Edo Woman

It's nearly December and that means two things. The first is that I better get some Christmas shopping started and the second is that I start to crave a trip to anywhere sunny and warm. I can get a direct flight to Phoenix or Fort Meyers and be there in less than 4 hours. Hop on the 54 bus from downtown and I can be at the airport in 20 minutes. But yesterday was sunny in the Twin Cities so I talk myself out of that idea and decide on local travel instead...across the river to the other city and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. I had seen the advertisement for the Edo Pop exhibit on one of the bus shelters in downtown but didn't think I would be interested in it. I learned that Edo is the former name for Tokyo. The majority of the MIA is free but there is usually a charge for special exhibits like the Edo Pop. I never got further than the first floor and spent most of that time in the Bonjour Japon: A Parisian Love Affair with Japanese Art exhibit. Did you know that if the museum owns the art then you can take a photo of it (without flash of course)? I loved the Parisian exhibit so I think I'll be back to the MIA to see the Edo Pop exhibit too but I'll do that on December 11th when the special exhibits are free. Lunch....you could eat at the museum, but Eat Street otherwise known as Nicollet Avenue is blocks away. I stood outside Lu's Vietnamese sandwich shop pondering the photos when Lu opened the door for me and urged me inside. I had the mock duck sandwich and it was tasty. I tried a can of penywort pop. Unfortunately it tasted like something scrapped off the side of a fish tank mixed with a little sugar. I asked the owner if it had some kind of health benefits. Who would drink it otherwise. He thought it was good to cure a bloody nose and maybe a cold. I had neither when I woke up this morning. So I've temporarily solved my need for travel. I better start thinking about that Christmas shopping.

Downtown News

I don't subscribe to a local newspaper. Once in awhile I will pick up the Pioneer Press if I'm walking around downtown. I guess I don't get my news from any one source any more. Sometimes I'll get my news from the local TV broadcast but that can be frustrating because I can't sit through all of the advertising and most of the news shows advertise during the show about what they will tell you later. Yesterday in one advertisement for the news at 10pm with Frank Vascellero (on WCCO) they announced that he will talk about how he lost 20lbs in a month. Although I applaud him for his diet, that's not really news...should news people show news stories about themselves? I think we all know how to diet even though we may not do it....eat less, eat better, exercise more. This morning I went to the Internet version of the Pioneer Press. I learned that there was a gas leak several blocks from where I live but it has been fixed. Good to know. Also they found the guy that stabbed someone over at the Cherokee Tavern. Good news. That's just over the high bridge and up the hill a 1/2 mile. They should also have mentioned that this is a nice place and don't be afraid to go. They make a nice chicken pot pie and have a great happy hour. But skip the chicken pot pie unless you plan on walking there and back because it is definitely not on your diet. I also read about the 3 million dollars that the city council found laying around under the so-called sofa cushions. The funds came from from unused Star grant funds promised for development projects that never got off the ground. So really its not missing cash but rather checks that were never sent out because the folks who wanted the money decided that they didn't need it after all. That's simplifying the thing of course and the city should review the status of grant funds annually. Now they just need to make an accounting adjustment and open up those funds to other groups that can use them. What is interesting to me in this story is the negative viewer comments shouting out fraud and mismanagement. At least with a story on the Internet we get to find out what other readers think.

Thanks

Thanks for reading my blog. Looking back I see I started this thing a year ago on September 26th of 2010. I usually try to enter something once a week but I don't always make my made-up deadline. What happened in October??? Not a single entry. My Mother noticed. Well, I could offer several excuses. Maybe I wasn't feeling that great....allergies flaring up....but I don't usually have allergies this time of year. I am convinced that downtown has a cone of pollution hanging over it right now from all the digging that has been going on. Maybe I didn't write anything in October because I didn't go anywhere or see anything interesting. Well, that's not exactly true either. I saw the zombies in Mears Park on October 8th. Unfortunately I tossed out my zombie bride outfit about 8 years ago so I was only an observer and therefore couldn't be counted toward the attempt to set the Guinness world record. The park was full but did they have the 8,000 that they were hoping for? I haven't heard the verdict on that one. I attended Sample Night Live at the History Theater on October 5th. I could have written about that. The first Wednesday of the month they host 10 to 12 performers who each get about 15 minutes to perform. It is very much like an old fashion variety show so if you don't like the jazz singer you might like the poetry slam performance or the improvisational comedy act. My favorite act last month was a comedian named Linda Aarons. I enjoyed hearing her talk about nothing more than her own name for a solid two minutes. They give out prizes too. Last month I came home with one free Flamenco dance lesson. I went to Plug-In St Paul on the evening of October 20th at the Crowne Plaza too. I certainly could have written about that. Why weren't there more people there??? It should have been packed. It was held at the top of the hotel overlooking the river in the old carousel dining room which is now only open for events. It still has the revolving platform and the view at sunset was spectacular....free hors d'oeuvres too.....come on people. The real reason I went was to hear about "ranked voting" which we will use to elect our next city council members next Tuesday. Hope we have better voter turn out than the Plug-In St Paul event. Well, I feel better now that I have at least re-capped October and look forward to whatever November will bring to downtown living.

