Brad Sondahl's blog

The last time I went to Minnesota my best photo was a cardinal, as was this time. I'd like to say that I'm giving the less showy female cardinal more exposure as part of gender parity, but actually the red cardinal shots were blurrier.
    The most blogworthy part of my trip was the way out. I don't fly a lot, but remember flying to Minnesota shortly after 9-11 and being impressed by the lack of conversation. Now it seems most conversations are on cell phones, which brings me to my story.
    I sat down in my chosen window seat (ever optimistic that I'll be able to see wonderful landforms from the sky, though usually it's just clouds--speaking of which, have you ever seen a bright white light like a sundog on the clouds below you in the direction towards the sun? Wonder what that's called...) I was just at the point of hoping for an empty seat next to me when this woman showed up with a large pack to fit under her seat, and settled in. I'm not a gregarious sort, more inclined to reply to a comment than tender one, but I did wonder why she pulled some nylon netting resembling a beekeeper's hat over her face. There were several other women on the plane wearing little hats over their hair (in the Amish or Hutterite style), so I wondered if it was some religious thing. She kept it on for most of the trip, and I kept to myself reading a book. She also had a silver gadget in her possessions resemling a cross between a hair dryer and the Millenium Falcon space ship, which I found curious. After we landed, I got out my cell phone to call my wife, which is when she finally spoke to me. " Doesn't that cell phone make your head hot?" she asked. "That was a hot one. I've got this device from England that tells when anyone is using a cell phone nearby. They make my head hurt." While there are plausible bits to her story, it was clearly nylon netting she was wearing, which would not stop any kind of waves, but might be effective on NonMinnesota mosquitoes...

Feb.19
    Another busy day of kids programs at the library. The kids movies have been changing from puppetry towards acting. Here's the link to the one made from last week: Just a Dream
Also we gave a short talk at the local Chamber of Commerce on our business history this morning. The weather continues winter blah.

Feb. 21
    Among the stereotypes of Scandinavians that we harbor, lefse and lutefisk are prominent food items. Emil had never heard of lefse, but has grown fond of it. I made some for breakfast today. It's just leftover mashed potatoes, mashed again with a fork to remove lumps, with white flour added to make a rollable dough, fried on a hot dry griddle. We serve it warm with butter and jam, brown sugar, or other fruit sauces.
    Lutefisk is lye soaked codfish, of a gelatinous texture, which I find hard to believe is still popular anywhere but in Minnesota.

Feb. 23
    Spring hit today with a vengeance--rain all day, the first rain since last fall. The water is pooling in front of our previously flooded garage, but there's still a two foot berm of snow and ice which should hold it for a while (That's probably what the cave men said about Glacial Lake Missoula, which built up behind an ice dam and then failed catastrophically during the last ice age, changing the geography of this whole area). Up until today the street by our house was still coated with an inch of protective ice. This may mark the beginning of the Spring breakup, when the roads are fragile changing from frozen tar underneath to goopy tar. I'm not naive enough to think the snows are over, but the average high temperature is creeping up well above freezing. This is good since the 4 cords of wood for our main house are used up, and we're starting to import wood from the pottery house.
    Including parents there were 16 for the preschool storytime today, which is the largest group yet. I'm pleased that the kids and parents are happy with the program, which included stuffing all the critters from "I know an old lady" down the old lady puppet's gullet (I didn't create this--it's a commercial product), and making puppets out of paper bags with googly eyes and construction paper ears.

Feb. 24
    Two days of rain, still no serious flood issues... This is another version of the late winter blahs... I cranked out pots all morning, and checked books and videos in and out all afternoon at the library.

Feb. 25
The third day of rain turned into snow, so everything looks more freshly wintery, rather than worn out wintery. In spite of the rain, there's still plenty of 8 foot berms of snow around.
    Tomorrow baseball season starts at the high school, and Emil is going to try the great American game.    He's been experimenting with hair dye again --tried to dye his hair green with green food color. In the rain yesterday the dyed hair got on his face, where the dye stuck on his skin in a prominent manner over a good section of face. I guess he's ready for St. Patrick's Day a little early.

