After giving up on finding a local or national Antifa office, I cycled in search of something tangible about the anti-fascist cause. Flags were at full staff at Sheridan Memorial Park when I paused at this sign commemorating American anti-fascist fighters of World War II. I appreciate how this park honors ordinary, working-class people, like Howard Weller (mask, complete with oxygen tubes) from Northeast Minneapolis, without glorifying war.
Category: Living
Balancing simplicity and acoustics
Measured the reverberation in our main room: double the optimal time for clear conversation. This echo problem clashes with our preference for minimal furniture and hardwood floors. My suggestion of a huge stuffed Gund elephant, like one I once saw at a Hokkaido airport, did not convince Dwight, so we’ll keep searching for more understated solutions to mitigate the echo.
Upriver to Anoka
Cycled upriver with Dwight and a friend visiting from the UK to Anoka, a four-hour trip that included a stop at a fine bakery and another stop to admire an extraordinary Halloween yard display. In Anoka, after beer and snacking on appropriately unhealthy starters, we took the Northstar Line back to Minneapolis. We’ll all sleep well tonight.
The future of work, over beer
At Day Block Brewery, glimpsed into the work world of 2025 while catching up with three lovely people I worked with 15 years ago, who are still working. We laughed heartily about times both past and present.
Conflicting honors
This morning, flags were still at half-staff outside the American Red Cross building near our home, a tribute to the children killed in a recent school shooting. Meanwhile, the president has ordered flags at half-staff at federal buildings for a man who believed that gun deaths are a price we must accept for the Second Amendment. (The light and dark blue flag is the Minnesota state flag.)
Firing up the Weber
Simple Sunday, last gasp of summer, grilled chicken thighs for dinner.
Hostile ground
The road was sandy and rutted under increasingly tangled concrete overpasses. I pushed my bike until the place’s hostility became too much, and I turned back.
Gold-plated lunch
I didn’t have much time between appointments, so I popped into Rose Street Patisserie for a quick lunch. I preceded this “rich chocolate mousse layered with ganache and flourless chocolate cake atop a chocolate hazelnut crumble” with one of their super-tasty and flakey spinach and feta croissants. Yes, that’s gold leaf.
Signs of the times
Spent my morning in a safe place, a classroom, where I get to practice kindness, patience, and respect. On the notice boards, instructions are posted that attempt to empower us in the face of external threats.
Guilty pleasures
I was in the neighborhood of our nearest Asian supermarket, so I popped in for some Japanese guilty pleasures: dark chocolate and orange Kit Kats, curry cubes (great for transforming leftover veggies into a tasty lunch), and a rice cracker mix. At the exit, the claw cranes, ubiquitous in Japan, were thoughtfully arranged so that even the youngest could experience disappointment.