Buffy Sainte-Marie Headlines SummerStage Festival in NYC's Central Park

Above: Buffy Sainte-Marie headlining a roster of aboriginal performers, including Iskwé and A Tribe Called Red, in New York City’s Central Park on July 9. (Photo: Michael Seto)

The Wild Reed's special countdown to the release of Buffy Sainte-Marie's new album, Medicine Songs, continues with the sharing of an excerpt from Leeanne Root's Indian Country Today's July 17 article about Buffy's headlining of this year's SummerStage music festival in New York City's Central Park.

NOTE: For the first installment of this series, click here. For my photographs of Buffy in concert in Minnesota and Wisconsin last summer, click here.

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Three aboriginal performers including Iskwé, A Tribe Called Red, and Buffy Sainte-Marie brought a diverse crowd of some 3,000 to New York City’s Rumsey Playfield in Central Park on July 9 for a free concert.

“You got a whole lot of Canadians here, eh?” Buffy Sainte-Marie jokingly asked the crowd when she took the stage after Iskwé and A Tribe Called Red.

She had the crowd on their feet and swaying to songs like “Up Where We Belong,” “Starwalker,” and “The War Racket.”

Buffy Sainte-Marie talked about activism and instead of war having a school to teach alternative conflict resolution before singing her song “Universal Soldier.”

She got the crowd going speaking the lyrics to “Carry It On.” She asked the crowd “Are you here to improve?” And reminded everyone that “We’re only here by the skin of our teeth as it is.”

. . . Even though having all three of these performers on the same stage may seem like a stretch because they all sound so different, the crowd loved it. As people were leaving, many noted how amazing the show was.

“Buffy Sainte-Marie is an artist I first saw perform live in a church in Montreal several years ago, and I have wanted to bring her to SummerStage ever since, not specifically because she is a pioneering indigenous voice, but simply because she is an amazing musician and performer,” City Parks Foundation Executive Artistic Director Erika Elliott told ICMN.

“The rest of the line-up then evolved organically to include other indigenous voices, because all were acts we wanted to have in the SummerStage season. A Tribe Called Red has been a favorite of mine for years now as well, and I had struggled to find the right show to have them on. Once I confirmed Buffy Sainte-Marie, it honestly seemed like a stretch sonically to book them on the same bill, but after talking with all and knowing Buffy and A Tribe Called Red both liked the idea, we moved ahead,” Elliott said. “I gauge response by crowd response, and the night was really well-received by everyone in attendance, especially since the audience was so diverse.”

It certainly was a diverse evening to remember. Even Buffy Sainte-Marie commented that the only Canadian aboriginal musician missing was Tanya Tagaq.

– Leeanne Root
Excerpted from “Buffy Sainte-Marie Headlines
Aboriginal Performances in NYC”
Indian Country Today
July 17, 2017

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Following is a 2010 performance by Buffy and her band of her song "Starwalker."

Starwalker he's a friend of mine
You've seen him looking fine
He's a straight talker, he's a Starwalker
Don't drink no wine
Ay way hey o heya

Wolf Rider she's a friend of yours
You've seen her opening doors,
She's a history turner, she's a sweetgrass burner
And a dog soldier
Ay hey way hey way heya

Lightning Woman, Thunderchild
Star soldiers one and all
Oh, Sisters, Brothers all together
Aim straight, stand tall

For The Wild Reed's special series of posts leading-up to the May 12, 2015 release of Buffy's most recent album, Power in the Blood, see:
• Buffy Sainte-Marie and That "Human-Being Magic"
• Buffy Sainte-Marie's Lesson from the Cutting Edge: "Go Where You Must to Grow"
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: "Sometimes You Have to Be Content to Plant Good Seeds and Be Patient"
• Buffy Sainte-Marie's Power in the Blood

For more of Buffy Sainte-Marie at The Wild Reed, see:
• For Acclaimed Songwriter, Activist and Humanitarian Buffy Sainte-Marie, the World is Always Ripening
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: "I'm Creative Anywhere"
• A Music Legend Visits the North Country: Buffy Sainte-Marie in Minnesota and Wisconsin – August 2016
• Two Exceptional Singers Take a Chance on the "Spirit of the Wind"
• Photo of the Day – January 21, 2017
• Buffy Sainte-Marie Wins 2015 Polaris Music Prize
• Congratulations, Buffy
• Happy Birthday, Buffy!
• Actually, There's No Question About It
• For Buffy Sainte-Marie, a Well-Deserved Honor
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: Singing It and Praying It; Living It and Saying It
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: Still Singing with Spirit, Joy, and Passion
• Something Special for Indigenous Peoples Day
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: "The Big Ones Get Away"

Opening image: Michael Seto.

