all that's past is prologue...

I think our neighbor Dave thinks I'm nuts (I *know* our neighbor John does). The other day, Dave saw me out in the early evening scraping the garage siding. "What are you doing?" he asked.  "Needs painting" I responded. "And the best paint job is in the prep." "Who's going to paint it?" "I am. It's only the garage." Which remains my response. I admit that doing the whole house is probably too much for me anymore (and besides, watching our neighbors Dick and Martha get their whole place scraped, primed, and painted in the course of 3 days was pretty incredible.) But the garage I can handle, especially the siding, which is where I am starting. But even that takes a lot. I have spent much of the past week scraping down the siding, and I'm pleased to say I'm done with 3 sides of it, with only part of the south side to go. That's the area that takes the most work, like removing ornamentation and cleaning out the flowe

So why did we go to Africa? It had long been on the bucket list for a long time, and with upcoming trips needing to be focused on college visits and the like, it seemed like the right timing. And why Tanzania? Well, for one, it offered the opportunity to go to Zanzibar, which had long been a bucket list inside a bucket list. When my friend Sarah, who went to Tanzania last year, said she wished they had tacked on a couple of days there, I was sold. The more whimsical of us might also say it was because of Bill Harley's Zanzibar song or Billy Joel's Zanzibar , but I digress... More to the point, the only majority Muslim country I had previously visited was Indonesia, which at least at that time was not overly religious. Ramadan may not be the perfect time to visit, but that was time we had to go, so there we were. First of all, I will unapologetically say that Zanzibar is the most beautiful tropical country I have visited (Norway might still win the overall "most beautiful&q

Patrick was off at a rigger meeting this afternoon, so I worked on housecleaning (we have guests over tonight). (this was after I was cleaning up the back yard and somehow started scraping the garage...more on that later) The front red velvet curtains were incredibly dusty, and seemed kind of dark for spring. So I grabbed a single curtain panel I had received from the free board and cut it down to size (much to the interest of the dogs and cats). It comes off as more brown than I thought, but see the top picture — the colors are perfect with our walls! Now we just have to replace the front storm window (that literally fell out of the window frame last fall)...and I should work out how to re-upholster those chairs, too.

At the opening for Pangea World Theater 's amazing HECUBA last night (mind blown, go see it). Feeling despondent because Euripides pointedly called out that violence was not the answer in 424 BC, and we have not progressed much. Feeling like this was "preaching to the choir" to the audience. But then Patrick pointed out that a really important thing. You go, and you see the play, and you feel less alone. You feel validated, like you are not the only one who thinks the way you do. You gain courage in your convictions. You go out and do more. You build community. And isn't that what theater is all about? (back to Africa posts soon — this was just on my mind)

It's an 8 hours and 15 minute overnight flight from MSP to Amsterdam. We stumbled off the flight, ran into our friend Gar, and spent a 4 hour layover wandering around the airport (which, after our trip last year felt like home). It's almost 9 hours from Schipol to Kilimanjaro International Airport. We were toast, but somehow walking down the stairs into the tropical night, watching people run through to the visa cashier (and feeling glad we had done ours in advance). It felt very much like arriving in any SE Asian country late at night, backpack on, and for a second I thought "I've got this." But then I realized I was at a different point of my life, in an entirely different continent, and started to also realize the differences, a set of comparisons that would stay with me the entire trip. Our driver found us and we took off into the night on the hour drive to Arusha. On the way we passed numerous small Maasai villages along the road, lights on, people gathering

  "Okay," you say. "I'm glad you had fun in Africa, but how is this a *Build* post?" You see, that goes back awhile. In 2004, I had left Jeune Lune. My mom, my ex-husband and I were to go on an African safari. Then it all came raining down — as I have often quipped "I got divorced, my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the cat got diabetes." Clearly, that trip did not happen. It has remained in the "dream vacation" category since then. We didn't think we would be able to take the vacation this year, and then suddenly it all came together so we could. My friend Sarah recommended Tanzania Specialists , and all of a sudden we were going to Africa! I have a lot of posts in mind, so for awhile, my feed will be full of Africa. It was just that sort of life-changing trip. But to start this out, I wanted to just state that this was the most transformational trip I've ever taken — and to encourage you to put it on your bucket list as

