all that's past is prologue...

After a day filled with a lot of spreadsheets, I was happy to get some art in this afternoon! Tonight was a celebration of the nest steps for Springboard for the Arts , and the exciting new future coming up for them. Their amazing director, Laura Zabel, is headed off to be the Founding Director of the   Creative Change Coalition , taking with her Jun-Li Wang and Sara Sawicki. I'm honestly not the hugest fan of change right now, as we prepare to be empty-nesters, but this is the kind of exciting change I can totally support.  Plus it was great to see and talk to some of the amazing arts leaders in the Twin Cities. We are so very fortunate to hav the kind of passionate arts community we have. On the way there, I stopped at an Arts and Crafts swap hosted by the City of Saint Paul. Public Works has had several of these lately, such as a clothing exchange and a tool/yard implement exchange, and I think they are great. Just the kind of out of the box thinking I love. I picked up a f...

I am pretty sure that this might be the moment that broke us as a state, after being so strong for so much. And knowing that, of course, people matter so much more than things — but that values might ,after more than people. Last week, my BFF's friend daughter K, who was a counselor at Widji, posted photos of the fires they evacuated from. More compellingly, though, she posted one called "And down they go!" showing how the wooden canoes (woodies) were deliberately swamped in order to save them as camp was evacuated, in order to save them. I don't have K's photo anymore, but here's the one by Anthony Souffle of the Star Tribune, and here's the article : This all hit me like a ton of rocks. Every Widji camper knows that that is theoretically what you do if the woodies are threatened, but I've never actually seen it have to be implemented before (the article says it's the first time they have done it).  I've gone on trail with Widji canoe #1 befor...

Yesterday, we headed down to Northfield for a mini day-trip. I have to admit that, though I think that Sarah Lawrence is the perfect place for Beatrix, it would be really nice to have her down in Northfield! We did a little shopping (we loved The Boho Peacock !): Met a friend for dinner and drinks at Loon Liquors (we had not been since they relocated). Went to my cousin's son Edward's final concert for Lutheran Summer Music (the concert was INCREDIBLE). It was a really nice day, at a time when the days seem to slip by too fast.

Ximena got a Lawns to Legumes grant for the backyard at Ashland! The back bed by the garage had gotten slightly, but not extremely, better since last summer when we were painting it: Before By the end of last summer (and even some of that did not come back) So the other day Patrick and I headed over to OutBack Gardens and took advantage of their 30% off 30 or more plants sale: We realized we had enough for the side garden as well, which was looking a little rough: Tuesday night, after I met my friend Roddie for Cozy Hour, I got to planting. Tonight, I finished cleaning up and mulched. (I had also grown plants from seed in milk bottle greenhouses, but I had left those literal months too long, so those did not make it).   It's a little hard to tell with the mottled sun, but I think it looks MUCH better. We'll be moving back to Ashland a little earlier this year and I am looking forward to spending some nice time out there. There's more to do in the front yard at Ashland and s...

I had some fantastic meetings today. I had a great, philosophical lunch with my friend Robert, and then met my friend Roddie for Cozy Hour at Cooks (more on that later). Roddie is one of those friends who can always inspire you to do more and be better. So, when we parted and I told her I had plants to get in the ground tonight, and she was impressed, I knew I had to live up to it. Just one more way that she makes everyone's lives better — I hope you have a Roddie in your life! I did not really *want* to get 35 perennials in the ground in the sticky heat, but I did. And then I picked up some more plants someone was thinning, and swam five laps in the pool. I'm feeling pretty good about it all. I'll post some pics once I have everything watered and mulched. In the meantime, my jasmine sure is happy outside!

  I'm feeling especially protective about theater in the Twin Cities right now. The arts — and yes, especially theater — is so important to our sense of place. It's not only vitally important that we stand in support, but it's also so fulfilling to us as humans to be able to have these experiences. And the big theaters, Penumbra with Joe Turner's Come and Gone and now the Guthrie with Come From Away have been knocking it out of the park. So much gratitude for the incredible artists who create this work, from direction to design to performance. So much respect for tech crews. So much admiration for the theaters who keep on keeping on. Yes, I got all teary. (I tried to look up reviews to link to but they are pretty buried deep in the online news sites, though I did find several articles about hot dogs in the "Culture" sections. But that's a gripe for another day.) So yeah, go see shows. Start with Come From Away , at the Guthrie until August 9.

