Where I Stand

Greg was in Austin over the weekend for three performances. He reports that they went really well, and notes there was a nice write up by the critic from the Austin Statesman. Greg also observed that one can get some real deal Texas-style BBQ at a place called “Black’s” in the town of Lockhart.

Recently my nephew, Chris Stuart, was in a major bike race, the 2010 Calville Bay Classic. Apparently Chris has a haircut these days that is well removed from the mainstream. Before the criterium stage, Floyd Landis came up to Chris and commented on the haircut, saying something to the effect that with a haircut like that, a guy had better be a bad ass bike racer. Floyd, as you might recall, finished first in the 2006 Tour de France before being disqualified. In the criterium stage, Chris finished third, beating Floyd who finished eighth. Chris made sure to track Floyd down and clarified that, yes, he is a bad ass bike racer.

Today I went over to Baker Park in the southwest metro to photograph a pair of cross country ski races. These were 10.7K races, the Snowflake for men and the Inga~Lami for women. I now more fully understand that there is a tradition of costumes for the women’s race. As I was standing out on the course, killing time between the end of the men’s race and the start of the women’s, I noticed three trumpeter swans fly overhead. Better photos from what undoubtedly was my last cross country ski race of the season can be found on the web here.

Pat has been doing a fair amount of snowshoeing this winter, and today she decided it would be a good idea to take some photographs. Temperatures were in the low 30’s, sun was shining brightly and there was no wind – couldn’t have asked for better conditions. Here are a few shots – Pat standing in our front yard, Pat out in Long Marsh, and Pat running along the trail that crosses our property:

Tonight Pat and I went to the Guthrie to see the Kneehigh Theatre’s production of “Brief Encounter” by Noel Coward. This was a truly ingenious production, working in portions of the 1945 movie version of the play. This may well have been the best night of theater we’ve had.

Today I was over in Minneapolis to photograph the City of Lakes Loppett. There were actually 3 cross country ski events today, a 10K tour, a 25K classic race and a 33K freestyle race. This year I decided to photograph the race at Brownie Lake, just “upstream” from Cedar Lake, where I photographed the race the last several years. There is something of a hill as the course drops down to the level of the lake, and I took some shots on that hill on the theory that some of the less experienced skiers in the tour event might have difficulty here. I was right. Most of my photography today was done out on the lake, however.

I was hoping to photograph our neighbor, Cheryl DuBois, who had a strong race today, finishing fifth. Got some shots of Cheryl and other members of her team sponsored by finnsisu. Got a shot of a guy in the 10K Tour that looked very much like Jack Fabiano. Better photos from today are on the web for the tour, classic and freestyle.

Today I had the opportunity to photograph three winter sports. This morning I was over at the Long Lake Regional Park in New Brighton to photograph the Twin Cities Snowshoe Shuffle. A few photos from this morning can be seen on the web here. In the afternoon, I was in Minneapolis where I photographed bicycle racing on ice (Penn Ice-Cycle Loppett) and skijouring (Chuck & Don’s Skijouring Loppett). The ice racing hotos are on my bike photos web site and some skijouring photos can be seen here.

I just finished a book that Doug and Kathy gave me for Christmasm “Boise, Idaho 1882-1910: Prosperity in Isolation” by Carol Lynn MacGregor. Despite having lived in Boise for a number of years, this book added dramatically to my knowledge of the area.

Among the things I picked up from this book:

• The Native Americans who had lived in the area around Boise were the Northern Shoshoni, and they were removed to eastern Idaho by the US Army in the 1860’s. “Comanche” is the Spanish word for Shoshoni.
• The second territorial governor of the Idaho territory, appointed by Abraham Lincoln, had hoped for a post in Paris or Budapest.
• In the late 19th century, Boise had quite a significant Chinese population. They had originally come to Idaho to work in the mines, but later grew most of the fresh produce in the area. The main street that goes through this area is Chinden Boulevard, and Chinden is short for Chinese Garden.
• Temple Beth Israel was built in 1895, but it was 100 years before Boise had a permanent rabbi.
• Boise was plagued for decades by not being on the main line of a railroad; the Union Pacific finally came to the city in 1925.
• Boise established a “sidewalk district” in 1895 to pay for sidewalks.
• When Boise built an electric railway line in 1891, it was one of roughly 10 cities in the world to have one.
• This line caught my eye: “Certainly, isolated Boise was not in the middle of much.”
• Boise had the first home in the world to be heated by geothermal water, and it also had electric lights.
• At the 1906 Idaho Intermountain Fair, the US cavalry performed a number of demonstrations, include “mounted wrestling”.
• One of the two companies that merged to form Boise-Cascade was the Boise Payette Lumber Company. Boise Payette was created when the Payette Lumber Company merged with the Barber Lumber Company. Interesting how “Boise” wedged its way in there, displacing “Barber”.
• In 1864 the Tri-Weekly Statesman commenced publication. It became the Idaho Daily Statesman in 1888, and was still using that name many decades later. It is now the Idaho Statesman.
• Idaho’s constitution originally disenfranchised Mormons, Indians not taxed and Chinese.
• While Idaho was the fourth state to grant women suffrage, it “was the first state to have pro-suffrage platforms in all five parties”.
• Boise High School was the first high school in the state, built in 1904.
• Gotta like this sentence: “Most people retired their outhouses as soon as they connected to the sewer line.” Most people?

In December and early January, we had been having, on balance, a rather cold winter. Temperatures had been mostly below normal, and we had nights where the low had been -15, -20 and -21. Then, on January 12 my brother came to town. Doug lives in Boise these days, and Boise’s winter weather tends to be mild. For the two weeks he was here in the Twin Citites, the temperatures were above average. Many days, they were well above average. We even had a couple of days where it rained. Yesterday, my brother went flew back to Boise. And, just like clockwork, the temperatures went back to normal. When I got up this morning, it was barely above zero. And the next few nights are likely to dip below zero. But, being good hosts, we provided Doug with temperatures that were more like what he has grown used to in Boise.

Even though the weather warmed up while he was here, we were able to give Doug something of a feeling of Minnesota weather when we got him out on show shoes.

While Doug was in the Twin Cities, he got a chance to see a bit of 4 not overly common winter sports:

• Ski jumping
• Speed skating
• Curling
• Bandy

On Friday morning I was down at Lake Nokomis for the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships. This was the fifth year for the tournament, and the first time the weather truly didn’t cooperate. True, in past years, the temperatures have been -10 to -15, but that just added to the charm of the event. On Friday, play started in the morning with temperatures just below freezing. By Saturday the temperatures were above freezing, and rain fell for part of the day. Rules were modified, and rather than playing with pucks, they used the hard orange balls from Bandy. Play on Sunday was canceled/postponed.

Being a purist, I only took photos on Friday, where I was able to photograph my doctor in one game. Better photos from Friday can be found on my pond hockey photos web site.