Life is Good

People don't often count their blessings in public. Let me just describe three:

1. My morning run with sport over the Red River (and, believe it or not, through the "woods" of Island Park) was followed by a nice cappuccino at Babb's.
2. We found some nice spring onions at the downtown Fargo farmer's market yesterday.

and lest you believe that my only concerns are gastrointestinal

3. I have seen more beautiful and colorful thrushes here than in my entire stay in Ohio (although I'm still looking out for raptors!).

Hope you all get a chance to get outside and enjoy the summer.

North Dakota

The view from my window looks like Yavin IV (geeky Star Wars reference: look it up if you must).

HOW cold does it get here in winter?

Pay no attention to the gremlin on the wing

I'm home and just a little disturbed. During my 21 hour trip home from Florida, I was fortunate to hear a very loud "BANG" right outside my airline window. This jarring noise was followed by the magic words one longs to hear from your pilot:

"This is the captain. We seem to be experiencing engine failure."

Now we were reassured that we still had "ONE good engine," but the passengers were warned about the emergency vehicles and emergency positions one might need to assume SHOULD the flight attendants scream out "BRACE YOURSELVES" right at landing. Definitely soothing. Needless to say, we made it back safely (right back to the same gate, actually). We all took the same trek (with a different plane, we were assured).

Is Amtrak still running?

Moments of Grace

Two moments of grace during vacation.

For sport: seeing the dolphins swimming by on her childhood beach.

For me: flying over Monument Valley at 33,000 feet and immediately recognizing the monoliths that watched over my childhood (especially "Old Man").

You can't go home, but sometimes home waves to you in the distance.

Not-So-Secret Garden

The herb garden in front of our new apartment. Pretty much the opposite of everything I previously thought about Fargo.