Travel on the Gravel

We pretty much got the garden in over Memorial Day, although it seemed unlikely until Sunday. The weather last week was truly depressing, especially since we flew home from Texas early in the week to find find a gray, misty blanket spread across the Red River Valley of the North. Sunday, though, weather reports notwithstanding, it began to clear; perhaps there will be a summer after all. May distiinguished itself this year with untimely snowfalls. On Sunday the 1st I was leading a tour of historic sites in western Cass County for Preservation North Dakota, and as we bussed our way through Moravian country, the snow swirled around us. Many cancelled because of the weather, but those persisting on the tour regarded the snow as contributory to the interest of the event. I made jokes that day about "the first snow of May," but later I regretted the jest. We had a couple more light snowfalls, including one that covered the ground lightly the morning of Saturday the 14th. A bright spot: when we got back from Texas, on the 24th, the bobolinks had arrived ahead of us.

Here are a couple of enjoyable--for me, anyway--speaking dates upcoming.

Coming up Friday 17 June, I'll be at the Sully's Hill National Game Preserve, hosted by the Sully's Hill Wildlife Refuge Society, doing my program on "The Great Plains in Song and Story." The program is in the amphitheatre of the preserve at 7:00 in the evening. The public is welcome to this program, which is funded by the North Dakota Humanities Council.

As is the one on Saturday 11 June, in Oakes. The Oakes Area Chamber of Commerce is staging its annual Irrigation Days, and I'll do my song-and-story bit for the program. I'm on the main stage at 3:15.

The first Lindaas barn dance of the 2005 season is coming up on 4 June. I'm posting here the full schedule for the summer. Thanks, Elroy.