Beautiful November 1

After a couple days of rainy, cloudy weather, this morning dawned with beautiful sun. That in itself is great, but better yet-- it's November 1 and the temperature in the afternoon is around 50 degrees (10 C). I've seen freezing weather and snow on this date in some years.

I had an appointment in the morning and found the drive there beautiful. The sun and the light this time of year is special. I went to D'Amico's for lunch after my appointment and then got a few groceries.

When done I decided a few pictures were definitely in order to mark this day.

First I stopped along Summit Avenue, a street I am privileged to several times during the week. Summit Avenue is part of two National Historic Districts because of the beautiful homes there with outstanding architecture.

I first stopped to take a photo of this lady:

She is made out of a tree trunk. It is not uncommon for something like this to be done with a large tree trunk when a tree must be removed, for example, due to wind damage. If I remember the story right, the home owners here knew that was what they wanted to do, but the tree service got it wrong and removed everything. The home owners had to recover the trunk and bring it back home. That's why this lady is set on a pedestal, rather than being rooted into the ground. I enjoy seeing this lady as I drive along Summit. Sometimes in the winter she even puts on a beautiful coat!

Near the lady is the Minnesota Governor's Mansion. This house was gift to the state of Minnesota by Clotilde Irvin Moles and Olivia Irvine Dodge in memory of their parents, Horace Hills Irvine and Clotilde McCullough Irvine. This mansion is used for official events held by the Governor. One I recall is when Governor Perpich invited Gorbachev to Minnesota. Sometimes the Governor lives here and sometimes the Governor chooses to live elsewhere.

Here's a view of part of the house; it's so large it's hard to get a good photo.

As I was walking towards the mansion, I noticed how beautiful is the Minnesota flag against the fall red tree.

 Here's a view too of how the trees appeared across the street.

Here are pictures of other houses along Summit. In total there must be at least 100 so I simply chose a couple of nearby houses to show a sample of what's along the street.

Not all the houses are stone. Below is a wooden one.

I took a bit of swing too into Irvine Park. Yes, it's the same Irvine family as mentioned in the Governor's mansion. Before Summit was developed, the large houses built by the wealthy families were in Irvine Park.

This all looks different from the view on my blog you may find on the December 6, 2012 date.

And then I drove down the Eagle Street hill and parked in the Upper Landing Park area. I walked across Shephard Road trying to find the view I had seen driving up the hill earlier in the day. Couldn't see if from the sidewalk. Thankfully, the traffic was very light this time of day and I was able to run across the street and stand in the median and get this view of the Saint Paul Cathedral bordered by fall trees.

Enjoy, enjoy!