Ice

So I was telling Hathor yesterday that I hadn't missed a day of NaBloPoMo since the second day... and then I missed yesterday. Sigh.

Last night David and I went to a friend's birthday party in Northeast, leaving at about 9:15 after having spent most of the afternoon inside after morning errands (one of which was my attempt to go to yoga, but turning around and coming home after not being able to find free parking, running late, and not having my wallet!). The weather was chilly when we headed out, but otherwise unremarkable.

During the party, though, we began to get freezing rain. I got a text from a friend who had intended to come, but on her way had spun 720° on the freeway as she tried to change lanes! She and her car had been unscathed, but she had made her way back home for the night and wanted to let us know how bad it was out.

When the party broke up and we headed outside, everything was covered in a layer of ice. David and I shuffle-slid our way to his car, where we were greeted by a group of kids in a circle in the middle of the road, doing a sort of black-ice dance involving a sort of sliding shuffle-step, some sort of chanting, and laughing. As he scraped the ice off all the windows, the kids exuberantly continued to slip, slide and fall. They were still there as we very slowly pulled away from the curb and very slowly made our way home.

Thankfully, it was literally a straight shot there--just two turns at the last two blocks--and almost entirely flat. David drove very carefully, and we made it home without sliding into anything or being slid into (pedestrians the likeliest culprits).

And today I haven't left the house. A friend came over for brunch and a long chat, and I stepped onto the back porch for a glimpse of a cardinal, but that's it! Hopefully the roads will be clear by tomorrow morning... though there's also a prediction of some more snow.

Photo Dump

So I finally took several months' worth of pictures off my camera phone today, partly because I wanted to see the bunch that I had taken this evening on my walk from the West Bank to downtown. There were photos from Las Vegas, Seattle, Port Orchard, and Walla Walla, but for today I wanted to post just pictures of Mpls. Here are some of my favorites, starting with the most recent. (Click here to visit the entire album, for larger versions and to comment on individual pictures.)

Today:



February 19:

February 14: (A few more from this adventure)




February 12:






February 11:

February 10:

January 13:

January 12: (Yes, that is the Mississippi River, frozen and snowed-upon)


January 8: (This is what 1.0 °F looks like)

December 10: (This is what -5.1 °F looks like)

November 16:

November 7:


October 27: (I was actually startled to see green grass in these photos; it's been so long!)







October 26:


October 21:

It's a good city. Cold, definitely. But, as shown in just a few examples here, it has great art, architecture, and outdoor opportunities. And spring really is on its way! Although we're headed for a low of around 15° tonight, and lows of -5° to 0° by tomorrow, with more snow, last week was positively balmy, with a couple of (sunny!) days that topped 33°. The worst of the cold is over, although I sometimes wonder whether the bitter temps are actually worse than the simple duration of winter. We are, after all, guaranteed at least another month of the latter.

Falls Again!

You may recall that last year for IQD, David and I visited Minnehaha Falls, although it was so dark that we didn't see all that much of it. We returned about a month ago and saw it in its fully-frozen splendor.

But this weekend, revisiting a few of the scenes of a year ago, we actually went behind the falls, and it was one of the most spectacular sights of my life!

Again this time, the stairs were the most treacherous part of the trip. There was a well-worn path through the snow to the falls, easy to follow once one jumped the gate. (The top of the stairs were chained off with a "do not enter" sign, and the path to the falls themselves was blocked with a low gate, but it was clear that few regarded those dicta: the crowd behind the falls by the time we left was almost as numerous as the one at the top. The city doesn't clear the stairs, and presumably doesn't want to be held liable for any accidents, but apparently knows that Minneapolitans will get their ice climbing on, and doesn't seem to guard the site.) Behind the falls, there was a bit of ice, but it was mostly bare dirt (the first I'd seen since November, and exciting in the oddest of ways).

David made a video to document the experience. He shot all the footage and stills on his phone, as neither of us managed to grab the camera:


Here are all his photos. I took a few, too, but they're still on my phone at the moment. Also: somehow I can't find my sunglasses, so I'm wearing the emergency pair from David's glove box. It is not a fashion statement.

