Obligatory Super Blood Moon Eclipse Post

 

Blood Moon on Lake Minnetonka, September 27, 2015

It’s been a few days since I’ve gotten back from my trip to Japan, and I’m still processing it all. Starting to recover from the jetlag, getting back into the daily grind of everyday life, remembering how it is to be at home.

It was an awesome trip, and I’ll post more about it shortly, but I’m glad to be back in time for my favorite season in Minnesota. This weekend, I spent some time at my parents’ in my home town, the western suburb of Mound, which was a great place to observe the big astronomical event of the month, the Super Blood Moon Eclipse. We won’t have another of those until 2033, and Minnesota was among the westernmost regions able to see the full eclipse, so it was definitely worth taking some time to watch. A perfect night for astronomy, I went kayaking on Lake Minnetonka with my sister, under the light of the abnormally large and glowing orb in the sky, it’s light reflected in the rippling waters of the lake. The lake was quiet as we watched the moon go dark behind the shadow of the Earth itself, a breath taking sight. It was also nice that it was happening at ten pm, rather than 2 or 3 in the morning (of course, I’m still feeling most awake at those times).

A memorable way, for sure, of coming back to Minnesota. After two flights lasting upwards of fifteen hours, getting out on the lake made a great way to stretch a bit and get some physical activity. As the waters lapped against the sides of our kayaks and we bobbed along with the wind, we watched the moon rise and then begin its dramatic disappearance before returning to shore. It’s great to be back!

 

The Floating Library 2015

The Floating Library

On Saturday, I went on yet another new adventure, one of my favorites of the year so far.

After the fierce storms of the night before, which knocked out power across the metro (and which I completely slept through except to note, hey, there’s lightning), the day opened sunny and warm, with a stiff, refreshing breeze. My internet was down. A perfect day to head up to Silver Lake at Silverwood Park and visit the Floating Library.

These open topped kayaks were a little funny.

The Floating Library is an experimental public art project organized by Sarah Peters, a library of art books set adrift upon an urban lake, one the Twin Cities most prized summer locales. Also, as a librarian, I find it awesome to see how the ideas of the profession are reflected through the lens of art; Peters’ collection of unique and bizarre, lovely and thought provoking books, zines, and other mediums which expand what can be thought of as a book and what can be thought of as a library.

It is a great melding of Minnesota’s geological landscape with its wonderful cultural resources, the natural and the made coming together. On its third year, the Floating Library has traveled to Silver Lake, in St. Anthony, which seems a great place for the project. Silverwood Park is the designated “art park” of the Three Rivers Park system, and one I had never been to before. The lake is a small but picturesque place, with a couple of wooded islands, all bright green under the blue skies of the Minnesota summer. A perfect backdrop to enjoy some art books and zines.

Renting kayaks from the park facilities, my sister and I paddled out to the Floating Library, we found ourselves the first visitors to this years library. We pushed through the wind, moored to the cute library raft with its fluttering flag and shelves of materials overlooking the water and learned about the project and its history from Sarah. The collection includes circulating materials, which you can take anywhere in the park to peruse at your leisure, and return in some of the book drop receptacles scattered throughout the park.

Library Ahoy!

Though the breeze on occasion made browsing a bit duct over the next couple hours, we browsed many titles from the stacks, both from the circulating materials and the reference collection, being recommended many interesting materials by Sarah and the other volunteers. There were examples from all over the country and the world, but my favorites were of course the local pieces. The little purple zine recording all of Princes’ lyrics that mention food, or the book that detailed the bodies of water from all of Minneapolis’ sister cities throughout the world. The breathtaking stereoscopic photos of miniature ships in their little box with the viewfinder like viewing glasses was particularly awesome, but those were among the tip of the iceberg of the things kept in the library. Speaking of that, the iceberg book, made of biodegradable ricepaper printed with images of icebergs patrons were encouraged to set adrift in the lake was also a really fun project. Of course, I have to mention the folding collection of water themed postcards, being a postcard fanatic.

Duck Rabbits, accompanied by an art book available from the library.

