More from Landfall

At Taste of Minnesota. Minnesota Arboretum

Just because we are planted in one place for over two months doesn't mean we aren't doing anything or going anyplace. We've been busy, but pretending that we have a home base here in Landfall just as anyone with a home has a place to call home and travel from and back to as the situation my call for.

That doesn't mean that we go someplace new and different every day, but we're doing our share of getting around. In recent days we have visited A Taste of Minnesota, Ramsey County Fair, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and Stillwater MN.

Also, daily, we take a walk along the shores of Tanners Lake. Lots of wildlife here, as there is in the many natural and/or manufactured wetland areas that surround the Twin Cities. Maplewood, an adjoining suburb, has had a water garden program on both a public and private level for many years. Official, city-government water gardens are everywhere, and they are not just an optional thing to do - building regs require them. Back home in Pend Oreille County, Washington, water gardens are just getting a start. This is due to a spark plug effort from Washington State Extension and the Pend Oreille Conservation District. Hopefully, their efforts will be successful and water gardens will also become part of building regs there.

Taste of Minnesota has been a Minnesota fixture for many years. Those of our readers who may be familiar with Spokane's Pig-Out in the Park festival will know immediately what the theme is. It's food. Way too many choices, a lot of it of questionable health impact, and way too pricey. Nonetheless, it's always well-attended and entertaining. We had not been to A Taste since we lived here about ten years ago. Our impression was that it might not be as nice as it used to be, but perhaps that is a common perception among older folk who go back to their roots. Reality has a hard time competing with memory.

Ramsey County Fair is an event we used to attend each year when we lived here. You would think that a local, county fair in a major metropolitan area would be huge, and well-attended. Well, RCF has no agriculture, only a small contingency of 4-H, and minimal adult participation. The big feature is an imported carnival of respectable size and lots of country and bluegrass music. After over 100 years of operation RCF has changed with the times, but has not shown any growth. Our readers from Pend Oreille will be able to compare it with the POC fair. Where PO has one building for photography and arts and crafts, another building for 4-H, yet another building for sewing, food processing and baking, Ramsey County fits all of that into a mere two buildings of modest size and offers no gardening produce entries. It's a different kind of fair.

Stillwater is a tourist-attraction type town on the Saint Croix River. It's less than 20 miles from Saint Paul. Stillwater has a bevy of stores on the main street that attract shoppers of all types. It also has the Saint Croix River and a steel, aerial lift bridge. Great scenery. Traffic on the weekend is horrendous and parking places are at a premium. Too many people, too little space - and yet everyong has a great time because of the ambiance of the area.

One of our recent neighbors here at Landfall, a Californian (but originally a Minnesotan) was a pleasant visitor. His name is Craig and we enjoyed visiting with him. He told us of camping somewhere else and meeting a temporary neighbor there who he had known 18 years earlier. It was one of those surprise, chance meetings in life. The day after Craig left Landfall this same person, Debbie (from Massachusetts, but also originally from Minnesota) came and parked in the same spot that Craig had vacated 24 hours earlier. In visiting with Debbie, we learned that she had attended Wellesely College in Boston, a school at which my Uncle Eldon, and his wife Peg, had been on the faculty. So, we discovered a common connection in our first visit. Just how small is this world?

All for now. Be well. Dave & Pat