all that's past is prologue...

Our amazing Coya passed today at a little over 15 years of age. Thanks so much to the amazing staff at the Animal Humane Society who helped her go with dignity and grace, and allowed us all to be there with her. When we lost Geronimo, I was low-key looking for another keeshond, and became involved with several keeshond groups online. Most had coalesced around closing down a notorious New York puppy mill, but I made friends all over the country (and in Canada) who cared about the breed. You are all amazing people and I care about you so much. When Wendy found out about a backyard breeder in Western Wisconsin who had a dog on Craigslist, so grabbed Bill (who had Sapphire, one of the puppy mill dogs) and they went to rescue her. Once they got her out of there, Wendy needed a home for her, and so 4-year old Coya came to us. Her pedigree papers called her "Lacoya of Seven Bridges," but to separate her from that we called her Coya, after Coya Knutson, Minnesota's first female c...

Today was "divide and conquer" day for Small Project Sunday, due to our schedules. Patrick took on the bedroom closet . Meanwhile, I started to get ready for replanting our gardens. Summit in particular had suffered kind of a major setback last year , and we are still not sure what will come back up, particularly in the new-ish native garden  (also a post on that  here ). We also are trying to plant more native plants at Ashland, and have installed native gardens at the house where Patrick's dad lives on Winter Street and at Hague . But this all has to be on a budget, because the loss of plants at Summit alone might be major cross your fingers that it's not!), so today I took a class on winter seed sowing at the Capital River Watershed District. I had looked up information online and it did not look too hard, but I was happy to have some folks there show me the ropes. It was 59 degrees today, and too late to winter sow seeds that have longer germination periods (60 d...

If, like me, you have been worried about the state of theater in the Twin Cities ... you should see this play. If, like me, you have been overwhelmed with everything going on in Minnesota over the past couple of months ... you should see this play. If, like me, you want a night out with your family and to see some great theater ... you should go see this play. Honestly — incredible performances, a really interesting concept, effective and non-pandering use of media, strong direction, thought inspiring, well-researched — it has it all. The Star Tribune has flat out said they will now only review four theaters in town: the Guthrie, Children's Theater, Hennepin Stages, and the Ordway. I'm not throwing any shade on those institutions, because we're all in this together. But that means it's up to all of us to tell others they should go see shows and talk about them, so that's what I'm doing. At the Frey Theater at St. Kate's (the one kind of in front of O'Sha...

Fridays have apparently become "Fun Fridays" in our household (and just wait until Friday pool parties come back in the summer!) Last night Patrick and I did a quick jaunt to the Friday wine tasting at Solo Vino . We love the sense of community at these tastings, where you get to see people you know, meet new people, and both try and learn about new wines. We'll meet you there any time (at least, except a pool party night). On Thursday I had put out the call for a number of things I was looking for, and one of them was to see if anyone wanted to join us for the Friday Night Fish Fry at Tiffany's (IMHO the best fish fry in the Twin Cities.) Our friends Rodney and Shira were up for it, so we had a super-fun double date. Beatrix got in on the fun as well, because Ximena had promised to take her out clubbing now that she was 18. She and a few friends went out to the Gay 90s under Ximena's watchful eye, and I think they had a great time.

I started doing #yearplanner in 2020 — so let's just say that first year was a misfire. But a couple of years back Patrick and I started doing it together, and it's been really helpful (though I would argue the planning we did in late 2025 for 2026 was also...a little altered once we got into January.) One of the elements of it is to pick a word for the year. Last year, one was ATTEND, and it was pretty inspirational. My word for 2024 was BUILD, also a win. Based on what I *thought* 2026 was going to be like I almost picked "Grow," but I am glad I did not. My word for 2026 is RESILIENCE (Patrick has two, for what it's worth, ADJUST and ADAPT.) So when Playwrights Center did a panel about artists and resilience last night, I knew I had to be there. And I am so glad I went. Anytime you get Signe Harridan, Sarah Bellamy, Maija Garcia, Anh Thu Pham, Laura Zabel, and Mark Valdez in a room, it's going to be a provocative conversation. Here are my top things I put in...

Mondays are usually days to:      a)     dig deep into a project      b)    catch up on a lot of things      c)     schedule meetings      d)     all of the above So, in typical Monday fashion, I spent the morning paying bills, doing some bank reccs, listing things on the free board, and making phone calls. I hate phone calls. I then ran some errands, including mailing a certified mail piece and picking up some stamps From there, I grabbed some plastic bottles from someone because I want to do some winter seed sowing this week (I still need more bottles, so if I see you on a regular basis and you have some, let me know!) I had a meeting with a client about some new personnel policies at Yellowbird , which I love because I love their sense of community. I then headed to Springboard for the Arts to represent the Cultural STAR board at a community meeting convened by my councilmember....