Recently in Central Minnesota Category

Ok, so none of us saw this one coming. Doris Lessing grabbed the Nobel prize, and anybody who bet money on Philip Roth is now running from their bookie.  I read Lessing's "Memoirs of a Survivior" in college and remember it as a rich but difficult book; I've read none of her recent work.  Harold Bloom threw a little hissyfit, and some are worried now that Roth and others will forever be overlooked. But as this Forbes article points out, there may be some genre-rivalry involved in the shock of some critics at her selection.  Realistic fiction vs speculative fiction: SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!!

Ok, I'll stop. Here's a pretty picture. Lake Maria, in central Minnesota, last weekend.

Took a trip up to Lake Maria State Park this weekend, about an hour northwest of the Twin Cities.  If you're in for a little vicarious leaf-peeping, you're in luck.








The Beavers are all prepared for winter. One more look at them pretty leaves...

A little treat as I prepare a photo essay on...wait for it...CLEVELAND! All right, I did actually find some interesting pictures in Cleveland. Just think, tune in on Sunday for the Cleveland photo essay, and then You'll never have any reason to actually go there.

Some tulips in front of my home in Minnesota, Spring 2006.

A little ways north of the Minneapolis metro area is the modest metropolis of St. Cloud. Clearly an agriculture center, it isn't exactly a tourist mecca, but it does have a gorgeous set of gardens near the Mississippi.

The Clemens gardens sit on a hill above the river (Yes, a sizeable hill. They are few and far between up here...). It's done up English-style, meaning tons of flowers, nice symmetrical displays, and quaint fountains. It is immaculately tended, rivalling in quality, though not in size, the Butchart Gardens in Vancouver Island, BC. More after the link...

Driving around Brainerd, Minnesota today, I encountered this health-conscious bowling Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Note that Babe is conscientiously advertising a smoke-free bowling area. He is also eating bowling pins the size of small children.

ps--still working on getting the comments back.