I was really inspired by the innovation and creativity illustrated by these items; so many different styles, subjects, and ideas. You really have to see them to appreciate the diversity of the offerings. I have come to be very interested in zines and other physical self publishing, especially after the work my cousin accomplished in the medium, and I just need a little push, I hope, to start putting together more of my own. My goal next year is contribute something to the library, which is made from the donations of artists, bookmakers, writers, and other creative types.

In addition to the books and zines, we enjoyed the natural denizens of the lake as well, the turtles, purple martins, dragonflies, great blue herons and egrets that inhabited the banks.

The library will be setting sail again next weekend, July 25-26 11 am to 5, and on the evening of August 1st, for a moonlight paddle and poetry reading closing event at 8:30. Visiting Silverwood Park and the library is free, though you can rent canoes and kayaks from the park for the reasonable price of $5 an hour, if you can’t bring your own.

Another great place to check out zines year round in Minneapolis is the MCTC Library Zine collection; a few that I’ve collaborated on in the past can be found here, along with a lot more.

Silverwood Park, 2500 County Rd E
St. Anthony, MN

Minneapolis Community & Technical College
Library Zine Collection
1501 Hennepin Avenue

Book Return Box, Silverwood Park

Kayaking the Minnesota

Setting out on the Minnesota River, just south of downtown Mankato

It is the last day of summer in the northern hemisphere, autumn officially begins tomorrow. A lovely late summer day, temperatures are hovering around 72 degrees under a cloudless blue sky; a perfect day for a bike ride or some other nice exercise outdoors, which I am planning to do shortly, as it is noticeable how short the days have been getting.

In the meantime, I’ll write about one of the last summertime adventures I had a few weeks ago, a kayaking trip down the Minnesota River between Mankato and St. Peter. My sister and I have been trying out a lot more kayaking this summer, paddling around Lake Minnetonka on some cheap boats we picked up at Menards (according to the short training session we took, a big no-no). The first weekend in September, we signed up for a kayak rental at the Bent River Outfitters, a group based in Mankato, a hilly college town an hour and a half south of the Twin Cities. It was a day very much like today, sunny, warm, with a hint of a breeze, perfect for a kayak trip down a lazy river.

Several weeks before, we had taken a training course offered by the same group to brush up on our rowing maneuvers and felt ready to take on the river. We launched from Riverfront Park in Old Town Mankato, not too far from the Bent River Outfitters office, and were soon afloat on the gentle current of the Minnesota. It was not too much of a challenge, though, at least at this time of year- a wide channel with no rapids to worry about, not too many huge rocks, the cold, muddy brown waters of the Minnesota flow at a leisurely pace and only a few fallen trees provide obstacles. Paddling down river turned out to be quite easy and we soon outpaced the rest of the group except for two others. While the expedition was intended to end and a certain park on the bank of the river under some bluffs, we were so engrossed in taking in the verdant bluffs, bald eagles, great blue herons, splashing catfish, that we totally missed this landmark and paddled all the way up to St. Peter, another college town up the Minnesota. As we found we had left the rest of the group, and that we weren’t too sure where this stop we were going was, exactly, I just joked that if we got to St. Peter, we would know we’d gone too far. It was a bit of a surprise, then, when we passed the majestic, old columns that were the remains of an old railroad bridge that marked we were close to the other town. Oops! We did not end up absconding with the boats all the way to New Orleans after all, and it all worked out alright, though we felt a deep Minnesotan guilt about accidentally inconveniencing everyone while still having an awesome time.

The equipment was returned to the old brick warehouse near the trains and the river in Old Town Mankato and we apologized for our malfeasance and will probably be back again, with more care in future now that we know what to expect on the water! Now that the Minnesota winter is mere months away, Bent River also does snowshoeing, so I might check that out!

Afterwards, we were famished and grabbed a burrito at a local burrito place, Las Brazas, that offers a chipotle-esque burrito/burrito bowl for less than $5 on Sundays. Not too bad a deal!

Preparing to launch, Riverfront Park