Tag Archives: trees

Amazing January

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I stepped outside on Thursday, Jan. 5, and walked into October.

Bethany was on her way to my house to go walking, and I hadn’t put my jacket on yet.  I went outside for a moment in my hoodie and was stunned by the immediate realization that my hoodie keep me plenty warm.

Wow.

We don’t get as many chances to walk as we used to, but this was the best day to do so in a long lines of unseasonably warm days.  The temp was 46 degrees when I got back home, but I later saw in a Pioneer photo that a bank thermometer had read 50 degrees. In January.

What’s really odd for me is that this is my most hated month of the year.  I normally find January to be cold, cruel and depressing.  December is cold, too, but it’s the month of  Christmas.  There are lights and music and business open houses with coffee and cider and cookies, not to mention the family and friends with whom we share the holiday season. January is when it all stops and it just becomes winter.

But this January, it’s been more like fall so far. Granted, we did get some snow Friday, but I still didn’t wear a hat or gloves. In January.

While the snow that started just after Christmas was still on the ground for our walk Thursday, a lot of it was melting, as you can see by this watery sidewalk. You can’t see it in the photo, but the melting snow was glistening all over the house; I thought at first it was the Christmas decorations shining in the sun.

The penguins look happy they finally got snow. I suppose they looked out of place at Christmas!

Bethany not only happily wore her hoodie, too, she also pushed up the sleeves. Here, we were just a few blocks from home.

Not only was it warm, it was a sunny day with blue skies and a bright sun.  It was just a great day to be outside.

Happy January! :)

Meandering jaunt produces walkers, tree sweater

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Today, we were about as scattered as the seagulls we saw over the water by Library Park. (OK, fine, they’re only flying because I ran toward them to scare them skyward for a photo.)

We ended up starting out from my house four times, each time going a different direction. We had one dead camera and then two additional cameras, each, as it turned out, with no batteries. Finally, I just bought a big pack of batteries at Pamida, where I asked the checkout guy if he could cut the package open (I hate those horrible packages).

“No,” he joked. “I can’t do that.”

“They don’t trust you with scissors?” Bethany said.

“Maybe he has to watch a training video first,” I suggested.

So finally we were on our way, after having also learned we needed to look for a photo for tomorrow’s paper.  It’s a rather wet, drippy day today, so we seemed to be the only ones outside doing anything interesting, but then we ran across Pam Papp and Joann Gardner walking through Library Park.

They work at Bemidji State University and walk every day during their lunch breaks.  So they’re way more consistent than we are. :)

We had no notebooks with us, so I texted their names to Bethany. At first thought, that seems not very professional, but journalists often have to think on their feet, so let’s go with resourceful. ;)

We were dumbfounded by this tree sweater on Third Street. What a fun idea! We are really curious who did this and how the idea came about, so if you know, send us a message!

I thought maybe it was a Master Gardener who has a crafty thumb as well as a green one. The Master Gardeners take care of the downtown planters every year.

We were also curious about how the sweater was placed on the tree, so we circled around and found a back seam, which we are guessing was closed after putting the sweater over the tree.

In any case, the sweater is in nice fall colors. :)

I thought this spine outside Explore  Chiropractic was cute, but I really had to stop and take a photo when I saw the giraffe, since I collect giraffes and this is a nice one!

“Do you have a giraffe neck or a banana neck?” the sign in the window reads.

I imagine I have a giraffe neck. First, because giraffes and humans have the same number of vertebrae (seven, which I remember being very surprised by when I heard that years ago.

And second, because like the song says, bananas have no bones. :)

Here’s a Halloween window display for you …

Have a great rest of the week!

 

On the Road Again …

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Trail Mix hit the sidewalks again today, finally.

Our schedules didn’t really mesh while Bethany was on maternity leave, so the occasional walking we’d hoped for fell by the wayside. Bethany returned to work Monday, but even then it took a few days. I was out of town until late Monday afternoon, Bethany had an appointment Tuesday, I was gone Wednesday and Bethany did not have time Thursday.

So Friday it was.

We weren’t sure if it was OK to walk across the road work, but it was easily passable, especially for a pair of hikers who normally walk along a dirt trail. :)

We do hope to get back on the trail for a while before the snow falls.

