Category: Saturday Snapshots

Good morning from my hotel room in ST Paul Minneapolis.  I was so wiped out last night I was in bed by 8:30 pm…. I couldn’t be on line, I couldn’t read…. but I could sleep 😀

We are finishing up today our second session of the Literacy Institute program I am involved in.  This afternoon we will head back home and I am excited for a little quieter week this week and College Son will be home for Thanksgiving. 

Yesterday when we arrived in St Paul we were a little early so our local Librarian Jolene and I walked down to check out the St Paul Library.  Such a massive building compared to our one level all in one are library at home. 

From their website I found this:

The Saint Paul Public Library traces its earliest beginnings to 1856 when the newly formed Young Men’s Christian Association opened a reading room. The following year, both the Saint Paul Library Association and the Mercantile Library Association also were organized. These early efforts all merged in 1863 into the Saint Paul Library Association.

In 1879, under the leadership of Alexander Ramsey (who had served as Mayor, Governor, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Secretary of War), the Library Association proposed that the City accept responsibility for their collections and establish it as a free public library. Finally, on September 7, 1882, the city council approved an appropriation of $5,000 to establish the Saint Paul Public Library. By this date, the collection had grown to include 8,051 books.

In the following years, the Library grew rapidly. As early as 1890, there were calls for the construction of a new building. Instead, in 1900, the Library moved to the old Market Hall, located on Seventh Street. Many civic leaders continued to push for the construction of a new building, but the Library remained in the Market Hall until a tragic fire in 1915 destroyed the entire building, including the Library and most of its collection of 158,000 books. Fortunately, construction of the new Central Library was already underway.

I should have taken more pics but here is what I have:

The library is very spacious the complete opposite of where we are at with the Brainerd Library which is so full and nowhere to go with more!  In Brainerd if I were to go in and get a book or browse I could be in and out in 10 to 15 minutes.  In St Paul I think you have made a much bigger commitment.  YA is on one floor while several floors up you will find fiction.  Even higher up you will find a room dedicated to magazines dating back to the 1970’s!  Some of these magazines I had never heard of! 

It really was something to see.  Friends of The St Paul Library is a HUGE group of highly motivated people who have huge ideas.  We have been hearing from them frequently throughout this program we are in and they really have my ideas flowing of what we can do with Brainerd. 

Thanks Alyce from At Home With Books for hosting Saturday Snapshot so we can share the pictures of our lives. 

Ok I need to get ready for the breakfast meeting.  See you all… back in Brainerd,

As I sit here this morning looking out the window at a dreary drizzly day, it is hard to believe that a week ag0 at this time my College Son Justin and I were driving a rental car through Florida into Georgia to stay the weekend with Navy Son, Brad.  The weather was in the high 70’s and the sky was clear. 

Good times… Good times. 

SO… for today’s Saturday Snapshot (go see Alyce at At Home With Books who is the master mind behind this fun meme) I thought I would post a couple of pictures from that trip that I did not post last week, as well as a bonus one from a previous event. 

and a fun bonus pic…

So that’s my post.  😀  I have written a movie review this morning and I am not going to write a book review of Charlotte Street.  Then I am going to drive t St Cloud (an hour away) to look at an ottoman set for the book room…. I am hoping my road trip will be fruitful as that is the final piece I am looking for. 😀

Once back home I will need to dig into the book club book and tonight we are going out to dinner with friends.  That sounds like a pretty awesome Saturday to me. 

*Sigh* I cant even say good morning because by the time this post went up… it was afternoon.  Yesterday morning I left for the cities at 6:30 am for a meeting, then a board meeting and returned home after 10 pm last night WIPED OUT.  Then this morning I got up and went to check in on the IHN guests and wound up talking with my friend Shelly for three hours who was one of the volunteers who stayed over night and held down the fort while I was gallivanting around Minnesota.  In fact this morning I tried to remember the last time I had a day of not “doing” and I had to go back almost three weeks. 

I have another crazy day today but after tomorrow noon, things should slow to a mere simmer and no longer life at a boil.   My picture that graces the top of this post is part of the running around I did yesterday.  While in Minneapolis I stopped in at the book store Magers and Quinn where Michelle from Red Headed Book Child works.  Unfortunately she was out running an errand so I missed her but did manage to purchase three books and this neato mug.  😛

I though for today’s Saturday Snapshot (stop over at Alyce’s and check out this fun meme!)  I would post a few pics from my last week between crafting at the cabin, stopping at an apple orchard to the road trip yesterday. 

On a tandom funny note do you ever use that “check in” option on Facebook?  From your Smart Phones you can have facebook post where you are at and I love that!  Yesterday morning while in Minneapolis I was going to check Connie and I in and seen one of the near by places was “United Geeks Of Gaming”.  A quick Google check verified that it was a group that meets to play board games and video games…. LOL, I checked us in there. 😛

I have about an hour and a half here before I need to hit the ground running again.  I have some books to put away in the books room, laundry to finish, and dishes to put away.  Tonight when all is said and done I hope to actually crack open a book. 😀 

How is your weekend going?

Happy Saturday ya all – 😀  I am currently up North – yes further north than my home in central Minnesota at our cabin for a girls crafting weekend.  Lap top – has stayed home this time as I do not have internet there anyway so this is a pre-scheduled post that I am hoping (fingers crossed!) will appear magically on my blog on Saturday morning. 😀

For today’s Saturday Snapshop over at Alyce’s At Home With Books, I thought I would share some pics and thoughts from the Mankato Ramble from last weekend. 

