Aug 10 - Trip to MN - Marco's First Day

Marco just flew in last night. It's the first time he's been to Minnesota in five years.

To re-introduce him to the pleasures of Minnesota I took him for a swim in the river, the beautiful St. Croix. We went to Steamboat Park in Afton. The sun was bright and the river was shining like a sapphire. Almost no one was around. We passed one mom with a little boy who showed us his boat made from a hollowed-out cucumber. Then we went around the point and we were alone with the warm sand, the fringe of trees, the quiet lapping water and small blue dragonflies. We swam then sat on the beach.

In the evening Dad invited us to Channel 2 (the Twin Cities PBS station) where he works. They were doing a pledge drive during a show on American stained glass. Marco and I met a well-known glass blower named Richard Blenko before the show. His vases and pitchers were the incentive gifts to entice people to pledge during the show. During the show we were supposed to answer phones for the pledge drive, but a whole busload of employees from the Renaissance festival showed up to volunteer (in full medieval garb) so we weren't needed. That was good for Marco, who was foggy from jet-lag. The Renaissance festival women had on those busty medieval corset dresses and seemed to be sweating, so one by one they inserted a small glass of chilled water into their cleavage which they said was medieval air conditioning.

We watched the show from the control room, where we saw all the behind-the-scenes tv editing taking place. It was interesting, and the people working there were cheerful.