all that's past is prologue...

This guy was the one in our house most excited about Halloween this year. He did demand a treat for posing. In years past, Beatrix has been incredibly excited about "spooky season." We'e watched Hocus Pocus , carved pumpkins, baked skull cakes, and done yoga to a Halloween playlist. We've gone out in our neighborhood with just Beatrix: We've decorated the house and made a Halloween village: We've stopped to see the governor: For years we went out with a crowd of her school friends: And the adults have had fun with that too: This year, though, Beatrix wasn't feeling it. So I went to our friends the Clarks (where Patrick joined me after rigging), and I bought Beatrix a bag of candy at Walgreen's and she stayed home alone and watched a movie. It's all a little bit "end of an era" and I'm actually fairly sad about it. This kid-growing-up thing is tough. I hope your Halloween was full of at least some spookiness, and your favorite candy.

I have nothing but anecdotal data to support it, but I firmly believe that taking time to send handwritten postcards to people helps to get the vote out (though Beatrix and I still have an Election Day tradition of chalking VOTE along our sidewalk as well.) In 2020, Patrick and I addressed and wrote something like 300 postcards while marathoning HAMILTON. This year, my goals were more modest, and I ordered up 100 pre-stamped, pre-addressed cards from Moms Rising. We brought them with us to Door County and spent some of our MEA weekend encouraging people to vote (here I am across from Al Johnson's "the restaurant with goats on the roof" sending them out). Patrick will say he's slower than me to address them, but he stayed in one night to address them while I took the kids to the pool, so he actually finished before me. It seems appropriate to me that I finished my last few in the coffeeshop today, as I remember Paul Wellstone on the 20th anniversary of his death. Beatr

My master's degree is a terminal Masters of Arts In Historic Preservation from Goucher College. I thought I had nailed it in one of my first papers, only to receive the following margin note from my instructor, a preeminent National Register historian — "You need to work on using more exact language. You're an excellent writer, but in preservation in particular, that's worthless if the information is even slightly compromised by sloppiness." It was a harsh lesson, but learning it early has stood me well, both by excelling in my degree and by informing my work since then (it's also made me picky about my sources, but that's another issue). I am also, for those that know me, a die-hard loyal friend. I didn't actually read an article in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press about a controversy about tearing down a small-but-historic home when it came out Friday night. I'm paywalled out (I refused to re-up my subscription after a delivery scam...hmm, it appear

It had been awhile since we took Brutus to a taproom, so last night, while Beatrix was at circus, we made an Amazon return at Kohl's, grabbed bahn mi at Mi-Sant, and then headed to Bent for some drinks. Bent is one of the original dog-friendly taprooms in the area. They have, however, replaced all their tables with high tops, so it's a little harder with a small dog. At one point, though, he fell off the stool and turtled on the floor, and with the breath knocked out of him, he didn't really feel great for the rest of he night. So that kind of put a pall on things. Today was Yoga and a Pint . Turns out that yoga and a lot of laughter is the exact way to recover from 3 of you in the class (including Patrick and myself) having gotten both their bivalent booster and flu shots the day before. I've said it before, but I LOVE the sense of community that Mattie builds around Lake Monster.  I'll meet you there any time. We dropped off Beatrix at Norwegian dance and headed

(The post name is an homage to my friend Rochelle, who moved into the complex a few months ago — I love her tongue in cheek reference to her new home!) Last night, after dropping Beatrix off at circus, we went to check out the new Highland development. Like many Saint Paulites, I had never been on the Ford site before, and was amazed at how HUGE it is. It had just gotten dark, but the park area was well lit, so we wandered around part of it for awhile. It's very pretty. Maybe more pretty than practical. Some kids seemed to be enjoying hanging out on the big chairs, but the "swing chairs" we tried were downright uncomfortable. It was too dark to see a lot of the public art that I am sure is there. We did not check out the playground or skate park; the dog park seemed well-used but small. We then went over to check out the new Lunds/Byerley's. I suppose we lost points because we did not park in the ramp that has people so up in arms (there was an easy spot right on the

Last night was: -  a celebration of Patrick's 55th birthday  - our first concert  at The Armory (general impression good, though I am amused that we don't care otherwise if someplace like First Ave has a near-monopoly on concert venues because Dayna Frank does a great job) - our first big concert since the pandemic - a h*ll of a lot of fun - really should be considered 2 separate concerts (and that's a lot of standing) General Space (note appropriate political sentiment). It did get a lot more crowded later: We got the pro tip in line to head for the sides, and the view was great. Raised from the floor, we got a spot halfway back, right against the railing so no obstructed view. Plus we could sit before the show and between acts, and could kind of lean on the railing. Highly recommended. Pet Shop Boys: Lots of people taking pictures of the Pet Shop Boys: New Order (lots of great light affects that made me happy we were farther back): Even some video (rare for me): Perfect n

Today was Patrick's 55th birthday. When casting about for where to go for dinner, I finally settled on Hyacinth . It's nearby, we had a gift card, and we had enjoyed it before. Damn if it wasn't the best choice we could possible make. The setting was, as always, beautiful. Our waiter (Braden), was helpful and personable. Our drinks, a beet mocktail for Beatrix, a French cider for me, and a red wine that the waiter described as "tasting like an old witch made it in a forest" — perfect description — were lovely. The food (olives, caccio y pepe pasta for Patrick, a shared risotto for Beatrix and me, was incredible. The desserts — chocolate semifreddo and a sage cake that they sent over for a birthday treat — were perfect. In short, I will meet you at Hyacinth ANY day of the week; we decided we really needed to start going there more. We then picked up the bonus daughter and headed out to see THE HUMANS at Park Square Theatre. Again, a quiet, easily overlooked piece