Microblog

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.

​Coastal Seafoods is probably the best seafood store in the Twin Cities, and it was conveniently on my walk home from my gig at the library this morning. Tonight’s menu: seafood stew with cod, halibut, peppers, onion, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, saffron, coconut milk, squeezes of lime, and anything else I can think of to round it out.

One class marked the end of the school year with a potluck, including a generous supply of the ubiquitous and delicious Somali bur (beignets) and sambusas (samosas) on the right.

It was a cycle ride in honor of our umpteenth anniversary with a stop for a late lunch at Longfellow’s washed down with beer. Next door at Loons Cafe, we picked up some recently roasted beans and reviewed what people learned in the last (presumably school) year. A lot of us learned to resist the federal government, a force that attacked our values and caused serious damage to our local economy.

On a bike ride to Hopkins with a friend, we stopped to take in this view. The cycle path has been seriously upgraded, separated in this case from the new LRT line, a freight line, and, just beyond, a busy road that crosses the tracks. A dense development is going in, including a commuter parking ramp, commercial space, and a mix of market-rate and affordable apartments. It may not be pretty, but we need more of these dense, brownfield developments near transit.

​I always award myself an achievement unlocked if I find a new coffee shop while cycling. My method is to pull over and Google my immediate surroundings. Today, in an industrial area of St. Paul, I came across Port 2050 Coffee hidden inside a large, repurposed industrial building. Some serious art books that I’d normally expect to see in a library were spread out on the community table.

The rain had started as we walked into Orchestra Hall for an afternoon chamber music concert featuring smaller groups from the Minnesota Orchestra. I particularly enjoy how younger members of the orchestra get to show their exceptional talents.

Cycled a loop along mostly rail trails today. The Kenilworth Corridor, shown here, had been closed for several years during the construction of the Green Line light rail. I’ve really missed this connector between two other rail trails. From left to right, there’s a pedestrian path, a two-lane cycle path, the LRT, and just enough room to squeeze in a freight line.

Spotted this mural as I walked through the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood on my way home from a tutoring session at the Franklin Library. In the late 19th century, this neighborhood was home to Scandinavian immigrants; several waves of immigration later, it is now home to a vibrant Somali community. Today, 54% of the population speaks a language other than English at home. Learning English plays a vital role in lifting these families up.

​Washington Avenue is the main drag near our home. On Thursdays, it’s where I pick up coffee at FRGMNT before catching the bus to school. Today, a QR code on a flyer intentionally stuck to the sidewalk caught my attention. I scanned the code and learned the county plans to make this section of road safer, including physically separating the bike lane at the top of the photo from traffic. An interactive map is collecting pinned comments, all of them highly constructive. I give the plan 👍👍.

On the way home from the dentist after a cleaning and an all-clear checkup, I rewarded myself with lunch at Bde Maka Ska (lake). The vegetable curry, fried plantains, and dirty rice nicely suited the steaming hot day. The Park Board recently built this new pavilion after a fire and contracted the catering to a local vendor who specializes in Jamaican cuisine.

My friend and I started our bike ride a bit earlier than usual today to beat the afternoon heat. We paused here after cycling along Victory Memorial Parkway. The parkway and its surrounding area were created after World War I to honor the servicemen and nurses from Hennepin County who lost their lives in the conflict. As we were about to head back, we spotted something we’d never noticed before, partially hidden by the trees: a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln.

As we honor those who died defending freedom, I am reminded of when a federal force of 3,000 descended on our city, threatening our liberty and endangering American lives.

For over 30 years, I’ve installed irrigation drippers almost every spring. This year, I played sensei as I showed the leader of our building’s gardening club how it’s done across half a dozen planters on the pool deck without decapitating the plants. The tubing and dripper heads will vanish as the greenery grows. I plan to keep up the tradition, but it’s good to have a backup.

Recently, I integrated this WordPress website with Google’s AI and started looking for problems it could solve. Today, I used the AI to generate descriptive image alt text for screen readers for visually impaired users. It works well, as this example shows. (In yesterday’s micropost, I actually misidentified the produce, AI got it right!) Once I’m sufficiently comfortable with the system, I’ll set the AI loose on all 9,000+ photos in this site’s image library.

“Finally, grape tomatoes at the Asian supermarket!” I thought. A closer inspection, however, revealed they were actually kumquats. Tomatoes aren’t really a staple in much of Asian cuisine. On the walk home, I couldn’t think of a single Japanese dish featuring them. Back home, I looked it up and confirmed that tomatoes only started to catch on in Japan in the 20th century.