Tag Archives: diamond point park

Flowers, plants and trees!

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Today was a really pretty walk. We stayed off the dirt trail and walked the sidewalks and bike trail from the waterfront to the Bemidji State University and Diamond Point Park area and back. As you can see from the reflection in the pond above in the park, it was a still day. It was warm, but not too warm.

I have really liked some of the closeups Bethany has taken lately, so I figured I’d zoom in a little on this leaf in a bush, which is pictured in the center of the photo below. I wasn’t sure where I took the photo, but when I saw who is standing in the background, I realized it was outside the Tourist Information Center!

We ran across our favorite chipmunk — we are going by the assumption that there is one particular chipmunk who is unusually friendly — at the park. I had run out of photos, so I deleted one and took this photo, but then I saw that he was unwrapping and munching on a piece of fancy chocolate. Unfortunately, just after I deleted another photo so I could get him with the candy, he ran off again.

Then the woman holding the bag in the photo below told us the chipmunk had taken the candy from her bag! wat a scamp that little guy is.

Our pretty walk today included lots of flowers, plants and trees.

By the way, when I came up with that headline, I was thinking it was something from a song, but I realized that song was actually Cher’s "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves!

Anyway, here are some of the flora we saw today:

We saw some trees that appear to have been downed by wind. This one is right in front of where the trail opens up in back of BSU.

It was a nice day for a gathering. Apparently it’s the fifth annual summer at BSU. I could have sworn we’d had more summers than five ;)  Seriously, I think there’s something else on the sign I couldn’t make out.

 And congrats, Oliva, on your graduation! (see photo below)

 

We had two things in the Stuff on the Ground department today.

On the right, we saw the broken front casing for a Blackberry. Looks like someone was not happy with their cell phone. I have a co-worker who has had to replace his twice, but as far as I know he never stomped on it and left it on the ground in pieces!

Below, we have a gocery list of someone who was shopping for Egg Beaters (lots!), canned salmon, chicken breast (again, he or she wanted lots), fresh veggies, Kellogg’s protein bars, whole-grain bagels, beans,  English muffins, feta cheese and tuna.

It all sounds pretty good, except the salmon. Ew.

We were Harmony Food Co-op at the time, so by the healthful foods on the list and the location, I can only assume they were shopping there. It’s a lovely little place (which will be a lovely larger place next year when it moves even closer to where I live!).

Speaking of Harmony Foods, I had to snap a picture of this young woman who was reading outside while drinking a beverage.

"She has that perfect red hair," I whispered to Bethany as we walked past. "And the perfect green shirt to go with it."

I’ve always had red hair, but it’s never been thick and wavy like perfect red hair.

Today’s puzzler:

Yesterday’s mystery photo, the steps to nowhere, were from a vacant lot that obviously used to have something to which the steps led. I can’t remember exactly where it was, but I think it might have been on or near Mississippi Avenue, where we walked to take a look at the Village of Hope, the new homeless shelter.

I hear there is more rain in store for us tomorrow. At least it won’t be cold!

And I have plenty of clothes to choose from, as I hauled five laundry baskets to the Corner Laundry this afternoon and washed more clothes at one time than ever before. I had to get change for a second $20 bill, so I now have $17 in quarters, which I just dumped in a drawer at work for vending machine use.

By the time our walk ended, it had gotten pretty warm, almost hot. The sun must have come out, because I lamented that I had put sunscreen on my arms and legs, but forgot my face. I said I’d rather have the sunburn and avoid the freckles. Bethany just chuckled.

I told Bethany, also, that next time I want to do a bunch of laundry on a hot day in the middle of the afternoon, to remind me that it is a stupid idea.

Here’s to smart ideas!

– Laurie 

 

A Diamond Point day

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Isn’t he a cutie? His name is Copper and he’s (if I remember right) 4 months old. He was with his owner and her friend today at Diamond Point Park, which was bustling with activity.

