Hostas with the Mostas

I just returned from a quick but invigorating retreat to Brainerd, Minnesota, where my sister Lisa and brother-in-law Dave live.

We started the weekend working at one of the community's soup kitchens. Lisa was in charge, and she tactfully and efficiently herded, I mean guided, 8 cats, I mean volunteers, to provide a nutritious dinner for 70 clients.

I was surprised and saddened to note that more than half of those dining with us were young people (about my sons' ages or younger). Not sure what i expected, but my visual image of "homeless" doesn't usually include people who so closely resemble people I know and love.

The dining room was friendly and inviting--flowers on round tables set for eight, no hoops to jump through, just an open door and a hot meal.

My current goal is to think twice before I scoff at the plentiful, if not fabulous, food in the dorm. It's good to remember that anyone's "normal" life can turn on a dime.

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When we got back to Lisa's and Dave's, we took the boat out for a spin. Serendipity was smiling on us, and one of Gull Lake's resident bald eagles did a breathtaking fly by. The fishin' was poor, though, so he/she didn't hang around.

We counted half a dozen loons (beak-and-feathers variety) including some moms and babies. They weren't making their freaky calls, unfortunately. Equally unfortunate was my attempt to film them from the speedboat.

Becaue my limitations as a camera person shouldn't impede your study of the common loon, here's somebody else's great video featuring their, um, loony language.


Lisa and Dave pointed out that eagles sometimes snack on baby loons, so their vocal reticence last night was understandable.

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Speaking of Mother Nature, here's some video of Lisa's and Dave's gorgeous flowers. Lisa's has bounced back from my parents' use of weeding and watering as"hard labor" punishment and now thrives in the garden. (I'm not there yet.) Enjoy the blooms, and the yard art, too! The video is a little blurry because I got some mosquito repellent on the lens.



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This post's timeline is screwy. Or should I say loony? At any rate, in this same 24-hour period, we met up with a bunch of Brainerd friends. We took the speedboat to Debbie and Brian's place, where we were welcomed onto their deck for a glass of wine and a view of the gorgeous sunset.

And this morning, we had breakfast with two other friends, Sue and Dale, and their daughter and son-in-law, Beth and Craig. The "kids" are fun and dedicated educators who teach in an American school in Tokyo. I found out that even the youngest elementary school students take the jam-packed Japanese trains to school. The children are taught to raise their hands high when crossing streets so motorists can see them.

Sue and Dale (a nurse and doctor, respectively) are getting ready to return to Tanzania, where they train medical personnel and treat AIDS patients and other people in need of care.

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Today Dave, who is a district court judge, had three weddings to perform. Lisa brought me back to Minneapolis this afternoon so I could have dinner with Joni, my best friend from first grade through junior high school. We've sent cards and emailed through the years, but hadn't seen each other for about 30 years. She's a patent attorney working with medical scientists in San Francisco, the perfect career for someone with degrees in both microbiology and law.

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As someone who tends to accomplish one or two things per weekend, I'm both energized and exhausted. I'm thinking that maybe I could do more. But not tonight!