Another busy weekend. Running, walking, cycling, bowling

Another busy weekend started with my usual run Saturday morning to meet the gals for coffee at Starbucks in St. Louis Park. I need to get some running miles in before the Twin Cities Marathon 10 miler in October.

Saturday evening was the Chinese Lantern Lighting ceremony at Lakewood Cemetery. Lakewood is about five blocks from my house so I walked over. Lakewood is a very large and old cemetery near lakes Calhoun and Harriet.

Kay and Christine drew and wrote on their lanterns. I wrote on the bases.

Our lanterns weren't floating out into the lake so I waded in to encourage them along.

I had not visited the cemetery's chapel. It is famous for the glass mosaics. This is a photo of the ceiling. It was stunning in the artificial light.

Early Sunday, Jenny and I rode the intermediate route (25 miles) of the Minneapolis Parks Bike Tour. It was a perfectly gorgeous day.

Sunday evening was the start of Sunday Goers bowling league. After all that I had already done this weekend, I thought bowling a 172 and 173 was pretty good. The third game was only a 115.

Athletic weekend

Saturday was a 5k in Stillwater, MN. It was a one-way route along the St. Croix river. Buses took us out of town to the start. The run started at 8am. We all had good running times as the course was gently sloping downhill as was? promised.

Brunch was at Tin Bins in Stillwater. The Bloody Marys came with the biggest beer chasers ever.

The weather a as perfect. A chilly start widen bright sun. I finished third in my age group (3 out of 15).


Sunday was the Minneapolis Parks' Bike Tour. Jenny joined Kelly and me this year for her first tour. We rode the full route - 32 miles.

Including the ride to and from Boom Island, the entire ride was just under 43 miles!

It was chilly for most of the route. The last two miles were right into a very strong wind. Our legs were burning by the end. It was difficult to get back on bikes to ride home.

A busy weekend

A busy weekend that started Friday evening with Christine's double-nickel birthday celebration at Tosca in Linden Hills. Lots of laughter, good food and wine.

Birthday girl Christine at Sabastian Joe's ice cream parlor in Linden Hills.

Saturday is not represented in pictures. Started the morning with hill sprints in Theodore Wirth Park with my trainer and 4 other very athletic people. It is tough but feels good. Spent the majority of Saturday working on a home repair project replacing the trim around the house-facing set of windows. There was a lot of wood rot so all the trim had to be replaced.  I had previously prepped the area a few weeks ago. It went pretty well. Still needs to be painted to match the rest of the garage trim but I am happy with the near-finished project.

Sunday started early, too, with the Minneapolis Park Grand Rounds bike ride.  Friends Kelly, Dave, Bud and I biked 36 miles around the Minneapolis parks system and lakes.  It had rained over night but fortunately stopped and the roads were mostly dry.  We had a great time riding and talking.

Got back from the bike ride and baked a fresh apple pie. I had prepped the apples from my apple tree Saturday night and used a pre-made pie crust. The pie was for Tim, the chef and manager, at Old Chicago Uptown. OC Uptown was closing on Sunday. I met Amy and Bunny there to watch the Vikings game and work on the NY Times crossword puzzle. We reminisced about the good times, laughs, birthday celebrations, and all the friends over the nearly 20 years of OC Uptown as our hang out. I'll be honest I shed some tears when we left.

Amy got her 10-tour beer stein.

And the final and most wonderful event of the weekend was the wedding of Peter Couture and Duane Faber. The ceremony, dinner and reception were held at the Minneapolis City Hall Rotunda -- a beautiful marble and stained glass hall with a dramatic staircase and huge marble statue called Father Water. The ceremony was filled with song and speech and care and love. There were over 200 people in attendance filling the lower rotunda and the second level. I was so honored to be there and wish Peter and Duane all the best.

The groom and groom, Peter (left) and Duane (right),