Category Archives: Tales of the Neighborhood

Contests, Tales of the Neighborhood

Flamingo flamenco

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HockeyMom’s having a contest – guess her age (brave woman!) before midnight EDT, August 1, and you could win a “yummy prize.”

Er, I didn’t mean to start a Christmas panic with my post yesterday… I just hate to rush at the last minute. The half-done “clown vomit socks” are also for a Christmas present. (Oh, come on, I bet clown vomit socks are at the top of your Christmas list!)

Onward – today, it’s all about flamingos. Yeah, I know, flamingos aren’t a native Minnesota bird, but they sure are fun, aren’t they?

I’ve mentioned the house on West Lake of the Isles Drive that has flamingos wandering through the front lawn during the summer. Here are some past configurations – the first is from May 2006. I wonder what happened to those big dark pink flamingos and the tiny light pink ones?

June 23, 2008

July 6, 2008

July 11, 2008…

A random lawn (October 2006)

You simply must embiggen this picture, which was taken (using actual film!) at the 1998 Powderhorn Festival of the Arts. Somewhere I have a t-shirt with a very similar picture – everything is black and white, except for the hot pink flamingos. Hmm. I wonder where that t-shirt went…

Another film picture, from Sante Fe in 2002

An artistic flamingo and friend from a lawn near Lake of the Isles

Some guardians that don’t exactly look like flamingos – Jeanne and I decided they were the ever so rare and dangerous flamingo raptors.

Real flamingos from the Minnesota Zoo! Ok, ok, you caught me – I did a bit of color tweaking.

And a tiny flamingo from my own living room.

“That’s just lame, Mom. Here I thought you’d been hiding a tasty bird from us, but it’s nothing but a cheap plastic fake stuck in the grape ivy! Hmph.” -Mayhem

Tales of the Neighborhood

Guardians

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It’s always interesting to see what sort of “guardians” people have in front of their homes. Of course, there were the German shepherds from a few weeks ago.

I’m not exactly sure what these are – Chinese lions, maybe?

I’ve seen plenty of more traditional lion guardians.

That doesn’t mean those lions can’t be a bit whimsical.

Some closeups of the lions above, because their expressions made me laugh:

These were rather small lions above a door:

Turtles – not quite as common…

And what the heck are these, anyway? Guardian fruit baskets?!

“I have to say – I’m offended that I haven’t been asked to pose for a guardian statue! My ferocity would be perfect.” -Mayhem

Contests, Reading, Tales of the Neighborhood

Books and ivy and another sad kitty, oh my!

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Kelle, her daughter, and the Cure Rageous Knitters will be participating in the Relay for Life later today. For every dollar that you donate before noon CDT today (July 18), you will be entered in a raffle to win a gorgeous handknit lap blanket!

Nicole’s at Disneyland this week – guess what sort of antenna ball she’ll buy there, and you could win something from Disneyland yourself! Leave your guesses by midnight PDT, July 21.

Caption a cute baby picture over at Noolie’s and you could win a mysterious prize.

Reading Update
Jewels of the Sun, Tears of the Moon, Heart of the Sea (The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy, aka the Irish Trilogy); Heaven and Earth and Face the Fire (Books 2 & 3 of the Three Sisters Island Trilogy); Captivated (The Donovan Legacy); The MacKade Brothers: Devin and Shane; and Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts. A-hem. Moving right along!
Carrot Cake Murder (A Hannah Swensen Mystery) by Joanne Fluke. This sugary sweet cozy series set in a fictitious Minnesota town features cookie baker Hannah Swensen and the two guys she dates, dentist Norman and deputy Mike. She’s definitely no Stephanie Plum…
Curse the Dark (Retrievers, Book 2) by Laura Anne Gilman. This continues to be a solid paranormal romance/urban fantasy series – if you get tired of all the graphic groping so common in the paranormal romance genre, you should give this series a try.

Isn’t it amazing that ivy can make even an alley look cool?

Although it does sometimes get a bit out of control – can you see the balconies?!

A nifty roofline…

And the “mini apple” (from the sculpture Spoonbridge and Cherry):

“I want the windows open, too! Even though it was cooler, Mom was whining about the humidity last night… but she said maybe when she gets home from work tonight, she’ll open the windows. I wish she’d hurry.” -Mayhem

Contests, Tales of the Neighborhood

“I’m taking a walk…”

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…I’m going outside
I’m taking a walk
I’m just getting by.
– John Prine, “Taking a Walk”

Valerie’s looking for “brand name” ideas for herself. If you can come up with a crafty brand name with the word “mushroom” (or “champignon,” the French for mushroom) by July 20, you could win a box bag made just for you!