Today was a beautiful day for walking. There was a little breeze as we set off, both wearing shorts and tank tops for the first time this year.

Of course, starting out with the perfect temp leads to being super-hot and tired later. We hit that spot at about the halfway mark, as we passed through Diamond Point Park and hit that slight incline on Birchmont Road.

At that point, a young man and woman rode their bikes past us. She was asking him something, and he was answering non-commitally. Finally, he told her he was concentrating on getting up the hill.

"I don’t know how to downshift," he said. "This bike only has one gear. I’m giving it all I’ve got."

Bethany pointed out that none of us knows how to downshift a bike that cannot be shifted. Clever gal. She should work for a newspaper! ;)

Some of the activity at Diamond Point Park is shown in photos above and below. We only saw one person in the water, and it was a a brave little toddler (below, center, across from the dog). It looks like the others are watching the little boy but staying out of the water themselves!

Bethany is predicting I’ll be going in pretty soon. I don’t know about taking a dip yet, but I wouldn’t mind taking a quick wade and putting some cold water on my face and arms to tide me over for the 1.5-mile walk back.

This person had the right idea, curled up in a hammock and reading a book. That looks like a really comfortable way to go!

A beautiful tree! The colors are so spectacular these days.

Who says the tenacious dandelion isn’t a flower? this one looks like it was planted outside a tree dweller’s home! :)

If you’re keeping track of where pieces are in the Bemidij Sculpture Walk, the Grannie’s Garden sculpture by artist Lee Leuning, which we just featured as a mystery photo, has moved a little off the street to the back yard of the Masonic Temple/Wild Rose Theater. Unless it’s a twin! Or Maybe Granny is going around town checking out her beautiful, productive gardens.

The sculpture walk is so cool. Bemidji is fortunate to have people like Al and Catie Belleveau, who spearheaded that project.

In the front of the building (which is  is an invitation to a blood drive:

 When we walked across Bemidji Avenue and saw the sign had tipped over, I told Bethany, "I’m going to be a good Samaritan."

So I propped the sign up. I don’t know how long it stayed though, because I could feel it wanting to tip backwards again.

"Stuff on the ground" for today includes some Burt’s Bees lip gloss and a cigarette, neither of which we put anywhere near our mouths.

 

I know I’ve already put a bazillion photos in this blog entry, but above is one from yesterday I forgot to use.

We were walking down Third Street and Bethany stopped suddenly and looked across the street.

"Has that always been red?"

We do miss a lot, but we’re not that bad. It’s really red.

Besides, we also noticed that guy at the far end in the photo with a ladder and paintbrush.

Symbiosis?

I also forgot to take a mystery photo today, so I’m cheating a little with the tree photo at the right. :)

Do you know where this tree — actually, pair of trees — is?

And if so, does anyone know how this happened? It looks like the tree fell against the other tree and just kept growing normally at an angle.

 

The answer to yesterday’s puzzler was the sign by the Paul and Babe statues at the waterfront park.

Take care!

– Laurie

 

A visit from Raquel (no, not Welch — even better!)

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It’s been a long time since we’ve seen our former co-worker Raquel, who was the Pioneer’s news clerk until a couple of years ago. She and her husband, Brandon, moved to Duluth, where he is studying pharmacy.

When she told me she’d be in town this week, I suggested she walk with us today and she jumped at the chance. She said she likes to work out at home and it was nice to get in a good three miles of walking.

While her husband is from Bemidji, Raquel was born in the Dominican Republic, where she tells me she used to eat mangoes she plucked off the tree (yum!) and later moved to Florida with her family, so she wasn’t used to anything closely resembling winter until she met and married Brandon.

We were talking about those weather differences today, and Bethany said she likes having the changing of the seasons.

"I wouldn’t mind the changing of the seasons if there were only three of them," I said.

Raquel (who is goofing off in the picture on the right) agreed, and we all said we wouldn’t mind winter so much if there wasn’t so much of it, for so long!

