Here in the northern suburbs of St.Paul we have been expeiencing wet cool weather, not the hot steamy usual summer so far. It reminded me today of midsummer in England. I kid you not. English summers were either good or non existent, just extensions of the cool spring or an early fall.

Having said that I did feel a little twinge of nostalgia, for a few nano seconds. England is a beautiful country on the whole, there are parts which are so beautiful and breathtaking, parts which take you back to Tudor times and beyond,and there are parts with exceptional architecture. Then there are parts that are reminiscent of war zones, areas where people live in desperate conditions and there are some industrial eyesores. I didn't linger in the nostalgic mood, I remembered why I came to live here in Minnesota.

This is the greatest country filled with the greatest people offering the greatest opportunities to all it's people. Here within our boundaries we have natural beauty which is equal to almost anything found anywhere in the world. We have great buildings, architectural works of art. We have history, not the fancy Tudor buildings but before that the plains people, the cave dwellers in the south west, the peublo people all these are make our history.

Right now we are going through a tough time but as John Wayne said ' when the going gets tough the tough get going', at least I think it  was Wayne. Gas prices going up, wages not going anywhere and houseprices still falling. There are great opportunities now for the first time home buyer, interest rates are low, there are programs for low income folks and there are lots of properties available.

I remember in England when a single family house with three bedrooms, no garage and about 800 sq ft cost about $300k. and a gallon of gas was $8. They both cost more now!

So I was only nostalgic for a moment.