Posted 12:14 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

The remarkable treehouse

Last Friday, I wrote about one of my "wanderings", but I omitted one of my favorite and inspiring places that I also stopped at on that jaunt... the remarkable treehouse on Minnetonka Ave. in St. Louis Park. All the leaves are gone right now, and no snow, so it's a great time to see it, so I photographed it.

There are lots of impressive places to visit, but those created by a single person deserve special admiration.

Posted 9:14 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Out for a scenic wandering

I've long enjoyed simply going out for a drive, wandering hither and yon, with no planned destination. Most of us naturally take the same routes repeatedly, by neccessity... to work and back, to relatives, favorite shopping places, or to friends' homes. I enjoy getting lost; getting off the normal path and exploring those in-between places that are not "my destinations". After some 41 years in the Twin Cities, it's surprising how many places I find that are new to me.

I set out on Thanksgiving day, curious first to see what places were open, then gradually shifted into visiting places I used to visit, then branched off into just exploring. In case you're curious, theatres were open and unbusy, and, although almost all restaurants are closed, there are still places to dine... hotel restaurants have special and splendiferous buffets. They can't cut off their guests for holidays. Shopping centers were closed... vast, empty parking lots, at last easy to drive around in.

Although each little area I went through was largely holiday-deserted, one context remained frantic and rushed... highways. I was surprised several times to find myself confronting new highway exchanges, and, although I was trying to avoid them, I was often diverted onto highways... as if I naturally must want to go there. Places I once got to on small roads are now connected by big roads (more or less freeways), filled with hundreds of SUV's, all in a hurry to get somewhere else. Some were obviously impatient with this old geezer trying to actually look around.

There are now so many new developments alongside highways... shopping areas of varying sizes, that I found it difficult to even find towns. I know I was all around Chanhassen, but I never did find what used to be a small town with little but the well-known dinner theatre. I know I came close because I found myself on 101, which eventually became the 101 that I remembered... a very crooked road beloved by driving enthusiasts. I made it into downtown Hopkins, then was disappointed to find that main street, which used to run straight toward Minneapolis, now sort of dead-ends, or loops around, to avoid the wall around the expanded Excelsior boulevard and 169.

I wandered through the area in the SW quadrant of 394 and 100, where I watched from my office window while 394 was being constructed as "the freeway to end all freeways". That construction killed off the best businesses in that area, such as the Lincoln Deli and the superb Cooper Theatre, equipped for powerful surround sound and Cinerama. In 1968 I was privileged to experience the movie "2001" at the Cooper. In a large nearby area, once occupied by a Honeywell plant, now stands one more large shopping mall, very much like any other.

In our maddening rush to get from Point A to Point B, or C, or D, we are losing a lot. Our landscape is being redrawn alongside boring freeways, at the expense of towns and villages. Each year it becomes more difficult to find one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants. They're being replaced by chain stores more suited to malls and freeway exits.

Some would say that is simply progress. There is little doubt that people are "voting" with their shopping choices. Personally, I think we're making bad choices, and, unfortunately, they're choices we're not likely to be able to correct if we change our minds. Freeways, once in place, will not be removed. They just get bigger, inviting still more people to live further from where they work, sapping neighborhood and town merchants, which means we then MUST drive to get to anything we want. On my wandering, I saw some people out walking, but they were walking for exercise, not to get anywhere. Most of us already live in neighborhoods of nothing but houses and apartment buildings. There is nothing to walk TO... nothing to look at while walking... no place to stop and browse. Near where I live there is a large health club. It's enlightening to see people parking there... circling for a spot close to the door, so they don't have to walk too far to go inside and exercise. A great many Americans drive somewhere to pay to exercise, then go home and avoid exercise as completely as they can.

Posted 11:50 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Rats leaving a sinking ship

Many of those who supported the invasion of Iraq are now in the process of trying to save their political asses by claiming that the idea they supported was proper, but the Bush administration's execution was terrible. They're right that the execution was terrible, but it was a horrible idea too, and that doesn't let them shuck responsibility.

Even some libertarians supported the invasion. To my mind, they, of all people, are the most guilty of bad judgment. Of all people, libertarians should have known, without hesitation, that government cannot do anything they way we want them to. There is always bad execution, widespread corruption, ugly decisions based on political expediency rather than reality, terrible communication, and immense waste.

The War in Iraq (and Afghanistan) was not only executed with the governmental ineptitude we should have all expected, it was an immoral, ugly, unjustified idea to begin with. Bush, all of his advisors, and most of Congress deserve equal blame for ever having let it occur.

Posted 10:05 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

From our keyboards to the world

It's amazing how technologically connected we have become. Yes, it may be at the expense of some face-to-face contact, but I'm fascinated by occasionally checking to see where the viewers of my web sites reside. They really are from all over the planet. I usually have no idea why or how people wend their way to my sites, and I would love to know. They show up from Australia, all over Europe, Japan, Kuala Lumpur, Columbia, Belgium, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates. Some of them show up frequently, like the reader from Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, who not only visits my site, but visits many links from my site. It's possible that some are web robots, and others are just mistakes, but it's wonderful that it's even possible. I'm delighted to have immigrants move here in person, but visiting electronically is great too. The more contact we have with each other, the more we'll understand each other, and I'm confident that the more we understand each other, the more we'll discover just how much alike we all really are. That's a good thing, so welcome to my world.

Posted 9:52 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

When things go sour...

Watching football, for me, has become a matter of only curiosity. I feel like I outgrew it... that there are so many other more important or more interesting things to do that it just doesn't count for much. My interest took two real hits this past weekend; first watching my alma mater Iowa lose to lowly Northwestern, then watching even part of the Vikings loss. In both cases, "my" teams looked shameful... almost like they didn't want to win. Hell, we all have bad days, but how does a whole group of people have a bad day in concert? Is it contagious? It sure looked like it this weekend.

Posted 9:25 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Word peeve for today

I hate words that are used simply because most people won't know them, when a more common, understandable word would do perfectly well. An article dealing with the devastation in Iraq, commenting about the shortages, including POTABLE water. Potable means nothing more or less than DRINKABLE, so why use the more unusual term? The only reason is to make the comment seem more important, more scientific, hence more believable. Many writers, and speakers, use words to impress, rather than to communicate... a related pet peeve of mine.