Elmo and mariachi

Yesterday I went with my coworker Val and her younger sister Natalie to Lake Elmo's swimming pond. It's a man-made mini-lake, with chlorine and filters and lifeguards that make everyone get out of the water every hour so parents can account for all their children. If someone's child is missing (which fortunately did not happen yesterday), everyone has to go look for it (usually found in the parking area), and if nobody can find it out of the water, all the adults have to form a human chain and walk through the pond (which only gets up to 6' deep) and I guess locate the body. Yeah.

Lovely and fake.

The weather was not perfect, which was perfect. It was pouring rain around 8 a.m., which likely caused most would-be beach-goers to cancel their plans. By the time Val picked me up at 11:30 (she lives only 3 minutes away, which we hadn't realized previously and is awesome because now I'm not alone in this corner of the Twin Cities), the sun was peering through patchy clouds and the temperature was pushing 80. It was great to spend time with her and get to talk to her (we're all pretty busy at work reading and editing basically nonstop) and learn more about the work she does and how to better do the work I'm doing.

We played in the sand and made castles and ate and swam and sat and just had a nice beach day. The sun was hidden behind clouds for a few minutes at a time, then we'd have sunshine again. I envy Minnesotans their 10,000 lakes (though they tell me it's actually closer to 13,000). In Oregon if I want to go to a lake, I have to drive either up the Cascade Lakes Highway to get to a freezing cold one with no beach, or out to Prineville Resevoir or Lake Billy Chinook if I want to go boating (meaning I have to go with someone who has a boat). But we do have the beautiful Deschutes River to float. All the rivers here are brown.

Is it a bear or a cassette tape?

When I got home around 4:30, Karen asked me if I had any plans for the evening. Yes, taking a shower. She invited me to take a fast shower then come with her and her friend Cathy to the Nine Nights of Music night number two to listen to live mariachi music. I took a shower that was faster-than-usual and we picked up a huge sandwich, Cathy and cookies then went to the performance.

The first half-hour was dance instruction for a Mexican hat dance. I did not participate and sort of regret it. But then I wouldn't have gotten to watch everyone else, which I think was more fun.

The old guy wearing the "ATTITUDE" shirt was the best.

Then we had an hour and a half of mariachi music and some dancing by people who knew what they were doing.

Perfect weather, beautiful skyline, festive music.

We got back around 9:30 and I was completely exhausted. I showed Ray and Karen the three front-page headlines and one in section C that I wrote in Monday's newspaper. We sat and talked for an hour and had ice cream cones. When I got ready for bed, I found a red line on the middle of my back where I had missed putting sunscreen. Brilliant.