Austen and Australia

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the death of English novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817). Here in Australia a number of special events are taking place to honor and celebrate the life and works of Austen, including a display of rare editions of her books at the State Library of New South Wales, a keynote speech at the University of Sydney by Austen expert Professor Devoney Looser of Arizona State University, and a high tea at Curzon Hall hosted by the Jane Austen Society of Australia.

Many of my favorite stories, as books and/or films, are set during England's Georgian era (1714-1830), the time in which Austen lived. Among these is the 1996 film adaption of Austen's 1817 novel Persuasion. Others include Winston Graham's Poldark series of novels; Tolstoy's War and Peace; the tale of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables; Jane Campion's film Bright Star, about the poet John Keats; and the book I've just started reading during my current visit home to Australia, For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke. It's a novel that, more than any other, is said to define Australia's convict past (1788-1868).

Above: The cast of the BBC's 2016 adaptation of War and Peace. Although set in Russia, Tolstoy's sweeping saga of love, war, betrayal and redemption takes place at the same time as England's Regency era (1795-1837), which is considered to be the last part of the Georgian era.

Above: Gabriella Wilde as Caroline Penvenen, Eleanor Tomlinson as Demelza Poldark, and Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark in the BBC's latest adaptation of Winston Graham's Poldark novels. Graham's series of historical novels is set in England during the Regency era, with the twelve Poldark novels covering the period 1783-1820.

Above: Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne and Ben Whishaw as the English Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821) in Jane Campion's 2009 film, Bright Star.

My attraction to and interest in the Georgian era is no doubt influenced by certain artworks from my childhood. In the hallway of my childhood home in Gunnedah, for example, hung a framed print of Thomas Lawrence's "The Red Boy" (1825). Lawrence is often considered the "Romantic portraitist of the Regency," and his portrait of the young Charles William Lambton is one of my earliest memories. It remains to this day in the home of my parents – though that home is now in Port Macquarie, not Gunnedah.

Also, when I was a child I had a book of nursery rhymes illustrated by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone. Their drawings featured adults and children in the fashions of the Georgian era (left), perhaps because many of the nursery rhymes included in the book were written during this time.

Finally, growing up in the 1970s in Australia (which, remember, was and remains part of the British Commonwealth) many everyday items – from tins of chocolates to money – featured images of people in Regency-era attire, the same era in which Jane Austen lived and about which she wrote in her novels.

Above: The historical figures of John Macarthur (1767-1834) and Caroline Chisholm (1808-1877) as depicted on Australian bank notes from the 1960s-'80s.

Which brings us back to the main point of this post! . . . In yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald Linda Morris offered an insightful commentary on how and why Jane Austen is relevant to Australia – both during her lifetime and today. Following is an excerpt from Morris's article.

Australian politics is full of well-known figures that resemble characters from Jane Austen novels, notes Paul Brunton, emeritus curator of the State Library of NSW.

Be they :pompous , the stupid, the self-serving, the snobbish, the superficial and less often the sensible and altruistic."

It is Austen's ability to create characters recognizable in contemporary society – to "dissect human nature with the skill of a surgeon" – that marks her genius, said Brunton, and one reason among many to observe the 200th anniversary of the author's death [today].

While the cause of Austen's untimely death in Winchester on July 18, 1817, is disputed, a series of public events have been planned to celebrate the life and works of the novelist who wrote three classics of English literature before the age of 25.

. . . The late 18th century, early 19th century Georgian era of Austen's novels, Persuasion, Emma and Pride and Prejudice, was the period of first European settlement in Australia, said the library's resident fashion historian, Margot Riley.

"All those first generations of free white settlers were coming from that same milieu, that same background of genteel society, and really looking to recreate the ideals of that society in Australia," Riley said.

"People like Lachlan Macquarie and the Blaxland family and all those early settlers were trying to recreate Austen's world."

