Filed under: Minnesota
OK it may seem sad that I have more than one post that’s work related. It’s a sign of a few things – September was very busy work-wise, I like my work and home life was pretty status quo.
I spent one week on the road touring small towns and hearing about their fun work with broadband. (You can check my work blog is you want those stories.) But here you can see the great pictures we took. Special nod to my friend Mary who turned to see the gnomes of Dawson faster than you can say Jack Robinson.
Filed under: Minnesota
As most readers will know – I work a lot of hours. I love what I do but some days are better than others. The highlight of my year was Tweeting at the TEDx conference in Detroit Lakes. It was the best. There were about a dozen speakers. The event was super classy. The talks were very thoughtful.
You can check out most of my thoughts on the TEDx web site or Tweets – but I will say that I thought Chuck Marohn was a standout speaker.
He spoke about the difference between a road and a street. A road gets you from A to B. A street is part of the community infrastructure. You meet your neighbors on a street. You talk to folks on a street. And streets are a vital part of community vitality that have been lost to development.
I just realized that I totally blew it not having someone take my picture on the stage. Maybe next year.
Filed under: Minneapolis
My favorite art event of the year is the $99 Art Sale at the Soap Factory. They get artists from all walks of life to create unsigned art. The art is all the same size and the price is $99. You buy it ‘cause you like it – then you tell you who the artist is. Then you research the artists to see if you have any taste.
My bit of sadness is that they changed the size of art this year. It’s bigger – not like 8 x 11. More is not always better.
I got a fun picture of Patrick by the modern art. I think it’s his future. (The grey beard, not modern art!)
Filed under: St Paul
Do you remember tubes of plastic you could use to make balloons? They came in primary color and the deal was that you squirt out a blob, put it on the end of a straw and out it up? If you used these you can probably remember the very strong, very toxic smell. It kind of make me light headed just to think about it.
Well we found this for sales in Hamley’s in London and saved it to share with our cousins. They were as much fun as we remembered – in that it’s nearly impossible to blow up the balloons. They are weirdly slimy and sticky and after about 20 minutes you feel a little sick and dizzy.
Filed under: St Paul
Just a quick nod to our visit to the food trucks in St Paul. They are there Wednesdays at lunch time. We went with Grandma and Uncle Billy. I love the idea of the food truck. Affordable, fancy-ish food in bite-sized portions.
Filed under: St Paul
So it’s mid-October and ai realize I’m woefully behind on the blog so it’ll be lots of quick posts (hopefully with pictures) of life since school started. We’ll start with pictures from the Fair.
We are the family in the matching t-shirts. This year we let everyone decorate their own t-shirts. Uncle Dan and I let Bridie do our decorating. I think Dan’s shirt will be one of the most memorable highlights from the day. Let’s just say, sometimes you have to be careful about where you plant your flowers. They can bloom in mysterious places.
We did all of the usual fun stuff – the giant slide, the education calendar, the arcade, the water rid. Our favorite food was – (*not* fried Twinkies) Sweet Martha’s cookies. Kate has a friend who works there and let’s just say our bucket runneth over!
Filed under: St Paul
Every year the Treacy Family does a big scavenger hunt at the State Fair. Often I post pictures from the event and folks ask why I didn’t post the actual scavenger hunt early enough for anyone else to use. So this year, I’m posting. You’ll see it’s hardly a big challenge but it does get you through the Fair with a focus, which can save you hassles and money if you’re traveling with a rake of kids.
Minnesota State Fair Scavenger Hunt 2011!!!
- How big is the biggest pumpkin at the Fair?
- Get a picture of everyone wearing pig ears from the Swine Booth.
- 3. What is the strangest food at the Fair? Was it good?
- Get a calendar with a family picture.
- 5. Where can you take a giant bubble bath?
- How many butter queens have they carved so far? Get a picture.
- Ride the Giant Slide at the Fair. (Be sure to have someone take your picture.)
- Get a Trading Card picture at the Roller Girl booth.
- Pick up as many school supplies as you can. (Each kid should have their own bag!)
- How many tickets can you win in the arcade? (Each kid gets $2; no spending your own money!)
- Get an autograph from a famous person. (Or get a picture of the team with a famous person.)
- Get a bird’s eye view on the Skyride!
Filed under: Minneapolis
Today we went to the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. I found some “quest” online, which is sort of like a scavenger hunt but not as good. Actually while we were questing I saw a scavenger hunt sign for bikers with a QR Code and I was jealous – except that I really don’t enjoy bikes. I shouldn’t bad mouth the quest. It was kind of fun. The instructions took us around the bridge and the mill ruins. I learned that it only take 9 minutes for the lock there to fill up. I found that amazing because I also learned it was 9 million gallons. We saw the last couple minutes of a boat floating up – which was kind of cool.
I hadn’t been around the ruins much. I used to work very near there – but that was really before they started the serious excavation and fixing up. You can see pieces of old bridge, which given the proximity to the old 35W bridge is a little unsettling. But you can also see the various tunnels to the old mills and of course you can see the old mills as well. It is a nice way to stop and take a look at what a good job they’ve done of merging the new with the old. The Guthrie Theater fits right in.
We also walked up (above and beyond the quest) to the 35W bridge memorial. It’s very nice. There was a couple there who were very moved – so we were guessing that maybe they knew someone on the bridge. It is amazing to be reminded of how few people did lose their lives considering the size, height and busyness of the old bridge.
Filed under: St Paul
To cap off our day of celebrating Asia in Minnesota, we went to the Japanese Lantern Lighting ceremony in Como Park. We went after dinner which gave time for the kids to enjoy a few games and try out a slingshot thing. We got to see some fighting with swords and drum-dancers – the main event is the lighting of hundreds lanterns in the frog pond in front of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory. It’s really pretty spectacular – and while there are a lot of people there, the “show” takes place in a big space so you don’t feel too crowded or short.
The one suggestion I would have for the planners – is that it would be nice to have someone narrate the event a little bit. It seemed as if there must be some significance to the lighting and everything else but it was a little lost of us. I was able to find some explanation on the Twin Cities Daily Planet site. (Quick note, I’m on the board of the Daily Planet. They give voice to traditionally underrepresented voices through training and publication. So I was kind of pleased to see this article pop up in my search. It was the only place I was able to find a good explanation of significance of the event.)
The event culminates in the lighting of hundreds of paper lanterns displayed on the pond in the Como Park Japanese Garden and Frog Pond. The Minnesota celebration emulates the Obon festivals that take place all over Japan at this time of year.
According to Buddhism and Japanese folk belief, the souls of the dead may interact with the living during Obon. In Japan, it is a family holiday and people pay their respects ancestors by offering food and drink on a tray called a “bon” in front of an altar. They also light lanterns or small fires to guide the souls home. The festival in Como Park has grown into the largest Japan related event in the upper Midwest, despite the fact that the Japanese American community in Minnesota is extremely small.
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