Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Sibley State Park

A little history...

Sibley State park, located near New London Minnesota, is a beautiful and calm nook in mid-west Minnesota. Peter Broberg, a Minnesota resident, along with many of his neighbors, were successful in getting the Minnesota State Legislature to provide funds to purchase land which became Sibley State Park. Realizing that the area was a popular spot for more than the local people, the Legislature established Sibley as a state park in 1919. The park was named after Henry Hastings Sibley, Minnesota's first governor. In 1935 the Federal government sent the Veterans Conservation Corps to Sibley State Park. For the next three years, this group of up to 200 men built roads, buildings, and trails within the park. When the camp was finished, they left behind several granite buildings and a popular state park.

And some demographics...
The park spans about 2,509 acres of grasslands, dense forests, lakes, and large hills, fro, which you may see for miles in about any direction. (except North, because of a nasty tree line just perfect for blocking your view) The forest consists mainly of ironwood, aspen, oak, green ash, red cedar, basswood and maple.  The wildlife is just teeming with deer and chipmunks and other such normal Minnesota critters, and while I have yet to see any, I am told that coyote are found in those woods! My most memorable experience with birds there was watching an egret descend gracefully onto a pond early one morning. Once, I saw a pelican and thought I was seeing things, but it is true, there really are pelicans in the Minnesota lakes! The mosquitoes are not as bad as some other places I know, but is is a really bad idea to hike through those woods without bug-spray on after dark. TRUST me. I know. Speaking of which, there are oodles of trails twisting through the forests and up the "mountain" which are all beautiful places for your feet to take you when you need some reflection time, or a good place to pray the rosary.

Fun Activities and recreational stuff...
Volleyball, all the way. There are two courts I know of currently, the best one located at the beach on Lake Andrew. Which, of course means that there is fishing and swimming, all the time. There are miles of bike paths around the lake and the surrounding area, horse trails, cross-country skiing, skating, snowmobile trails, Snowshoe-ing and even ice-fishing! A plethora of things for families to do there. I definitely recommend it to any one wanting to get out of the cities for some genuine family time. The People of Praise Servant branch has a group of about eight to ten families that go at the same time every year, and it is a blast.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

There are good things

Are there good things in this world?
good things left to men
who search the stars for beauty
but must return again
to where the orphan child cries
where money buries truth
Hate which kills and sheds the blood
and chokes the bloom of youth

Be there beauty in this tired world
for lovers of mankind
When all around are crying out,
the naked, lame and blind
Where children die before they're born
and race and creed divide
the peoples of a broken earth
where fear and death reside

There are indeed good things for men
the lovely, fallen ones
who shed first blood, the crimson blood
of Adam's kingly sons
The blood which cloaks the earth in red
is washed as pure as snow
With blood of spotless sacrifice
who to the cross did go

There are good things in this world of ours
Beautiful and good
there is wonder in the world
Oh if mankind understood
the green of grass,
the shine of sun,
are all he needs to live,
a kinder word from honest heart
is all that he need give.


There are good things still left to men
chivalry and grace
beauty, love and honor,
reside within this place
Though blood may choke the rivers
and men lie where they fell
The rain that falls on bloodstained fields
is beautiful as well


(not done yet, as you can probably tell)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Registration and Sand Volleyball in the Rain

My trip to Benedictine...

Well... first off it was a terrible idea to stay up so late that night. I stayed up late, and then three hours later, my dad was calling into my room, "Katherine, time to get up!" We had to leave at six in the morning to get to Atchison by one o'clock, and I, though I was determined to study for the seven hours straight, fell asleep right off. I woke up about two hours later and began my study in earnest, actually accepting a caramel coffee for stimulus. So... it was five hours of Neue Horizonte, and then we arrived!

I met a friend I had previously made on the Persidential scholarship weekend, and we conversed for a while until I headed off to my German test. It was interresting and a bit humerous how there were more people taking Latin tests than German. Komish, nicht?
Well, then we had a long session on Student Loans, during which I learned all I ever wanted, and everything I didn't want, to know about loans. Ug. I hate money.

Well, in any case, the next stop was a Barbeque for the students and their parents, and then, da dada da! Volleyball! Sand Volleyball! Except it began raining halfway through, so we got soaked. It was SOOOOOO much fun.

The one thing I regret about the weekend was that I didn't have a roommate. I wish I could have experienced it, but maybe my mistake was putting down that I was a morning person on the roommate questonaire. hmmmm. Seeing as how I went to bed at 10, and everyone else said they stayed up well past 1:00, that might be the reason.

Monday, June 8, 2009

We're done

I can't believe it. I've actually graduated. I am just waiting for it to hit all of us, but for some reason, I suppose it hasn't really manifested itself in my heart yet that I am leaving. This isn't just summer, it's the end of six years of the most amazing high- school experience. I am going to miss all my family, especially my brothers, all of them, and my little sister, with whom I have shared a room for 16 years. What am I going to do without them? And my amazing cousin. Charlie and I are the same age, and in the same grade, going to the same school for the past six years. I have all these bonds and ties to people and places, which pull at my heart so strongly. We'll see how I manage, but it's going to be rough.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Graduation

Commencement 
2009

Trinity School

Opening Hymn
Lord, you have brought us to Our Journey's End

Welcome
William C. Walker, Headmaster

Invocation
The Rev. Mr. Robert Schnell
Deacon, St. Richard's Parish
Richfield, MN

Valedictory
Tyler Maunu

Chamber Singers
Ubi Caritas
by Maurice Durufle

Commencement Address
Mr. Whitney MacMillian
Chairman Emeritus, Cargill, Incorporated

Presentation of Graduates
Granting of Degrees

Remarks to Graduates
and
Presentation of Graduate Award
Mr. William C. Walker

Closing Prayer
Anne Raway

Closing Hymn
Rejoice the Lord is King

Friday, June 5, 2009

Brilliance happens by accident




So I was playing around with fabric, trying to avoid touching any cloth to my poor, sun-burned back, and this is what resulted. It's just a piece of fabric!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Summer Laundry

The nostalgia of hand-drying the wash accompanies me every time I fold our clothes. I love summer for this reason; that I get to hang-dry my laundry. I love getting up in the morning, putting a load in the wash, then waiting for it to finnish, and then taking it outside, where the sun is peaking over the horizon, and the warmth of the day is spreading over the grass. I breath deeply, and then I hang the laundry on the line. It' really quite fulfilling for me. I take the sheets in my hands and smell on them the scent of all things good and lovely in the air and when I'm done, I sit outside and fold them.
Sweet nostalgia

Monday, June 1, 2009

Alle Dinge Deutsche

Und so...
The "Reise nach Deutschland" is nearly here! I am finding myself just swamped in all things German this week, and I am certain I shall title this month as "The June of German infusion". Seriously. I am studying my brains out for a German entrance Exam for college until the 12th, and then I am leaving for Germany on the 28th. I will be keeping up my German until then in order to communicate with the locals and find my way around town without a tour-guide. Not that I'll have any time to myself on this extravaganza, but still, I like to feel independent.
So far, I've worked my way through three chapters of review on German basics, like nominative, accusative, posessives, sentence structure, indefinite vs. definite articles, pronouns, question words, mathamatik, modal verbs, kein vs. nicht, and splurges on doch. All in day one. Well, we'll see if I can keep this up! If I can get through three chapters a day, I should have the entire text book down with time for review by next Friday! Oh Happy Day! Germany, do your worst!