Mini Golf and the Sculpture Garden

Friday night Jason and I made it to the Walker Art Museum for their summer exhibit: Walker Inside Out, Art Goes Outdoors.  They are doing a miniature golf set up.  Each hole was designed by an artist used an environmental theme.  Materials used were either eco-friendly or made a statement about recycling, water conservation etc.  We played fairly decently - no holes in one, but I did win by two strokes.

Can you find Jason?

 

Following our round of miniature golf we walked over to the sculpture gardens.  After five years of living out here I finally got to see it all.  That means another check on the list of things to enjoy out here.

 

Yes, that is a giant cherry on a spoon.

 

I think this swing/sculpture would be really cool in my backyard to be.  What do you think?

 

As a side I'm expanding my list of things I can do.  This week I successfully used a power drill without any mishaps.  (Now all I have to do is learn how to use a much smaller one on teeth.)  Additionally, Jason and I received a painting in a classy but battered frame when we bought our furniture.  On Dianne's suggestion I found some wood putty and using my paints and skills from my art class have made it look like new.

 

School orientation begins in three days - I can't wait!

Back In Minnesota

So, it's been a little while since I last blogged.  I am going to blame  that on moving and Murphy.  Each time I have sat down to blog this past week Murphy came and sat on the keyboard or right in front of it.  Currently, I am resting my left arm on his body and he is licking my right arm as I struggle to type over him.  If you push him off he just keeps coming back.

 

 

We were able to do a few fun things before leaving Milwaukee.  Here are some pictures of going out to dinner with one of the dental offices I worked at - Quinn Dental.  I also added some views of my operatory.  I'm really going to miss the great people I worked with at both offices and of course the windows.  There are no windows in the clinics and classrooms I will be in for the next four years.

 

 

Jason and I also made it out camping.  It's something we hope to do more of now that Jason actually has Saturdays off.  We went to Big Foot Beach State Park.  We met our goals of breaking in our new huge tent, eating smores and having a fire.  We even went biking and cooled off swimming in Lake Geneva.  (It's on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois.)  Unfortunately it was really hot and muggy and the mosquitos were unbearable; so we bailed a night early.  For car camping I thought it was a pretty lame site.  There wasn't any separation from one camp site to the next.  We might as well have been on a parade ground.  I don't mind roughing it but I hate pit toilets.  I can't help but think that something is alive down in them just waiting for me to sit down in the dark.  Jason thought I was nuts, but while he was sleeping I saw the sewage guy come to clean out the pit toilet. As I was watching he pulled out his tube from the pit then took a shovel and hit it a few times.  He then picked up some kind of large rodent (maybe a possum?) and dropped it off in a bucket.  I'm not crazy, these things do happen and apparently often enough if he's got a bucket for it.  To make things more exciting we had a woman stop at 10pm and yell at us while we were in our tents.  Apparently she is a professional storm spotter (she may have been drunk or just out there) and was concerned that we were going to have torrential storms that night.  (It rained but wasn't bad.)  We told the rangers about in the morning, I guess we just attract some odd ducks.

 

 

We've been in Minnesota for two weeks now.  It didn't take long to feel right at home.  There were certainly good things that happened to us while we were in Milwaukee; however we are much happier and more comfortable here.  (At least until the snow hits.)  Our move went well and we had some great people help us both loading and unloading.  It only took 80 minutes to unload everything from our truck and the U-Haul with the muscle we had helping us.  

 

 

 

Our location is great.  I went exploring this week and biked all the way to campus and back.  It will be a bit of a haul - seven miles one way I think.  I'm going to give it a go in good weather.  I doubt that I will make it through the entire winter this year.  The cities are a great place to bike - they keep adding all of these fantastic bike routes within the city so you can bike almost anywhere you want if you are willing.  It takes Jason six minutes to bike to work and we've been able to spend lunches together before I start school.

 

I had a great time sharing the fabulous cities with Jason's parents: Harry and Dianne.  We were able to do a fair amount.  Harry was super helpful putting up some artwork and other handyman sorts of things.  We did all sorts of things like furniture shopping on Monday and checking out the restaurant The Rainforest Cafe at the Mall of America.  Jason started his job on Wednesday so Harry and Dianne and I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, took a mini tour of my school and enjoyed a bit of antiquing in Stillwater. 

 

 

 

I'm really looking forward to starting school in the next week and a half.  The weather has been nice and I'm enjoying some down time before things get busy.  I had an enjoyable birthday with plenty of cake, ice cream and friends we haven't seen in a year.  I am also sporting a new bike helmet that I am super pumped about thanks to Harry and Dianne.  I now feel that if I were to really need to use it would actually do something for me.                                                                                                                                                                     

Happy Birthday Becca!

(I wanted to just post this cute video here but I couldn't figure out how...later, later I will. For now follow the link, watch and enjoy!) ...yeah I figured it out...I'm so savvy ;)

Happy Birthday wishes to you!

Love ya!