11.29.2008

Mary and Caroline @ the Acadia. Yummy Nachos! (Becky on the crackberry.)

Acadia Cafe, where we went after seeing the Four Humors Theater production of Deviled Eggs at the Bedlam, an excellent show about impotence and the apocalypse.  Caroline saw an abridged version @ the Fringe Festival and recommended this.  Excellent show.  Fantastic staging, and easily 1st place 2008 for on-stage personification of the sin of gluttony.

After-show drinks & apps w/ Caroline, Nick, Becky, Andrew, Mary, & her friend Andy.  Drank some Surly Smoke this evening: strong, and smoky like a campfire, but in a good way. Nice with fried food and nachos. This afternoon I cut & glued picture-frames for my 8″x10″”s of North Minneapolis before the riots.  Lightly snowing this evening.

11.28.2008

Sleep-under-the-overpass Prevention Devices? ... at Lyndale Ave. heading south, near the Basilica.

The crook of an overpass on Lyndale heading south, near the Basilica, from North Minneapolis to Uptown.  These iron things caught my eye while I was riding my bike into Uptown.  I think they’re to prevent people from sleeping on the flat area underneath the freeway.

Pretty good day.  Went running, contractors came & fixed the back door, I finally bought granite for my countertop in the kitchen.  Biked to Uptown & brought laundry (still no dryer – Ikes!), went to Rockler for wood – more pictureframes – and the ReUse Center (for the granite … looked for faucets but didn’t find any).  Ate dinner w/ Fritz & Andrew @ the Evergreen & then went to Quantum of Solace w/ Eoin @ the Lagoon.

Wyatt is certain he will drive up here rather than fly.  Aside from safety concerns, I think it’s likely that if he plans a road-trip he will stay in the planning stages forever, but never do it (whereas if he’d compromise and fly, he would be more likely to make it up here).  I hope he gets here, one way or another.  I’ll call him tomorrow.

11.27.2008

The Thanksgiving Smoke Alarm, 2008!

A lovely Thanksgiving today, preceded by everyone’s holiday favorite: the Thanksgiving Smoke Alarm.

On the first T-day, the Pilgrims had a guy with bullhorn perched in a firetower outside town, shouting Plymouth’s fiery doom, until someone came and told him the conflagration was just a bit of the turkey dressing that had caught fire in the bottom of the roasting pan.  In honor of that day, once a year, Americans burn a bit of food in the oven and then run around the house opening the windows and turning on fans, before settling down for a good feast.  😉

Andrew invited me to his family feast this year.  It was an absolute delight and well worth being thankful for.  The food was excellent!  (The smoke, while briefly prodigious, was produced by sugar glaze dripping into the bottom of the oven, and had no adverse impact on the meal at all.  The day involved two houses – one for cooking and one for eating.  Only the cooking house got smoke-filled, so we didn’t even have to breathe smoke during dinner.)  Everything was expertly cooked, and plentiful.  Bonus treat: We had Wildebeest pate!  (Receipe: (1) load emacs into gdb; (2) crash the debugger; (3) mix the core-dump with sherry and sliced onions).

Andrew’s brother & sister-in-law, Fritz & Rachel, hosted.  They live in Northfield just across the street from the upper Arb.  (Along the street where I used to run, sometimes with Eoin & Wally.  The cooking house was on College St. a couple of blocks from campus).  Fritz & Rachel’s friends David & Amy came for dinner (as well as other family).  David is a Mac prof teaching International Studies & English.  He knew one of my instructors in Ghana – Prof. Tsikata, who has apparently been jailed on corruption charges.  Sad to hear.  I wonder whether I can find any reports on-line.

Went for a walk in the Arb after dinner.  It was sunny and blue, but with a cold wind.  The kids and dogs romped through the woods (and some of the adults did cartwheels down the hill of twin oaks).  After the Arb we came back and had excellent pie: apple, pecan (delicious), and pumpkin.  Fritz took us around the yard and showed us his Quebecois adobe bread oven, which I’d heard about before but never seen.  Pretty small.  Says he can make pizza in 3 hours with a bundle of sticks.