Today, I discovered Bethany’s love of old things. I think maybe she did, too. …

She pointed out the fence above, then later said she didn’t really like old things. But not long after that, she pointed out another fence:

Then she caught sight of this garage, remarking that she liked the contrast of the blue with the red of the window propped against it:

“I guess I like old things,” she said, laughing, “as long as they’re not mine.”

Fences in particular.

I like the blue-and-red mix, too, although my favorite combination would involve a darker, richer blue, perhaps like this house that I also liked:

As for old things, I think I agree to some extent, especially when talking about old dilapidated things that have a certain character.  These are fun things to discover while out and about, and sometimes familiar things you’d miss if you no longer walked past it, but the owners might think, “Huh? This old thing? I can’t wait to replace it.”

Remember this dog? The dog that always barks ferociously at us (but who I’m guessing is actually quite friendly — I just don’t want to test it because he has big teeth)?

Well, this is what he looks like when I make kissy noises and wake him up for a nap. He had no interest at all in barking, or even getting up!

I meant to take some flower pictures today, but there aren’t a lot of flowers left, and I forgot to keep looking. But I did find this lovely planter, with a nice crop of rhubarb in the back corner.

When I lived in Crookston, I had an apartment where rhubarb grew right outside my door. It was really cool to be able to pick a couple of stalks and make rhubarb whatever. (I wonder if there’s an actual recipe for that.)

We capped off our walk with lunch at Cantabria, where we split a Barcelona sandwich, which was grilled ham and cheese with red peppers, lettuce and tomatoes and mayo. We also each had a smoothie; I had mango and she had the Red Monkey (strawberry banana).

It was a nice way to cap off the noon hour, and it’s a really pretty place to be as well.

I suppose it would have been too easy to pick out the sun in the above picture as a puzzler …

I’ll close with another old thing we both liked. :)

Have a great weekend!

Laurie

 

 

 

 

Spring: Nature’s amazing style show

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We’ve had beautiful weather for walking lately, and today was no exception, as the green keeps filling in and standing out more and more against an awesome blue sky.

Vibrant blues and greens are pretty much my favorite color combination, especially involving water, and I love both blue-green and green-blue and assorted similar hues. Last year, I wrote a vague Christmas list that went something like this: “I collect giraffes. Socks. Always socks. I like green, blue, green-blue and blue-green.”

So as these colors take over the season more and more, I keep finding these breathtaking, indescribable moments of passion for my surroundings — not unlike the thrill of biting into a delicious fudgy brownie or sinking into a nice warm bath. It’s just so beautiful outside, everywhere I look. It’s amazing. I wish I could feel like this all year round.

Of course, there are other beautiful colors that make me feel like that besides blue and green. Another joy of spring is watching the flowers come out at different rates in different yards. I think the pink flowers above are alyssum. I’m sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, which is very possible. But I think I’m safe in referring to the flowers below as tulips.

And, of course, the lovely dandelion sticks around for both spring and summer!

No idea what the little blue thing is.

I love how the gazing ball in the photo below acts as a mirror. I didn’t notice that until I saw the photo at full size on my computer.

Random photo  caught Bethany and a group of children out for a walk or field trip:

These Topsy Turvy (or whatever brand they are) planters made me feel guilty. I have one of the upside-down strawberry planters and two of the tomato planters but have not planted them yet or even bought any plants for them. But look how these are already growing! I’m wondering if the red ones are strawberry planters, because I know the green ones are tomato planters.

I think a clothesline is a great place to hang these things. I am planning to hang a tomato plant and a strawberry plant from either side of the bottom of the fire escape outside my apartment building. By the looks of this, I should really get going!

I got a kick out of this stair rail. I don’t think the two sides could be much different. I kind of like them both. I like to think of them as his and hers, with hers the slim, pretty-patterned metal railing and his the burly. handsome wooden one. :)

I hope you all have fun plans for the Memorial Day weekend and that the blue skies and comfortable temps continue.

A beautiful day for a walk around Bemidji …

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We had a beautiful day for walking today. In fact, we were all over the place. We started out downtown and wandered over to 15th Street and then in the Bemidji State University area, finally coming back around the waterfront.

