Microblog

While I cycled, the Buddha reclined in a St. Paul parking lot.

Pushed my bike alongside railroad tracks, following the route of a proposed cycle path, the Min Hi Line. These tracks once served several flour mills. Just one mill is still operating, producing one million pounds of flour every day.

Posted Wildflowers and Participatory Games.

Cycled around an industrial area of St. Paul’s Midway. Spotted Bang Brewery, housed in a grain bin. Peered through the door at vats biding their time.

Cycled to St. Paul’s Union Depot. Took the train home.

Cycled to the football stadium to see what the X-Games are all about. Just about everybody was inside on this hot day, presumably cheering along skateboarding and other “extreme sports.” The large blue foam construction blocks waited for a different demographic.

Made jerk chicken marinade. For something so simple, there’s a surprising number of ingredients. A coffee grinder we keep for spices and an immersion blender brought all this together in short order. I froze half for another day.

It’s a little too convenient living one block from an excellent ice cream store. “Existential Crunch” (dark brown sugar, Jameson whiskey, creme fraiche, praline pecan, and cashew brittle) topped with a small scoop of “Umeshu Chocolate” (dark chocolate and Japanese plum wine).

Prototyped a drip irrigation system for about fifty plants on our balcony. I’ll create IFTTT applets to control the pump based on reports from the moisture sensor. Next on my shopping list: a 30-gallon tank.

Sat in a room with hard-working Somalis in the basement of a Carnegie library. One hundred years ago I would have been sitting with Swedes in this same room.

Cycled with a friend past eight former St. Paul fire stations, and a monument in Oakland Cemetery to firefighters who lost their lives while on duty. This fire station, built in 1872, was St. Paul’s first.

Made a special trip across the Mississippi to stock up on Spam at Lunds. For some inexplicable reason, the stores where I usually shop don’t carry Spam. We use this fine Minnesotan product to make musubi.

Steel figures became diaphanous as I pushed my bicycle past the Physics and Nanotechnology Building at the University of Minnesota.

Waited on our balcony for the Aquatennial fireworks to start.

Spotted this in the basement of a college friend of Dwight. Immediately recognized it as a Remington typewriter case. Inside was the same model my mother used when I was a kid. When I moved to America, the first company I worked for had once made these typewriters.

Rode shared bikes six times. They’re great for running errands around town.