Category Archives: Tales of the Neighborhood

Tales of the Neighborhood

Pictures from the neighborhood

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Because really, what neighborhood is complete without a custom chopper shop?

I’m definitely stopping in here before bicycling season starts:

Care to speculate as to the message behind this one?

I’m not sure why Arby’s having wifi amuses me so much…

Head on over to the Uptown Mpls Blog for some completely spectacular pictures of Saturday’s luminary event on Lake of the Isles as part of the City of Lakes Loppet (a cross-country ski race, held annually in Minneapolis).

“Where do you get those pictures, Mom? I can’t see these things from the windows. Other than the evil vet and the hallway, nothing exists if we can’t see it from the windows. We still haven’t figured out why you go sit in the hallway for eight hours a day during the week…” – Chaos

Contests, Reading, Tales of the Neighborhood

4Paws gives cause to pause…

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Last week, I mentioned that Maryse was collecting afghan squares for an afghan for Elisa’s dad. Now Maryse is having a contest – anyone who sends her an afghan square by February 14 will be included in a prize drawing!

Ha – you think Chaos and May have had it bad with the bibs?! They shouldn’t complain – they could be wearing petal bibs.

Well, my experiment on Friday got a little out of hand, but it was a lot of fun – thanks to everyone who participated in the discussion! I’m definitely sticking with email responses to comments, but I will try to remember to also respond in the comments when appropriate.

Reading Update
Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff. Hard to beat the tagline: “They were supposed to be saving the world, not running a B&B where Hell was one of the guests…”
The Second Summoning (The Keeper’s Chronicles #2) by Tanya Huff. Still a good read, but not as over-the-top good as Summon the Keeper.
Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light by Tanya Huff. More well-written urban fantasy (set in Toronto) from Canadian Tanya Huff.
Sorcery and the Single Girl by Mindy Klasky. Librarian and novice witch Jane Madison returns in another enjoyable novel of paranormal chick lit.

Surreality Update
I apologize in advance for the blurry pictures you are about to view. Dim lighting and no tripod conspired to create a more surreal effect than I’d planned… Yesterday I happened to be in Calhoun Square before it opened and noticed 4Paws Boutique (no website that I found), which is a store for “the pampered pet.” I’d say!

“But did she bring any goodies home for us?! Nope. Hmph.” -Chaos

Don’t you think he’d be grateful that I didn’t bring him home a leopard print cat jacket with pink trim?!

Contests, Tales of the Neighborhood

In which no one is eaten by a giant ravenous muskellunge

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Emily’s celebrating her eleventy-first blog post with a contest, and the more comments she gets, the more prizes she’ll award! Leave your comment with a link to your favorite blog post by December 7.

Lucia’s having a contest – identify which Barbara Walker stitch patterns she used for her charity knitathon blanket squares. Contest is open until someone identifies all the squares or until December 4.

Do you think Chaos and Mayhem were studying up on superpowers? The book you can barely see underneath May is Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman; it’s next on my reading list.

“Neener, neener, May – I’m going to have a better superpower than you – I’m going to be able to remove the bungee cords from the closet doors AND get the food container open!” -Chaos

“Hmph.” -Mayhem

You may or may not remember how easily amused I am by signage and its unintended messages. This first picture was from a walk I took a few weeks ago. Embiggen, and pay particular attention to the yellow sign and its location… 🙂

I took a rather chilly walk around Lake of the Isles Wednesday. The warming house was already out! I guess the Park & Recreation Board believes in being very prepared, since the ice probably won’t be safe until late December or early January. Maybe this year the ice will sturdy enough so I can skate around the islands.

You’d have to be completely crazy to go out on the ice right now even without this warning sign, since there wasn’t any ice on Sunday. Also, based on the signage, if you are crazy enough to go out and fall through the ice, there’s a high probability that you will be eaten by a giant, sure-to-be-ravenous muskellunge. It’d serve you right, eh? 😉

For those of you following along at home, here’s my annotated guide to Lake of the Isles:

As I was breaking down the case from my beloved gluten-free New Grist beer, I noticed that it, too, was annotated…

Randonymity, Reading, Tales of the Neighborhood

The forecast lied

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Guinifer has blogged about our lunch on Friday, too.

Karina has some great tips (and recipes) for getting through the holidays when you’re gluten-free and dairy-free.

If you like alternative music, check out this cool holiday album that you can download for only $7. All proceeds go to Toys for Tots. You can listen to a sample track by the Long Winters at Cable & Tweed.