Andrew made Brussels Sprouts with chestnuts, fried in bacon grease.  Yummy.

Other than halving some Brussels Sprouts, I took no part in the preparation … a total freeloader.

Excellent company, pleasant conversation and a fine meal.  Thank you, Andrew!

11.26.2008

Pottery show at Homewood Studios, down the street.

Today I picked up some pottery I bought a few days ago from Homewood Studios down the street.  (Dishes for me, not sculpture.)  George, the owner & curator, is a nice guy, and introduced me to some neighbors.  He seems to take a real interest in the neighborhood.  In addition to the studio, they have tai chi classes there on Saturdays, and sometimes music.

Getting some office work done.  It’s a beautiful day out – great not to be in court.

Straightening up my study I found an old copy of a Dylan Hicks album that Leah gave to me years ago, & ripped an mp3 version of it. $100.00 bill is one of my favorite songs.

11.25.2008

Sunrise over Lake Mille Lacs.

Sunrise over Lake Mille Lacs this morning, on the shore at Garrison, Minnesota. I used to pass by here all the time on the way to Aitkin. Not so often anymore, now that I’m mostly in Brainerd.

The judge for tomorrow’s hearings became unavailable, so there’s no court the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Nice to have an extra day without hearings. I’ll go running & work on the house. Focusing on the kitchen seems appropriate for this time of year. I’ll finish my shelves and start painting.

Black bean soup is on the stove downstairs. Nick melted some chocolate into some he made the other day. I wouldn’t have thought to do that, never having personally made a mole or anything similar. I used around 1/2 a bar of 85%, which is more than I will use next time. I’ll have to water it down a bit, but it tastes good. I’ve got some hard-boiled eggs in the fridge. Mmmm.

♪: The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.

11.24.2008

Brainerd Public Defenders

Brainerd Public Defenders’ Office – we’re on the main floor. I may drive two and a half hours to get here from my house, but by gosh I walk those five blocks from here to the courthouse! There’s a Holiday gas station in the background, where I bought a lot of Red Bull before I started drinking coffee instead.

11.23.2008

Soo Visual Arts Center

Damn! I’ve gotta be better about remembering to bring my camera around when I go out someplace. Having a cell phone camera can save me, but I’m gonna end up with a bunch of these washed out photos thata way.

Luxuriously lazy weekend.

Yesterday I spent literally all day at home reading, except for the post office in the a.m. and then later a movie at the Lagoon (‘Let the Right One In‘ – very good).

Today I woke up & finished No Country for Old Men. I am left with a strong feeling – maybe 92%? – that its message is a conservative, anti-immigration, anti-change, the-world-is-going-to-hell kind of message. Of the moral systems which the author explored, that of the villain was closest to my own, and I’m sure that put me off a bit. It was stylishly written and great fun to read.

Today I mailed a letter to Wyatt, my grandfather, to ask if he wants to come up here to visit and work on my house. Sometimes I think in a drawl. Reading a book like No Country exacerbates that. I wonder whether my speech will change if I spend time with Wyatt regularly for a while. It would be a long trip for him, but he has expressed interest. I hope he decides to come up.

I did a little bit of work this a.m. (a teeny bit), then biked to Uptown, got my front wheel fixed (broken spoke), and went to a couple of art galleries. I went to the Soo Visual Arts Center on Lyndale, where I saw Toys on Roids , an exhibit of Polaroid photos of posed toys. It was cool. There was also some sculpture I liked in an exhibit of Kulture Klub stuff. I’ll have to check out more of that.

Then I stopped by Rustica to get some food for the week and biked down to Gallery 360 to see a show of interactive mechanical art. It was cool, but not awesome.

Now I’m sitting in Dunn Bros in Edina, going to see Slumdog Millionaire with Eoin in about an hour.

Listening to: Cyndi Lauper

Eating: One of the Rustica cookies I bought this afternoon.