Blowing & Drifting

One of the best drives in the Upper Peninsula takes US41 from the Copper Country around Keweenaw Bay to L’Anse, Michigan. Driving west on that route last Sunday, I stopped in the tiny bayside town of Baraga to take a few shots of the morning sun on the bay. I could not have been more [...]

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I’m just back from my four-day trip to the Upper Peninsula to attend my grandfather’s funeral. I’ll be writing more about the trip – and about the funeral – soon, but for tonight I wanted to just post three pictures of the Copper Country: the view from Houghton, on the southern side of the Portage [...]

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It’s been a while since I posted some good kid quotes, and since I’m going to miss the girls a lot while I’m attending my grandfather’s funeral in the U.P., I thought I’d post a few from the last couple weeks: Genevieve, disagreeing with me: “You don’t know the truth, big man.” Julia: “Tomorrow for [...]

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So I called him when I was a little boy, to distinguish him from my dad’s dad, “Cow Grampa.” I’ll write more about “Hub” Jauquet later, but here’s his obituary. He was a tough guy, one of a kind. Herbert “Hub” Francis Jauquet, 89 of Channing, Michigan passed away on August 24, 2010 at ManorCare Health [...]

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Yesterday, Vivi fell off the deck of the Northfield city pool and hurt herself pretty badly. I should have been right there, but I was talking for a second with another dad, and when I looked back, Vivi had slipped, basically right into my arms. But still. She cried really hard, screaming, “I hurt my [...]

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This is a video camera: This is a video camera in the hands of a four-year-old. Genevieve calls this “My Laughter Box is Full.” My Laughter Box is Full from Christopher Tassava on Vimeo.

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On Friday night, the girls played some more “monkey in the middle,” which they call “Ball Thief.” Here are 23 seconds of them are in action: Ball Thief from Christopher Tassava on Vimeo.

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There really are twin ruts in this road, but this is a funny sign anyhow.

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Today, I submitted the final grades for the online course I taught this summer for Metro State University in St. Paul, “World War II – A Global History.” This is the twelfth time I’ve taught for Metro State since fall 2003, and the third time I’ve taught this particular course, always online. I felt like [...]

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Genevieve had a blast celebrating her fourth birthday at Nonna and Boppa’s house, where most of the extended family also showed up. The best part was either the cake or the presents but Vivi was also pretty excited by the fact that she gets “another birfday!” on Sunday, her actual date of birth. Tonight’s bedtime [...]

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Vivi spent about half an hour before her “family party” on Friday afternoon writing this on her Nonna’s computer: Happy birthday to me Happy birthday to me We love our birthday girl I love my cake It’s so cute She was pretty happy with her accomplishment!

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A classic sign at the wonderfully-named “Middle Spunk Lake” rest area on I-94 north of the Cities.

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By predilection and by training, I love calculating “as far as” spans between two dates. It can be cheap history, but can also be useful to see how closely in time two events occurred, especially when one of those events seems “closer” to the present day. Personal information is great for this: Julia is about [...]

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Today was beyond hot – for southern Minnesota. The air temperature was up over 90°F for a good part of the day and the heat index was up over a 100°F for even more of it, while the relative humidity was in the upper 70% range and the dew point was well over 80°F for [...]

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That’s the famous demand that Jens Voigt, a superlatively tough pro cyclist, makes during especially hard rides. My ride today was hardly a Tour de France stage, but it was both the longest ride and the longest workout I’ve ever done. The ride took me further away from Northfield than any ride I’ve done, into [...]

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