On our cycle ride, we stopped for a cooked-to-order breakfast sandwich from Bread and Pickle beside Lake Harriet. The park buildings look spiffy with a fresh coat of paint.
Category: Living
A LEGO motorized X-Y platform prototype
Prototyped a motorized X-Y platform with a focus on simplicity, minimal height, and visual balance. This allowed me to get familiar with two components recently introduced by LEGO: a new design of worm gears (which I combined to create linear actuators) and the platform itself. The platform is easily swapped out, an important feature for the project. Meanwhile, I have a lot more mechanisms to prototype.
Sounds of summer in our neighborhood
Last night we watched fireworks exploding over St. Anthony Falls from our balcony. This morning, a crashing then scraping sound piqued my interest during my neighborhood walk: a vehicle had dragged a traffic light into an intersection, but thankfully, no one was hurt. Meanwhile, here in the courtyard of the Mill City Museum, lively salsa music accompanied a free dance class led by an upbeat instructor.
Independence Day 2025, foundational principles
When I became a US citizen, a conservative neighbor gave me this Uncle Sam figurine holding a slogan that ignores the beliefs of millions of Americans. Today, I substituted words that would have resonated in 1776 and align with our Constitution.
The aroma of fresh tortillas
After my Thursday Teacher Tom stint, I sometimes pick up a still-warm pack of 36 corn tortillas (shown here, today, between a bowl of corn flour and a millstone) for $4 from a nearby tortilleria. They do magic with just three ingredients: corn, water, and lime. Back home, with the aroma of fresh tortillas wafting out of my daypack, I froze them in groups of six, separated by parchment paper.
Authentic flavors at La Madre
Early dinner with friends at La Madre, a recently opened Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood. The food is authentic and delicious, including my Puerco en Adobo (shredded pork butt, corn, bacon, shallot, heavy cream, radish, lime, cilantro, pickled red onion). Yum!
Cycling Hastings and beyond
After an overnight stay at The Confluence Hotel, a friend who used to live in Hastings joined our bicycle adventure. We watched the water rush past a mill in Hastings before crossing the Mississippi and cycling down to Prescott, Wisconsin, to the confluence of the St. Croix and the Mississippi. Back in Hastings, we loaded our bikes into our friend’s truck and drove back to Minneapolis.
Cycling the Mississippi: St. Paul to Hastings, MN
We took the LRT to St. Paul then cycled to Hastings, enjoying lovely glimpses of the Mississippi along the way. A friend joined us for the last 10 miles before we checked into The Confluence Hotel in a repurposed industrial building beside the river.
Hiking the Rob Roy Way
Next year, we’re joining two friends in the UK to hike the Rob Roy Way in Scotland. We’re thankful we can still manage a long-distance trail, even if it means more hotels (I booked nine today) due to shorter daily sections as we get older.
Two in a crowd
Cycled over to Loring Park to join the hundreds of thousands of people celebrating Pride this weekend.