TheBanyanTree: Frozen in Water

[nancyiee at aol.com]

good for you, running in the Winter marathon. I don't run any more, the old 
 knees don't take the pounding.
 
I miss going to the St Paul Winter Carnival. In days past, I was one of the 
 car racers on Phalen. It was a seven-race series, doncha know, Winnipeg, 
Duluth,  Thunder Bay, some place in Wisconsin, Brainerd, Prior Lake, and the 
climax at St  Paul. A short season, beginning with the first location with 
twelve inches of  ice, and ending when the motor home fell through. I don't 
think they run on  Phalen any more, too hard to control the crowd.  One year 
they had hot air  balloons taking off from that location. At season's end, 
there was a big banquet  with the season awards. I won my class one year, I 
remember. A HUGE feat, since  at that time I was the only woman competing. My 
first car was an Austin Mini  Cooper, a real one, not a modern type.  My 
second car was a Saab sonett.  (since the early minis did not meet the crash 
tests of that era, my car was  built in Thunder Bay by a troupe of mad 
Finlanders, and came to the States in  cartons (car parts)  Ah, those were the 
days.