Governor Macquarie, Riley said, embodied Austen's idea of the self-made military gentleman – "one of those far more noble characters you see in books like Persuasion where you leave home, you have to take risks, go off to foreign places in order to have a profession and a career and advance yourself for the benefit of your family."

"It was determined that Elizabeth, who was a cousin, would make him an excellent wife and companion to come out to Australia. They brought a social calendar. . . . They did a lot of work to gentrify and normalise society away from just being a prison colony."

Governor Bligh's daughter Mary Putland was another figure of Australian history who modelled some of Austen's feisty female characters.
"She came out here, lost her husband early when she arrived here, he passed away from tuberculosis, the mother did not come out with Governor Bligh so she became the lady of the colony." Riley said.

The Regency fashion of sheer empire line gowns was readily adopted and Putland was a trendsetter. She set the colony alight when she wore long drawers and walked into church with her undergarments visible about her ankles.

– Linda Morris
Excerpted from “Celebrating the Genius of Jane Austen
200 Years After Her Death”
Sydney Morning Herald
July 18, 2017

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A Beautiful and "Quietly Remarkable" Adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion
• Dreaming of Spring
• Dew[y]-Kissed
• Return of the (Cornish) Native
• Anyone for Tea?

Quote of the Day

This is the image our community is presenting to the world, with front-page coverage in Australia [above] and our own national papers of this latest tragedy on top of the great miscarriage of justice that was the Philando Castile travesty. Minnesota is becoming known, not for its "10,000 lakes" nor for its great progressive political heritage nor for its amazing list of homegrown Fortune 500 companies, but for its police officers who gun-down innocent citizens – black, white and brown – and are not held accountable. Is that who we are? Why were those cameras turned off? Why are our officers so terrified of the public they serve? Why are unstable, trigger-happy cops not ferreted out before they kill? Who is responsible for this lack of leadership, this culture of fear, this "us vs. them" mentality, this power-dynamic where union bosses outrank chiefs of police, this political culture where elected leaders refuse to challenge the status quo with anything beyond words of concern?

– Ken Darling
via Facebook
July 17, 2017

Related Off-site Links:
Australian Woman Justine Damond Killed in Police Shooting in Minneapolis – Sydney Morning Herald (July 17, 2017).
Minneapolis Police Shot an Unarmed Woman in Her Pajamas. They Haven’t Explained Why – German Lopez (Vox, July 17, 2017).
After Minneapolis Police Officer Fatally Shoots Australian Woman, Her Relatives Plead for Answers – Emily Sohn, Kristine Phillips, Mark Berman and Katie Mettler (The Washington Post, July 17, 2017).
Police Brutality Jumped a Racial Fence with Minneapolis Cop Shooting of Justine Damond – Shaun King (New York Daily News, July 17, 2017).
Officer Identified as Firing Fatal Shot Has 3 Complaints on File, City Records Show – Theresa Malloy (KSTP News, July 17, 2017).

UPDATES: After Minneapolis Police Shooting of Justine Damond, It's Time to Decide Who Runs This Town – Richard G. Carlson (Star Tribune, July 18, 2017).
Authorities Silent Nearly Three Days After Justine Damond Shooting – Andy Mannix (Star Tribune, July 18, 2017).
Australians See Woman's Shooting by Police as U.S. Nightmare – The Associated Press via MPR News, July 18, 2017).
Australian Government Demands Answers on Minneapolis Police Shooting – Reuters (July 18, 2017).
Are We Listening Now? – Ryan Williams-Virden (Form Follows Function, July 18, 2017).
Valerie Castile Offers Support To Justine Damond’s Family At Rally – WCCO News (July 20, 2017).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Police, Pride, and Philando Castile
• Remembering Philando Castile and Demanding Abolition of the System That Targets and Kills People of Color
• Quote of the Day – June 20, 2017
• Quote of the Day – November 25, 2015
• "We Are All One" – #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation: Photos, Reflections and Links
• An Update on #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation
• Rallying in Solidarity with Eric Garner and Other Victims of Police Brutality
• "Say Her Name" Solidarity Action for Sandra Bland

A Visit to the Art Gallery of New South Wales

My first day back in Australia (Tuesday, July 11) was also my younger brother's birthday. We celebrated by enjoying brunch at the Coogee Pavilion (right) and then catching a bus to The Domain area of Sydney to visit the Art Gallery of New South Wales (above).