Reading Update
Don’t Talk Back To Your Vampire by Michele Bardsley. Again with the cheesy titles. 🙂 This wasn’t a bad read, as fluffy paranormal romances go. I take issue with the cover, which features a black SUV and a soccer ball. The main character drove a brightly colored VW bug and there was no soccer whatsoever!
Bookmarked To Die and Catalogue of Death by Jo Dereske. I do enjoy these cozy mysteries about prim librarian Miss Zukas, her cat “Boy Cat Zukas,” and her bohemian friend Ruth.

Life Update
Yesterday, my last day of leave, was supposed to be 66F and mostly sunny. Alas, I don’t think it got past 55F, and I only saw the sun briefly. Oh well, the day before was quite sunny and I took a few pictures while I was out walking.

You’ll probably need to embiggen this picture to read the sign.

This big empty space used to contain the Guthrie Theater.

Here’s the Walker Art Center from the back.

The artificial stream and ponds in Thomas Lowry Park have been drained for the winter.

A very cool moon and sun graced this porch.

I swear, these people have an inflatable decoration for every holiday.

“Who’s the cutest of them all?” -Mayhem

Tales of the Neighborhood

A Halloween walk

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Sock knitters – Kristi has written some very useful knitting and wear reviews for quite a few different sock yarns.

If you’re a knitblogger somehow connected to Minnesota, you should join the Minnesota Knitters Ring.

Walking
I thought I’d share a few pictures from my walk yesterday. Some of the house pictures are worth clicking to see the Halloween details!

“Boo! I hope I didn’t scare you too much! Hee hee hee…” -Mayhem

Randonymity, Tales of the Neighborhood

Randomly convalescing, with a whole lotta eepin’ goin’ on

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My convalescence continues to go very well. Last week, Jeanne chauffered me around several times – on Tuesday, we went to Uncle Hugo’s/Uncle Edgar’s and Dreamhaven. On Friday, we went out to Deb’s for lunch, a wee bit of dyeing, knitting, and conversation. On Saturday, I drove for the first time in 3.5 weeks! I probably could’ve driven sooner, but I figured that someone who couldn’t wear jeans comfortably maybe shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car… 🙂 Yesterday, the Procrastinatrix came over and we spent a pleasant afternoon knitting and chatting.

I’ve also been blessed with great weather for walking – sunny days, with temps in the low 50s to mid-60s and blue, blue autumn skies. Yesterday, as I walked around my neighborhood, I saw a black cat who looked a lot like Mayhem, except she had one shocking white whisker and no locket. She didn’t have a collar and she barely made it across a busy street – eep! Hope she’s ok – it’s a very hard time of year to be a black kitty outside. I also wandered down Bryant Avenue and realized that two consecutive blocks will lose a total of eight elm trees today. I’ll be able to hear the saws and chippers running all day…

Check out this bloglines screenshot from a week or so ago. I had maybe 40 unread posts and hit refresh… and this is what I suddenly saw. (You definitely want to click on this one to embiggen it.) Eeeeeeep! I’ll give you all a moment to recover. (It might’ve taken me more than a moment to gather myself and take the screenshot…) I refreshed again, and it was back to the “real” 40. Oh, bloglines, you sure have your issues!

“I don’t care about your bloglines woes, Mom. I just can’t believe that there are kitties who live outside where the big scary trucks are driving by all the time! Eeep!” -Mayhem

Tales of the Neighborhood

Bridgeless

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Thank you all so much – your supportive comments have been wonderful to read! *sniff* I love you guys. You know that, right? Hugs for everyone!Deb posted about our Saturday dyeing adventures, too.

Bridgeless
Yesterday evening I went over to Depth of Field to pick up some yarn for MrsPao, who’s running a bit short for a project. Of course, I ended up buying a bit of yarn for myself…

“Psssst – May, can you believe that Mom bought more yarn?! Sheesh.” -Chaos

“I know, big kitty! She’s outta control.” -Mayhem

I walked from Depth of Field out onto the 10th Avenue Bridge because I really just needed to see the remnants of the 35W Mississippi River Bridge for myself. Things have been cleaned up a lot and virtually all of the bridge decking has been removed, but it was still eerie to see the empty space. (Plus I’m sure I saw Mayor R.T. Rybak out there.)

I’ll take the highway, across the river

And down through the valley, around the bend

And here’s to my disgrace, if disgrace is what you call it

And I’ll take the highway out of this place

– Ben Weaver, “Here’s To My Disgrace“

Tales of the Neighborhood

The Knitty Professor was here! The Knitty Professor was here!

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Congratulations to Sydney, Ann-Marie, and Tanya, who all won copies of the Project Spectrum OrangeBrownPurple mix cd! And thanks to everyone who entered.

