Minnesota Return - Days 97-107 of 178 Day Adventure

Alexx taking aim at some giant mosquitos.

On Friday, August 9, we made our way back to our home state, good old Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes and a few more than that in mosquitoes.  Soon after landing, we were greeted at the campground by longtime friend Randy "R.J." Johnson and his fiancee Jacqueline.  R.J. and I have known each other since the 9th grade; later, we were both hired by the St. Louis Park Parks and Recreation Department back in 1974 for our first real jobs in the grown-up world.  His lovely fiancee is from England, putting the "lonnnggg" in long-distance relationship.  In a charming trend for us, Jacqueline becomes the 5th English woman who has either become a friend of ours (Jo and Lesley in AZ) or is dating one of our male friends (Mary with college roomie Jim, and Vickie with Sam Campbell, the son of one of our best friends).  It's a regular "British Invasion" all over again.

Jean Alexander with Mick and Jennifer Kirkeby.

    
















 Our main reason for our return trip to Minnesota was to have a party at my mom's house on Saturday, August 10, that would be a combination book-signing party (We finally had been shipped 200 copies of my book, The Fastest Gun in Hollywood: The Life Story of Peter Brown) and a celebration of the last party we would have at the house where I grew up.

Alexx and Scott "Marty" Martin with the book.

 Yes, after 55 years, my mom is putting the old place on the market and moving to the incredible Presbyterian Homes on the Twin Cities premiere lake, Lake Minnetonka.  Newly built, P.H. is 5 blocks of senior housing coupled with some 130,000 square feet of retail shops and restaurants, a 100-room hotel, and a grocery store, all within a block's walk of downtown Wayzata and the lake.  We think it's going to be good for her, and at 86, she won't have to be climbing on the roof anymore cleaning acorns out of the eaves trough, as we caught her doing again last week.

The Mumbleaus enjoying the "spread" of goodies.

     The party turned out wonderfully.  New friends and old along with relatives and neighbors came by to reminisce about the home and parties of yesteryore (Is that even a word?).  



Mom had the place decorated perfectly for a western book signing and Diedre was a wonder in the kitchen putting all the hors d'oeuvres together.  It was a night we won't soon forget, even as we have trouble daily remembering where we left our glasses.

Long time friends Alps, Ax and Annie

Alexx reading to Diedre and all an excerpt

      The following week our dance card was full up.  We played golf with long time friends Cat and Greg, utilizing our usual 9-holes-only, 2-person-scramble format.  We figure if we want to keep playing golf, we really have to like the game, and to like the game, we need to keep it to about 9 holes, or I start bleating, "Is this almost over!?"  The scramble allows us to usually be hitting from somewhere good as most times one of us is in the fairway on any particular shot.  It works for us.

Cat at the Nugget

     Afterwards, we dined at the Gold Nugget.  When I bought my house on Glen Lake in 1984, I found this dumpy little burger place 3 blocks walk away.  For the next 20 years, I was a regular at owner Doug Carlson's Gold Nugget Restaurant.  Great burgers and even greater atmosphere.  Unfortunately for us (not so unfortunate for Doug), a developer bought him out for several million dollars.  He did put up a  new Gold Nugget in the middle of his development; the place is OK, but it will never be the same.  Ahh, progress, I guess.
    
     

     On Tuesday, we had lunch scheduled with Gerry and Judy Turnberg.  25 years earlier, I resigned my position as state athletic director for the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association.  The MRPA board asked me to pick my successor, so I went with Gerry, one of my regional softball umpires-in-chief.  He did a wonderful job over the years and really grew the program.  Now, 25 years later, HE'S getting ready to retire.  Where the hell did the time go?!
   

Judy and Gerry Turnberg

 The Turnbergs have two stunningly beautiful adult daughters.  One of them was a Minnesota Vikings cheerleader.  At lunch, Judy told us how their daughters, along with their three equally stunning cousins (all 5 are blondes) made a video and submitted it to the TV game show, "Family Feud."  And amazingly enough, some old guy producer saw the girls and decided they must be on the show.  They made it through 3 nights of competition and in the end, totaled $21,000 in winnings.  The show was repeated last week and we were able to view one of the night's competitions while in Air Barty One in St. Louis.
     That evening, we had a family dinner at my brother Mark and his wife Linda's house.  As sometimes happens, Diedre mixed her wine and with some very good (and strong) martinis.  You can imagine how that night turned out.  At 2 a.m., I found her on Mark's roof yelling, "I'M KING OF THE WORLD!"  I don't know ... maybe I dreamed that last part.

   

Dennis and Ellen - the newlyweds!

 On Wednesday, we made it out to a Twins baseball game with Ellen Joseph and new husband Dennis.  Ellen and I go way back, our lives intersecting with each others many times over the years.  In high school, she cheered for me when I was captain of the basketball team and she was the head cheerleader.  We found ourselves on the same airplane freshman year of college when we both attended the University of Michigan.  When I was the athletic director for the city of Eden Prairie, MN, I ran into her often as she was married to one of the better softball players in E.P.  And then years later, we reconnected when I was running my Duck Soup Softball Fiasco tournament; the proceeds went for scholarships at the old high school, so I had been recruiting as many of my classmates from the late 60's as I could.  Ellen even made time to come down to Arizona to see my plays, something for which Diedre and I are eternally grateful to her.