Following are a few more pics from that day.

Above: A number of bark paintings in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collection. Notes the Gallery's website about this collection:

Representing artists from communities across Australia, the Art Gallery of NSW’s collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art celebrates Indigenous Australia’s enduring cultural heritage and its myriad contemporary expressions. The earliest work in the collection, by Tommy McRae, dates back to the late 19th century, yet the stories, ceremonies and ancestral beings depicted in many of the works are testament to the oldest continuous culture in the world. From desert paintings created by small family groups living on remote Western Desert outstations and the bark paintings of the saltwater people of coastal communities to the new media expressions of ‘blak city culture’, contemporary artists have generated a renaissance of Indigenous visual art that has transfigured Australia’s cultural landscape.

Above: The Gallery's collection of Australian art is said to be amongst the finest and most representative in the country. Dating from the early 1800s, it includes many iconic paintings and sculpture.

Featured works include ones by 19th-century artists Eugene von Guérard, William Piguenit, Frederick McCubbin, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Charles Conder, and 20th-century artists such as Margaret Preston, Grace Cossington Smith, William Dobell, Russell Drysdale, Lloyd Rees, Jeffrey Smart, John Olsen, Robert Klippel, Fred Williams, John Brack and Brett Whiteley.

One of a number of famous artworks by non-Australian artists at the Gallery is "Vive L'Empereur!" (1891) by French artist Édouard Detaille (at far right in the image above).

Above: Three famous Australian paintings: "Across the Black Soil Plains" (1899) by George W. Lambert and "The Golden Fleece" (1894) and "Bailed Up" (1895) by Tom Roberts.

The painting second from left above is from Sidney Nolan's famous series of stylised descriptions of the Australian bushranger Ned Kelly. Notes Wikipedia:

Nolan's Ned Kelly series follow the main sequence of the Kelly story. However Nolan did not intend the series to be an authentic depiction of these events. Rather, these episodes/series became the setting for the artist's meditations upon universal themes of injustice, love and betrayal. The Kelly saga was also a way for Nolan to paint the Australian landscape in new ways, with the story giving meaning to the place.

Above: Another painting by Sidney Nolan in the Art Gallery of New South Wales is "Island" (1947).

Says the Gallery about this work:

This bold composition, in which an isolated male figure has been placed in the dead centre of an empty seascape fringed with soft hills set against a pale violet sky is one of Nolan's most haunting images of the late 1940s. It is based on his visit to Fraser Island in North Queensland, which he visited in 1947, partly to investigate the accidental death of his brother Ray in Cooktown two years earlier.

Nolan read about the story of the shipwrecked Englishwoman Eliza Fraser, who became stranded amongst local Aborigines and was rescued by escaped convict David Bracewell, and painted a series pertaining to the narrative. [NOTE: It was actually the convict John Graham who "rescued" Fraser. Also, Fraser was not captured by the Badtjala people, as many accounts state, but rather taken in by them.] The figure could represent Bracewell, Nolan himself, or perhaps the ghost of the artist's brother. However, the abiding existential mood of this remarkable work transcends local legend, lifting it into the realm of metaphor about the fundamental condition of individual humanity.

Above: Detail of "The English Channel" (2015), a sculpture of Captain James Cook by New Zealand artist Michael Parekowhai.

Notes the Gallery about this work:

Larger than life and created from highly polished steel, Michael Parekowhai’s "The English Channel" is an arresting sculptural presence. The figure, with flowing topcoat and ponytail, is the British navigator Captain James Cook. But this is not Cook as he is seen in the many historical monuments that bear his name – or in the famous 1776 portrait painting by Nathaniel Dance which is one inspiration for this sculpture. Resting on a sculptor’s working table with his feet suspended above ground, this Cook seems to be reflecting on his legacy in the contemporary world. At the same time, his dazzling surface collects the reflection of everything around it – including viewers looking at it. Despite the sculpture’s considerable height and weight, this mirror-like surface lends "The English Channel" a slippery and elusive presence, as if to suggest how perceptions shift depending on where one is standing. This charged relationship with place was heightened, in the sculpture’s debut presentation in Sydney, by its physical location within the Gallery, in front of windows overlooking the harbour that Cook sailed past in 1770. The result is a monument of a very contemporary kind – not a full stop marking the end of a story but a question mark inviting response and reflection.

