all that's past is prologue...

For the most part, our Halloween weekend was based around performances of the Middle School play ( A Midsummer Night's Dream , in which Beatrix played Hermia). Thanks to so many family and friends for coming! But we did make it to yoga twice. And a dinner party. And a clothing exchange. And an outdoor goods exchange, where Patrick got a pair of cross-country skis so we can try skiing this winter! And to Saint Paul Brewing so Brutus could enter the dog costume contest, Tonight Beatrix has a friend over and we hope to make it to a couple of places as well. We did NOT make it to Monster Bash at Lake Monster, but it looks like it was a lot of fun! Maybe next year we'll be more prepared. Happy Halloween, everyone!

 A few more (non-dog) highlights from a great weekend: - Watching the colors change and stopping at Tobie's (yes, I know the owner is a jerk but their caramel rolls are soooo good!). - Trixie Belden books at the antique store. - Amazing beer and pizza at Ursa Minor . I first discovered them through Craftapped and they are no longer on it, but I still love the beer! - Love Creamery . Enough said. - More antique shopping. - Hanging out at the harbor at Two Harbors. Climbing the rocks, walking on the beach, watching boats come in. - Not one but TWO stops at Mocha Moose (on the way there and back) for fancy coffee. Yum. Even when they are slammed and slow they are great. - Wild State Cider . Enough said. I brought home some crowlers if you want to come hang out. I think I could go up to the North Shore once a month and still not have enough time there....

It was a great weekend spent building trails, but apparently I was not done helping out! Yesterday we got an urgent email from the middle school theater director, who I adore. A Midsummer Night's Dream runs this weekend, with a fantastic cast (Beatrix is playing Hermia), and it's the first production back on stage at the school since March, 2020! Tech and dress started yesterday — but suddenly the costume designer can't be due to a family issue — YIKES! So a couple of other parents and I showed up yesterday to help. It was clear right away that it was going to be chaos; turns out that only a couple of pieces had actually been designed for the show (either shopped or built), with the rest kind of half-pulled from existing stock (like a little trip down memory lane). Still other elements were not there (for example the fairies were all in glittery skirts or leggings, but there were no shirts). Only a few of the kids had previously seen their costumes, and we did not have any

If you are a faithful reader of my blog, you know that every time I go up to Wintermoon Summersun I come back raving about how life-changing the time there was. So if you are sick of that, I suggest you skip the post (but you might want to think about signing up for time there, because if I so confidently rave about it, I must be on to something, right?) This weekend, we had signed up for a trails weekend to help with prepare for the winter. We worked, Kathleen provided the lodging and the meals. And I have to say it was amazing the entire time. We arrived Friday evening, got settled in, fed the dogs, and had a lovely meal ourselves. When Beatrix and I were last there, in the summer, it was so hot that you could only interact with the dogs during times when it was cooler, or they would get overheated. Now that it's cooler, I was delighted that I could snuggle with and talk to the dogs as much as I wanted, and started out the weekend by spending time with my favorite, Osa. It was u

It's not a "triumphant return to the theater" because I have seen some outdoor things — and Animate was part indoors part outdoors. But seeing The Red Shoes at Open Eye tonight felt like home ( a lot like home because I have spent a lot of time in that theater). I mean, things were different. You show your vax card, you mask up, you leave space between yourself and others (who am I kidding, this is Minnesota, you always do that). But the magic of theater was also a coming home. The wondering how they did that. The movement. At Open Eye, the puppet influence. The general magic. All packed into a tight 80 minutes. If you've missed theater as badly as I have, do yourself a favor and head over before it closes on Halloween. Because as we've all learned in the last year, you nee to take your chances as you can get them.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to plant lots of bulbs at both Summit and Ashland. I just ordered 200 bulbs (scilla, tulips, crocus, allium, grape hyacinth, dwarf iris, a couple of different kinds of daffodils, jonquils, snowdrops, and glory of the snow). The other day I planted them at Ashland, and today I planted under the magnolias at Summit. I'm thinking of planting some datura under the trees next summer. I also got several bags of pine needles from our friends Tom and Sarah to mulch under the magnolias. Pine needles are a great mulch for magnolias, and look really nice as well. We're still fighting some scale that mysteriously began after the neighbors did some damage to the trees, so they can use all the help they can get! I'm looking forward to a spring of lovely blooms at both places!

