Sunday in St. Cloud

After a full Saturday of fishing, meeting Larry and Johanna's friends, Jim and Chris, and dinner, we woke on Sunday anticipating a relaxed day together. Bubb and I got ourselves over to the St. Cloud, MN, ward for sacrament meeting. It was an interesting experience. Their ward, which is the largest in a relatively new stake, has about a 60 mile diameter. What that means in practical terms is that all announcements are held until after sacrament meeting, when the largest number of members is present. The other interesting thing was the noise level in the chapel before the meeting. It was a gab fest with a lot of people really happy to see each other. At first it was a little off-putting, but then we realized that these folks are scattered so far and wide that they are genuinely excited to see each other on Sunday morning. It's a weekly reunion with others who share your faith and values.

Upon return to the Davis home, we were treated to biscuits, sausage gravy, and scrambled eggs. Miss Nichol joined us for this occasion, which was a treat for us.



Here is a photo of Nichol beside her newish Toyota Fit, which she loves. Nichol is living near her parents, working as an admin assistant for a meat packing company, and seems to be doing fine. She is interested in triathlons and competes regularly. She is now setting her sights on Iron Man competitions, and we even talked about he St. George Iron Man, but she has decided that the elevation changes on the 102 mile bike loops (about 3,000 feet) might take some of the fun out of it.



A little later in the day, we went for a drive and a walk. We drove to a local granite company called Stonecrafters, and took a walk through their open air stock piles. It was really interesting to see the rock, all polished and cut into slabs, from all over the world.

We then drove to the little community of Rockville, MN, and took a walk in this park which is near the site of an old granite quarry. Larry tells me that there are over 200 granite quarries in Stearns County, which is where we are. We even saw a bald eagle in a tree in the park.



We then drove up to a low hilltop and visited the Assumption Chapel in Cold Spring, MN. This beautiful, and quaint, catholic chapel is built entirely out of local granite. Cut and fitted blocks for the exterior walls and polished and slabbed for the interior. You can read about it's history on the web, but it was built in memory of the 1877 Grasshopper Plague that occurred in Minnesota. At first we wondered if this insect plague was coincident with the Mormon cricket infestation that is famous in Utah history. Of course, the Utah event was in 1848, so no, they are not related. Here are Larry, J, and I standing at an outdoor alter built of Cold Springs granite.



The exterior of the little chapel looks like this. It was really pretty in the past-its-peak fall setting.



We saw this pretty little flower on the grounds, which seemed to have survived the first local frost well. Unfortunately, we don't know what it is.



Finally, Bubb took a photo of one of the windows on the interior. It was a nice little spot for a visit in the late afternoon.

Today is our last full day in MN. We have some shopping planned while Larry and Johanna are working, and then we going to attend the funeral mass of one of the "sisters" of the abbey associated with the College of St. Benedict-St. John's University. It is our first Catholic mass, so it will be interesting. Maybe some photos.

Buboppy