An eclectic ride

It was very cold yesterday, my costume was of near winter specifications. Today it is like 75. Furthermore the wind, while still present, has died down significantly. What does this mean? It was a whole heck of a lot easier riding out there today, so that's good. The bad is that the juxtaposition of too cold and too hot almost always means, especially this time of year, that a big storm is coming. It isn't here yet, we shall see.

There was a time when I never, ever ventured inside the Fairgrounds on my bicycle. The last couple of years however, I seem to ride in there any time favorable wind conditions take me over in that direction. It isn't big enough to do very much riding but it has paved streets, very little traffic and an ever changing schedule leading. There is often something new and interesting to see.

I was riding the back side of the Fairgrounds today when I saw this. I have seen some large objects shrink wrapped before, notably boats that I have seen while in Michigan. This is my first glimpse of a giant shrink wrapped who knows what it is being delivered to an end user where a crane is present to off load the giant object to its new, and presumably more or less permanent, location.I have no idea what that thing is, it says "Fitch" and "Evap." on the side of the shrink wrap but that is not information that clears up anything for me.

I am starting to feel like a shill for the Fairgrounds but the message board on the Grandstand today alerted me that the upcoming weekend is again going to be a busy one over there.

Of course there is a horse show, this weeks flavor is American Saddlebreds.

There is a Friends School Plant Sale at the Grandstand Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Minnesota Antique Motorcycle Auction will be at the Progress Center on Friday and Saturday.

And there is a Model Railroad Show at the Education Building on Saturday.

I do not want to purchase an antique motorcyle but the auction has the potential to be interesting. If the weekend is as predicted, rainy, perhaps that event could make it onto my calendar.

And, model railroaders, there's an obsessed sub-culture. THAT could be interesting.

Closed circuit to Anoka Sand Plain, the following bit combines horticulture and rent a fence.

The plant sale is either a really, really big sale, or else they are going to have plants for sale that they do not want to take indoors to artificial light for three days. In either case, the sale has spilled out of the Grandstand and will also occupy part of the plaza in front of the building. It is a sale, so security of the goods for sale is apparently a concern. Preparations are under way to deal with that issue.The wind was southeast today instead of the powerful southwest of the last couple of days. Southeast often leads me over to Summit Avenue. Because of the possibility that storms could develop fairly rapidly I wanted to cut a couple of miles off the normal Capitol loop route in order to be sure that I was close to home late in the ride in case I had to dash for it. I cut across on Raymond as usual but instead of heading down to the river I headed inland looking for Cleveland.

As long as I was on Cleveland anyway I stopped and got a picture of Susan's yard. I walked up her front steps to get this picture but it's OK, I told her once last year about riding past her yard but not wanting to trespass and she gave me permission to just step right up. She has no grass in her yard, it is an official Monarch butterfly waystation, and if I recall correctly, all of the plantings are native.Early in the growing season the yard is a work in progress. Later on it will an extravaganza, a marvelous show case.

And then here's a true sign of spring. I was riding through Como Park and discovered that the former State Fair merry go round, more haughtily referred to as Cafesjian's Carousel since its move to Como, is open for the season.As I neared home something fairly alarming occurred. I was within only a couple of blocks of home. I was just riding when I noticed a black spot on the red back of my right cycling glove. Not thinking much of it I reached over with my other hand to brush it away. I discovered that the black spot was a bug and once roused by the brushing of my hand it took flight. Only then did I notice that it was green, kind of a metallic green, sort of emerald colored. About two blocks from our two ash trees. *sigh* We knew it was coming but it looks like it will be here sooner than we had hoped.

I was over on Summit, I did ride past a big old stone church. I was a little surprised to discover that the sign says Saint Thomas More Catholic Community.When we lived in that part of town we used to go to the Farmers' Market on Friday afternoons in the back parking lot of this church. The location of the market was also referred to as the Saint Luke's parking lot.

I do recall reading an article in the Saint Paul paper about the declining memberships of various Saint Paul Roman Catholic parishes and about the coming necessity of consolidation. The focus of the article was the probable closing of Immaculate Heart of Mary. IHM was originally founded as an off shoot from the Saint Luke's parish and the thought was that they would have to go back. IHM was located about a mile west of Saint Luke's on Summit Avenue. Apparently the consolidation has occurred and the now consolidated parish has adopted a new name. I rode up close enough to the building to find a smaller sign that referred to this as the "east campus" of Saint Thomas More. I also was close enough to pretty completely rule out the possibility that there is a cornerstone somewhere on that church with the date of construction.

But it is a pretty old stone church.

Not nearly as old as this one.That's Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. The church is "du Mont" because it is located on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, near the Panthéon. The photo was taken from an upper level exterior balcony at the top of the Panthéon. The church contains the shrine of Sainte Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris. The church also contains the tomb of Blaise Pascal and Jean-Paul Marat is buried in the church's cemetery.

The church was built in the 13th century and the bell tower dates to 1491. The church is significant in that it contains the last remaining rood screen in Paris. The screen was built in 1535 between the nave and the chancel to prohibit worshipers from actually witnessing the priest celebrating mass. Many churches had them but all the rest were destroyed during the late Renaissance. There is also a carved wooden pulpit from 1650 and stained glass from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The large building to the right of the church is the Lycée Henri IV. The tower that is part of the school is the Tour Clovis from the 13th century. It is all that remains of an abbey founded by Clovis I, the first king of all the Franks.