I drove to Mankato Minnesota on Saturday late afternoon as the drive is almost 4 hours.  Hello audio books!  😀  I stayed the first night at my friend Diane’s house as my College Son was out-of-town.  Can you believe it – I come to his town and he is not home?  LOL  He was actually in Duluth and was getting back early Sunday. 

On Sunday morning in 25 degree weather (uh… yeah) we went to the bike ride.  I rode with my friends Diane, Sheila, Belinda, and Jason – and a new friend, Josh.

The ride was good but cold – really cold for the first couple of hours.  I was almost caving to do the shorter 36 mile ride instead of the 44 mile ride.  Thankfully my friends stayed strong and we completed the ride as planned.  Here are some pics from that event:

We had a great time.  I then spend Sunday with College son Justin.  We went out to dinner and then to the movie Pitch Perfect which was funny and good!  I stayed over night with Justin and then drove home Monday morning.  A great weekend! 

Check out more pictures of what people are up to at Alyce’s Saturday Snapshots!

Good morning!  😀  It is the morning of my family gathering here at the house and I am feeling really good!  I have worked hard the last couple of days prepping the house, the deck (which looks awesome!), the garage and yes, the finishing of the book room. 

Now I know a lot of people who would not get excited about book shelves…. but I believe you, fellow book lovers, know how exciting it is to have room to put your books where you can find them and enjoy them.  They look fantastic!  So before I post the pictures know that most of these books are my private collection I have accumulated through the years.  Library book sales, garage sales, ordered on-line and from my local Indy store… these are books that I have either read and loved, want to read, love the author so picked up others by the author… and yes, I admit some are unread and chosen because I love the cover or have heard good things about the book/author.

Ok…. ready?

Ok before we move into the room I need to explain how we came to have such a space unclaimed in the house.  Originally, this space was two bedrooms.  When we moved here, we added on a master bedroom off the back of the house and finished off the basement and put a bedroom down there as well.  Then Al (buddy) made this space his office for our business.  After a couple of years we put an office at the business which is, quite literally, out behind our house.  Al moved all his office things to the new space and I was left with a big space and wondering what to do with it….

for the past 4 years it has held book shelves and my writing tools…

and now…

Ok… there it is.  While working on this project 3 bags of books were donated to the library.  4 more bags will be going to my book club for first pick in October and those they do not want I will take and donate to the Friends Of The Library sale.

Thanks you Alyce for hosting Saturday Snapshot where we can post the pictures of our lives.  Stop by Alyce’s spot at At Home With Books and see what other things people are taking pictures of. 😀

I am about to enjoy a beautiful fall day with my relatives.  Maybe, those will be next weeks pictures… 😀

This is my first morning since this past Monday that I will not be hearing “Good Morning Campers!” 

I cam home yesterday from my week at Camp Benedict, a camp for adults, children, and families dealing with AIDS.  Camp Benedict is in the bar just underneath my blog header year around.  If you click on that link, it will tell you my background story and connections to the camp.  This year was my second year at camp and I didn’t think I could be even more impressed on than last year…. but I was.  This week for the Saturday Snapshot (check out Saturday Snapshot at Alyce’s At Home With Books) , I am going to share with you a few pictures from this weeks camp experience:
The camp brings in people from around the state (occasionally beyond) for a week of connecting, sharing, and education.  My friend Connie who organizes the camp offers this week to the campers for free.  You read that right.  She does not want the cost to be a burden to anyone so the money we raise at the spring benefit dinner and then the summer CCB ride, all goes to support the camp and pay for the week.  And… it is a nice week.

The camp is beautiful – right on the lake with education each morning and evening, and afternoon free time activities like horse back riding, swimming, pontoon rides, tubing, and more. 

On Tuesday morning we were all lead in a group exercise session using the ball. This was a lot of fun and it was exciting to see everyone give it a try.  Some of the moves were basic stretches and some more advanced.  We ended the session with a time of meditation, relaxing laying back and reflecting.  Many people mentioned how much they enjoyed this.  I personally love working out on the ball and I picked up a few new tips to try at home.

Before every meal we are led by Camp Staff (and occasionally a few bonus people) in a prayer.  The prayers are always set to a theme song… this one is said to the Superman tune.  😀

The education classes are wonderful, a speaker came in and talked to us about stigma, an emotional talk where people could share their stories.  We also had a repeat speaker, Bill, who does a wonderful job of sharing the latest information on medication, up and coming information, and the importance of being consistent on the meds.  Another speaker spoke on the companies that can assist you with getting the medication you need, and yet another doctor was there to answer any questions.  There may….. have been a few camp pranks played….. I am not at liberty to say.  😉

It is always a roller coaster of emotions during the week.  Some moments are sad, and other time we are laughing and on a pontoon on our way to get ice cream at the Dairy Queen.  It is definitely a week I will reflect on throughout the year.  Some of the people have been there before, and some are new… and for the new ones, it is amazing to watch them blossom throughout the week as they feel the acceptance of the camp and make connections to keep themselves healthy and to new friends as well.  In the past two years that I have went to this camp I have left with old friendships being stronger, and new ones being developed. 

Mid week we have a tailgate party where people who live around the lake and the camp come and grill for us.  Our weather this week was perfect! 

Of course… the final day is bitter-sweet.  It is always hard to say good-bye hoping you will see people next year.  The people who go to camp are amazing people.  If you want to know more about this amazing camp, please check out the website here:  Camp Benedict.org  and my original connection to the camp is posted here:  My connection to Camp Benedict.

Today hubby and I are heading to the Minnesota State Fair.  We have not been there in years so this should be an experience.  😀