First port of call today: stocked up on veggies and bread at our local farmers market, tucked between the Mill City Museum and the Guthrie Theater. I then cycled over to Coastal Seafoods for a nice fatty piece of Atlantic salmon, then on to the Seward Co-op for our favorite almond milk ice cream, which conveniently kept the salmon cold on the ride home.
Category: Minneapolis
A man on the move
On a bike ride with a friend, we stopped at this statue of Thomas Lowry, best known for overseeing the early growth of the Twin Cities streetcar system. Our house was in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis. My friend grew up in Lowry, Minnesota, a town that owes its existence to the Soo Line Railroad, which was founded and led by Lowry.
Unmistakeably Minneapolis
On my cycle ride: spoon, cherry, and Basilica. The Basilica is currently undergoing restoration work both inside and out.
Scenes on a bridge
Two pedicabs passed me on the Stone Arch Bridge. Beyond, two young people were creating content, presumably for social media, while one filmed as the other leapt across the path. Fundraisers had set up a table and were trying to attract the attention of passersby as I pressed down harder on the pedals. Off the end of the bridge, the usual Jehovah’s Witness stand was set up with two in attendance. We didn’t make eye contact, so I didn’t give my usual cheery greeting.
Powering the future
Cycled along a hydroelectric plant service road just below where we live, an area I’ve rarely visited. The 1903 red brick building across the river was originally a power plant for the Minneapolis streetcar system, but today it serves as the University of Minnesota’s Southeast Steam Plant. It heats nearly every building on the Minneapolis campuses and generates 20% of their electricity.
East African roots
On my steamy cycle ride, I noticed a newcomer to South Minneapolis: the Debre Selam Medhanealem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. While I work with Muslim Somali adult learners who lived in refugee camps in Ethiopia, I don’t recall ever meeting Ethiopian Christians. Because they first arrived in the Twin Cities in the 1960s, they are generally more established and dispersed than the Somali community, which first arrived in the 1990s.
Prairie in the city
Postponed our usual Sunday morning walk because of lightning and rain. On our now-afternoon walk, a block from home, this native planting meadow was flourishing with help from the morning’s rain. Until a couple years ago, this section of city park land was weedy, cut grass. Now, it delights pollinators and passers-by.
Up and down the river
Cycled up one side of the Mississippi and down the other. Here below the Lowry Avenue Bridge, two people are fishing, with downtown Minneapolis straight ahead at a bend in the river.
A shout-out for downtown living
It’s raining on-and-off all day, so I’m staying close to home. My morning consisted of three loads of laundry intertwined with an exercycle downstairs in the workout room, Open Book for an Americano and a donut, and Trader Joe’s for dinner provisions: just a few reasons we love living in ZIP 55415, the fastest-growing urban core in the country. (The infographic is AI-generated. Maxwell’s in an 1894 building, is our usual Thursday night dinner destination.)
Party like it’s 2026
Pushed my bike past preparations for a Prince singalong celebration later today; he would’ve been 68 this weekend. First Avenue is right nearby, the venue where he often performed and which he made famous in Purple Rain.