Microblog

First Christmas gathering of the season at our nephews’ and their parents’ home. Our nephews had insisted on Christmas crackers (a British tradition). We’ve brought them up well.

British seasonal fare: Dwight made (sweet) mince pies and I made/assembled sausage rolls.

Posted A Motorized Ottoman and Other Specialized Household Items.

Took a train to Minnehaha Park, looked at the Falls, walked home.

I’ve walked past this bike rack many times on my way to my Wednesday gig. Today I realized it’s seasonally appropriate, so I took a photo and performed a little image manipulation.

Wandered around the University of Minnesota West Bank campus with a friend, testing doors. If a door was unlocked, we walked in. Discovered this re-creation of 221b Baker Street. The University has the world’s largest collection of Sherlock Holmes/Sir Arthur Conan Doyle material.

The green roof of the Minneapolis City Hall (built 1888–1909) popped against blue on my Downtown walk. Probably the best-known occupant of City Hall was Hubert Humphrey, mayor from 1945-1948. He became a US Senator, then Vice President in the Johnson administration.

On my neighborhood walk, it was hard to walk past Midwest Mountaineering, a top-notch, locally owned outdoor gear and apparel store. Yesterday I did walk in and buy mittens fit for an Arctic expedition.

Stared down a former resident of Minnesota: a woolly mammoth.

The view became sepia on my walk to Theodore Wirth Park.

Built a test rig for the network I’ll set up in our new home. Devices connected to the switch in this prototype include: Google Wifi (mesh), OBiTALK (Google Voice VoIP), and Internet of Things (Samsung SmartThings, and Philips Hue).

Walked back from dinner at Cafe Alma.

Posted Don’t Touch the Concrete.

On a Nordeast Minneapolis walk with a friend, stopped into Hazel’s for a caloric brunch. Top-notch food, and art that demanded attention.

These are our Christmas decorations. The marquee of The Guthrie, advertising “A Christmas Carol,” the “Gold Medal Flour” neon atop Mill City Museum, and the swoosh (lit path in Gold Medal Park) provide additional decoration. We will unbox our other decorations, Christmas 2019.

As the sun set, listened to small groups of musicians from the Minnesota Orchestra playing Baroque to contemporary in an atrium of Orchestra Hall.