Oh dear – I’m thinking #7 could be a real problem…

I didn’t mean to worry anyone Friday with the last line of my post. When I wrote that, I had just finished reading Tink’s post about her fiance’s brother being killed in a car crash the night before and was feeling very sad…

So, back to the title of this post, from the song “Taking a Walk” by John Prine – I’m continuing to walk regularly and am definitely feeling lots better because of it. Taking pictures to share with y’all is helpful, too!

Speaking of which… 😉

Remember the mural on the side of Caffetto Cafe? This is the new mural – an apparent homage to Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer:

The fine print under “GEEK” says “Local Certified Geek.” Huh. What do you think geek certification covers?

Here’s a picture of the “Mary Tyler Moore” house, just for Lorraine:

Who knew map kiosks had their own addresses? Do you think there’s regular mail delivery?

The name of this apartment building amused me no end!

Some purple flowers that struck my fancy – Jeanne told me what kind they were, but I’ve already forgotten. D’oh.

I wonder if my fascination with shrubbery is because of Monty Python or Edward Scissorhands?

“Do you think I’d like going out for walks? I could get closer to the birds!” -Mayhem

Randonymity, Reading, Tales of the Neighborhood

Wrapping up a week that seemed far longer than it actually was

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Some random Minneapolis pictures… I love little towers and cupolas.

And rampant greenery.

Well, this is actually a St. Paul picture – do not turn your computers or monitors upside down in confusion. This is how I shot the picture. I’m even in the picture.

That would be Jeanne’s lovely but annoyed cat Puddinhead. Just picture yourself, outside, calling for this cat at the top of your lungs, “Puddinhead! Here, Puddinhead! Puddinhead, come home!” Hee hee.

Reading Update
Blood Lines and Night Season (The Lupi, Book 3 & 4) (plus bonus Night Season short story) by Eileen Wilks. Do not read the short story before you finish Night Season! It would be a sad thing. *sigh* The next book won’t be out until March 2009.
Born in Ice and Born in Shame (Books 2 & 3 of the Born In Trilogy) by Nora Roberts. There’s something comforting about the predictability of a Nora Roberts trilogy…
Dance Upon the Air (Three Sisters Trilogy, Book 1) by Nora Roberts. Like I was just saying…
Charmed and Enchanted (The Donovan Legacy) by Nora Roberts. If triplet wizards married triplet witches, what would the extended family be like?
High Noon by Nora Roberts. This suspenseful romance novel has crochet as a (minor) plot point!
From Dead to Worse (Southern Vampires, Book 8 ) and Dead to the World (Southern Vampires, Book 4) by Charlaine Harris. My goodness, the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel had some twists and turns to it! *blink blink* And after all that, I had to go back and reread Dead to the World, to refresh my memory.
Bitten and Smitten and Fanged and Fabulous (Immortality Bites, Book 1 & 2) by Michelle Rowen. Chick lit vampire romance set in Toronto.
Hunter’s Moon (The Sazi, Book 1) by C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp. Maybe it was the writing style, but part of this had a very noir feeling… You can’t exactly say a book has a film noir feel – so what’s the right phrase?

Speaking of books… Remember that Romancing the Yarn contest I won? My prize turned out to be a lovely skein of Trekking in a colorway I hadn’t seen (bonus!), romance novel Just Desserts by author and knitter Barbara Bretton, magnets for her forthcoming knitting-related book Casting Spells (excellent title, isn’t it?), and a booklight. Thank you, Barbara et al!

“No, May, I think this gizmo is too heavy to steal as you race through. I’d go with the dash and dine on the yarn.” -Chaos

Have a good weekend, all – and make sure you give everyone you love an extra hug, ok?

Randonymity, Tales of the Neighborhood

Random Tuesday… just because

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If you know anything about Minnesota, you know it’s the land of 10,000 summer festivals. Amy has a great list of selected July offerings. Curses! Missed the Viola Gopher Count again! 😉

I have now worked for the same company for 12 years, although said company is now on its fourth or fifth name since I started!

Does this lolcats remind you of Mayhem?! And this could definitely be Chaos.

My “legacy” iPod shuffle, Bake Neko, is ok! True, it isn’t as sleek and sexy as the new Shuffles and Nanos, but it is an excellent size for carrying along on walks.

