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On our Sunday morning walk we noticed that half of Stone Arch Bridge had reopened after months of restoration. This gave us a chance to take in a much-photographed view of Downtown. In the distance, barriers block public access to the rest of the bridge while that half is restored.

Part of my walk today took me through the university. Descending through the student union, I saw groups of young people being led around on campus tours. Goldy Gopher has been the university’s mascot since 1888. Minnesota has been known as the Gopher State since its founding, based on a political cartoon.

Today I started my Christmas shopping at the Downtown Target where I purchased a gift card. I’ll pick up the rest of the gifts from an ATM.

Birthday boy about to extinguish candles.

At the Weisman Museum, walked through an exhibition of Harper’s Bazaar woodcut prints from the 1860s, documenting the Civil War. Contemporary artist Kara Walker overlaid some of these prints with paper cutouts depicting the injustices faced by Black people then and now. Another gallery showcased an injustice I had not realized: the plight of Black families who had migrated to Minnesota post-Reconstruction trying to reconnect with lost family members.

Replaced our Wi-Fi mesh which used routers first sold in 2016. Since then, communications standards have improved enough for this nerd to want to take advantage of a Black Friday deal. The Google routers are wired to Ethernet at three points in our home. I’ll convert the old routers into a Doctors Without Borders donation via eBay.

My chilly walk took me past the former Pillsbury A-Mill, now home to artist lofts. Here, I unintentionally caught the evolution of grain elevators in a single photo. Brick was used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, in 1901, Minneapolis made history by constructing the world’s first concrete elevator. They were narrow like the one in the middle. Shortly after, larger-scale concrete elevators, like those on the right, won out.

Another cold day, another day indoors. As the year winds down, I’ve finally reached that age where the IRS mandates minimum withdrawals from some of my retirement savings. Today, I plugged numbers into an online calculator, then paid myself and the taxman, and thanked my younger self for caring about the seasoned citizen I have become.

When I woke up, it was a frigid 6°F outside. There was no way I was going outside today. To get some exercise, I spent 45 minutes on an exercycle in the workout room. It’s Sausage Saturday, but we’re missing the main ingredients: sausages and ice cream. Instead of sausage, I’ll make chicken pot pie using chicken from the freezer. And instead of ice cream, Dwight baked apple crumble, which is cooling now.

It was a brisk 12°F when I set out for my walk today. Eventually, I sought refuge in the Skyway system. Here, I’m making my way through the Northstar Center. Once an office tower, the building has been repurposed to include apartments. Given lower office occupancy rates post-pandemic, there’ll be more such conversions. Downtown Minneapolis has emerged as one of the fastest-growing residential neighborhoods in the Twin Cities.

Posted Summer of Declutter. (Click through for link.) With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up, I thought this would be timely.

Spent most of the afternoon making veggie moussaka as the main dish for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. Porcini mushrooms, lentils and chickpeas nicely fill the meat space. The dish required red wine (3 cups); the cook required some too, but a much lesser amount.

Met up with a friend at the VA Medical Center LRT Station. We wandered around the expansive facility for military veterans, stopping by the eye department where his wife used to work. Next, we headed to Rick’s Coffee Bar in a residential neighborhood. Named in honor of a service member who took his own life, all profits go to veterans’ causes.

We’ll top our Thanksgiving pie with Cool Whip, a somewhat controversial choice, though we secretly enjoy it. Lactose is not among its 17+ ingredients, the primary reason I purchased a tub. To my surprise, I still received a discount at checkout although I’d only picked up one tub, resisting a BOGO (Buy One Get One free) offer. I have my limits: BOGO offers can be wasteful.

Our Sunday morning walk took us through a meadow of native prairie plants, a trend gaining popularity in the city.

On my walk, Hubert Humphrey was holding court outside Minneapolis City Hall. He began his political career as mayor of Minneapolis in 1945 and later served as Vice President under Lyndon B. Johnson. Always a champion of civil rights, we could certainly use more leaders like Humphrey today.