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Big River Magazine just published my article about the reopening of the National Eagle Center in Wabasha. They have added four buildings to their campus which includes the beautiful Riverfront Center. They have expanded their program center, avian care facility, and their exhibit space which will include items from the Preston Cook Collection. Cook has donated his entire collection of 40,000 pieces related to eagles to the National Eagle Center. The article is in the March/April issue of Big River Magazine. 
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I have been working on a book for the past year about bridges in southeast Minnesota. It will be published later this year by The History Press, the same publisher that published my book Historic Disasters in Southeast Minnesota. The book will have 140 photos of bridges in the region and a history of those bridges and the impact they have on the lives of people who use them. I just submitted the manuscript and photos, so they now move on to the production phase. I'll be excited to see that book in print.
When Peggy and I were traveling in South America in 1983, we saw a McDonalds restaurant in Rio de Janeiro. We hadn't seen a McDonalds in a year, so we stopped, went in, and the experience we had there is a vivid memory today. Here is an article about that day that appeared in this week's Home Forum section of the Christian Science Monitor in Boston.
I was on assignment from Big River Magazine to do a story about the reopening of the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota. While talking with the Eagle Center people, I heard about their winter golden eagle tours and decided to sign up for one. Peggy and I went with them today and had an amazing experience. We saw several golden eagles which are much more reclusive and camouflaged than bald eagles. Scott Mehus, the tour guide, spoke for more than three hours based on his twenty-five years of studying golden eagles. It was an incredible day.
On the way home from a family wedding, I stopped in my old hometown in Kansas. One place I wanted to see was a hill where my friends and I rode down on our bikes. It was scary at the time, and when I returned, I could understand why. Here is an essay about that event. It is published in the Home Forum section of this week's Christian Science Monitor in Boston. See it here.
Wednesday I spoke at the Goodhue County Historical Center in Red Wing about my book Historic Disasters in Southeast Minnesota. It was a very good audience with excellent questions. The Red Wing Republican Eagle ran this article about the book talk and signing.
In their November issue, Rochester Magazine ran an excerpt from my book Historic Disasters in Southeast Minnesota. It includes part of the section on the Armistice Day Blizzard in 1940 with a few photos.
Last week I gave a talk about my book Historic Disasters in Southeast Minnesota to the Lake City Storytellers. Lots of good questions and a fun conversation. I am scheduled for other talks in the area soon. Coming up:
Wednesday, November 9, Noon, Lake City Kiwanis Thursday, November 10, 6:30, Lake City Public Library Wednesday, November 16, Noon, Goodhue County Historical Society, Red Wing I was very pleased to see a nice review of my book Historic Disasters in Southeast Minnesota in Big River Magazine from Winona. The review, written by Pamela Eyden, editor-at-large, is an accurate and positive portrayal of the book.
After the trip to Colorado for two weddings, we returned home to a series of sad events.
When I served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, I became good friends with science teacher Mauro Diaz from Casper, Wyoming. We would meet the night before each meeting, go for a long walk, and have dinner and a good conversation. Mauro and I also took his two oldest sons hiking for three days in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana. Near the end of the wedding trip, we learned that Mauro and his youngest son Mateo, had died in a head-on car crash near Thermopolis, Wyoming. A few days later, we learned that Kelly Fulton, a teacher at Bozeman High School in Montana had been killed while riding his bike to school. I had worked with Kelly when he was a runner for Billings Senior High School. He later ran for St. Olaf College in Minnesota. We had kept in touch as he road his bike across the country, taught English in China, and began his teaching career. A day or two later, we found out that Joe Cross, the principal who hired me to work at Billings Senior High School, had passed away. I had a lot of respect for Joe as a principal and as a person. Any one of these deaths would have set us back, but to try to process all four of them at once has been a serious challenge. We are left with powerful memories of each of these wonderful people. |
Photo by John Jancik
AuthorDr. Steve Gardiner is the author of eight books and over 1,000 articles. |