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My Brother John in Minnesota
My brother John Burgard poses at the Mississippi River.
My brother John in Minnesota speaks with a Midwestern accent. Even though I have spent more than half of my adult life in California, it’s still astonishing to me that people can hear that “Fargo” accent in my speech and realize that I was raised in Minnesota. They poke fun at what they call my Midwestern ethics. This is not to say that people from California don’t have ethics because that would be silly, but you’ve gotta admit that California is where the “dude, I flaked” mentality originated. I can hear the thoughts of my brother John in Minnesota, his voice in my head, laughing: Dude, I flaked.
Few in California are overly anxious to oh, say, wait their turn, yield the right-of-way, admit they were wrong, hold open doors for strangers, raise their hand, say what they mean and mean what they say, step in to do what’s right before asked, be on time, say please and thank you without fail; every person has her own agenda; I’m sure you know people like that. I know people like that.
Regardless, I am much more a California person nowadays than a Minnesotan. I don’t like to look at the weather forecast for Minnesota because it’s so cold. My sister sent me a t-shirt that reflects the sentiment of the weather in Minnesota, and let’s just say I can’t wear it on a plane or I would be ordered to disembark. I pay attention primarily to the weather in California. It is moving into the mid 70s this week.
Above is a photograph of my brother John in Minnesota, standing along the Mississippi River on the Minneapolis side that my sister shot yesterday. St. Paul is in the background. He has decided to stop his clinical trials at the U of M for stage 4 soft tissue Sarcoma. The tumors in his lungs are not shrinking any longer. He’s tired of feeling sick all the time. You can see there is no snow on the ground, yet usually March is the snowiest month in Minneapolis. Also, I noticed my brother is wearing new shoes. There are no leaves on the trees, and the ground cover is dormant. It seems sad and depressing.
My brother John in Minnesota says he enjoyed the sunlight. He was thrilled the snow had melted. Even though it was chilly, he looks forward to spring. He seems happy, as happy as he can be in his situation. He even argued with me, claiming that hummingbirds have more in common with insects than with birds. My sister hopes he lives long enough to take a spring cruise on a yacht (like the one pictured) down the Mississippi. It’s something he’s never done.
This photo is a far cry from the photograph I posted a few days of the flooded Sacramento River banks. We have deciduous trees as well in Sacramento, but they are budding now, plus we also have camellias, birds of paradise and many coniferous trees that retain green in our lives all year long. Winters are not so bleak. We are fortunate to live in Sacramento, whether we were born here or moved to Sacramento from elsewhere. Spring in Sacramento is a time of new life, new beginnings, hope for the future and faith that we can handle whatever life hands us.
Getting Ready for Spring in Sacramento
Getting ready for spring in Sacramento means opening your eyes.
Getting ready for spring in Sacramento means shoving my boots to the back of my closet and checking to make sure the heels on my sandals are in intact — because standing on my tippy toes in my client’s garden beds to shoot photographs of their back yards doesn’t always work, especially after they have watered the lawn. Sometimes those heels sink into the mud without my knowledge. Whereas getting ready for spring in a place like Minneapolis means opening the front door in excitement and then slamming it in disgust because the snow never stops falling.
You might not know this, but March is often the snowiest month in Minneapolis. See, it’s all in perspective for me.
Getting ready for spring in Sacramento pretty much means waking up and perhaps weeding the garden, perhaps not. Although I did pull our patio chairs from the garage. Those poor pieces of outdoor furniture traveled from Minneapolis to Sacramento some 13 years ago when we moved to our home in Land Park. They were in pretty good shape when we got here, a white powder-coat finish offset the navy blue sling chairs. I can’t count the number of times since they have blown off our back deck during a winter storm. Our table did not survive the first storm, the glass top shattered into a million pieces, so we bought cast iron. We replaced the umbrella after a tree fell on the house.
But arranging the chairs this weekend for a dinner party I noticed a seam had given way and was no longer attached to the frame. The white powder-coat finish featured a bunch of dings, chips and streaks of blue paint, no doubt scraped from the deck. The table had developed rust spots. Strings hung from the umbrella. It was time for new patio furniture. I was a bit astonished that my husband did not object, usually his response is something like: well, we can still sit on it, (except for that one chair). Then again, we have been married for many years.
Besides, there are Ingress portals to hack out by Emigh’s Outdoor Living on El Camino and Watt. And I was super excited to discover a Laser Tag place nearby. Let’s go play, let’s go play. But no, for my husband, we had to do normal things like shop for cat food and get home in time to take the clothes out of the dryer. For me, to update my clients about what happened at their Sunday open houses. And call my sister in Minneapolis to hear about how much the snow never stops falling while I describe our new patio furniture. She claims her phone just dropped the call — but probably the only thing worse than opening your front door and slamming it in disgust is to listen to your sister in California ramble on about her shopping adventure for patio furniture.
I love spring in Sacramento. It’s an excellent time to buy or sell a home. If you need a Sacramento REALTOR, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