So I walked again last night, with musical accompaniment. Hopefully it will become a habit before I even notice it happened… (Shhh! Don’t clue me in on it!)

Probably I should not bring along my camera for my next 10 or 20 walks, since I took an awful lot of pictures last night. I’ll try not to overwhelm y’all with too many pictures at once.

Aren’t lions more traditional?!

Does Woodrow here (located in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden) remind you of a certain horse that cavorts with flamingos?

Hmm… Embiggen to read the sign on the left!

“No way are you catching me in a compromising picture like you did the big kitty yesterday! I’m going to sit here and do absolutely nothing.” -Mayhem

Tales of the Neighborhood

Summer in the city

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I hope everyone had a good weekend. I know I did. Many thanks for the wonderful recipe ideas on Thursday – if you’re looking for simple picnic side dish ideas, you should definitely check out the comments. I ended up taking an extremely simple corn and bean salad (drain a can of corn and a can of beans, then mix together with salsa to taste and let chill overnight), which went over very well.

I’ve been trying to take more walks, since I know that definitely helps my mood. (Sadly, my old-style iPod Shuffle, Bake Neko, isn’t with this program and seems to have died. I’m trying one more resynch and charge before I scrounge up a new Shuffle or a Nano.) Although I don’t take my camera along every time I walk, I do like to take a few pictures now and again. Such was the case yesterday.

Isn’t this a gorgeous house? Even amongst the other lovely houses, its Mediterranean splendor is spectacularly out of place on East Lake of the Isles Parkway.

Remember this house? I particularly love that the flamingos wander throughout the summer.

This guy amused me no end – at the lake, on his cell phone, presumably on the internets with his MacBook… That MacBook must have some amazing screen for him to be able to see anything!

I’m sure it’s no coincidence that this drinking fountain is near the dog park.

I liked the colors, the strange cement chair (one of a pair), and the general air of genteel decline.

A lion drain from an old apartment building…

And the last oversized (about six feet tall) Adirondack in my environs – tragically, you must imagine how lavender it actually is, since even my photo tweaking couldn’t achieve the proper shade.

Um… apparently Chaos cannot be reached for comment today… Whoops!

Contests, Tales of the Neighborhood

Walking on a summer evening

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Margene’s having a contest – guess how many yards are in her skein of handspun and the person who’s closest without going over will win a prize. Leave your guess by July 6.

My goodness – remember the Yarnapalooza contest at Romancing the Yarn that I mentioned yesterday? The one with daily prizes in July?! I won the first prize! *bounce bounce bounce*

Have a great name idea for the fifteenth Stephanie Plum book? Submit it by August 31 and if your name is picked, you’ll receive a mention in book 15 plus an autographed copy!

Yesterday after work, I met some coworkers for drinks and dinner at Chiang Mai Thai. As I was walking home afterwards, I took a few pictures… I’m sure that was completely independent of my thinking, “Oh, crap, I have nothing to blog about on Wednesday!” 😉

Looks pretty festive up on top of Stella’s Fish Cafe, doesn’t it?

Can’t get much more honest than the name of this bar (lower right).

A row of colorful shops along Hennepin Avenue:

I love the whimsical bike racks in Uptown.

Guess who I was thinking of when I took this picture, Lorraine?!

“You have to come out sometime, Mayhem! I’ll be waiting…” -Chaos

Contests, Tales of the Neighborhood

And the winner of the most colorful Adirondack chair is…

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Create an lolcats caption for a picture of Lucy with a foot model by 3:00 pm EDT, July 1 (aka today), and you could win “something good.” I noes u guyz haz seryus capshuning skillz, so go 2 it. 🙂

Romancing the Yarn will be giving away “something fibery” every day during July – send an email to the contest address to play.

Chappy’s having a virtual birthday party – if you leave a story about a dog or cat of your acquaintance by July 7th (Chappy’s birthday), you could win a party favor.

Back to the Adirondack chair pictured above. It’s hard to get an idea of scale, but I think the chair is sized about right for a person eight to ten feet tall… The chair is located in the J. D. Rivers’ Children’s Garden in Theodore Wirth Park, and I drive by it every day on my way home from work.

For shame if you steal veggies from kids!

I was going to show you the bites or scratches that May left on Chaos’ face, but they don’t show up very well in any of the pictures I’ve taken.

“It’s ok, Mom. I won’t take any revenge on her… while you’re home, at least.” -Chaos