Roger
Wm. Anderson
Cambridge, Minnesota
This is our home, in the summer, at
least. Looks a bit different in the winter! 
We live in Cambridge, Minnesota, which is about 45 miles due north of Minneapolis. We actually live in the country, and have about 20 acres on which I "play" farmer. I have a little Ford 9N tractor, made in about 1941, and I plant some crops each spring, and we harvest our meager crops in the fall.
Our house is about 25 years old, and we have lived in it for 22 years. We love it. It is surrounded with woods, a pond, land to garden, and just about everything we like to do. It is about five miles from Cambridge, and about six miles from Isanti. Country living may not be for everyone, but it certainly is for us, and it's been a great place to raise our kids.
I worked for the State of Minnesota at a facility for people who are mentally retarded for 34 years before opting for an "early retirement", which I started in January of 2002. I am enjoying my free time immensely, and devote a lot of volunteer hours to the Performing Arts Committee of the local Community Education program. We also dabble in selling antiques, so that takes a chunk of time, as does my daily exercise routine of a long trek with dogs.
Our Pop-up Camper!
We try go camping quite a bit in the summer, and this
is our "home". Humble, isn't it! Well, as Joan says, it beats sleeping
directly on the ground, and there is a queen size bed in it, we can sleep four
people very comfortably, and we can cook in it our just outside it very easily.
It is a dream to pull with the minivan; you hardly realize it's there. We have
pulled a camper to both coasts, and into a good share of Canada. The only real
problem we have is rain. This can make moving the next day a bit miserable.
Someday, we may have a more elegant way of traveling, but this is it for now!
Ishi, The Last Stone-age Indian in 
North America
Ishi, an Indian who lived in California and died in 1914, has become a moving force in my life. If you see the different categories on my homepage, you will see one about Ishi, and three about my "adventures" in the Ishi Wilderness in northern California. For all the details, you can read a whole lot of information in these pages. Suffice it to say that after having read the books on Ishi, I became so fascinated with him that I searched for internet for more information, and met a person who had written a book on him. Eventually, I flew to California and went backpacking into the foothills of the Cascade Mountains to see where Ishi lived in hiding his entire life, until he was "captured" in 1911. I have made this trip four times, and have made some friends there that I cherish dearly.
Picture below: A cave in the
Ishi Wilderness..you wouldn't believe how high off the ground I am!
You Got to Have Friends!
We have a number of wonderful friends
around the Cambridge area. The picture below shows just a few of them. This was
taken at a surprise party I planned for Joan for our 30th wedding anniversary.
From left to right, Dave and Dawn Severson, me, then Joan, Marcy and Dwaine
Norman, and Gary and Lynette Anderson. I have surprised Joan on a couple of
occasions, namely our 25th anniversary, which is 
a whole story in itself, and again on our 30th
anniversary. She had no idea I had lined up three couples to go out with us,
hired a limousine, gotten reservations at a very nice restaurant in
Minneapolis, and it all came together like clockwork.
We went down to Minneapolis in a limousine, and hit a tremendous storm when we were eating...trees blew down, the restaurant lost their electricity, and it was really exciting! Made it an even more memorable evening!
Our 35 wedding anniversary was spent dancing in a small place in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and having a grand time.
July 1, 1997, our 30th Wedding
Anniversary
Calligraphy
I am an amateur calligrapher. I've done
this for many years...self taught. I do the calligraphy for our church. Not bad
for a kid who got "D's" in penmanship in elementary school! I love to
collect quotations, and then write them in calligraphy. With the advent
of the computer, I find it much easier to do them this way, however. Still,
there's nothing like doing it by hand to get a feeling of accomplishment.
I have had great fun serving as Chairman for the Performing Arts Committee, and I've gotten the chance to meet some wonderful performers. Natalie MacMaster, Doc Watson, the late John Hartford, some Delta Blues legends, and many more. Follow this link for more on that part of my life:
Go to Cambridge-Isanti Community Education
Celtic and Cape Breton Music:
Natalie MacMaster
You know, the internet has really made a difference in my life. The biggest impacts have been in learning about Ishi, as I mentioned above, and an innocent little note I wrote on Natalie MacMaster's webpage. Boy, where that little note would lead, it would have been hard to imagine! I sure never thought I would be Master of Ceremonies for her twice, fly to Cape Breton to meet her, her family, and meet so many more wonderful musicians, or actually plan and carry out having her put on a concert right here in Cambridge to a sold out audience who loved her! Again, all of this is very unlike me!
Click on the twirling globe to get the whole story:
Natalie and me, 1997
Natalie
and me, 1998
Natalie
and me, 1999