It was at almost exactly this same time of day, 2:10 p.m., July 20, 1969, that I pulled to the side of Highway 2 near Bagley MN to listen to the drama of touchdown of Apollo 11 on the moon. Three days ago, I wrote about that event, and events before and after, here. The […]
Saturday we were at a family get-together, and grandson Ryan was telling me about seeing the Omnimax film on Apollo 11 at the Science Museum in St. Paul. Ryan, at the doorstep of 20, was enthusiastic about the film, but didn’t have the historical context, though I had taken he and his friend, Caleb, to […]
The Gospel on Sunday at Basilica of St. Mary was Luke 10:5-37 (as we saw it, open link below the picture). “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus’ response is a direct and confrontive analysis in answer to the question: essence, everyone is our neighbor. This is a difficult truth particularly for Christians in our country […]
Grandson Bennie turned 14 on Friday, and the family celebrated by serving meals to guests at the Ronald McDonald House at Childrens Hospital in Minneapolis. This afternoon was the family celebration in Woodbury. This was not a routine birthday. One year ago today, Bennie was just beginning to come out of an induced comma, after […]
The funeral for my cousin, Carol Tscherter, is today at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in rural Reinbeck IA. Just a few months ago, March 22, her last surviving uncle on her Mom’s side, Melvin Berning, died at 90 in Eureka CA. Here, thanks to Carol’s sister, Susan, is one of Carol’s many photographs: I knew […]
My sister was talking about the 2020 census as she, I and her husband were on a long road trip last Sunday. They live in rural Minnesota, and the conversation was about how important it will be for people to participate in the census. In her case, for example, there are several apartment buildings in […]
This year, July 4th is especially significant for me. June 30, my sister, Flo, her husband Carter, and I, drove to Grafton ND, for an event to honor two casualties aboard the USS Arizona, Dec. 7, 1941: my Uncle Frank Bernard, Grafton, and another Walsh County sailor, Floyd Wells, Fairdale, ND. Frank was 26 when […]
Sunday afternoon Greg sent a message “what’s the rain plan?”, referring to our La Fete de la Saint -Jean-Baptiste scheduled for 5-7 p.m. at the Henry Sibley Historic Site at Mendota. The day had been threatening, but it appeared the skies would clear. But you can’t predict Mother Nature, and enroute to the event, rain […]
Iran – June 22, 2019 Yesterdays banner headline in our local paper, Minneapolis StarTribune, blared “Trump orders, cancels Iran Strike”. Already, of course, Trump is about the business of evading responsibility. The only safe way to deal with Trumps communiques, of any kind, is to believe nothing he says, rather than gamble on the random […]
Thinking of our now complete voyage to the northwest and a piece of California and Colorado, I kept thinking of the toe-tapper, City of New Orleans. Listen to Arlo Guthrie sing Steve Goodman’s 1971 song here. We spent our 14 days nowhere near New Orleans, and rode the rails near 50 years after the song […]