Last night, we went to the first Walker After Hours since the Jasper Johns exhibit (my calendar tells me that was February 15, 2020). I realized during the times when everything was closed that I really missed visual art, but even as museums re-opened, I just had not made it back — timed tickets and such just seemed hard to suss. And I knew very little about Julie Mehretu . As we pulled into the Walker garage, I started to get really nervous. We were there right at the start of the event, and the line was long. Really long. I was thinking about the number of people that would be inside and almost bailed. But the Walker required vaccination cards, and masks, so I just decided to stick it out, and I was so glad we did. First and foremost, I loved the art. I'm excited to go back and see the exhibit again, and to bring Beatrix. I could write for hours about the details and choices. It was great to see the band (Annie Mack) and realize how much I had missed live music. Bust most of all

No, I have not run out of larger projects to do. This was a teeny, tiny project that has been sitting on my trello list forever — replace the plain outlet covers on the 3F with something more interesting I got off the free board. It's kind of a stupid project that I've been putting off forever and probably took longer than it should have — but now it's done and I feel good about it. And the cats were excessively interested in it.

(Because let's face it, it's not like this is a viral blog or anything. You are all my people, who I know IRL, and me putting this up periodically is a little like when my friend 9 and I would trade our journals when we would get together so we could catch up.) A few weeks ago, I went to the funeral of one of my oldest friend's mothers. I just now learned of the sudden death this morning of another friend's father. But what is really sticking with me at this very moment is attending the funeral for my friend Krista's's daughter Caitlin today, in a cold and blustery outdoor celebration of life that could not have been more poignant. Because that's not how it's supposed to go. When my friend Judy's son William, who was Paul Wellstone's aide, was killed in the plane crash 19 years ago this month, I remember her saying over and over again "It's not supposed to be this way. I'm supposed to go first." I think it's every parent'

So yesterday was like a Before Times day. We helped at the park, planted a pear tree, did yoga, brought Beatrix to Norwegian Dance and then eschewed a busy Stillwater in favor of Marine-on-St.-Croix and bad mochas but good reading. We stopped at 5 Below on the way back, and Beatrix went to a birthday event while we went to a pottery sale. I met my friend Geri for a beer at Bad Weather. And we went to the 8th grade parent social. (The ceiling at the coffee shop) Today, by contrast, was much...quieter... After yoga, I worked on planting the geraniums we took out of the park in our yard. I think we can get a few more weeks out of them. and they make it really cozy. You should come over for a beer! We also spent several hours deep cleaning the living areas of the house — yes, I know you all did that when quarantine started, but I was too busy learning about PPP loans. There's still work to do, but we got the living room, library, hall, and dining room fairly well cleaned up — so if you

Beatrix maintains that Halloween is her favorite holiday, and wanted to decorate. But she is far beyond sending her to the dollar store to get a whole bunch of plastic crap, which is also incredibly wasteful (and I think there is still plastic spiderweb up in the corner from that a few years ago). A few years ago we had the Jabberwocky leftover from the fall play up in the window, but no such luck this year.  So I came up with the idea of a spooky Halloween village. I got a whole bunch of Christmas village hours off the free board, and then Beatrix and I spray painted them all black. How it started/How it's going: Individual details: I love these windows! This one is my favorite, because the marionettes look soooo spooky! From fairy tale to ghost story. Reminiscent of the Halloween blizzard. For sure gets the "biggest transformation award." I wonder what's looking out of that big corner window. The one I would most like to live in. The first one we did.

Our friend T and her family are about to move into Summit, and I had *really* wanted to do a couple of bathroom upgrades for he. The first was that I wanted to put up some tile that I had gotten from my friend Sheryl when she closed her studio. It had been a long time since I had tiled — and don't say "it's like riding a bike" because I don't possess that skill. But Elyse had extra grout and thinset that she gave me, so I did not have to get big bags, and I decided to give it a try. Here's the end result, so it comes up as the main image for the post (I am so vain). Here's the before pic: I had done the thinset yesterday, and was happy to find out I still knew my way around a trowel. Today was grouting. I could not find my floor, but got a stiff sponge to work well. The tiles have lots of detail so it was harder than usual smooth tile, but I really love the way it looks (and I hope T does too!) Slowly, we are making the Summit house reflect more of our fun

Because FB algorithms work, I was recently targeted by an ad for a leather clip with little round tags listing various places one has travelled to. I thought it might make a great birthday present to Patrick, whose birthday is today. When we were thinking about having a child, one of our discussions was that a baby/toddler/child would not keep us from traveling, and that we would just take them with us — and we have! But the clip was expensive — not as much the clip, but for sure the tags (at about $5 each, and we've been a lot of places). And I thought it might be more personal if I did it myself. So I researched the best metal washers to use, and borrowed my friend Rena's metal stamping kit. It was actually really fun to make the tags! I then commissioned the fob from my friend Meghan's online store . It turned out amazingly and I am so happy about it!