Joe Mauer taking his bases on the Home Run Hit

    We had been in the Twins new stadium last year, so it didn't add to our quest of seeing all major league stadiums.  But we were confident of victory, as so far on the trip, we were 5-0 for home teams in baseball games we had attended.  Sure enough, the Twins jumped off to a big 7-3 lead after 7 innings.  However, the Indians of Cleveland tied it in the 8th on a 3-run home run by that noted steroid fan, Jason Giambi.  The Indians then took the lead by scoring a run in the 10th, but in a most exciting , crowd rousing turn of events, local Twins star Joe Mauer tied it up with a line shot home run in the bottom of the inning.  We thought we had the game now, but unfortunately, our  streak came to an end as the Indians scored 1 in the 12th on a sacrifice fly for a 9-8 win.  We drowned our sorrows in beer in the pubs on the walk back to Ellen and Dennis's townhouse.
   

Becca and her Aunt

 Thursday was a big day for us.  After meeting up for an early pre-work breakfast with our wonderful niece Becca (her work, not ours), we ventured out to Roseville, MN, to meet up with artistic director Steve Peterson.  Steve works with senior actor programs and, through one of our Minnesota actors, had heard about my senior softball play, "Buzzard Ball."  We had sent him a script before we left on our trip; today would be decision day for Steve, and sure enough, he informed us he wants to produce my play, probably in March of 2014, in Minneapolis.  Pretty exciting stuff for us both!  It will be the 3rd time BB will have been produced, but the first time since 2004.  We're planning on flying back for opening night.
   

The original Boones Farm Boys hitting the bottle again.

     I mentioned earlier about the house I bought on Glen Lake back in 1984; I lived there for 20 years, joined by Diedre from 1989-2004.  We had sold the house to Chuck Pappas, a high school and work friend who had been our house-sitter for the first 5 years that we split time between Arizona and Minnesota.  When he heard we were finally going to put it on the market, he and his girlfriend asked for the first option on buying it; eventually they did.  This made it easy for us to visit Minnesota and see our old house, complete with 2 decks, swimming pool, and built-in bar, all the comforts one needs in life.
     But all good things must come to an end.  Chuck and now-wife Theresa have decide to downsize, so they put the house on the market.  This after doing a yeoman's job of remodeling, making the house roughly double the size of when we lived there.  So that night would probably be the last time we would be invited to our old house, unless the new owners are really good sports.
     Just like old times, it was a pizza party poolside.  Invited were the usual gang: best friend Steve "Alps" Alpert whom I have known since kindergarten; Dick "The Ax" Anderson, also a friend since kindergarten; and Ken Radde, long time next door neighbor with whom I go back to 1965 playing together on the high school basketball team; and their wives/girlfriends, Jane, Annie, and Bonnie.  It's a good thing we've got the RV now, since with my mom's and Pappas' houses sold, there would have been two fewer places for us to crash on our summer trips home.
   

 On Friday, we took Mom on a day outing.

 Her thing is antiques, so we found one of the oddest "antique" places in the city.

 Hot Sam's is more a combination junkyard/antique store /museum with over 10 acres of oddities.

 It's been described as "a place between a museum and The Twilight Zone.  Much to look at and a lot of laughs.  

You wouldn't believe some of the things they have on exhibit there.

     That evening, close friend Craig Campbell came over to the campground for a cookout.  He's threatening to meet up with us somewhere out west in the remaining days of our trip.  We'll see.

     

On Saturday, August 17, we went over to Mom's house for very possibly the last time.  The family had the house built in 1958 when I was in the 2nd grade.  On this day, the memories really came washing down over me.  

We noticed on my bedroom door that the height measurements of me as a growing boy were still there: the first showed I was 5'5" when I was 12 (3/13/63), and the last one was 6'2" when I was 16 (3/13/67).  Diedre decided I needed one more measurement there, so for the first time in 46 years, I stood against the door for the final time.  My final height was measured at 6'4" (with shoes on) at the age of 62.  I guess I'm still a growing boy.

   

 We ended our time in Minnesota just as it began, with a visit with R.J. and English Jacqueline.  We played a 9-hole scramble at Valleywood Golf Course, the same course where my bachelor party had been contested just over 22 years ago.  With all these dates and measurements of time, can you tell my degree was in history?
   

 
     We spent the next two days in Menomonie, Wisconsin, at Remy and Lisa's, Diedre's younger brother and sister-in-law.  We got there early enough Sunday morning to see Remy preach at his church.  We later took a walk around their beautiful grounds and were able to see the hillside bench on the path that had been dedicated to Barbara (Barty), Diedre and Remy's mother who passed away a year ago July.  It was a most idyllic setting and very comforting to sit on the bench and look down over the rural countryside.

   

Playwright and Author Alexx Stuart with college roommate Jim Schroer

 OK, on to Chicago for a Cubs game and my first ever attendance at the Dramatists' Guild (playwrights) National Conference.  See you there.