Such blue sky and leaves aglow, swaying to an fro…
Walked around the lakes yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and clear sky.
I watched a 2023 film by Wim Wenders the other day – Perfect Days. It is set in Tokyo and about a Japanese man who cleans public toilets for a living. It follows him around day to day as he interacts with colleagues, members of the public, his family, but mostly with nature. He loves to take pictures of trees. There is very little dialogue so not a lot of subtitle reading. All in all, a very nice film. I recommend.
Punta Arenas is an important port on the Magellan Straight at the very south of Chile. Of its 170,000 people, about a third are of Croatian decent.
In 1518, Ferdinand Magellan left Seville in Spain with five ships. After several problems including a couple of mutinies they found a route through to the Pacific Ocean. The Magellan Straight. It meant they didn’t have to deal with the unpredictable hazards of Cape Horn. One of the five ships made it all the way back to Seville but Magellan was not on it. He was killed in the Philippines.
Another historical figure who had ties to Punta Arenas was Ernest Shackleton who led three expeditions to Antarctica, not always with the best results.
I took a long walk by the water and saw some interesting things.
From there we drove to Torres del Paine national park. Along the way we came across a couple of gauchos crossing the road.
We also saw rheas, guanacos and flamingos.
Once we got to Torres del Paine we took a short hike.
We stayed in a hotel right on Grey Lake and at the end of the lake you could see Grey Glacier.
Next day we had a longer hike.
I found out that glaciers make a rumbling noise like thunder when they move. This one was moving a lot.
When I lived in Russia I liked to call it the Land of Dark. The winters were overcast and the sun only came up briefly. Now that I am in Minnesota, I am thinking, land of dark. I have had every light in the house on for days. It is depressing. I read an article in the New York Times this morning by Mary Pipher called Finding Light in Winter. It was lyrical and hopeful. She has a book out called Life in Light: Meditations on Impermanence. I am totally going to read it. She lives in Nebraska so also is experiencing dark days. But she finds light in nature, family, friends, young children, poetry, music, a painting by Monet, and memories of people no longer present.
A friend of mine needed to go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for some tests, so I went along. It was a nice break. Rochester is a fairly small city (population 122,000), and is the home of Mayo Clinic. Apparently 1.3 million patients go to Mayo every year, from all 50 states and 140 countries. There are like 20 Mayo facilities in Rochester. Plus Rochester has a branch of the University of Minnesota and a State Community College. For such a small town, it has a lot going on.
We stayed right downtown and were able to walk to everyplace we needed to go. Some interesting old buildings were among the glittering new ones. There was a warren of underground tunnels throughout the Mayo complex downtown so you could spend your day in spacious beautiful new buildings and never go outside. The cafeteria even had robots working to deliver food.
Besides being light and airy, the buildings were full of interesting artwork.
Three Columns, Cast Glass – Libensky and BrychtovaMan and Freedom, Ivan MestrovicBlown glass, Dale ChihulyBlown glass, Sonja BlomdahlBlown Glass, Dale ChihulyFour Houses, Jennifer Bartlett
On the way back to the Twin Cities, we stopped at Frontenac State Park overlooking Lake Pepin. It started out kind of gloomy but amazingly, it cleared up to be a beautiful day. Light!!
I’m gonna lay down that atom bomb Down by the riverside down by the riverside Down by the riverside I’m gonna lay down that atom bomb Down by the riverside study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more Ain’t gonna study war no more — Pete Seeger
Hug me, squeeze me, love me, tease me ‘Til I can’t, ’til I can’t, ’til I can’t take no more of it Take me to the water, drop me in the river Push me in the water, drop me in the river Washing me down, washing me down — Al Green via Talking Heads
Eloise Butler was born on a farm in Maine in 1851. In 1874, she moved to Minneapolis to teach botany and took her students on field trips “botanizing”. In 1907, she persuaded the Minneapolis Park Board to set aside three acres for a wild botanical garden. After 36 years of teaching she retired and became the curator of the garden. In 1924, she spent $700 of her own money to expand the garden to a five acre fenced off area. The garden was re-named the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in her honor in 1927. She died at 81 tending the garden.
