Microblog

Picked up ethnic foods at Lands End Pasty Company in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis: Cornish pasties, sausage rolls, and, drum roll please, a can of mushy peas. Takes me back to my childhood.

I always smile when I cycle past “Lizard Lounge” on the grounds of a social services organization in northeast Minneapolis. The sculptor, Mary Johnson, was inspired by 1950s roadside attractions, and used materials authentic to that genre.

Started our search for area rugs.

Posted Senga Sayin’ It as It Is (Guest Blogger).

On my walk: perpetually peeing dog beside an apartment building parking lot. I must’ve walked past this several times, but never noticed it until today.

Abandoned objects punctuated my walk in the rain on a dissonant day in Minneapolis: stuffed animal in gutter; armored vehicle in collision with car going wrong way on one-way street; balloons beside oddly placed gas meter; remains of a sofa beside bus sto

Meat and gravy left over from Sunday dinner. SOS (sh*t on a shingle) is in our future.

I’d missed this energy waster until today: on standby, a powered subwoofer was drawing 15 watts. Programmed a smart plug to only supply power when needed, saving about 130 kilowatt-hours ($17 in Minnesota) per year. Of course, I could just unplug it, but that’s no fun.

Posted Visualizing International Travel.

On our walk: Dutch kitsch met emerging tulips.

Sent photos of my 1950’s adjustable cantilever table to a furniture restorer who will come up with a plan to fix the much-abused surface. As a kid, I did homework on it; as a college student, I typed thousands of pages on it using a manual typewriter.

On a cycle ride with friends, following the Mississippi, starting south of St. Paul: Vermillion Falls, Vermillion River, Hastings, MN. The flour mill is still operating, but no longer uses water power.

Hitched my bike to a left-leaning rack.

On our walk, across the river from our home, an eagle perched on a branch while its mate kept the eggs warm.

Almost summer: bacon sausages, focaccia, and cabbage (cooling off) on the Weber for the first time this year.

Tin snips became a financial instrument for destroying metal credit cards.