31 March 2010
Today, we first tried to visit Fort Snelling State Park and go for a walk there. Alas, it was closed due to high water. So we next went to Crosby Farm Regional Park. Guess what? Also closed. But since the trails at Crosby are right by the entrance, we figured, hey, why not? Let’s go for a walk…
So, we parked the car outside the park, then walked right past the sign warning us of dangerously high water. Oh no! High water! If we don’t stop walking, we might…you know…get our shoes wet…aaahhhh!
We went for a little walk, but, wow, that water was high.
Here, we see Owen ~6 feet from the water’s edge. Normally, the River is so far away from this point that it is not even visible from here; we normally would have to wind around this trail for ~1,000 feet before cutting over, through some trees, down a small hill and then to the shore.
The water was so high that some of the interpretive signs were half-submerged; you can see one such sign in the above photo.
There was an entire pond in the middle of the clearing where normally there isn’t any water at all. A pair of ducks were swimming in this ephemeral pond, alternately paddling and diving. Yes, actually diving under the water to look for food: that’s how much water there was.
01 April 2010
Today I had another one of my clandestine, covert meetups with a Witness in hiding. I feel bad that this friend of mine knows the religion is false, yet is worried/nervous to leave for fear of upsetting their friends. It’s amazing how many people go through all the motions of being a Witness and don’t actually believe it.
Anyway, this person met up with me for lunch today to discuss their recent visit to the Kingdom Hall (=Witnesses church). Tuesday was the Memorial (=Witness Passover), and if you don’t wish to raise any red flags (sorry for the lame cliche’), then you better get yourself to the Memorial. Since it’s the only thing Witnesses ‘celebrate,’ everyone views it as their sacred duty to attend. In fact, my family all attended one year despite the fact that, moments before leaving the house, my sister burned her hand on the curling iron. She sat on the floor of the Kingdom Hall with her hand in a cup of cold water during the Memorial.
Rightly so, then, this individual figured they’d better show up at this year’s Memorial to avoid a visit from the elders, who would surely know something was wrong. It’s kind of a worst-of-both-worlds scenario, as this person is managing to maintain their relationships with their Witness friends, whilst simultaneously knowing such friendships will surely end should any of them find out. Likewise, they are free to do normal human activities, but risk getting ‘caught’ by the elders. Tough situation.
I hope we have lunch again soon.
It’s good to show Owen how rivers do in fact go up and down and that they are very different than lakes. Even if it was dangerous!
Good point. He’s always mixing up rivers and lakes, so I’m glad he saw a difference here.