I am very, very behind in bloglines – if you’re having a contest you’d like me to mention, please send me an email!

Visiting Professor
The Knitty Professor arrived late Tuesday afternoon.

“Luggage is bad, right? It means she’s staying??!” -Chaos

Really, Chaos seemed unable to decide whether he was ok with Michaele or not, whimsically alternating hissing with allowing her to pet him.

*sniff sniff sniff* -Chaos

“Hurry up, big kitty. I want her to wave the goldfish wand toy around for me again.” -Mayhem

Michaele gifted me with some absolutely stunning Manos – thanks, Michaele!!

*sniff sniff sniff* -Chaos

Tuesday we made it to Depth of Field Yarn and Needlework Unlimited before we were tuckered out. (No yarn pictures from me because I didn’t buy anything! Yes, I’ll wait while you recover.) We had some tasty food at Tum Rup Thai, then came back to my place to chat and knit. Wednesday morning, we chatted and knitted some more, then wandered over to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Here’s the Walker Art Center and the Lowry Tunnel (I-94):

A shot from the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge with the Basilica in the background…

Michaele walking on the bridge:

I thought this bench from Jenny Holzer’s The Living Series really spoke to me as a knitter. Sound like something you’ve ever done while knitting?! 🙂

Contests, Reading, Swappin', Tales of the Neighborhood

Randomly Monday

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Congrats to Anne of Paper Tiger Knits who won the Biteberry yarn and thanks to everyone who participated!

Leah is celebrating her one-year blogiversary at her own domain. Leave her a comment with a specific pattern suggestion for the amazingly yummy laceweight yarn she has, and you could be selected to win a fun fibery prize. Leave your comments by midnight EDT, July 29.

Swaps
If you haven’t tried swap-bot before, I have to warn you it can be kind of addictive… although not quite as bad as I Can Has Cheezburger! 😉 Here are a couple of swaps that I’m signed up for:

Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn Swap – If you enjoyed Dye-O-Rama last summer, this could be for you. Currently, I think Jeanne, Deb, and I will just be exchanging yarn, because we’re almost the only people signed up!
Indie Music, Coffee, and CD Cover Art Swap – Now, since I’m obviously a mix cd junkie and a notorious coffee fiend (give me that espresso roast for my soy mocha and no one will get hurt… much), this one seems made for me, although I am a bit nervous about the cover art! But I’ll be brave and give it a try. 🙂

Reading update
“Banshee Cries” by C.E. Murphy (novella found in Winter Moon). Murphy describes this novella as book 1.5 of the Walker Papers and I have to agree. If you can, do try to read this after you read Urban Shaman and before Thunderbird Falls.
Charmed and Deadly by Candace Havens. I really do enjoy this sweet and fluffy series about Bronwyn, a witch who protects the British prime minister. This series is worth reading in order (Charmed and Dangerous, Charmed and Ready, Charmed and Deadly).
Sex, Murder and a Double Latte by Kyra Davis. A light-hearted mystery about mystery writer Sophie Katz and her cat, Mr. Katz. I believe there are two more books in the series so far – and I’m already on the list at the library for them.
Decaffeinated Corpse by Cleo Coyle. This is the fifth “Coffeehouse Mystery,” and I continue to enjoy the series. But really, who knew that owning a Manhattan coffeehouse could be so fraught with danger?! 😉
Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead. It’s not easy being a succubus with a conscience in modern Seattle… This is the first book in what looks to be a promising new series – I’m definitely looking forward to the next book!

A few random images
A business in my neighborhood that I’m sure is much more fun to wonder about than to know about…

At least May seems to recognize that the water might not be so good to drink, right?! And this would be why there’s another water dish in the bathroom…

*crunch crunch crunch* -Chaos

“I think the water looks fine, but I’ll wait to have a drink until Mom’s not looking.” -Mayhem

“Whoa. Maybe Mom was onto something about the water.” -Mayhem

Tales of the Neighborhood

The more-orange-than-scarlet letter

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I always notice trees. Maybe it’s because I have a forestry degree.

In my neighborhood, the more-orange-than-scarlet letter “A” marks elm trees with Dutch elm disease. I know we’re pretty lucky to have as many elms as we do, but the weather of the past several years has really hit our remaining elms hard. These pictures were all taken within two or three blocks of where I live… and this isn’t all of the marked elms.

Every year, fewer streets are shaded by arching elms, which turn even the most mundane street mysterious and lovely.

By the end of the summer, the trees in these pictures will all be gone…

“Well, sure trees are important, because otherwise the birds outside our windows aren’t up at my eye level!” -Mayhem