  There was no yoga today, so our morning exercise was marching in the Saint Anthony Park parade (which is an institution!) with our mayor, Kaohly Her . It was a lot of fun, we ran out of candy, we got to see other politicians we admire (like Congresswoman Betty McCollum , Commissioner Garrison McMurtrey , and Representative Claire Oumou Verbeten ), and it reminded us of the importance of democracy. Plus we got to see my cousin Erin and her husband, raising money for Mutual Aid through their church with a VERY well-rehearsed bucket brigade. We then got to check out a few stores (and the Finnish Bakery). Top on my list was Acorn Bookshop , a new, women-focused shop in the old Micawber's space that I have wanted to go to for awhile. The shop was great — totally lived up to expectations, and I wanted to buy everything there (but also tuition was due today so...) Tonight was the annual Songs of Hope picnic that Summit Manor holds on the 4th for their first concert. Songs of Hope is muc...

We don't skip yoga lightly, but today was the graduation party for K, who is the granddaughter of/lives with one of my oldest, dearest friends — and we were NOT going to miss it! K and K being the awesome women they are, there was a delicious coffee bar and donuts! But not going to yoga meant we did not get to see our friends M and B. Their son and his wife and their dog stayed at our other place while coming through last week, and left us the sweetest thank-you present! Though I love it intensely, I feel guilty; we were just trying to do them a favor, and they totally one-upped us! While Beatrix was at Pride, we foraged, picking tons of serviceberries (an homage to Robin Kimmerer ) and sour cherries from our trees. The serviceberries are small so it's hard to see how many there were, but there are A LOT. And we had 3x that many sour cherries!  I also harvested some rhubarb so I can make rhubabaritas. It was the kind of day to feel incredibly grateful for the friends and family...

  Poor Patrick Rhone. He's not a fan of list posts, and really photo dump posts are just a variation thereof. But today is our twentieth anniversary, so I'm going down a bit of a rabbit hole. Of photos at the park that afternoon (because Sarah Whiting is the best). Dinner at Zander. A late night ceremony at Nautilus: A reception two days later at the Ritz (just after it had opened to the pubic): And a mini-moon afterwards: Here's to an amazing husband, an incredible life, and all those who have supported us along the way. You are my sun, and my moon, and my stars above.

Ok, to be fair, I am a huge fan of everything Skewed Visions does. But even among an exceptional body of work, this one stands out. The show only seats 30, and there are only a few performances and tickets left. If you see one thing in the Twin Cities this year, this should be it. Tickets and information here . I don't want to say too much about it because I want you to see it and then I want to discuss it with you. But i will say this. get there a little early if you want to look through the rehearsal photos beforehand (or a lot early if you want to grab a drink and a dog at Meteor , down the block.) It's a contradiction to try to stay focused in a situation where you want to be hyper-aware of everything, but that's exactly what I would ask of you.  After the performance, take advantage of Charles' invitation to walk through and explore the set. Every single inch brings so much to take in. The performers are incredibly generous in discussing the process as well. If yo...

We're in that liminal phase right now where Beatrix is both an adult and still a youth.  She's old enough to get tickets for Phoebe Bridgers, in Brooklyn, when she's at school this fall, and to put together a group of her new classmates to go. She's young enough that she still needs my ninja ticketing moves (and "her" credit card that's tied to our account) to get them. She's old enough to remember to thank me. She's young enough to forget to check her spam to see if Sarah Lawrence had sent her instructions on how to set up her student portal (which of course they did, some time ago, and she did not notice.) She's old enough to promptly freak out that, in said portal, there are many important and imminent deadlines — and to work on plans for meeting those deadlines. She's young enough that she's still asleep this morning while Patrick called her doctor's office and ran a whole bunch of paperwork out there to get signed off on this m...