Dwight was engrossed in the den, immersed in the world of architectural LEGO. His current challenge: constructing an A-frame for the Christmas village beneath the tree. Achieving an acute roof angle, while avoiding any “illegal techniques,” demands ingenuity.
Category: Seasonal
Neither Snow Nor Rain…*
The first real snowstorm of the winter, as I waited for the bus. It was a busy morning, with a little help from technology. Some students had chosen to take a job qualification test in Spanish, so I found myself pointing Google Translate at their screens so I could offer hints. In another class, I used Gemini to generate random numbers to select writing topics submitted by the students.
Sunday in the Park
On our Sunday morning walk, the mist veiled our surroundings. Patches of slippery ice, remnants of yesterday’s snow, distracted us from the calm scenes. Here in Boom Island Park, Downtown was obscured, allowing me to frame a simple composition.
Frozen Expanse
On my walk, the view upriver from the Franklin Avenue Bridge. At this point, the Mississippi is slow-moving, so it’s frozen from edge to edge. Beyond the Interstate 94 bridge, downtown Minneapolis stretches out to the left, and the University of Minnesota Medical Center is on the right. As I walked, the temperature was slowly rising, bringing snow once I was safely home.
Carefully Curated Christmas Gifts
Today I started my Christmas shopping at the Downtown Target where I purchased a gift card. I’ll pick up the rest of the gifts from an ATM.
Once-a-Year Day
Birthday boy about to extinguish candles.
Wot No Turkey?
Spent most of the afternoon making veggie moussaka as the main dish for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. Porcini mushrooms, lentils and chickpeas nicely fill the meat space. The dish required red wine (3 cups); the cook required some too, but a much lesser amount.
Shh, Don’t Tell Anyone
We’ll top our Thanksgiving pie with Cool Whip, a somewhat controversial choice, though we secretly enjoy it. Lactose is not among its 17+ ingredients, the primary reason I purchased a tub. To my surprise, I still received a discount at checkout although I’d only picked up one tub, resisting a BOGO (Buy One Get One free) offer. I have my limits: BOGO offers can be wasteful.
Halloween Snowstorm
Anybody who’s lived in these parts any length of time knows about the Halloween Blizzard of 1991 when 28.4 inches of snow fell, a single-storm record for the Twin Cities. I was thinking about that as I stood in heavy rain waiting for the bus to school this morning. Later, it turned to sleet and then snow, which is now accumulating on grassy areas. Hard to believe it was 80 degrees on Tuesday.
Fall From a Bridge
On a walk with a friend, stopped to take in the view from the Boom Island-Nicollet Island Bridge, a former railroad bridge, now a pedestrian bridge.