Minnesota - Day 2

This was the last day before surgery.

When I got up, I wandered out to the pond behind my parents' house.

I think this trip should be named "The Trip Of The Goose" because I've seen so many

and they're goregeous.

Geese in the pond:

This duck was sitting up on the roof of the neighbor's house quacking away.

He seemed lonely and stuck, but ducks can fly, so I'm sure he wasn't!

I wore the green blouse & ivory sweater 

(better photos to follow).

My Mom needed to exchange a pair of pajamas she ordered that didn't work,

so we headed to the mall.

We went through North Saint Paul where I lived for a year after college.

The city mascot is this huge snowman.

I didn't get a picture of his head, but you can see some here.

Apparently, he's a skeleton covered by stucco!

In the mall parking lot, there was this big pile of dirty, salty snow leftover from winter.

My Mom found the jammies she needed! 

And I found some adorable deer slippers (even on clearance!)

So inexpensive (in spite of memory foam), I got a second pair

(with penguins!):

Here's a full picture of my outfit:

shoes: Aerosole
socks: Target
pants: SoHo Ltd
blouse: Merona from Target
sweater: Old Navy

The clouds and sky were beautiful!

My Dad said these clouds are called Mares Tails and that they mean rain is coming.

I have the smartest Dad!

We got to the health food store and this beautiful wasp was waiting for us.

No one got stung!

We were happy.

Then we went home again.

My Mom and Dad's house is beautiful.

This little art object was new since last time I was here.

It was made by Wayne, a friend of my parents' since before I was born.

It's a little container!

When I looked at it from a distance, I thought it was made of metal, 

but it's all made out of specialty exotic woods.

Look at the moon peeking her face between the lacy tree branches!

I went out after dinner to take a walk through an old haunt, the

Maplewood Nature Center.

It's a short walk around and between two beautiful little lakes 

(since this is Minnesota, these probably are PONDS because

they're not really big enough to call "lakes").

A Red-Wing Blackbird!

They love marshlands.

And so do I!

Here's the song of the Red-Winged Blackbird:

I LOVE this coat (bought for me by my sweet parents)!

Just look at the buttons! 

And the dots!

coat: Merona from Target
blouse: Merona from Target

Look at this adorable little squirrel!

I think he's licking sap from the tree as it starts to run.

Look at this beautiful Mallard!

His head is shining brightly in the fading sunlight.

Lots of oak trees in that forest, and their leaves have emerged now that the snow is gone.

Here's a deer print!

And there's a lovely floating bridge across the pond.

I spent quite a bit of time watching the beautiful Canadian geese.

Looks like there's some ice left near the edges of the pond.

Here's what it sounds like when a good freaks out.

They're pretty ferocious:

Just LOOK at the patterns on that water!!!

The sun was setting as I left . . . 

But I'll definitely be back!

On the way home, I stopped by the house I grew up in:

It looks a bit different from how it did when I was growing up, but it brings
back MANY happy memories!

Here's what it looked like when we moved in
(I was four in this picture!):

Take good care of it, newer owners!