Wild Boy and Sea Gulls

I was looking through some older photos

and found some of my son, from a number

of years ago, that I absolutely treasure.

These were taken in Canada on the shore

of Lake Ontario. My son was so

excited to have a chance to feed

the sea gulls. He was as

wild as they were on this day.



The Pianist

This is the very last of any pictures

I'm going to share from my trip to

Mayo Clinic last August.

I think I've saved the best for last.

I'd finished all my appointments for

the day and the clinic was pretty empty

by that late in the afternoon.

I was walking back through the atrium

when I came across a young man

playing the piano.

I listened for awhile and was

absolutely stunned by his musical ability.

The music was very beautiful and just

what my ears and mind needed

at the end of a stressful day.

I briefly spoke with this young man.

He was a medical student training at

Mayo Clinic. He was taking advantage

of the beautiful piano to practice

music he'd be playing at a wedding the

following weekend.

I took several pictures of this young

man and the piano, but I found all I

really needed, and what was most beautiful,

was simply the man's hands on the piano keys.

This is my favorite.

Around the Town

 I'm finishing on my favorite pictures

taken in downtown Rochester, Minnesota.

The ones I'm posting today are all

photos from a sweet little church across

the street from Mayo.

It has ivy growing up the walls,

a gorgeous courtyard filled with flowers,

and a nice bell on top.

It was so very peaceful. 



More of Mayo

I thought I'd continue with the

Mayo  Clinic theme until I got

through all the pictures I felt were

worth sharing. So here's more from

the city of Rochester and specifically

of Mayo Clinic.

This shows one of the buildings reflected

in a beautiful granite wall.

Being only a teenager, my son was

a bit embarrassed by all the statues

of naked bodies found on the Mayo campus.

Out for a walk one evening,

he was ahead of my husband

and myself and spotted yet again

another naked statue.

"Children," he joked,

as if on a school tour,

"avert your eyes." 

I loved this statue from this side,

although my son was horrified

when we came across it from the other end.

Remember: the person is naked.

This is one of those statues that just

might be better if the boy had on 

some clothing.

But it's a medical facility, they

deal with the human body, and 

Mayo certainly likes to share

the entire body with their visitors.

"Children, avert your eyes."

Very interesting glass in the main medical building.

The Mayo brothers founded the clinic.

Thankfully someone chose to portray

them fully clothed!



Rochester

As I was looking through my Mayo Clinic

photos I realized I still had some shots

from the business areas around Mayo

I really liked and wanted to share.



Fountain in Rochester

Between appointments and tests

 at Mayo Clinicin Rochester, Minnesota

last August, I spent a lot of time

wondering around with my camera.

This fountain is outside a shopping area

right near the clinic,

in front of the castle bookstore

I posted some pictures of previously.

There are a lot of nice things to photograph

within walking distance of Mayo Clinic.



My Child

*Design is mine, wording is  not.

Gray's Lake

I spent some time last October taking

photos at Gray Lake. The colors on the

bridge are so pretty at night.

The downtown Des Moines skyline

is beautiful reflected in the lake.

(Once it warms up again I might actually go out and

take new photos. Until then I'm relying on the

thousands of photos I took during warmer weather.)

Rags

Rags is one of the sweetest cats I've ever known.

I went to an animal shelter and instantly

fell in love with this giant furball of a cat.

He was so sweet and loving,

a big teddy bear of a cat

who loved to crawl up in a warm lap

and have someone scratch his chin

or brush out his back.

We had Rags for about 5 years.

Just before Christmas last year

Rags became very sick.

There was nothing that could be done for him

It was very hard on our family

and we stayed with him until the end.

I came across some pictures of

this gorgeous cat and had to share

him with the world.

Rags loved to sit in baskets, boxes, trays--

anything he could wedge himself into.

Rags liked catnip.

Understatement.

Rags LOVED catnip.

In these pictures our cat

is enjoying rolling himself in

catnip as he licks it all.

I guess you could think of

catnip as recreational drugs for cats.

Rags did.

The most embarrassing shot of all--

Rags, fang hanging out and all,

in la-la land enjoying the catnip.

 No, we never tortured our beloved cat.

Rags loved this crazy ball toy and would

sit next to it until we opened it up

and he could crawl inside.

Then we'd let it slowly close.

He was very content,

although this photo shows him deciding

it's time to get out of the ball.

We now have two other cats, Lexi and Boomer,

both animal shelter cats.

I think those are the best kind.

RIP Rags

You were one of a kind.