A "Johnnie"

Not a "Joni"---that'd be me. What's a "Johnnie", you might be asking? I suppose a Johnnie is alot of different things/people/nouns and even an adjective/adverb in the American English slang sense. The "Johnnie" I'm referring to though, is my husband---as in a graduate of St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota.

Second question, I thought you guys were going to a bike race on Sunday? Well, we were ---at least that was the plan. What we didn't plan on however, were all these extenuating circumstances that were beyond our control. First....Mike woke up with a slightly sore throat. He's still got the tail-end of some sickness that just won't go away. We were in St. Cloud and he met with the team's coach (who is an exercise therapist/professor at St. Cloud University with a bunch of PhD's in all sorts of sports/fitness/and "ology's") who also mentioned to Mike that he should be cautious. He threw in verbage about pneumonia and other junk. Add to this the current weather of 30-50 MPH wind, 40 degrees, with a rain/snow mix, and it all just felt like a BAD mix. Not worth it.

So instead, we took the scenic route home. "Hey Sweetie, wanna go and see St. John's---where I went to school?" I was game, and the Scrapper was game and so we did. What a beautiful campus...small and quaint with an European feel to it nestled in a lovely woodsy area near St. Cloud, complete with a lake (This is the land of 10,000 after all). As we passed the buildings, he'd say, "That's where I lived my Freshman year...everyone who's a freshman lives in the "Tommy" (St. Thomas Hall) or the "Mary" (St. Mary's Hall)" We walked through the buildings and he said "Oh---this is way different. This was our room when I was a sophmore. Whoa! They must have gutted the place." His old room now says, "Do Not Enter---Electrical room".

"Hey and that building didn't used to be called THAT?!! It used to be called....uh...oh...hmmm...I forget what it used to be called. But it wasn't THAT!" (It's amazing the things you forget huh?) "Oh wow", he said, "They put a fence around the football stadium. That was never there. I remember when the old "Learjet" Leary was so hammered he fell all the way down the hill and couldn't go to hockey practice for a while!" (...and equally amazing the things you remember!)

He gave me a grand Taylor tour...and topped it off with a purchase of a couple of loaves of freshly-baked-by-Monk's "Johnnie bread", one for us and one for Uncle Jim who recently celebrated a birthday and is also a "Johnnie". This is the best bread we've bought in Minnesota and even you Californians (who are spoiled with fresh and tasty bread) would approve. (I wonder...do they ship it?)

Anyway---no race report this weekend....but I'm certainly enjoying exploring Minnesota with my husband and my hound. It just doesn't get much better than that! Happy Monday!

P.S. Word on the street is that "Big Mig", also known as "Taylorini" also known as MT has returned from retirement. (We weren't doing "Nothing" in St. Cloud!) Details are forthcoming...really they are...so stay tuned to the "Taylor-newsfeed-from-Minnesota" (also known as Joni's big mouth and MT's biggest fan!)

(been having trouble posting..)