POSTNOTE: I plan to post on the 25th anniversary of 9-11-01 on the anniversary, and I would invite reflections from others as well.  If interested in contributing, deadline September 10..

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This year is the first I can remember missing the Minnesota State Fair.  For probably over 50 yers, I’ve made it to the Fair for a few hours on at least one day.  I would always stop at the Education Building and the MEA/Education Minnesota booth – my employer for 27 years.  This year is a voluntary absence.  Age is a big part of it.  Going to the Fair requires a lot of gallivantin’ around, and in crowds and ofttimes hot weather.  Time for a change…but don’t count me out!  Next year….

Here are two Vignette’s on this Labor Day.  They were late arrivals on my mental in-box.   I think they’re relevant.

VIGNETTE ONE:

My brother John was here for. couple of short visits, one of his stops was at the State Fair on August 28.  He told that his visit included an eclipse of the moon on August 27, and after he got home came this photograph dated 12:32 a.m.:  (Photography was not John’s career, but in all respects he is a pro at the art.)

This image intrigued me.  What is it in the foreground?  Where was the photo taken from?

“Location was across University near the intersection of Park, at the entrance of the Minnesota Senate building.  [hint: in the lower picture at the left of the peak of the Capitol look for the small dot that is the moon.  Photo taken at 10:32 p.m. Aug 27]

I’ve got an iPhone application that allows me to tell pretty much exactly in advance where any celestial object is going to be at a specific time. This one is taken about 15 minutes prior to the telephoto shot.”

So: the odd structure in front to the moon is the tippy-top of the Capitol building, essentially invisible to everything and everyone save the birds.  But pretty impressive.

I asked him about the seeming gold plate:

“I also noted the disparity and color temperatures of the floodlights used. Pretty sure that’s deliberate, because I think they’re probably all LEDs anymore anyway, and can be adjusted to various color temperatures.

I actually had a discussion about the gilding with my professor friend. He had to use a bunch of gold leaf in his thermodynamic experiments, and he says it actually is less expensive and better for durability and transmission purposes than a lot of other types of coatings.”

He sent along the cue photo received before the eclipse itself:  (To Twin Citians, this is just northwest of the Capitol building, looking south east, generally in the direction of downtown St. Paul.)

This led to a final piece of this short conversation from me.  I recalled visiting the Capitol some years back after a major renovation, and writing a blog, then, about watching a worker change a light bulb in the House chamber.  Here’s the post, from Feb 24, 2017.

VIGNETTE TWO:

Friday evening we watched Dateline on NBC.  The first segment was about the hung jury in the tragic Lindsay Clancy case in Massachusetts, where a Mom killed her three children and then attempted to kill herself.  There is so much detail out there about this that I feel no need to comment further.

But as I watched the summary of the case, I kept thinking back to a letter I had rescued from the home farm residue about 25 years ago.  I decided to write a letter to the Judge, prosecution and defense about the letter, and included a copy which you can read here: Wisconsin killings 1905.  This is my letter to the three:  (NOTE; the link is newsprint, seeming barely legible, but readable.  The link is at 300 dpi and my device allows me to magnify the text.  Your computer may do the same.)

“The only knowledge I have of this case is the Dateline program of September 4.  I write only to convey the enclosed, which I think you may find of interest.  (It is readable, though very difficult.  I wanted to convey it in original form, as I found it.)

The enclosed is a newspaper article from 1905, included in a family letter from rural Wisconsin (near Dubuque IA) to my grandmother in North Dakota.  About 20 years ago, I had found a cache of about 100 letters in the family home, this was among them.

I have highlighted the relevant paragraphs, about a 26-year-old woman killing her four very young children with a butcher knife and using the same knife to kill herself.  I kept thinking of this news article when I watched the program.

I am 86, with nine grandchildren from 20 to 40 years of age.  I have some life experience, shall I say.  A suggestion, only a suggestion, is to visit the website of The Forgiveness Project, which I am aware of.  https://www.theforgivenessproject.com“