Grateful for friends and their decadent homemade treats from here in Minnesota and England (that wonderful Christmas cake). Not shown: the best homemade lefse (all gone).
Category: In This Together
Santa’s Been to the ATM
Carefully curated Christmas presents for our teenage nephews were about to be tastefully packaged in envelopes. Our entire Christmas gift shopping.
A Merry Countdown.
My thoughtful sister-in-law has gifted us an early Christmas present: an advent calendar filled with 24 miniature wine bottles, all different. Each day we’ll open a new door to reveal another liquid delight.
The Unspoken Rules of Adjective Order
An adjective order exercise was in the lesson plan today. There are many nuances in the English language that we are never taught explicitly, we just learn them through trial and error: correct adjective order is one of them. For non-native speakers, it needs to be taught explicitly.
A Trip to Dayton’s
Walked around a chilly Downtown, mainly indoors, with friends. At the reimagined former Dayton’s flagship department store, visited a Winter Makers Market. Tomorrow my friends celebrate 55 years of marriage, how time flies.
ELL Training
Completed an online ELL (English Language Learning) training course this afternoon as part of the annual training requirements set by the Minnesota Department of Education.
Unwinding with Umami
Thursdays are our service days: Dwight in a university greenhouse, me in ELL classrooms. This leaves us with little energy for cooking, so we typically have dinner out. Tonight: our local Izakaya (Japanese bar/restaurant).
Incredible Pastries
It was plenty warm enough to relax on these chairs and enjoy a cuppa with a friend. The coffee shop’s Web site promised “a magical experience that will transport you to Paris with every bite” of their “incredible pastries.” Coffee sufficed, there were no pastries, only dog treats, and that’s OK.
Doctor’s Orders: Chat at the Clinic
My friend and I planned to have breakfast at this diner, but it was closed this morning despite Google saying otherwise. We ended up getting a pastry and a surprisingly decent coffee at a nearby multispecialty clinic, but the important thing was to catch up and have a good conversation.
Expanding the Repertoire
View from the lobby of Orchestra Hall while enjoying a pre-concert glass of wine. Tonight the Minnesota Orchestra featured pieces by six black composers, including two women. The art form tends to be Eurocentric, sometimes stodgy; tonight was refreshing, mixing it up.