When we were in the BSU area, we both saw what looked like a cat in the back window of a sealed car, which would have been animal abuse on a warm day like today, but it turned out to be a cat of the fake-fur variety.

The sky was blue, the temperature was wonderful and the view was gorgeous. We saw lots of other people walking around town as well.

Even though some trees are still nearly bar, there’s still lots of green out now, and the spring flowers are coming up beautifully. I wish it was like this all year round.

It was just, overall, a nice spring day for a walk.

What more could we ask for? :)

Oh yeah, maybe … instructions on how to make these cute things:

They look like cement and pretty rocks formed in maybe a meat pie tin?

In any case, they’re very cute and it was fun to run across them!

Sunny and Brrrr.

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Today looked like a beautiful day, ghosts and all, but I realized it was pretty cold when I went outside in bare feet to get a pair of sneakers from my car.

“Oh god, it’s cold,” I muttered aloud as I fumbled with the keys and grabbed for the car door. “Really cold. Really, really cold.”

Bethany said later that she would rather have a gloomy warm day than a sunny cold one. I concur.

The ghost caught in the sunshine above served as a clue that what I thought was a popper — those things you fill with gifts or candy and open by pulling at both ends — moments earlier was, Bethany pointed out, likely actually a bat that had fallen off the nearby tree.

Besides, it would not be a very welcome popper, being filled only with leaves.

We stopped by the Fire Hall and ran into firefighter Chris Loebs and his little boy, who I could not coax a smile out of. :) He is looking a bit suspicious here …

As chilly and windy as it was today, it’s nice to see fewer bits of snow every time we go walking. I didn’t notice any snow at all today.

For the pups above, I don’t think the weather mattered. They just like to bark. I couldn’t tell if it was I-want-to-to-lick-your-face barking or I-want-to-bite-your -face barking, but I suspect they were essentially friendly dogs.

I’m not sure what to say about this one, but I’m really curious. Maybe as spring unfolds, we’ll see what the future holds for the tub. :)

And we’re back to cold …

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Looks like the snow has a grip on this tree!

Bethany left a post on my Facebook page Sunday asking me if I was going to be back in town in time to walk today (Monday). She added, “Hey, it might be above freezing, too!”

Nice, I thought. I didn’t even bother to check the forecast. I bundled up reasonably well before her arrival, but when I popped outside to see if she was there yet, my forehead froze on the spot. So I popped back *inside* and changed to my big furry hat.

It was actually around zero, but a really cold zero, especially when we were walking north. It was nice that Bethany had to stop at the Fire Hall and the Law Enforcement Center for reports, because it gave us a chance to warm up a bit. But the walk from there to 15th Street was brutal. Fortunately, it got better as soon as we turned to go back along Beltrami Avenue, although talk soon turned to long underwear and winter face masks and our lack of both today.  (Actually, neither of us has a face mask, but I had one last winter that I bought at Gander Mountain. It was great — it closed with Velcro in the back and had  little breathing holes for the nose, which meant the glasses didn’t get fogged up by breath escaping from the top of a scarf. Somehow that mask did not surface with the rest of my winter garb.)

Snow is piling up this winter, but it’s important to keep fire hydrants clear so firefighters can quickly access them in case of an emergency. As city crews clear snow and ice from the streets, the Bemidji Fire Department asks residents to help by clearing a three-foot radius around hydrants. Residents can adopt a fire hydrant to ensure the the hydrants remain accessible and visible. For details, call Fire Chief David Hoefer at 751-8001.

I love how Kelly Skime (center) falls backward straight as a rail!

Speaking of the firefighters, when we buzzed to get into the Fire Hall today, Justin Sherwood hurried to let us in and observed, “You guys look cold.” We had walked all of two blocks! That did not bode well for the rest of the walk (but we obviously survived). It was hard to feel very justified in our whining, though, with Kelly Skime sitting there. He cross-country skis to work. In the summer, he kayaks. And both he and Justin were among the firefighters who recently jumped into Lake Bemidji during the Polar Plunge, where Justin chose the somersault approach. They are definitely more Minnesotan than we will ever be.

