What a great day! My daughter & I walked our dogs around the neighborhood. Sounds quite ordinary, but it's a special occasion. Even if we live together, it's harder to get together than one would think.
Last week my work took me to Brookings, South Dakota. www.brookingssd.com Nice little college town whose origin is detailed on their history link. I worked with a great group of people up there. To respect their privacy, I won't go into details, but I will say I'm richer with every bond I form while on this earth and am thankful that I am presented so many opportunities to grow and love.
One night after work, I took time to wander around McCrory Gardens which is also the South Dakota arboretum. Calming trails decorate landscape that glows with hours of dedication. Many benches branded with various names adorn cozy corners of this nature experience. I guess a plaque is a nice way to remember loved ones. Mental note especially since I attended my last funeral only 3 weeks ago. They had a great walking/jogging/biking trail that although not very long, was lined with readable signs so you could clearly identify varieties of groups of trees & shrubs planted in patches dotting this path. A hawk showed off his flying skills for me. Probably looking for a rabbit, after hollering at me, he circled around & I'm pretty sure landed right where he started from.
Restaurants to note: Cafe Ruby & Bake Shoppe. Just the spelling of shop tells you they have good food. I ate a black bean vegetable patty served with their soup of the day, mixed bean & ham. It was delicious & surely made from scratch. During my meal I could hear the cook sharing a recipe with his assistant. That's what I'm looking for, a cook who loves his art & is always discovering new ways to exploit food. Another night I ate Mexican, which was also very good. Since this is a college town, it looked like they had quite the selection of places to eat. Hobo week (one of their annual celebrations) had brought in some extra people & I found downtown crowded with no place to park. I was headed to Georges which was reported to offer an artichoke pizza, but now that's on my list for next time.
On the way home I went through Pipestone, Minnesota where I always stop. www.pipestonestar.com/guide A very easy town to get around in, almost every store & building has a copy of their tourism guide just waiting to be of use. I highly recommend visiting Pipestone National Monument. When I visited the Indian Cultural Center, I got to see native Americans carving & they spent time telling me about their craft. All rock is removed from earth by hand, no machinery is used in gathering this red treasure. Quarries are known to have existed here since at least 1650. At the monument they have a gift shop where you can buy a pipe or artifact. www.authenticpipestone.com
Just 9 miles south of Pipestone on highway 75, I stopped at Harmony Gardens & Gift shop. Sitting on a farm, this is a great place to find a gift or pick up that perennial you've always wanted. They also sell trees & yard ornaments. I collected a few Christmas presents and got back on the road.
Still on Hwy 75 just north of the Iowa border sits a Minnesota county park complete with an observation deck great for viewing the flock of migrating Canadian geese gathered on the water. I wondered if I'd bother the geese - I was only shooting with a camera, but like they could know that. With hunting season in full swing, I hoped they would not get used to human presence just because of me. They were troubled & made lots of noise to let me know I was not going unnoticed. Their call echoed through the flock like a domino effect with sound. From the deck I watched our sun set & thanked God for such a beautiful world. More pictures & I was ready to hit the road again. When I was returning to my car, it was just more than the wild birds could take and over 100 took to air all at one time. This nights' east sky was lit purple and faded into pink as my eyes lifted up. As I watched this huge group of birds fly away, I was in awe at how gorgeous they looked sailing low across the recently harvested fields.
Harvest is in itself a season here in the Midwest. It's common to see machinery comb autumn readied fields. Lit with insect like headlights, they hungrily gobbled up corn plants dried by crisp fall air. I was careful to watch for deer who might be scared onto the road by one of those loud machines. Dedicated people finishing tasks before winter's gale blows fragile humans towards in of doors. As much as I love summer, I look forward to the cold with equal enthusiasm. It's a great excuse to bake. God bless all farmers.
This return trip my Camary had been contracted by relatives for an extra stop. That's fun. One thing that 7 years of traveling with my job had brought me was a desire for anyone to go along. I picked up my ex-sister in-law's husband's brother and he accompanied me for 2 1/2 hours of my 5 1/2 hour drive. It was great chatting with him, getting to know who he was & sharing bits of my fragmented life at the same time.
Around midnight on a Friday night, I made it home. Lots of chores awaited. Best of all, the dogs, Nikki & Jr. Were the happiest I was home.
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