Road Work Ahead

On a stroll through town I heard a fellow walker say to his companion "downtown is under construction". Well, yes that would be an understatement. One bicyclist passing the Union Depot construction site mumbled "I hate this". Even my own condo is under construction as I am trying to finish painting walls before the winter weather sets in. Orange diamond shaped signs with Road Work Ahead are located everywhere downtown. Maybe I should have one of those on my front door. I've noticed that a few of those orange signs have added ornamentation in black and blue and shiny white....no doubt unauthorized by the city planners or safety sign makers. I like the one with the black and blue star even if it is not authorized. Maybe we could adopt it as the universal sign for Problems Ahead Just Go With It. Even as my own personal painting project is zipping along it seems that we are making speedy progress in downtown too. The Union Depot LRT stop on 4th St is taking shape. Will that be called the 4th Street Station? I bet the owners of the 4th Street Station Bar would like that. The skyway connection that was removed on Cedar and 5th is moving along this week too with its reconstruction. I remember the city saying that it would be done by November and I think that might actually happen. That connection is important for anyone wanting to get to the library or the Excel Center without having to set foot outside in the winter. It's not that I mind walking to the library outside. In fact I normally prefer it and I enjoy sitting in Rice Park across from the library before I return home. Has anyone noticed the lovely new garden and benches across from the library that the city constructed this summer? Earlier in the week as I sat there (it was getting darker by the minute), I noticed that the garden is completely overrun with mice....not unattractive mice exactly. No, I would say they were the cutest, tiniest brown mice I've ever seen. Beatrix Potter would have loved to capture them in a drawing or two and I imagine they too are busy with their own construction projects far below the new garden in Rice Park.

Blind Faith

Last weekend Concrete and Grass music festival played out in Mears Park. Did that officially signal the end of summer for us? I enjoyed Alison Scott's interpretation of Blind Faith's Can't Find My Way Home on Saturday night even though I wanted her to pick up the tempo just a bit. Friday night Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum (right after a rousing opera lover's hour) played an acoustic set to a full crowd. I know it wasn't just me who thought that he seemed unprepared....but strangely that was just fine, maybe even better than fine. A few times he played things that seemed like he hadn't practiced in awhile, shouted out to family members in the audience, started, stopped and restarted. Amazingly it all seemed fresh and unrehearsed, not just another scripted show like one from the night before. I remembered some of his songs from the 90's like Runaway Train and he threw in some interesting choices like Glen Campbell's Rhinestone Cowboy. I was shocked to see on the Internet that his bio says he is 47...can that be true? He seemed to have such a baby face, but it was dark in the park....yes, very dark out and the moon was nearly full and little bats were flying around keeping the remaining summer mosquitoes from festival participants. Some in the audience were clearly creeped out by those little bats but don't they really do us a service flying up from the caves along the river to keep the bugs under control. Days before I was watching the old Francis Ford Coppola version of Dracula from 1992 staring Winona Ryder....say, didn't she use to date Dave Pirner in the 90's? Was that the role that got his attention? I had just read the book as part of my attempt to try to tackle some old classics from the BBC's poll of reader's favorites. The movie tried to follow the book (with a twist) in ways the old Bela Legosi version did not but the acting was, well, just plain silly. Still I couldn't stop thinking about all those bats enjoying the teeming masses in the park just like Dracula....just remember that "he cannot enter (your downtown condo that is) at the first unless there be someone of the household who bids him to come; although afterwards he can come as he pleases!!!"

Red Bull Barge

Red Bull brought a floating skateboard park via barge to the river this past weekend. A barge actually seems like a perfect place for a skateboard park....listen up parks and rec people. Sunday starting about noon twenty or so athletes each had 2 one minute runs to show off their tricks and skate skills. I watched more than a few tumble onto the concrete deck. Hope they got those kids to sign liability waivers. There's going to be a few bruises. The objective for the athletes is a place in the finals of the Mississippi Grind competition to be held in New Orleans. RB will float their barge downstream to St. Louis this month finally reaching the Big Easy in October. RB workers were handing out product samples to the 100 or so spectators watching the action and I accepted my free can of Red Bull. Thanks RB. I've actually never tried one and I'm probably not their normal target market. I decided I would have to save it for another day since I'd already had 3 cups of coffee. Their advertisement says that "if you want to stay on top of things in this 24/7 world, you'll need some wings"....that sentiment must be the inspiration for the Flugtag event they host world wide. Last year they brought that event to Harriet Island and I watched it from the steps of the Science Museum arriving just in time to see a local team's homemade contraption take flight from what seemed like a pretty high perch on the RB barge, skimming gently across the river to break the world record. The estimated 90,000 people that showed up were ecstatic. It was a crazy blending of sports and science. Even the 4th of July fireworks doesn't compare with the crowd that was in downtown on that day. How do we get back on RB's list of host cities for that event?

End of Summer

You know summer is coming to an end when the state fair begins. In fact we are already half way through it. I haven't been in a few years and I don't plan to go this year...maybe next year. I'm just not feeling the pull of the chocolate dipped jalapeno peppers or deep fried apple pie. Most of the summer long music events in downtown like Tuesday's 9 Nights of Music, Thursday nights at the Ordway or Music at Mears have come to an end and well, I feel pretty stuffed with all the summer fun. The weather has changed into far more moderate temperatures and I'm trying to get out in nature as much as possible before winter arrives. On the river downtown, besides the usual working barges, pleasure boats continue to cruise the river and will do so well into the fall. Even if you don't have a boat it's a good time to be out near the river and you don't have to go very far upstream to feel the wilderness of the river and see wildlife. Crosby Farm & Hidden Falls Regional Parks and Snelling State Park all are excellent quick escapes from the urban thing. I've been at Snelling twice in the last two weeks and both times have spotted bald eagles on the river banks. I shouldn't be surprised. Bald eagles can sometimes be spotted drifting on the air currents around the highrises in downtown. We are fortunate to have one of the larger populations of eagles in this part of the U.S. Try the three mile hike around Pike Island at Snelling. The bench where the Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers converge is a beautiful spot to sit and look downstream, watch the few folks fishing there and perhaps see some of the wildlife that lives on the river.