is winding down as the Vikings season is starting up. A great place to be on a Sunday afternoon...at the Park.

Where's Ronald McDonald's?

The old "McRestaurant" must have been too outdated. Last month, they demolished this McDonalds. Now they are building a new fast "food" joint on the same old McSpot to be completed by December. (Oh boy, Christmas Mcdinner at McDonalds). (Editor's note: please note the atempt at sarcastic humor form the author. He is a crumudgeon. This is not necessarily the viewpoint of the McEstablishment).

They must have sold a lot of McBurgers to afford this demolition and new construction. No doubt the Mcdrive thru will be state of the art. "Food" from the comfort of your car. Sheesh.

Would you like McFrys with that?

Settembre - Mele (Apples)

Due Occhi Un Soggetto per Settembre. (Two Eyes One Subject for September).

A monthly famiglia project we work on together with our friends near Milano, Italy, Australia and in Arizona. The idea is simple, each month we each submit a photo of the same subject matter, and see the differences that we come up with.

Un viaggio di pomeriggio al meleto per selezionare le mele. Perfezioni per le torte di mela di cottura e per mangiare. Speriamo che godiate queste mele deliziose!

An afternoon trip to the apple orchard to pick apples. Perfect for baking apple pies and for eating. We hope you enjoy these delicious apples!

At the Corner

Stub & herb's, located at Stadium Village on the University of Minnesota Campus. A great place to stop for a meal and drinks before and after a Gopher game.

For September 14th

I spent the weekend splitting wood for the wood stoves for both the cabin and sauna. Actually this is a fun job, whacking the logs with the mall; it really is a great way to take out the frustrations from the workweek.

The wood needed to be split; I grabbed a nice sized birch log to split. While carrying it to the splitting stump, this little..er, no...big....no...huge critter scurried onto my hand. he made it up to my wrist! I dropped the log, (barely missing my foot), jumped around yelping like a little school child flinging him off from me. sadly, he ended up back on the wood pile where I took his photo. (Editor's note: No spider nor person was harmed in the making of this photo. The only thing harmed was my ego for screeching and jumping around like an little school child).

A place to relax and refresh after splitting all that wood, (and forgetting about the incident with Borris the Spider). 180 degrees F is how I enjoy the sauna. It's pronounced "sowna", not "sawna".

Little Napoli

Punch Pizza, Neapolitan style pizza in Minnesota baked at 800 degrees for 90 seconds in a wood fired brick oven. A great place to stand in the entryway behind the brick oven on a cold winter afternoon.

This restaurant is on our once a month lunch circuit. Today, I had the Palermo; Spiced salami, sun dried tomatos, saracene olive, oregano. Bravissimo!

The 'Bou-Insider

Inside the 'Bou, (Caribou Coffee) waiting for my morning order. The friendly waitstaff are busy brewing coffee and readying the scones for the morning rush.

Join me for a refreshing Triple Depth Charge; my signature drink. What is a Triple Depth Charge you ask?

Simple; a depth charge is a coffee spiked with a shot of espresso. My version, the Triple Depth Charge is a Large black coffee with 3 shots of espresso.

Perfect for the commute to work. This just starts my coffee day.

Eeyore's Relatives

From the far north metro, JH requested donkey photos from her neighbor. donky kong revisited. http://northmetro.blogspot.com/2007/08/donkey-kong.html

I have always thought Eeyore was missunderstood and a crumudgeon before his time. I guess that is why he's one of my favorite characters; he simply understands life as it happens.

Mmm, this grass is tasty. You can tell, Dora's ears are slicked back.



The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. Especially when they're hand fed and hae ears scratched.

Leah, patiently waiting for another free handout, almost pointing us toward the freshest cut of grass she prefers.


Family sharing a meal together is what it's all about on a beautiful summer evening. A fine family, JJ and Leah seem so happy and content. I enjoyed my visit with the donkeys, as I am sure they enjoyed visiting with me. But I can't help wonder what they must think; "Hey here comes those bipeds from across the road". "Oh good, act cute, then we'll get hand fed". Yep, seems to work.

Eeyore must be a distant relative...twice removed as this family is very happy.

No Reservations

I found an open table!

Plenty of sidewalk seating to sit and enjoy an ice cream cone in front of Kramarczuk's Deli on Hennepin Ave. A busy day, shopping at The Bibelot Shop, lunch at punch pizza across the street, topping it off with an ice cream cone.

Linear Blues

Downtown Minneapolis from ING Plaza on Washington Avenue South and Hennepin Avenue. A whole lot of linear glass and lots of blues.

Garden Gate

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located Near Riverplace and Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis. A picturesque gated side entry.

http://northmetro.blogspot.com/2007/09/blue-doors.html

Blue Doors

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church Completed in 1857 in Greek temple style by the First Universalist Society. Later purchased by Catholic French Canadian community in 1877. Rebuilt from limestone in 1881.

For September 7th

Paddle wheel from one of the Taylors Falls stern drive paddle wheel boats. Pretty lamp post at Taylors Fall, Minnesota. Dinner at Billy's Bar and Grill, Anoka, Minnesota.

Great day for a ride

A beautiful day to be out, As I saw these bikes cruise up West River Parkway. It is days like this that I wish I had one of these bikes. Maybe some day...

Commuting by Bike

On my way into work, I made a quick stop at the coffee shop, Dunn Bros. There were only two customers, the owner of this bike and myself. He was sitting reading the paper and enjoying his coffee. I on the other hand, rushed in, ordered my coffe, and rushed out. Taking time to take this pic.

While I gulped my coffee in the comfort of the car, aggrivated by bumper to bumper traffic, the biker no doubt kept enjoying his coffee and paper in the comfort of th ecoffee shop.

Vic's on Main Street

Just a hop, skip, and jump from Tuggs Tavern is Vic's on Main Street. Another fine restaurant!

http://northmetro.blogspot.com/2007/08/tuggs-tavern_30.html

Far North Metro

Once agian, it is early evening in the north metro. Way up in Anoka. One of our dining establishments that we frequent. Breat burgers, beer, and bbq spare ribs. Hungry now?

Old Red Barn

This is just for MK, an old red barn. more to come in the future!

Windows to the Past

The old Washburn A Mill in Minneapolis was built in 1874 along the Mississippi River. In 1878, the mill was destroyed in an explosion.

The mill was later rebuilt and became the largest flour mill in the world until the Pillsbury A Mill was built across the river. (See the Pillsbury A Mill - http://northmetro.blogspot.com/2007/08/flour-power.html )

The Washburn A Mill closed in 1965, and was nearly destroyed by fire in 1991. The Mill is now a part of Mill City Museum.

Shopping Spree

There's a time for fun. Then there's a time to shop. Some believe fun and shopping are the same. They may be right. But I'd rather have a root canal than to simply go shopping. I'm told this shop is a popular favorite amungst serious shopers. I don't know; I like the outdoor view here. In we go empty handed, out we come with bags and packages. (lighter wallets too) :-o