Downtown at the James J. Hill Reference Library...

A couple weeks back, we made a silly mistake. I had thought we were signed up for one of the student performances at the Ordway. We drove to St. Paul and I was really stressed. We parked at the Science Museum lot and walked the half a block to the theater and arrived at what we thought was two minutes late. Discovering the theater was locked, I fumbled through my bag and looked at my datebook and discovered I was a week early. Oops. However, it turned out to be a great mistake. The St. Paul Public Library's Central Library borders the small park downtown and is in the vicinity of the Landmark Center and the Ordway, yet I have never taken my children there. I haven’t been in there for years.



We decided to go in just to look around. Adjacent to the Central Library, is the James J Hill Reference Library. Though built on separate foundations and are separate buildings, the two appear to be one seamless structure. They are both stunning from the outside, but when you go in you feel transported back to an earlier and much grander time in architecture. The woodwork, the doors, the lighting fixtures are magnificent--and yet each has their own feel. The stones in the Public library side are worn gently from the hundreds of thousands of people that have visited over the years. A person can still definitely see and feel the historic significance—as beautiful as the library is, it is also important to take consider the impact the namesake had.



Hill was a shrewd businessman who made millions from the railroad. He made millions by hard work and perceptive decisions. He did not come from money—his story typifies the Horatio Alger stories and others from the late nineteenth century. However, rags to riches stories are fairy tales that rarely come true. For Hill, opportunities did present themselves and he made the right choices. However, like Rockefeller and Carnegie—he also used manipulation and bullying to help make his fortune even bigger. At one point when the economy was doing poorly, he forced his employees into taking lower wages despite being very solvent. He was known for coercing towns into giving him the absolute best property in town for his rail line with the threat of bypassing it. "Business" is fine, but there should also be a sense of fair play that just usually isn't present and never really has been. Though labor relations soured enough to force him to put him employees on the pre-crisis wages, his arrogance and disregard is shown in how little he cared for the people doing the work that made him such a wealthy man in the first place. So, visit this fine institution and enjoy it. But please also understand that Hill’s generosity came at a cost to the people who worked hardest for him. Wealthy men are noted by the buildings they leave and not the exploitation of the most vulnerable in their lifetimes.

My paparazzi….

Three years ago, I got my first really nice camera. (Wow, can it really be that long ago already?) I bought it for work related purposes, but that doesn’t keep me from really loving it—and love it I do. It hasn’t kept my children from really loving it either. I am spineless when it comes to squashing their enthusiasm; I have managed to keep their use of my camera under only semi-controlled circumstances. I have cringed so many times. My daughter has a decent camera—and she is good about using it. However, I had to break down and buy cameras for the boys last summer for their birthdays to keep them busy. It was just in time for trip to Voyageur’s National park on the Canadian border.

I usually find myself taking pictures of everything under the sun, but this time it was pictures of my kids taking pictures. Is it possible that only other moms could understand a card full of pictures of kids and their cameras? I love them so much—they are my life. I hope that this year when it comes time for their 4-H pictures to be chosen for the fair, they have plenty of great ones that they can obsess and debate over. Getting a taste of some of their mother’s dilemmas may give them a new appreciation when their mother asks them for their opinion! I am excited for them for the fair this year--last year, their first year showing, my oldest son received an honorable mention among all the blue ribbons. They are all hoping to be pulling those purples home this year.

We already had a painful lesson learned--my youngest lost all of his images. I tried to undelete them, but it was a lost cause. We are working on getting pictures backed up so they are safe in the future. the bright side of the picture is that while he may have lost some precious pictures, at least with the rest of ours--the memories are still safe. My boys, for whatever reason, loved to pull the used film waiting to be developed at the photo lab apart. Apparently, when you pull the film out of the canister it makes a cool sound. They must not have heard my heart cracking when I thought about the pictures that were lost--birthdays, Christmases and trips to the park. I was always disappointed when I discovered the exposed film lying in a pile, but my shutter finger has always been well used. At least I have others right?

Even roads share stories and the rodeo fish welcomes you...

Even Roads share stories and often present teaching opportunities. Sadly, we are often busily scurrying from place to place to really understand what is passing by us. Last fall, we went on a camping trip that kept us busy visiting the Forest History Center, watching bears at the Vincent Shute Bear Sanctuary and explore Voyageur's national park. On the trip home from Voyageur's, we were tired. I had passed some places that I really wanted to because I was concerned we would miss the tour in International Falls. I was also concerned that we would be too busy to stop on the way home. Our boat ride had been at noon and ended an hour an a half later. It is a long ride from International Falls to down by Rochester in a single day--especially when we were starting out so late to begin with, but I also knew that it would be a long time before we got back up here. On the way home I couldn't help but stop at "the fish." This oversized fish is the main attraction at the roadside stop that also offers educational information on the area. While I took pictures of the signs, we only really remember the fish for obvious reasons. What would you remember of the side excursion? The fish have stairs that help people climb the fish for the precursory photo op. Loved it.



We also drove by rocks that had been cut into for the road. It was interesting to see the drill holes that were made to help remove the stone. The kids all thought it was cool that we could also see where molten lava had been infused into the bedrock fractures millions of years ago. While geological forces are still present and working, both pieces of evidence will be around for a very, very long time.



We made another stop along a roadside resting area that the Minnesota Civilian Conservation Corps built during the Great Depression. The "boys" that were employed creating the public works project like this one have been passing away, but their work is still remembered and being used. I wonder how so many people's interest and curiosity are not sparked when driving by these places. I love how when we stop at places like this, my children will engage in conversations about these people, the times they lived and and the historical significance of the time. Is there any greater way to honor the people's legacy than to stop, think about their works, and just remember them?