In which Camille spends a week in Minnesota with Pamela and her family, cooking, eating, pulling tomatoes from the garden, going for long walks, and sitting on the deck watching animals rotate through the yard – September 7-14, 2017
WOODSY CUL-DE-SAC
Pam’s parents, Duane and Shirley, live at the end of a wide, winding street surrounded by acres of wildlife. Camille and Shirley share a sense of organization and love of lists, and had fun comparing notebooks with the week’s menus all written out. We cooked and cooked! Pam made a delicious pasta with mushroom cream sauce, Kale Rainbow Salad, potato salad, and baked her Graham Bread and bean brownies (to die for!). Shirley made pizza, and baked raisin bread, sandwich bread, and peanut butter cookies. Camille made Trouts Vegan Curry, and a butterbean stew with beans from Purcell Mountain Farms. And there were salads, with cucumber and meaty tomatoes from the garden, vegan jerky, Veggeroni… Oh my! We wondered how on earth we were going to eat all this food in only one week!
WHERE THE DEER ROAM
At dawn and dusk, deer migrate across the yard, sometimes stopping to drink from a front yard water feature.
A GAGGLE
A healthy turkey population also calls this place home.
SCOTT AND LINDA
We drove up north to spend the weekend with Pam’s brother, Scott, and his wife, Linda. On Saturday, we went to their son Matthew’s ball game, and then up to their lakeside retreat. More at Collegeville Football and Up at the Lake
SIGHTSEEING – MALL OF AMERICA
On our way back to Shirley and Duane’s, we gave in to the urge to visit Minnesota’s famed mega-mall. With 530 shops across 96 acres, Mall of America is the second largest shopping mall in the United States in terms of retail space. They are the largest, if you include their Nickelodeon Universe amusement park, intense with whirling sound and color; Ninja Turtle Ride, Roller Coaster, and giant displays like this Lego Robot.
NEW FASHIONS
Shirley and Pamela did their best to imagine themselves in the fashion of the day with these steampunk leggings.
STRANGE MIX
Camille was drawn to the familiar, a life-size model of a cart pony. No one was interested in paying well over $100 for destroyed jeans. If the rules are, “Clothing should be wholly hole-free,” we’re sticking with the rules.