2024

RIP Chloe circa 2008—2024 She was a shelter cat with history, but a fun companion with lotsa spunk. Let the hole in my heart fill with sweet memories. Chloe’s Adoption Note

Yea, voted early at a Popup in Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Making a day of it for a personal holiday! Democracy, Art, and ending with Jazz & small plates at Berlin club downtown listening to Brandon Wozniak and Bryan Nichols.

Vote & Celebrate Peeps!!!

Was putting The Best Laid Plans by Sidney Sheldon in my Little Free Library, then noticed the back cover Promo:

HE WANTED POWER. SHE WANTED REVENGE.

Now I need to read this Presidential Campaign Thriller as it echoes current headlines.

So enjoyed visiting Sterling Vineyards up a gondola ride for gorgeous views of Napa Valley in Calistoga CA. Oh, excellent wines too.

Hibiscus flower is blooming. Short-lived gigantic flowers that look like satellite dishes to fetch the bees. To celebrate made a batch of Hibiscus sun tea for summer punch.

Here’s Berrien Public Beach near Union Pier, Michigan, on the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, where the beach goes on forever…

Deconstructed Shrimp Kebab on the Barbi.

The common Minnesota Prairie Spiderwort can pop up anywhere, like my urban alleyway.

Tradescantia Occidentalis

Nice Spring weather & blooms here in Minnesota. Our Red Maple has burst out over past 3 weeks. Leaves 5x6 inches, smooth as finest silk.

First Dandelion of Spring 🌼 in March?!

Been a year since Barber Bob closed the MGEX Barbershop 💈 and fun to see the Media blitz we got. But mothballing the site to the old WordPress morgue on anniversary tomorrow.

Vernal Equinox sunset over East Lake Street, Minneapolis.

Tulips sprouting almost a month early this year.

Tulip sprouts

Michele’s Avocado Toast

Month old carnations in the window

2023

All the Little Free Library books were taken overnight. Happens once a year somehow. My faith in humanity is dinged, while my hope for literacy carries on. Libraries forever!

1,000 Books served at our Longfellow Villa Little Free Library since 2002. Thanks to neighbors who share & read. Books logged with Library Thing displayed on site at Longfellow.Life

Cast iron skillet Cornbread, for some hot chili on a chill November eve.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

Buttermilk biscuits and cinnamon crunch cookie from dough scraps. Now open the Apple Butter from Whistling Well Orchard.

MORNING DEW

Walk me out in the morning dew.

GIANT JAMAICA BLOOMS

Giant Jamaica Flower blooms on Hibiscus plant

Thick honeysuckle bushes at Lake Independence in Baker Park Reserve.

Pasta Salad today, yesterday, and tomorrow. It’s really summer.

We have a robin nesting at our garage.

Maiden of Minehaha Falls

Baking biscuits for Brunch. To be topped with Asparagus & Avgolemono sauce.

Art in Bloom at Minneapolis Institute of Art has over 100 floral displays, each paired with an inspiring artwork.

Attended the Center for Photographic Studies on Main Street in Louisville a few blocks from the Old National Bank, site of a tragic mass shooting yesterday. Documented club & street life on the funky old West Main strip way back in 1975. So sad, we must change.

8-1/2 inches fresh snow this morning in Minneapolis.

Feels like Spring 🌼

BARBER BOB TRENDING WITH OUR WORD & IMAGE PRESS CAMPAIGN

Barber Bob trending on local news in Minneapolis, with our targeted press campaign by Word & Image. Got several TV news stories, a radio story, and several online news stories. Too bad it celebrates the closing of a 120-year-old historic institution.

Grain Exchange Barbershop | Media | in the News

Grain Exchange Barbershop web page | Media | In the News with header photo of a barber with shears in a barbershop

It looks kinda Secure with just a tiny lock (not really), but a big mail slot on the side allows an arm to reach in.

March Photoblogging Challenge Day 1 #mbmar

Old wooden hatch with brass doorknob and padlock

Daily photo of Little Free Library box to update my LibraryThing collection for status of books available or gone. Some 600 titles logged for 2022. Tiny HTML/CSS/JS site embeds current LibraryThing shelf plus a local Tweet feed. Longfellow.Life

Ice in Bloom at Minneapolis Art Institute

Ice Sculpture of Disc on pedestal

Baked buttermilk biscuits & pinwheels for Saturday breakfast. Frosted too on a frosty Minnesota morning.

2022

Fourth day waking to snow in Minnesota.

Cooking Tip

Made biscuits and gravy for brunch this morning. The biscuits always bake perfectly fluffy and flaky with these four things in any recipe:

  • Buttermilk

  • Frozen Butter

  • Fold don’t Knead

  • Cast Iron

    I do use cast iron pots and pans for most cooking. Good buttermilk is a must for fluff. Just keep a stick of butter in the freezer to grate as called for in any recipe for flaky texture. And, biscuit dough just needs to be folded for dropping or roll-and-cut, as I do.

Visited a few Holiday Markets today. Finding beautiful, affordale Arts & Crafts meeting the makers and supporting the host organizations. Cards to send, art to hang or gift, household crafts to cherish, use, and pass to family and friends. 😷 Plus for our household, open-air atriums, taprooms, and church halls are a safe fun way to meet up with folks. 😊