This post is brought to you by a few thoughts from yesterday: First and foremost, Patrick's new book that he wrote for Beatrix for her sixteenth birthday. Available for a hot second before we leave for spring break tomorrow. The response of someone he knows on the internet, who wrote yesterday that he had decided years ago that he would never be happy (and reading his posts, he seems to be right.). It was one of the saddest things I've encountered in a long time. A friend's social media post, in which she discusses another person's comment of " I really think a sizable proportion of the population has become addicted to being angry" with the sage response of " I think a lot of them are doing it because it's more enjoyable to be angry than to be depressed." A nd we finally finished watching this season's Fargo last night. I won't give any spoilers, but it's extremely on theme with this post. So this is the deal. There's a lot on

Though "Build" is my resolution, Patrick has gotten in on the game as well. I have long (like, for decades) wanted to spruce up our living room with additional trim. Our mantlepiece is filled with gorgeous things, but was just a little blah. My ultimate goal was to add some trim above that, plus on the ways, like these inspiration photos: Just after Christmas, Patrick decided to mark my dreams come true. We went from this: To this: And, even better, once that was done I decided I did not need the wall trim (mainly because it might not leave enough room for art...)! He also fixed the toilet, which was a real win). I guess the best part of having "Build" as a resolution is when someone even does it for you...

My word for the year is "Build," so I'm going to try to focus some posts around that throughout the year! The warm spring weather has meant that I could tackle a facelift for our front doors, which were getting kind of weathered. These are not the original front doors to the house. At some point the doorway had been blocked in and replaced with a basic single door, we then replaced it with some solid double doors. These doors are courtesy of an over-served bartender at Sweeney's many years ago, whose car had been towed when parked in the private auto body lot next door, and who blamed us for that and started banging down the door at 1am. That destroyed the front doors and we got these made for the house from a bizarre place called "Pinecraft" which was a whole story in itself. The warm weather meant it was warm enough to sand and varnish these without fear of overnight freeze. And they now look great! If this weather keeps up, I guess I'll have to scrape

I love our home, and one of the things I love most about it is the art we have everywhere. Almost all of it is art from friends — beautiful pieces that speak to our relationships. I suppose they have value, but the point to me is that they are given with love and meaning — and they just happen to look amazing as well. And I love museums and experiencing art there. Since my first trip to France in high school, I (like everyone else in the world) have loved the Impressionists, and within them have always had a special place in my heart for Henri Toulouse-Latrec. What can I say, it appeals to my circus side. Yesterday, there was an estate sale at Joe Kingman's townhome. Joe was the father of Brant Kingman, who used to have an art studio/gathering space I frequented; there's an awesome photo somewhere of Patrick and I one New Year's Eve there not long after we first started dating.  And hanging above the fireplace in the living room was an original lithograph by Toulouse-Latrec

Yesterday we took a little mini road trip east to Wisconsin. Beatrix has a friend at Stout she wanted to visit, and we wanted to spend some time with our good friends Kelly and Laura , and so we all had a lovely time. Patrick and I even discovered a lovely new (to us) taproom , due to the magic of Craftapped. But perhaps the most enlightening conversation we had was with James Williams. James and his wife Heather own the amazing Fox Den Books in River Falls, where we made a long stop to appreciate the used and new books, the games, toys, and craft items; I'm still coveting some of the embroidery kits. For many years, the Williams' also owned Sixth Chamber Used Books on Grand, right by Hamline (where Em Que Viet is now). We adore James and Heather and their stores, and this was one of the fist times we had talked in depth about Sixth Chamber closing (Sixth Chamber lives on, by the way, in the ceiling of the cozy basement level of Fox Den, which is paneled with the wood from th

(and spoiler alert — it's not really post-covid...) In December, I went to a conference, came home with a slight cold, then came down with covid a week later (right before Christmas). Yes, for those of you counting along at home, it was bout #3 with covid, despite having all the vaccinations possible and masking religiously during the height of the pandemic (I admit I don't mask much now, though I do when I myself am feeling sick, and on flights). I then proceeded to get some kind of terrible virus, complete with 5 straight days of fever, on New Year's Eve that killed off all our plans, and I just a few days ago got a bad cold that has felled me for the past couple of days, even as I have stubbornly tested negative for covid. Beatrix, on the other hand, turned 16 last Friday, had a friend sleep over on Saturday, and came down with covid on Sunday. Happy Sweet 16, honey! She has a long weekend coming up so school is not as much of a stress, but it means she missed auditions

