Summer 2012--Sarah's Visit (July 3rd through July 6th)

As I may have mentioned last time, I had a friend come to visit me these past few days. She was none other than Sarah, one of my roommates from last year. We have been Skyping fairly regularly throughout the summer, and she wanted to stay with us for a bit so we could spend some time together. She's really a great person and a lot of fun to be around. She fit right in with our off-kilter, slightly kooky family.

On the Fourth of July, we went to Northfield to watch David race in the men's 3/4 criterium. Well, it was such a hot day that he lasted all of three or four laps. We barely had time to sit down, eat lunch, grab a cold coffee-based drink from the lovely Goodbye Blue Monday Coffeehouse, and enjoy the race before he was out. I did manage to snap a few pictures from Northfield, a charming southern Minnesota town home to such prestigious colleges as St. Olaf and Carleton.

A fountain near downtown Northfield.

A man-made (but still pretty) waterfall in Northfield (I think this is the Cannon River). I have a feeling Malt-O-Meal uses the river for power, since it's right in town (the city smells like chocolate Malt-O-Meal sometimes, which is just heavenly).

A pretty display of flowers and wire along the river in Northfield.

 That evening, we went to Gold Medal Park by the Guthrie Theater to watch fireworks because we needed to do something out of the ordinary. Normally, we just make the short trek to Honeywell Hill and watch the show from afar. Our spot was literally right under that weird bridge extension thing that comes out of the Guthrie. We could see some of the people who had paid to be on the bridge thanks to some windows in the floor of the bridge. Shortly after 10 PM, the light show started. It was actually pretty good. I love seeing what new tricks the pyros pull to make things more interesting.  There were awesome fireworks that started out as a bunch of separate dots, which proceeded to divide into smaller dots before scattering out like marbles. There was also a cool rainbow-colored fountain of light that sprang up from the ground. Our view was partially blocked by trees, but we still saw the majority of it.

The Gold Medal Flour sign near Gold Medal Park on the Mississippi.

 Yesterday, I thought up a few places to take Sarah that I thought she might find interesting. After all, there was very little else we could do with the heat, and I wasn't about to sit around the house all day. I've been pretty antsy the past couple of days. First, we went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which was fantastic as always. We saw the basic Asian and European pieces before stumbling upon a cool new installation called letting go by a local artist who goes by the moniker HOTTEA. Yeah, I don't really get it, either, but what else can you do with those right-brained types? Anyway, letting go is a string-and-wire piece that almost looks like a shower of sunlight cascading down through the sky. There is even a circular patch of fake grass at the base where viewers can lie back and pretend they are staring up into a sunny sky. There are so many strings that it is mind-boggling, and I can only imagine the amount of time and energy that HOTTEA must have put into the piece. At the time of our visit, an employee was meticulously combing the strings with a special instrument to untangle the strands.

The skylight built into the roof of a little shelter that's outside the MIA (I just like the artistic-ness of the maze-like pattern, which mirrors the same pattern on the pavement).

 Another cool part of the visit was seeing the Modernist Design gallery, which housed a multitude of interesting pieces of furniture. The best (in my opinion) was a simple high-backed chair created by Charles Rennie Mackintosh himself! Now, you may remember Mr. Mackintosh as a favorite artist of mine from my trip to London. I even have a Mackintosh 2012 calendar in my room. You can imagine my delight at finding something of his design right here at home. And rightly so, considering how fantastic his work is.

I also loved just looking at all of the pastoral landscape paintings from 18th and 19th century European artists. Being pretty nature-oriented (no surprises there), I really enjoy how some people have a talent for capturing the ethereal and transient beauty of life in nature. I liked looking at some of the Japanese screen and scroll prints for the same reasons. The simplification of natural forms just looks really cool to me.

After the MIA, Sarah and I headed over to the just-opened American Swedish Institute. We had to pay student admission ($4), but it was well worth it, especially since the price included access to the stunning Turnblad mansion (more on that in a minute). The ASI was recently built off the mansion and features just a couple of galleries, a gift shop, and a cafe (the cafe doesn't open for another few days). I could tell it is still a work in progress because there isn't much to see on the second floor except for a mostly-empty large room with microphones and grand piano. I'm guessing it will be a sort of meeting room, concert hall, event center, you name it. A gathering place for members of the American Swedish Institute. On the first floor is a small, dimly-lit gallery housing some pretty impressive nature-themed tapestries by Helena Hemmark. I'm not kidding you: they look like photographs from far enough away. The attention to detail is just magnificent, and I can tell that they must have taken her a long time, especially since they are pretty large.