This is another view of the scene pictured at the top of this blog post. I just thought these snow piles looked like some sort of sentries or vague gargoyle statues  built around the trees. I think they looked more gargoyle-like in person, though. ;)

You can’t make out the detail very well on this tree trunk, but I thought it looked like a dancing person holding up a tree with its right hand. It seems kind of  poetic; a tree that looks almost dead gives way to one branch that seems like a tree itself. Trees just seem to find a way.

After our walk, this was our Facebook exchange, which after Bethany’s first response made her mom wonder if we were fighting. :)

  • Laurie Swenson When you said “above freezing,” did you mean “above zero”? (Not that it was above zero.) :P

    9 hours ago ·

  • Bethany Wesley And, for the record, I said it “might be” above freezing. Not that it was even close, but I at least didn’t PROMISE anything!

    9 hours ago ·

  • Laurie Swenson Some meteorologist you are.

    7 hours ago ·

  • Bethany Wesley Maybe I should say it will be -27 and sleety tomorrow … this way when it is positive 3 and “breezy” we will feel blessed?! :)

    7 hours ago ·

I can’t say the photos were very pretty today. The snow is dirty and the trees are bare. Our best photo is the puzzler. Isn’t that sad? :)

Have a great week! We’re a fourth of the way through February!!!!! (And I’m five minutes from midnight Monday night, so I can still technically say today!)

It could be colder …

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We started out Tuesday’s trek returning my Netflix movie (“Cats”) at the post office and then headed toward Lake Irving.  Here was our view as we crossed the railroad bridge. It’s a neat view from there no matter what the season, but there’s something about winter from up there that looks kind of attractively desolate, if that makes sense.

Here’s the view as we approached the lake. Below is a look onto Lake Irving:

It was cold, but we were expecting it to get even colder as the week progressed.

However, I just looked t the weather forecast, and it looks like predictions have changed. The last time I looked, at least one of the days in the rest of the week had a high that was below zero, but not anymore. In fact, the high is in the teens until Sunday.

Yes, I know, that’s still cold, but it’s better than single digits, above or below zero. :)

When we stopped at the Fire Hall, we learned that it was Dave Hoefer’s one-year anniversary as Bemidji fire chief. He showed us some gag gifts the firefighters gave him from stuff around the building:

My favorite was the apple with the birthday candle:

Happy anniversary! :)

Angels in the snow, footprints in the ice

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I was actually looking forward to walking today, specifically, walking and taking photos. I went to bed thinking about it, and awoke to the same thought, minutes before Bethany called to say she was on her way.

And although we ran into a lot of slippery roadways and sidewalks, and although the cold air was like needles in our face during the part where we walked down Fourth Street from America Avenue past Irvine to Mississippi and so on, all in all it was a pretty nice walk, especially as bundled up as we get.

In fact, by the time we got back to my place, I was in the mood to make a snow angel (the result is shown above). This is our second winter since we started walking, and I never quite got around to making a snow angel before. The closest was probably the time I fell over walking through deep snow and just laid there.

It was my turn to take photos today, but obviously I handed the camera over to Bethany for the snow angel shots! :)

The outdoors was beautiful today, with a lovely blue sky. Early in the walk, I noticed a bird perched on the outer boughs of this tree, and I tried to get a photo of it, but it kept eluding me. Finally, it flew more into the center of the tree, in a perfect spot for a photo:


But it wasn’t all perfect …

The sidewalks were icy and full of footprints, which apparently came from people walking through slush that froze. You could tell the people who pick up their feet while walking vs. those of us who tend to drag our feet.

At the Law  Enforcement Center, the floor was filled with snowy footprints. It almost looks like a weird flooring pattern.

The sun hit the snow in the trees above in a way that made them sparkle like diamonds. It gives me a heart-tingly feeling just to look at the photo, let alone being outside seeing the sparkle.

I could happily live without snow, but I am not immune to its beauty.

And being bundled up, I get to appreciate it more. And most days, I’d rather walk in it than drive in it (although it’s better than ice).

The photo below is maybe not as pretty as the others above, but I also have a thing for gnarled trees, which the snow is highlighting here.

And this was not pretty at all … this is the first time I’ve had to scrape the inside of the windows of my newish (2008) Civic (10 percent paid off!). As much as I hated my old car, I never had to do that with it, although I’ve had at least two other cars that would ice up inside. Also, all my other cars have been better than this one on snow. I now can get stuck in an inch of snow. I think I should look into forking over some money for snow tires.

