Minnesota meanderings

sunrise:  6:24 am
Northfield, MN

I'm not sure I can legitimately claim that this is my first visit to Minnesota.  I did have a layover at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport once, and they provide a shuttle to the Mall of America, where I spent a couple of hours once.  Even so, this feels like the first time I've REALLY been in Minnesota, with my feet on the earth. 

Lots of farms around the highways, lots of space, lots of cows, but also a nice roll to the landscape in many areas.  There are signs of lakes and woods that are popular for outdoor recreation.  I get the sense that the culture out here is much more attuned to the natural world in general than on the east coast, where open space is something to go and find, not something you live amidst every day.

I could go walking for days in this little town of Northfield, which has huge tracts of land devoted to arboretums and conservation space.  I saw a beaver in this little pond right in the middle of the college campus.  Then at the arboretum I startled a gargantuan bird from a low branch, about 10 feet away from me - I am almost certain it was an eagle.  Shortly thereafter a graceful, long necked crane flew by, a couple of mallards quacked gently on a stream, and I interrupted this scolding squirrel, trying to eat his breakfast in a tree.

I left T with a student yesterday afternoon, so I'm on my own until we leave later today.  I sat down for dinner at a nice Indian restaurant last night.  It was not the first time I have been out to eat by myself, but it is still a bit of an anomaly.  I had been out walking, so I had no phone, no camera, no laptop, and no reading material of any kind with me. 

It was almost ridiculous how difficult it was for me to resist the urge to find something to do - go get a magazine, get my book, get my phone and call someone, get a pad of paper and a pen to jot down some thoughts.  But I decided I should be capable of just sitting still to eat one meal without any form of distraction or entertainment.  I felt strangely self-conscious.  Where do you direct your eyes?  If you look at a waiter they think you want something. If you look at people at other tables, they glance curiously and then return to their own companions, or they look around your table, wondering what you're doing there alone.

So I looked at the artwork.  I looked into the distance, I looked at my hands on the table. I tried to just take a deep breath and enjoy sitting still with a glass of wine.  A weird exercise in self-discipline.  It seems silly, but it was an illuminating experience.  Really quite nice, in the end.  But in general, I prefer company. 

These trees, laden with character, are all over the place.  A woman told me they are some kind of oak, but she wasn't sure of the name.  I am in love with them.