Microblog

Rain ruled out a cycle ride, but not a morning walk. An afternoon on the couch ensued, napping and reading a novel, with cups of tea delivered periodically. It was that kind of day.

Cycled rail trails with a friend: part of the Gateway Trail to Brown’s Creek Trail down to Stillwater. Refueled with coffee, we cycled across the historic lift bridge (and back) before heading uphill for the return journey. This was our longest ride this year so it felt good to pause and stand to take off the pressure and admire this lush bank of ferns.

Sunday lunch with the family: a boat-load of sushi at Misono; even the teens were on board.

Today’s theme was irrigation. This morning, I tackled some watering issues with a couple planters on a community deck downstairs. This afternoon, I prepped our balcony for native grasses (in planters, of course) by setting up 48 drippers. One of my goals for this year is to focus on improving soil moisture sensing.

It’s Syttende mai (“Seventeenth of May”), Norway’s Constitution Day. And you can’t get more Norwegian than lefse from Fargo, North Dakota, where people of Norwegian descent still eat lutefisk, brown cheese, and boat-loads of butter. At Dwight’s direction (a true Norwegian descendant), I tracked down the lefse at our local Lunds & Byerlys. We’ll have… Continue reading A Vehicle for Butter

Thursday nights, dinner with Dwight at our local bar, swapping volunteer stories. Photos from his greenhouse shift popped up on my phone including this particularly puzzling one: “Where do my eyes go?” Turns out, he snapped it with his boss, figuring out which plants needed TLC. That scrawny one by the pipes needed better support.

Enrolled in a study at the university that tracks my daily activities through a location-aware phone app. The researchers are interested in understanding the time cancer patients dedicate to cancer-care related tasks compared to everyday living. I feel a bit of a fraud because all I have to do is show up at appointments. I’m… Continue reading I’m Being Watched: But It’s Okay (It’s For Science)

Cycled the Shars Bluff Trail, a rail trail that provides great views of the Mississippi. Spotted a recently reintroduced herd of bison resting in the prairie land of Spring Lake Park Reserve. Afterwards, treats at a Dairy Queen. An excellent morning out!

Today: lovely spring day at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, MN, with friends. We walked a scenic three-mile loop, chatting so much that pictures completely slipped my mind. Finally, at the end of the walk, I snapped this quick photo of tulips—they were still putting on a good show. Note to self: return for… Continue reading Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Early Sunday mornings, plants take priority in the shower. Here, Dwight is plucking dead bits and checking for pests. Dusty foliage receives a gentle shower from the spray head. There’s a link to his City Gardener blog in the Friends and Family section at the foot of this page.

Silenced my mobile device for a short Minnesota Orchestra concert: a brief contemporary piece celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday, followed by a brisk rendition of Tchaikovsky’s 2nd symphony. Afterwards, we cycled back home, only to learn Olly Alexander hadn’t pulled off a Eurovision win for the UK. He’s still a winner in my book.

Cycled in search of remaining blossoms. Tried to resist using my once-a-year lexicon including ephemeral, fleeting, and transient.

Ordered the current Google Pixel tablets to replace these 2018 6th generation iPads. The Pixel tablets are $399 each, but Google is offering a $399 trade-in for each iPad, with free shipping. The only cost is sales tax (6.875% Minnesota, 0.65% Hennepin County, and 0.5% Minneapolis), which comes out to $36.01 per tablet. We already… Continue reading An Irresistible Upgrade

Kicked off my clinical trial participation with a hefty dose of testosterone. The tumor feeds on it, so the counterintuitive idea is to overload the tumor and cause it to shrink. That was the easy part of my day. Now I’m diving into the historical and political motivations of Shakespeare’s Henry V as preparation for… Continue reading Once More Unto the Breach

It had been raining overnight, but it stopped just in time to hop on a train to Fort Snelling and meet up with a friend. We then cycled a loop via downtown St. Paul, taking in each side of the Mississippi. In St. Paul, we refueled at the legendary Cossetta’s, with its extensive selection of… Continue reading Pit Stop at Cossetta’s

Dentist did a great job preparing a tooth for a crown. On the way home, stopped at Moto-i for comfort food: bibimbap. I felt grateful for modern dentistry and temporarily forgot I had a temporary crown. For my parents’ generation in Scotland in the 1930’s, a pair of “falsies” (dentures) was a 21st birthday rite of… Continue reading Real Enough