I know, we used a picture of these blossoms last week, but at least this one is from a different tree (I think!). This picture turned out so pretty, I couldn’t resist using it. I also set it as my desktop background on my computer at work, which used to have the robin with tulips from a previous blog post. (We love our nature photos, even if we can’t identify much of nature!)

We didn’t take the trail because we thought it would be too wet, but we at least walked near it and we could look down at elements of it, like the bridge above and the lake view below:

While we were out and about, we saw plenty of activity, including this friendly chap at Baker Park …

… and some folks who were either working or playing (or maybe both!) at Bemidji State University’s Outdoor Program Center, located at Diamond Point Park.

We like to do "stuff on the ground," so here are a couple of odd ones:

Here is a red chicken to go with the rooster from earlier. As for the lower photo, someone apparently really wanted to make sure this brochure stayed together:

 

Our puzzler for today:

Yesterday’s mystery photo was of the Bob Melvin sculpture "Wild Hair," which used to be outside the Wild Hare Bistro and Coffeehouse but is now several blocks away near the Ink Spot Press/Irvine Avenue Shops and the Bemidji Woolen Mills.

This week is going fast. As I write this, it’s 15 minutes from Thursday! :)

– Laurie

It’s a plane, it’s a bird…

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…it’s a spec on the lens?!

OK, there’s a story behind this (quite terrible) photograph. Laurie and I were walking along Lake Avenue when we saw a float plane. And I thought, "Gee wouldn’t it have been nice to get a photo of that?" A few moments later, we heard another one coming, but apparently the plane is a lot faster than Laurie’s point-and-shoot camera.

Really, I don’t think the bug-like blob in the center of this picture is the plane. I mean, it was fairly large and pretty close to us. I just missed it, apparently.

Today’s walk was abbreviated. I had a lot to get done at work and Laurie, too, needed to get to the office. So we weren’t gone long.

Long enough, though, to dream about get-thin-quick schemes, such as hypnosis:

Laurie: "I mean, if they can make you squawk like a chicken every time someone says ‘oatmeal,’ surely they could make you want a celery stick every time you see a piece of candy."

Which prompted the development of a page-long list of things we would like someone to make us do. For Laurie, it was go to bed before 2 a.m. Me, I would have been just fine with the celery.

Willpower, apparently, just isn’t a strength of ours. Yet. But we’re getting there!

The following is our Bemidji guessing game. (I’ll give you a hint, since it is somewhat obscure: It is located within a building that is owned by a governmental entity.)

The answer from yesterday is that the sign is anchored along the new columns at Diamond Point Park.

Have a great Labor Day weekend! Enjoy the sunshine!

-Bethany

Triple Treat!

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You wouldn’t guess by this photo that she was freezing, would you?

We had a guest today as new education reporter Anne Williams joined us. We tried to take another swim at Bemidji High School, but it turned out open swimming ended last week, so instead we went to the swimming beach at Diamond Point Park.

Bethany and I walked in gingerly, but daredevil Anne flew in all at once, getting the cold shock over with. I think she was just trying to hurry up and get in the water before I got my camera turned on.

Once we got used to the water, it wasn’t so bad (as long as we stayed in the water), but it definitely wasn’t as warm as the last time I swam in Lake Bemidji after several hot days in a row.

Anne wowed us with her knowledge of the outdoors. We knew she was a whiz, but it’s still impressive to see someone who actually knows the names of the birds we see that aren’t bald eagles, robins and red-winged blackbirds.

She even made friends with a loon. I was surprised the loon let her come as close as it did, even diving down into the lake and popping back up without seeming bothered by Anne’s presence. Later, it poppped up right next to us, startling both Bethany and Anne, who in turn startled me as I was facing the shore and had no idea what kind of creature they could be pointing at.

The highlight of the day was (unfortunately, after I’d packed my camera away), seeing an eagle skim over the surface of Lake Bemidji with supper clutched in its talons and come to rest in a tree on the shore.