Above: "Forever" by Ai Weiwei (2003).

Above: "An Athlete Wrestling with a Python" (1888-1891), a white marble sculpture by Frederic Leighton. Behind this sculpture can be seen "The Anatomy Class at the École des Beaux Arts" (1888) by François Sallé.

Above: Part of Yin Xiuzhen's installation, "Beijing Opera" (2000).

Above: "Flowers and People – Gold" by teamLab (2015).

Notes the Gallery's website:

The work ‘Flowers and People – Gold’ is an interactive work that takes up the theme of the seasons, which is often reflected in Japanese art and important in Japanese culture. teamLab in particular has a keen awareness of the importance of pre-modern Japanese art and culture and the importance of keeping it relevant in the contemporary world.

‘Flowers and People - Gold’ was inspired by a visit to Kunisaki Peninsula in the spring, a time when cherry blossoms and rape blossoms were in abundance around the mountains. . . . The animated installation work shows flowers that gradually bud, blossom, grow and appear from all areas of the screen. Once a viewer steps close, (and is detected by sensors) the flowers start to wither away and die. A cycle endlessly continues, revolving around the coming to life and then the gradual decay that eventually leads to death. The interaction between the viewer and the installation fuels the work, continually changing the animated states that cannot be replicated. It is the viewer’s presence that prompts the cycle the flowers will take.

Above: The lights of "Flowers and People - Gold" reflected in the glass case surrounding "Padmapani," a 13th-century Nepalese sculpture in the Gallery's Asian art collection.



Right: Another view of "Padmapani."

Above: Walking back across The Domain from the Art Gallery of New South Wales to the central business district (CBD) of Sydney.

Above: Sydney Hospital, the oldest hospital in Australia, dating back to 1788, and at its current location since 1811.

Above: On the Macquarie Street side of Sydney Hospital is Il Porcellino, "the little pig," a larger than life-sized bronze wild boar. It's an exact replica of an original by Pietro Tacca which has stood in Florence, Italy, since circa 1633.

Left: Standing by the same statue with my father, Gordon Bayly, in 1980.

Above and below: Sydney, winter 2017.

Above: Yes, believe it or not, marriage equality is yet to come to Australia.

On the same day as The Australian newspaper story, The Daily Telegraph also reported on how, "according to a special Newspoll, more Australians now support a popular vote on same-sex marriage than holding a free vote in parliament." To read this story, click here.

NEXT: Austen and Australia

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A Visit to the Weisman
• Australia Bound
• Return to Oz . . . Sydney to Be Exact! (2014)
• Sydney Sojourn (2010)

Ahmad Joudeh: Dancing for Peace

The Wild Reed's series "Dancer and the Dance" continues with Dance & Peace, a beautiful and powerful short film about Syrian dancer Ahmad Joudeh.

About Joudeh and his story, Lauren Wingenroth writes the following in Dance Magazine. They are words that serve as a good introduction to Dance & Peace. :

It's easy to forget how lucky we are to live in a place where we can safely pursue our dance training. For dancers in war zones or in places where dance is thought of as unlawful or inappropriate, a dance career can be nearly impossible. But for Ahmad Joudeh – a Syrian dancer who's had to overcome both of these circumstances – there's hope. . . .

Dance & Peace is a follow-up to Roozbeh Kaboly's 2016 3-part documentary film about Joudeh, Dance or Die.

For Part 1 of this film, click here. For Part 2, click here, and for Part 3, click here. The first two episodes go for approximately 20 minutes, while the third is around 10 minutes. Trust me, they're all well worth checking out.

