I Love It Here!

June 5. A beautiful summer day. I don't have much to say, so here's the view from my webcam:

Sunday afternoon, my corner of Sauk Centre. (June 5, 2016)

I'm still getting over this cold-or-whatever: but I'm getting over it, so I'm a comparatively happy camper.

Sunday, May 29. Memorial Day weekend: the unofficial first day of summer vacations, and something more serious. I've talked about that before. (This Season: Memorial Day)

The other big deal this weekend, for folks at the two Catholic parishes, is the Corpus Christi procession from Our Lady of the Angels to St. Paul's.

Starting out, near Our Lady of the Angels. (May 29, 2016)

A spot of sunshine on the way. (May 29, 2016)

First stop. (May 29, 2016)

And - arriving at St. Paul's. (May 29, 2016)

That's all I had the energy for this week. The family is (slowly) getting over whatever this bug is, and I'll end on that 'up' note.

Sunday, May 22. On the whole, I'd prefer that this 'summer cold' cease and desist. Maybe next week - - -. Meanwhile, the lilacs out front have pretty much peaked.

Lilacs. (May 22, 2016)

And - what else? - more lilacs. (May 22, 2016)

Next week will be different: better, I hope.

Sunday, May 15. The 'summer cold' is still with me, but I took pictures of some lilacs.

Lilacs. (May 15, 2016)

More lilacs. (May 15, 2016)

You guessed it: still more lilacs. (May 15, 2016)

We had a freeze warning: Saturday, I think that was. Aside from that, it's been pleasant enough: except when it wasn't. I am sincerely looking forward to not having this cold.

Sunday, May 8. Mother's Day. I hope you had a good one.

I'm feeling better today than I have for most of the week: nothing serious, just what I call a 'summer cold.' But I figure I'll just touch base here to let you know that I'm hoping to have something new next week.

We've been having lovely weather, by the way, apart from smoke from various wildfires: and that's another topic.

Sunday, May 1. Finally, another entry in the Sauk Centre Journal. The last one, December 27, 2015, ended with "I plan to be back next week.

"Next week" turned out to to be about four months later. Sorry about that. I've got a few photos to show, besides the two I took this afternoon: but those will wait until later. Next week, I hope: but that's what I said last December. We'll see.

Bright blue skies, sunshine, and similarly-pleasant conditions got me outside this week: and enjoying the experience.

Colorful: toadstools? This photo doesn't really do them justice. That little yellowish-green thing on the far right one is a cartoonish "worm."(May 1, 2016)

Garage sales and yard sales are routine. "Craft sale," not so much. (May 1, 2016)

That's all for today. Next week: I'm hopeful I'll have more.

Sunday, December 27, 2015. Epiphany Sunday. I took a few more photos. There's a larger version of that first one in one of my blog posts: "Jesus, the Magi, and Me," (A Catholic Citizen in America)

Our Lady of Angels church, Saturday afternoon. (January 2, 2016)

Work on St. Paul's addition/annex continues. (January 2, 2016)

Snow, lots of it, on the WalMart parking lot. (January 2, 2016)

Icicles: sparkly! (January 2, 2016)

There's no question about it. Winter is here. I plan to be back next week, probably with equally-obvious observations.

Sunday, December 27, 2015. Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning at Our Lady of Angels. (December 25, 2015)

Neighbors: the view from our front porch. (December 26, 2015)

That's all I've got for this week. I hope you had, and are having, a good holiday season.

Sunday, December 20, 2015. We got snow on Wednesday: the perfect-for-snowballs-and-snowmen variety.

The view through my webcam, Wednesday afternoon. (December 16, 2015)

Freshly-fallen snow in the back yard. (December 16, 2015)

Snow on the branches. (December 16, 2015)

It's not quite as picturesque now: quite a bit of the snow has fallen from branches. But we'll almost certainly have a white Christmas.

Sunday, December 13, 2015. It's beginning to look a lot like: Easter, actually. The week's rain melted our snow, and it's been unusually warm: nothing record-breaking, but above freezing on occasion.

St. Paul's addition is taking shape. (December 9, 2015)

Christmas yard display in the neighborhood. (December 9, 2015)

We may get more snow Wednesday: or not. Either way, Christmas is about two weeks away.

Sunday, December 6, 2015. We had some clear days this week: but I decided to put off picture-taking until later in the week. That, in retrospect, wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done.

Snow-covered spider web in the kitchen window. Not the sharpest photo I've ever taken. (November 30, 2015)

Sunday morning: fog. (December 6, 2015)

We've also had fog now and then, and snow. That, I got photos of. The spider web was a great deal prettier in person. Each snowflake had a bit of the web to itself. I've never seen that happen.

Sunday, November 29, 2015. It's the first Sunday of Advent, and I haven't taken any pictures this week. I did, however, to a holiday-themed picture for Apathetic Lemming of the North, one of my blogs.

The first winter storm of the season should be here Monday and Tuesday. My webcam will give you a look at Sauk Centre, near the corner of Ash and South 9th: assuming there aren't technical issues, of course.

The three Catholic parishes around here, St. Alexius, Our Lady of the Angels, and St. Paul's, did something new this year: 'stewardship fliers' for each household, letting us check off or fill in what we could do for the parish and community.

More than 20% of the households in each parish turned in fliers: more than 32% in St. Alexius. That's a remarkably good response, I think.

Neighbors east and northwest of us had their Christmas yard displays out, and lit, by the end of this weekend. Those will look nice, with the coming snowfall.

Sunday, November 22, 2015. Thanksgiving nearly snuck up on me again this year. It's coming next week. Some folks have their Christmas yard decorations out already: including our neighbors across the corner, northwest of us.

I didn't get a photo of their display, yet, but did catch results of the season's first snowfall. The image is what my webcam showed at 10:40 a.m. last Thursday.

A week before Thanksgiving: our first snow. (October 19, 2015)

A radar speed sign on South Ash Street. (November 22, 2015)

I went out this afternoon to get a photo of the first radar speed sign I've seen here on Ash Street.

It faced southbound traffic, I'm not sure exactly why it's there: apart from the obvious reminder of the speed limit, and what I see as a convenient opportunity to check my speedometer. It's spot-on accurate, by the way.

Sunday, November 15, 2015. Yesterday and today were the good sort of autumn days: clear skies, sunshine, highs around 60. Coming next: about three days in the mid-40s, with rain.

It could be worse. There was the 1991 Halloween blizzard, and the Armistice Day Blizzard in 1940. I don't remember that one, but my folks talked about it: and the big one in 1888. More recently, we've had November winter storms or blizzards in 1975, 1981, and 1988, and the 1991 Halloween blizzard lasted until November 3. (MN DNR)

A few days of rain doesn't look so bad now.

I thought I'd have more to say, and show, but Friday's attacks in Paris distracted me. That was a very sad situation.

Here in Sauk Centre, though, life goes on. Maybe next week I'll have my ducks in a row: or at least near each other.

Sunday, November 8, 2015. This is the last 'fall colors' photo I had:

Another photo near the corner of Ash and South 9th. (October 7, 2015)

A few minutes after sunset, from my webcam. (November 8, 2015)

The day's been bright: blue sky, nice autumnal temperatures, 'typical' weather. Not like the gray overcast drizzling 'typical' weather we had a few days back.

Construction at St. Paul's church is coming along: but I keep forgetting to take a camera along. Maybe next week.