Then another bird came swooping over.

"Oh, it’s a juvenile eagle," Anne said.

Bethany objected at first, but Anne explained that it takes about four years for a bald eagle to gets its white head. We then oohed over her being so smart to call it a "juvenile," when we would probably have just said "little" or "young" or something else non-scientific.

Anne may come in helpful if she joins us on a hiking excursion sometime, since we don’t seem to know anything about the world around us! (OK, we’re not that bad.)

Here’s me doing the sidestroke (the lazy stroke I use much of the time)

As you can see, it was a beautiful day. It probably was good to swim outside rather than in, but we got way less exercise. The pool just seems more suited to work, while the lake seems more suited to play. We did do the equivalent of a couple of laps, but later we were chatting so much that we ended up just treading water, which is probably one of those things you don’t realize is exercise. (I can hope!)

It was nice to get together outside the office with Anne, too. In the five years that I have been with the Pioneer, the people holding our three general reporter positions have tended to spend a considerable amount of time together. Often it’s been about work, and at work — discussing what we have coming up, sharing information from sources, talking about the stories and people we cover, discussing AP style and writing in general, and picking one another’s reporter brains.

While Bethany, the city reporter, and Anne have specific beats they cover (I do feature stories and some general news, along with page design), there are other stories that any of us will cover, and there are stories on their beats I cover once in a while when they can’t. So since we all share a certain workload, it’s natural for us to confer now and then, which also leads to us putting our heads together socially as well. It doesn’t happen all that often, and it pretty much leads back to talking about work when it does. :)

We completely forgot about looking for a How Well Do You Know Bemidji? photo, but the last mystery photo was the bridge at Diamond Point Park. It was maybe an easy one, but we figured if we zoomed in on it, it might be hard to place for people who don’t go to the park regularly. There are a lot of people who do that — sit in the chairs, walk, have some lunch, read a book.

And now it’s September, folks. We’re easing into the fall, the season that I would find wonderful if not for what it leads into.

I wrote two blog posts today. Scroll down for the first one …

– Laurie

Working it …

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It was a beautiful day today, but a hot one. Above are some lily pads in the waterfront park in the area of the aquifer.

We found some bugs, too, which is kind of unusual along the trail. We were batting mosquitos away for quite a while.

Bethany: "These mosquitos are like dragonflies!"

We started a new regime today that Bethany read about in a magazine. You walk for 20 minutes, then stop and do some exercises, the walk for 20 minutes, stop again and exercise.

We found a quiet corner on the Bemidji State University campus to do our exercises, which consisted of knee bends, lunges, etc., and working with a resistance band. It went pretty well, with our magazine opened on the cement in front of us.

At Diamond Point Park, I took a dip in the lake to cool off, but it was sooooo cold. The tops of my feet were like ice. It felt like going into cold tap water. I guess it’s the combination of a hot day with water that hasn’t seen a lot of hot days. There was one day I waded in the lake when it would have felt perfect to just jump right in, but it was not at all like that today. I was in the water maybe a minute or two, just long enough to beat the heat for a while.

On the way back, we found our little shady corner again and repeated the exercises, which were a little harder this time. One of the exercises with the resistance bands involves standing back to back with each person stretching the band in front of her.

Bethany: "Oh yay. Back sweat!"

But it’s better than one person with back sweat standing against a person with a dry back!

We looked at some other along-the-way exercise ideas, too, and thought we might try them on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Today’s route took a couple of hours, so we’ll probably need to cut the route down to accommodate the exercises. It’s nice to get the rest of our bodies moving and still enjoy the walking.

 

  Here’s today’s mystery photo:

Our last photo was of the dinosaur outside Headwaters Science Center. We got our first guess, too, which was cool. It came from Julie (Bratvold) Liew, who formerly had Bethany’s job at the Pioneer before moving to New York City a few years ago. Julie still keeps tabs on her friends here.

It’s nice to be back along the trail. See you Thursday! :)

– Laurie