January was a beast and so I was determined to not work today(ok, so I answered a couple of tiny work questions, but I mostly took the day off). My perfect plan was sleeping in, having brunch with Patrick, heading to Watershed, taking the dog to a taproom, reading a lot, doing a puzzle — I had so much planned! But when things don't happen perfectly it just leaves room for reality... I could not get a space at Watershed, but my friend Jan invited me over to her sauna. Except she forgot to preheat it, so it was...chilly. But we got to hang out and talk for an hour so that was fun! Came back and took a hot shower to warm up. Brunch with Patrick, at the (fairly) new High Hat on Selby was absolutely delicious> I really liked it there — tasty food, friendly service, and a good vibe— and will be back for sure! I took Brutus to Forgotten Star taproom. He's pretty much fully blind (and suffering some dementia, I think), so I was hoping that being at a taproom when it was light would

When Patrick and I got married (almost 18 years ago), the internet bore little resemblance to what it is now. "Social media" wasn't really a thing (except the beta version in Harvard dorm rooms), and The Knot and wedding websites were a fairly new idea. And then I stumbled upon "IndieBride," an online chat board full of people looking for less traditional weddings of all kinds (Don't look "IndieBride" up, it's now owned by the Huffington Past and is totally different.) It was a true old school chat forum, where people had handles (mine was "snugglewombat") instead of their real names, and participated in threads on things. Mostly text, sometimes you could suss a way to embed photos. People naturally fell into cohorts based on when they were getting married, but there were some overarching themes as well, like gay weddings and second wedding and the like. After we got married, most of us switched away from invitations and receptions an

In thinking more about my post on Grand from yesterday, I've also been thinking about the establishments I support, the small places I want to see stay open. Because, in discussing this with Patrick, in these places you are not only supporting the business owner, but also their employees. They could all probably use a little $ sent their way, and so I entreat you to think of buying things at the following Saint Paul independent establishments (there are SO MANY great places in the city but these are my absolute faves): The Red Balloon Poppy Bar + Cart King Coil Distilling (and their sister establishment Lake Monster Brewing) Saint Paul Brewing and their across the courtyard pals at 11 Wells Subtext Books Next Chapter Solo Vino Cafe Latte (and Bread and Chocolate) Em Que Viet Frattalone's Hardware the Lex Wandering Leaf Brewing Gambit Brewing Claddagh Coffee Dunn Brothers (the original at Grand and Dale) Mississippi Market Brunson's Marc Heu Nina's Workhorse Coffee Herbs

I've had lots of thoughts on Grand before. But it wasn't until a friend posted today about places that had closed on Grand that I really thought about it: So yes, some early closures (years ago) that hit me hard included Odegard, Hungry Mind, Macafferty's, Paperback Trader, Acropol Inn, and Ciatti's. Some fairly recent ones have included Avalon, Sixth Chamber Used Books, and D'Amico. Places that have closed and re-opened under similar ownership/genres have included the hardware store by Mac that re-opened as a Frattalone's, Bibelot that become Good Things, and Bap and Chicken that became some other kind of chicken place. Sidney's became Salut and then closed. Before Bread and Chocolate became an institution it was Haagen Daz. Kowalski's was Red Owl. I've been told that The Wedding Shoppe has moved its business offices to Eagan, but still maintains its storefronts. Khyber Pass was bequeathed to the kids who opened it as a cocktail bar and it's a

It can't actually be time for my daughter to start college visiting. It was just a few weeks ago I was in college myself. Moments from that time are as vivid as if they just happened. Clearly, there is a hole in the time-space continuum. When I picture Beatrix at a college, this is what I picture: And yet here we are. We visited Carleton yesterday and Macalester the week before (to my great surprise, Mac, which has been Beatrix's dream school since she knew what college was has almost fallen off the list, while she liked Carleton). Her college counselor at school got assigned to her on Friday. We're off and running! Beatrix is kind of a mini-me, and is looking at a double Theater/English major (with maybe  concentration on race relations thrown in). She wants a small, liberal arts school, and she would prefer that it's not in the center of a huge city (so places like NYU and PACE or even BU are likely out, but Tufts or American University or Temple or Emerson might be p

I'm still up all night coughing, and had a long workday, so while Beatrix was at circus tonight we decided to grab dinner at the newly opened Mandalay Kitchen — and it was delicious! It's located where Marc Heu bakery used to be, and felt friendly (and filled with art) as soon as we walked in. I ordered the pad thai, because it's my base dish for evaluating a restaurant, and it was very good. Patrick had the zap crispy (pictured above), which he really liked; he's trying to cut down on carbs and be better about eating diabetic-friendly. We also had vegetarian egg rolls — the story behind this was they accidentally served us meat-filled ones at first and were incredibly apologetic when we called their attention to it. The veggie ones they replaced them with were wonderful and worth the wait! It was also fairly busy for a random Tuesday evening, which I hope bodes well for them. We'll certainly be back soon!