Feb. 28
    We've got a young friend of the family visiting who is interested in living with us next winter, and possibly learning to be a potter. She's staying over her spring break from high school, which should give us both a bit of time to see if it might work out. She has a semester of high school to finish next fall, so she would come next January, through Fall. She's also looking at area colleges while being here.
    I've been making lots of pots this week, but with the rain they've dried slowly, so I finally filled two kilns today with them and am "candling" them (heating the kiln slowly to let them dry out), probably to fire them tomorrow (depending on whether we go skiing or not).
    Yesterday and today no precipitation is expected, but the next week has lots expected, starting tomorrow. Today looks like a good day to walk on the lake--it's been cold enough overnight to freeze the recent rain and snow and make a fairly smooth lake surface.

Books read and other media of note:

Gunman's Rhapsody by Robert Parker I'd never paid a lot of attention to the life of Wyatt Earp, except seeing some series based on his life when a child. This novel by Robert Parker brought it all alive. I just read most of what's written at the link above, and his story fits the facts mostly, although he paints Wyatt as more of a hero than his record attests. If anyone epitomized the Old West, it's got to be Wyatt. He even ended up in Murray, Idaho and Chewelah, Washington in later years, chasing mining booms. He lived enough for ten men...

The Bear in the Attic by Patrick McManus He writes books regularly--collections of his humorous articles from Outdoor Life Magazine. Each story is a 3 page gem--a very short short story about growing up camping and fishing and stuff, made more wonderful for me as they're mostly set in North Idaho.

Two for the Money, and Three to Get Deadly, Four to Score, High Five by Janet Evanovich. Okay, I'm hooked on the series--detective fluff, but well told fluff. I guess I've got about 20 to go.

The Graveyard Book. by Neil Gaiman. This is his latest fantasy, and it had some good parts. I was reminded of Peter Beagle's Fine and Private Place, also set in a grave yard. I think I failed to engage enough with some of the characters for it all to work for me.

Coraline 3D film. I'd read the book--generally I like the author, Neil Gaiman. This was well realized, and the 3D effect adds to the surreality of the whole premise--a girl ventures into a scary mirror image reality from a hidden door in a house she's moved into. It was the first 3D movie I'd seen in many years, and showed the potential for making it worthwhile to see the movie in a theater--2D small screen would be a distant relative at best. I wouldn't recommend it for kids under 10 though--mostly pretty depressing topics.

The Violent Man by A.E. Van Vogt. This work was a surprise from the usually seat- of- your- pants fantasy author--a well researched novel set in a cold war indoctrination prison in China (it was written in the 50's or 60's as well). Although it was not a topic I'd usually read a novel on, he made it an interesting psychological study. It reminded me a bit of the 60's series, The Prisoner, as they both have their surreal touches.

Video: Appaloosa I'd read the book by Robert Parker last year. Although my memory has always been like a sieve, this movie seemed an excellent rendition of the book. The actors seemed all hard real people, in a hard existence--not a pretty face in the bunch. In the library, it's mostly older men that read the westerns--I guess I'm an older man... But the drama of love, betrayal, and honor cuts across genres.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I read it because it's hugely popular with teens. The whole book seethes with repressed sexuality and other nervous tension. I'm not sure why it's such a hit--there's a lot better fantasy out there... Sometimes hits just happen. Or maybe it's the seething repressed sexuality and other nervous tension.

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich. Our library has a huge section of books by this author on her Stephanie Plum mysteries. She's currently atop the best seller list for her latest entry. I'm fond of female sleuths, from Miss Marple to V.I. Warshawski to Carlotta Carlisle and Anna Pigeon. This particular one (Plum) is closest to V.I. Warshawski: urban, working class, a bit more crass than V.I., but well crafted. Not for the squeamish.
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