Related Off-site Links:
Ahmad Joudeh: From Syria to the Netherlands, Dancing for Peace – David Mead (Seeing Dance, December 10, 2016).
"It’s Dance or Die": The Ballet Dancer Forbidden to Perform by Islamic State – Renate van der Zee (The Guardian, March 13, 2017).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts
• Quote of the Day
• Desert Dancer: A Story That Matters
• The Purpose of Art
• Art and Resistance
• The Potential of Art and the Limits of Orthodoxy to Connect Us to the Sacred
• The Premise of All Forms of Dance
• The Art of Dancing as the Supreme Symbol of the Spiritual Life
• Not Whether We Dance, But How
• The Dancer and the Dance
• The Soul of a Dancer

Photo of the Day

Image: Michael J. Bayly (Lighthouse Beach, Port Macquarie – Thursday, July 13, 2017).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Lighthouse Beach (2010)
• Tacking Point Lighthouse (2010)
• Port Macquarie Days (2014)
• Seascapes
• On Sacred Ground

Australia Bound

I'm currently at Gate 25 of Los Angeles International Airport, or LAX, enroute from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Sydney, Australia.

I must admit it feels strange to be embarking on what's become an annual sojourn to my homeland at this time of year. Indeed, I've never left this late before, with summer already started in North America and winter underway in the Great South Land.

Why are you going back in winter?, some have asked me. But let's be real here, winter in Australia is nothing like winter in Minnesota! It's more like the North Star State's autumn, to be honest.

My later than usual departure was due, in part, to my needing to stay in the Twin Cities until the end of May so as to complete my first unit of ACPE-accredited clinical pastoral education at St. Francis Medical Center in Shakopee. That experience was the first step in my journey in becoming an interfaith chaplain, a journey that will continue upon my return to the U.S. at the end of August when I begin a chaplain residency in a Minneapolis hospital.

Of course the good thing about leaving my second home in the Twin Cities for an extended visit to my homeland is the opportunity it affords to have any number of gatherings with friends who wish to say bon voyage. I'm all for that!

Left: With my boyfriend Brent – Saturday, July 1, 2017.

Following are some pics from various gathering I've enjoyed with friends in the lead-up to my departure today, July 9, for Australia. Oh, and I have to say just how incredibly fortunate I am to have such steadfast, caring, and generous friends in my life. It is something I definitely don't take for granted.

Above: Standing back row center with (from left) David, Hugh, Alfredo, and John. Front row (from left): Brent, Kathy, and George.This photo and the next 17 where taken at the gathering my friend and housemate Tim and I hosted on the evening of Saturday, July 1.

Above: George and John, who will marry in September. I am honored to have been asked to officiate at their wedding.

Above: Omar, Stephanie, Alfredo, and Matthew – July 1, 2017.

Above: Brent and Lisa.

Above: Jeffrey, Pete, and Omar.



Left: George and Alfredo.

Above: From left: John, George, John, Zac, Alfredo and Colleen.




Right: Brent, Kathy, and Lisa.

Above: John, Brent, Jeffrey, and Pete.



Left: Stephanie, Don, and John.

Above: Tim, Hugh, David, Omar, Matthew, Brent, and Zac.

Above: Omar, Matthew, Alfredo, and Jamez.

Above: With Alfredo and Colleen.




Left: Don and Jamez.

Above: Alfredo and Matthew.

Above: Stephanie, Alfredo, and John.

Above: From left: Brent, Alfredo (in front), John, Stephanie, and Omar.




Right: With John.

Above: On the evening of Monday, July 3, my good friends Ken and Carol invited me to be part of their monthly PAMM (People Against Military Madness) potluck. I've known these folks since my early activist days in the Twin Cities' justice and peace community, which would be the late 1990s. I see most of them very rarely now, so it was great to have this opportunity to catch up with them all.

From left: Nancy, Steve, Greg, Ken, Mary Ellen, Joan, Sue Ann, Carol, and Anne.

Above: Celebrating July Fourth with (from left) Brent, Matt, Joan, George, and John.

Left: With my good friend Kathleen , with whom I've embarked on many memorable road trips over the years, including to St. Louis, Wisconsin, Kansas City, Pahá Sápa, and most recently to Grand Marais.

About: Breakfast with my friends Brian and Rick – Friday, July 7, 2017. We're at the Colossal Cafe in Minneapolis.

Above: Friends Dee, Phil, Noelle, Liana, and John – Saturday, July 8, 2017.

Above: With darling little Amelia! – Saturday, July 8, 2017.

NEXT: A Visit to the Art Gallery

of New South Wales

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Moving On
• Out and About – Spring 2016
• Australia Bound (2009)
• Australia Bound (2006)
• The Onward Call