A stained-glass window outside the Solarium (gotta love that stuff); this one is above the door.

And another, same location (to the right of the door).

A light fixture in the Solarium.

Sarah enjoying the light of the Solarium.

A Dala horse that kids can ride.

Traditional Swedish costumes.

A view of the Turnblad Mansion from outside the ASI.

 Finally, we found our way to the Turnblad Mansion, which goes by the nickname "The Castle"--for good reason; the house is adorned with a gracefully curving turret, which does make it look decidedly castle-esque. The Turnblad Mansion was built by Mr. Swan J. Turnblad, the publisher of a Minneapolis-based Swedish American newspaper (written in Swedish). He and his family mainly occupied the second floor of the mansion, and they rarely entertained guests, being fairly private people. In fact, they even ate dinner on the first floor in a small dining room that was originally intended as a servants' dining room. The family was served by the Hansens, who lived on the second floor of the carriage house. Of course, now the mansion is used as a kind of display case for traditional Swedish items like Hemmark's tapestries, costumes, crafts, and kjolsak, shoulder bags made of scraps of material leftover from sewing costumes. It also showcases what life was like for Swedish people in Minnesota in the late 1800s. Well, maybe not all of them, since the Turnblads were pretty darn rich. They had not only a small private library but also a reading room and Solarium, which Sarah really enjoyed. She said she wanted one of her own someday. I really think she liked the ASI because she is part Swedish and is a Swedish major/minor (it might be a minor because Augustana is combining the German and Swedish departments and eliminating all Swedish and German classes that fall above the 200 level--all to save money, which stinks).

After seeing the mansion, we headed back to the gift shop. Neither of us bought anything because it was all so expensive, but it was cool to see those quaint Dala horses for sale. Even the tiniest ones are $20. Maybe I will have money for one someday--they're just so neat! I also saw a copy of one of my favorite books, a cookbook from New Scandinavian Cooking host Andreas Viestad called Kitchen of Light. That's another thing I'll have to pick up when I have a little money to burn (ha!).

Our last stop was IKEA, an appropriate segue from the ASI. I am sort of in the market for a computer desk, dresser, and twin extra-long mattress. I picked up a flyer for the Malm series of bedroom furniture, and I really like a lot of the stuff in it. I figure that the fairly large up-front cost will be offset by the fact that I will use the pieces later in life when I finally move out on my own. I did not buy anything, but Sarah purchased some Swedish chocolates and Swedish Fish (unfortunately, they did not have the delicious variety packs, just the red raspberry-flavored ones). We were pretty ready to be home at this point, so that's exactly where we went. We struck up a game of Rummy with Mom and David before dinner, which was aglio olio with prosciutto sammies, one of my favorite meals on the face of the planet. I wanted to give Sarah a literal taste of the food we usually eat around here. After dinner, we watched Blazing Saddles, which happens to be one of Dad's and David's favorite movies.

This morning, we tried to get to the bread outlet store to get some cheap dough-based products, but it was closed in observance of Independence Day (I guess they are entitled to a long weekend like the rest of us). Then, before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Sarah and see her off home. It was certainly a great visit, and it will be fun if Mom and Dad are able to visit the Mattimiros sometime or even if Sarah is able to come back here someday.

On a completely different note, pet-sitting for Dr. Jill went pretty well. The cats are very pleasant; even the shy cat Hubert, who originally did not let me touch him, warmed up to me enough to rub his face on my hand and let me scratch his back for a good five seconds before backing away. Score one for the pre-vet student! I received a confirmation e-mail from Kansas State informing me that they received my completed supplemental application packet; I was not missing anything, apparently. That was a relief. I also got a couple more people to read and edit my personal statement. I haven't had time to look over the new batch of comments, but I'm glad because the essay is only in its third draft, and I'd like to take it through at least a few more revisions before I submit it to VMCAS as the final version. In other news, I bought my first book for the Fall trimester, my Immunology textbook. I will buy the others closer to the beginning of August when I have more money and more information (most of them will come used from the Augustana bookstore, and reservations are not available until August 1st). So, that's about it for updates on me. I hope you all had a great Independence Day and celebrated it in a meaningful way. I definitely celebrated my freedom by wearing a tank top--it is my right to "bare arms," after all. ;)