Sounds of Hope

Maybe I am just noticing it more, but it seems that snow is on the increase everywhere.   One is tempted to joke about global warming.   The other day someone asked where Al Gore was with all these frigid temperatures and snow.   I replied maybe he was hiding in a pile of snow.   Truth is, I don’t understand the whole global warming thing and take a very simple approach to these things.   As the song says Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be.   I do my part to reduce, reuse, and recycle.   That’s about all any one individual can do.   I have at least two “hometowns.”   One, of course, is my beloved Brooklyn.   The other is Columbia, Missouri.   I love them both but in different ways.   Both have some wonderful memories as well as some pretty sad and awful ones.   I have snow memories from both hometowns as well.   I’ve written about Brooklyn snow and you can find it here . I am thinking about Columbia snow today...

We went to Minneapolis Friday night and came back yesterday. Up here in the Dakotas they say they go to  The Cities . I don't know much about  The Cities . Honestly, as much as I like cities in general, I didn't see much in my brief visits that I like. I love IKEA but didn't get to stop yesterday. I like the Mall of America; it's nice to say you've been there. If I had lots of money I'd jump at a chance to spend it at IKEA and maybe the Mall. I went into one of the grand hotels. The opulent meeting rooms had familiar names like The Norway Room, The Fjord, The New Sweden (where was the old one?). I thought wouldn't my dad love this. I wondered how long it would take to get to Lake Wobegon. At Culvers it seemed we were sitting next to a resident of Lake Wobegon, he looked so Norwegian. I felt at home in an odd way,  Ekte Norsk . I wanted to find some good Norwegian Meatballs with a side of Lingonberries. In an odd way, my Norwegian roots were converging ...