Back in the 1950s, the store on the right sold knitting supplies, and the owners lived upstairs. When I was in grade school, the little girl who lived there invited me to her birthday party. At the party she selected who would be invited the following year. I didn’t make the list and was OK with that.
Category: Living
Lunch
Lightly sea-salted crisps for Dwight, sweet chili and red pepper crisps for me, washed down with 20-fluid-ounce beers. Earlier we had full English breakfasts. The rose is real.
MSP-LHR
Bulkhead seats, 2-across, in steerage. Life’s good. MSP–LHR (London).
Talking about Hiking
Reading materials were spread out at Rouge Urban Salon where Emily cut our hair today. But we didn’t talk about hair fashion; instead we talked about travel and hiking. Emily will soon be walking part of the Camino de Santiago starting in Lyon, France, and we’re about to hit the trails in England.
Not OK at the Bike Corral
Came back from a walk with a friend to find my bike locked to a bunch of other bikes. Walked around, alarming small groups with my question: “Did you come here in a bike group?” Eventually, I struck lucky with a group having lunch at Sea Salt. The leader was suitably apologetic.
Sweating the Small Stuff
I’ve been agonizing over best practices for attaching a LEGO drive chain to a carriage. Today, I was inspired by online instructions for a forklift truck that uses a chain to lift. I attached the chain to one link of a tank tread, and inserted the ends of the link into the holes of Technic beams. Easy!
Scoping Out a New Gig
The ESL teacher I assist is moving to a new job at this facility. It’s a joy working with her, so I’ve applied for a volunteer position in her new classroom. Today, I scoped out the building on Lake Street and determined it’s easily reached by bike or direct bus. (MPS is Minneapolis Public Schools.)
AFOL* Inspiration
There’s always something new on our weekly Sunday morning walk: today, LEGO inspiration. There’s going to be some heavy lifting at this University of Minnesota heating plant. *Adult Fan of LEGO.
Changing of the Guard
Cycled to REI Co-op to pick up ponchos that also cover our backpacks. The coating on our old ones was disintegrating, and I couldn’t find a good way to remove the old coating then apply a new coating. I thanked the ponchos for their long service then launched them down the chute.
Trip to Patagonia
Our hiking jackets were getting a bit ratty, so we decided to head over to Patagonia in St. Paul. Naturally, we both ended up choosing the same style. We’ll be modeling the jackets in a couple weeks when we go hiking through England’s border (with Scotland) country.