all that's past is prologue...

Though I like to refer to it as the "bummer summer," I have to admit that this summer was bookended by a couple of really great porch concerts! Last night, we attended "Smoke House Stage," which my friend Jake Endres hosts weekly all summer (but on Friday nights, so we usually can't go). The season closing concert was a tribute to Tom Waits. It was a fantastic night for it; the food was great; we got to see lots of friends. SO much fun! The weather stands in high contrast to the Call Me Spinster concert we kicked off the summer at, in the pouring rain. But another fantastic experience. Let's hear it for porch concerts and those who host them!

I chose "build" as my word of the year for a few different reasons. There was "build" in the physical level of the houses — but also building myself and my career, and I have posted on less of that. But this week I attended my first statewide preservation conference  in Red Wing and it was great! I was lucky enough to go because Colin and I presented a piece on the renovation of 2441 Arts  that I tongue-in-cheek called "I Once Bought an Office Chair There" (no matter how much we talk about it being a Clarence Johnston furniture warehouse, etc., all people know it as is as the SOS Office Furniture building.) It was the first time we had presented on the project and its historic preservation + sustainability work. The session went really well and I guess I now have two presentations in my quiver (I had kind of forgotten about a piece I had done for a Goucher online forum a few years ago about greater diversity in preservation.) Johnston also designed the Oak

We both drive older cars (because we buy used cars for cash and drive them for a long time), and Patrick's Volvo is in the shop for two weeks while they order parts and fix an issue that sprung up. This follows a time when my Audi was in the shop for two weeks after what should have been a day-long issue, but they kept on forgetting things (yes, I am looking for a new car repair place). My shop had loaners, but Patrick's (a tiny, awesome place that specializes in Volvos) does not. So we are juggling schedules and needs and let me tell you, it's a PITA. If we always only had one car, Beatrix would probably have to take the city bus to school, which would entail either a walk and 3 buses or a walk, 2 buses, and another walk. She would need to leave the house by 6:00am, and let me tell you, her morning routine is long enough that means she would be up before 5:00. When she's up until midnight studying, I want her to get all the sleep she can. It also means she would have t

Heh! Patrick praises my stockpiling ways ! (Just as I am in the middle of cleaning a ton of stuff out).

So the other thing that our unfortunate guest this summer did that she should not have was to put a bunch of things that should not go into the dishwasher...into the dishwasher. This led me to a massive cleaning of the cabinet that our dishes are stored in. A take-no-prisoners adventure that tossed out a ton of items (including the Aas Beer glasses I got from a liquor distributor before we were married) and all the chipped dishware.  Of course, I had to get a set of gorgeous highball glasses from the free board today to replace the 16 faded pint glasses I had tossed, but that's normal, right? We got new shelf liner and Patrick got it set up while I was in a zoom meeting tonight. The new glasses are in the top middle. Please admire them to prove I was right. There was enough liner left over to redo the super-greasy cabinet by the stove. That also involved some major de-accession, including a bottle of paprika oil I believe I bought in Slovakia in 1991. I even packed away my beloved

In the spirit of "Fun Fall" yesterday was pretty much a day off. We were back on the mat at yoga, went to the Picnic Operetta's FAUST with the Chelimskys at Alexis Bailly Vineyards (and also got a hug from Nan), and hung out more with the Chelimskys that night. It was much needed. Today was harder work because we had to move back to the other house, which meant loading up lots of stuff (how did all that get over there?), plus dogs and cats and such, while running a few errands since there was no food or anything at Ashland. The kitchen is in disarray because we cleaned out a couple of cabinets, including the dish cabinet, and are waiting for new shelf paper to be delivered. There's a lot more space in there when you throw away things you don't use... On that same theory, we also cleaned out the china cabinet. We packed up some of the crystal we don't use but don't really want to get rid of, which left more display space. This summer Patrick had gotten me s