Yes, otherwise, I still really like my car! :)

And finally, I am going to cheat on the mystery photo, which was obviously not taken during the noon hour.

I will say that I took the photo through my car window at night in or near the downtown area. If you can’t figure it out and can’t wait for the answer, you can check out my personal blog at www.laurieswenson.areavoices.com, as I plan to do a blog post shortly about what that is pictured above. :)

Enjoy the snow, if you like that sort of thing. :)


Sweats? Already???

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This squirrel was kind enough to stop and pose for a picture before scampering away.

A few weeks ago, we could only dream of weather this cool. And a few months from now, weather this *warm* will feel like a dream.

I normally dress for our walks the night before, so in warm weather I go to bed in comfy shorts and a tank top, and in cold weather, it’s sweats. Last night, I donned my Pioneer sweats and a BSU hockey T-shirt. When Bethany called just before noon today, my bedroom felt  warm, so I happily changed into shorts. Then I went outside and changed my mind, but opted for worn-thin cotton drawstring pants, thinking it wasn’t cold enough for sweats quite yet. Then Bethany showed up.

“Sweats? And  a hoodie?”

I went back inside and threw on my Pioneer sweatshirt (I try not to wear both the sweats and sweatshirt together as I look like a walking advertisement).

Brrrr!

At the Bemidji Fire Hall, we ran into firefighter Kelly Skime, who took a couple of minutes away from whatever he was doing in those work clothes to chat with us a bit. Kelly is not into the blog thing, so we tried to explain it.

I like the landscaping in this corner of garden nestled against a house.

When I first heard of blogs in 2002 (back when some still called them weblogs), most of what was out there were like personal diaries, but now I would say they tend to be closer to essays (maybe similar to short newspaper columns?), that focus on myriad subjects, like health, the economy, politics, human rights, the outdoors, family, humor (as well as personal journals).  Bloggers even come from government offices.

And, of course, your friendly neighborhood walkers. :)

I’ve been writing this blog on and off for the past two hours. In between, I’ve been fielding IMs (instant messages on Windows Live Messenger) and formatting/editing stories from Bethany as she covers a complicated set of meetings at City Hall. She was able to just sneak in a final vote under the deadline as the Bemidji City Council voted to proceed with negotiations for sale of land on which a Holiday Inn Resort would be built that would be  connected to the Bemidji Regional Event Center. We’d never have been able to do any of that without laptops.

Creative planting of hostas!

As today’s walk progressed, we did warm up a little. Not so much that we noticed warmth, but more that we stopped noticing cold.

And as always, we saw beauty around Bemidji. It’s so impressive to see the interesting things people do with their surroundings.

Even nature finds a way to grow things creatively, like this mushroom growing in a hole in a tree:

Speaking of nature, we both found this really sweet:

This tree was planted in honor of little Keaton Rhys, who was born Aug. 29. He weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 22 inches long. Congratulations to the happy parents!

We’re very familiar with this house, having walked by it over and over last year when they were working on it. The windows are fabulous.

Other assorted sightings:

Our favorite cat along our route

An interesting way to play basketball. At 5 feet 4 inches, I might even be able to dunk with this setup!

A view of my old apartment at 1225 Irvine Ave. N.W.

Leaves are already more red than green in this tree at the Bemidji Public Library.


If you look at the bottom corner of the tree above, you will see a bit of Bethany!

Even on the most innocuous of days, we always end up with more photos than we need. And since I have no will power to speak of, I end up using more photos than I should. I’d like to set us up with an online photo account, and I’m hoping to update our albums on the Facebook page. (www.facebook.com/bemidjitrailmix)

Here’s a toothbrush on the ground to go with the tube of toothpaste we saw not too long ago. It looks like it still has lots of life left, too!

I didn’t think to take a mystery photo, but we stocked up a couple of weeks ago, so we have extras.

Our last puzzler was bricks along the First National Bank building downtown:

The puzzler before that, I forgot to take a full version of, so here is a wider view of the scene of the butterfly cutout, which is part of the fence outside the playground at the Beltrami County

Such pretty decorations!