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Grand Avenue Exit Interview

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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
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The "Post-Covid" Era Sucks Rocks

(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
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Day Off

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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
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Secret Internet Friends

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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
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Places to Support

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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
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Grand Thinking

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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
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College Visits

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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
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