Coon Rapids, Mn

The town of Coon Rapids boasts a lovely little park on the edge of the Mighty Mississippi.  The park and town are centered around a Dam, built in 1913, that supplies electricity to the Twin Cities...

Becky and I defied the threatening rain and spent the morning there.

These are not quite the headwaters of the Mississippi but are within only a few hundred miles of that location.

Becky does some wonderful volunteer work at her church.  The church supplies dinner and housing for 3 or 4 homeless families while the parents spend the day preparing for and looking for work.  I went with her to help serve dinner after our trip to the dam.  Well, the ladies were so well-organized that the best 'volunteer work' I could find to do was to play Scrabble with one of the mothers, who, incidentally, beat the pants off of me.  Watching those children play in the church recreation room made me very sad--their only friends are the other families whose faces change as circumstances arise.  The children do not know where they will go to school-- or where they will lay their heads from night to night.  

 Spoiler Alert:  I am about to reveal a secret recipe that may revolutionize marital harmony throughout the country.

Becky's husband, Tim, is a gourmet grill chef and a wine connoisseur so I was looking forward to my final dinner in their backyard...

 

Wow!  I don't know what the equivalent of 'Southern Living' or 'Sunset' magazine is in Minnesota but I felt sure our dinner would have made the cover.  Tim takes great pride in his culinary skills for good reason....

He has several willing tasters, wife, Becky and daughter, Sarah, who appreciate his efforts....

And if you haven't tried grilled peaches with salmon yet, let me tell you, they are the perfect complement.  (Season the peaches with a touch of ginger, nutmeg and a coating of fine oil then grill lightly till well-heated)

Even FiFi the cat thought the dinner was worth 5 stars.