The Fair is over and I just dropped Josie off at school, so I guess it's official; summer's over.
Yesterday we had the first real humidity of the summer. I was working in the morning and the piece I painted went quicker than I expected it to, so when Katie called to say they were all biking over to Calhoun to jump off the dock and eat ice cream, did Josie and I want to join them? I said yes and rinsed out my brush. It was hot, hazy and humid and the sun people were out in throngs.
That's one of the things I love about living here; we get so little really beautiful weather that when it is nice, every day is like labor day. The lakes were crowded with walkers, runner, bikers, swimmers, sailors and wind surfers. I didn't notice if there was a band at the bandstand at Lake Harriet, but there were an awful lot of picnickers. Over at Calhoun the beaches were all crowded, the bike paths were packed and at the Tin Fish the line for food was long. We only wanted ice cream and smoothies. That line is never as long as the lunch line. Next door, the canoes and kayaks were being rented by the dozen.
Out on the dock, it was windy and the water has remained really cold all summer so the kids didn't swim as much as they usually do. It was really fun watching the wind surfers. They were flying around at about sixty miles an hour. The experienced ones would come flying right at the dock and then turn on a dime about ten yards out and flip their sails and go flying back out to sea. I love it. I like having the lakes to myself now that everyone is back at work and in school but I also love it when it feels like a tourist attraction. I love the fact that I live right here and can walk or bike to such places.
When we were little and lived right behind the bandstand, all our folk's friends were suburbanites. We hung out with their kids at the pool and they were always a little shocked that we actually lived
in the city. I don't know what kind of a slum or high rise they imagined we inhabited but I remember one summer running into some of them at the picnic ground by Lake Harriet. They were surprised to see us and stunned to be told that we lived
right there; right behind those trees. Their weekend trip to the lake was where we played every day. We, the unfortunate city kids.
I love Minneapolis, I always have and I always will.
Next door in St. Paul, the RNC convention is on hold because of Hurricane Gustav. For some reason, Bush made the Hurricane miss New Orleans this time. I guess he likes black people now. Oh, wait, all the black folks are gone! That's why Bush spared the Big Easy this time!
The anarchists are here. They aren't anarchists, of course.
Anarchists organizing is a disqualifier.
These rotten souls call themselves 'anarchists' because to call themselves 'losers' doesn't sound cool, despite it's truth.
Why yes, I
am being judgmental.
They smashed up a bit of downtown St.Paul, terrorized a school bus full of Boy Scouts and dropped sand bags off the highway overpasses when buses passed under. People have been killed in the past by things being dropped from an overpass, so anyone caught doing that should be prosecuted for attempted murder at best or terrorism at least.
Anarchists? If they were anarchists they wouldn't choose one convention over another, they'd protest both conventions and in fact, all organized government, every day. More arrests were made in St. Paul yesterday than during the entire Democrat Convention in Denver. Clearly, these little shits identify themselves with the left, even if the Dems don't acknowledge them. Equally clear is the fact that they don't know the definition of 'anarchy'.
If 'anarchy' is really what they want, they wouldn't do it in a state that allows us to carry concealed.