Fungus, Flowers, Freezing

This afternoon David and I went to see Pilobolus, and it was fantastic: in turns startlingly beautiful, surprisingly moving, and funny enough to get the children in the audience (and thus me) giggling in absolute glee. The Nutcracker last December was David's first ballet, and this was his his first performance of modern dance. I teased him that I'm getting even for the firsts to which he has introduced me, including the rodeo and ATVing. (Of course, I'm very glad for those firsts--and I think he really dug Pilobolus, too). They started with this piece; if you don't have time for all three minutes, at least start at the halfway point and see some of their amazing swimming illusions.

Then this evening we've pretty much just sat around watching The Empire Strikes Back (another first for me--really!), trying out Chatroulette (crazy), reading (Tom Robbins and Terry Pratchett), eating Tots, and then (true story) running to the grocery store for more Tots.

We're wild and crazy like that on Valentine's Day Eve! Of course, I wouldn't complain anyway, but it doesn't hurt that David surprised me with flowers earlier today. He admits that red roses are clichéd, but there's a reason that they're so popular, and these are absolutely stunning.
In case that's too mushy (eww), here are more pictures of ice: my frozen back porch, the handle of my screen door almost entirely encased in ice, and icicle daggers:

Happy IQD, all.

"...And the Sky is Gray..."

These are the epic icicles on my neighbor's roof:

This is the ice holding my screen door closed (thanks to my leaky porch roof):

These are the icicles on my own roof, once I wrenched my screen door open:


And this is my neighbor's doormat, completely glazed over with ice:

In a bit, David and I are headed to a "Superbowl Commercials!!! ...oh, and football" party. We Minnesota-dwellers are pretty disappointed not to be watching the home team play (that last game kind of made we want to weep, and I hardly even follow football), but we know how to eat. I'm only bringing a fraction of the food I brought last year, mostly because this year actual invitations were sent out and other friends have already volunteered a smorgasbord of delicacies. It should be good times--and certainly can't be worse than how I've spent my morning and afternoon: unsuccessfully trying to outline and rewrite that entire conference paper.

Cold

I've had a cold since Thursday, and it's sort of the pits. I think I'm starting to get over it, but I think the thing that's currently most frustrating (though it is in close competition with my very sore nose, sneezing fits, and intermittent headache) is eating.

I don't feel much like doing it, for one thing: on Friday, I started feeling shaky and lightheaded and thought I was getting a fever, only to realize that as I hadn't eaten in seven hours, I was probably just hungry. Also, because I can't smell, it's not as much fun when I do eat. AND it takes me about twice as long, because I can't breathe through my nose while I'm doing it. Sigh.

Here is something happier, found on the blog of a friend of a friend:

Valentine

I think it's still fair to say that I celebrated IQD this year, although it did admittedly bear more similarities to Valentine's Day than past ones have. Then again, it was also way more fun!

David flew in pre-dawncrack, at 5:48 a.m. My neighbor had loaned me her car, so I was able to pick him up, and then drive around for a while searching (beanlessly) for coffee until it was light enough to see at Minnehaha Falls Park. The falls weren't frozen solid, thanks to last week's thaw--although it was 10° when we were there--but were still impressive in their iciness.

We stopped by my favorite Dunn Bros for the coffee we hadn't found earlier, took a quick tour of Uptown, and wandered down to the frozen expanse of Lake Calhoun. There's enough Northwesterner left in me, especially with a fellow web-footer, to be deeply impressed by that much ice!

Speaking of ice, we later went skating at Lake of the Isles, which not only has a cozy temporary warming shelter, but offers FREE ice skates for the borrowing! I was dreadful, of course (incurring the looks only persons two and half feet tall--and, naturally, extremely proficient on their own blades--can bestow upon such a hopeless elder), but did make it three loops without falling before deciding I'd had enough.

In the evening, we went to the ever-delightful Cafe Brenda, and then to The Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Guthrie. The latter was staged as a 1950s live television quasi-musical extravaganza, which made for some very creative characters and a lot of fun. It was too cold to explore the mill ruins; David was very brave and never actually complained about the cold, but although 20 (which it did eventually hit before dropping again) feels balmy under certain circumstances, it's still freakishly bitter for most normal people, and he suggested we enjoy more of the Cities' outdoor activities when it's a bit warmer. He had to fly back this afternoon, concluding the whirlwind arctic holiday adventure.

Remember, although only the hardiest visit during the winter, Chez CëRïSë and the Disaster Kitchen always welcome visitors! Make YOUR reservations today!

Photos courtesy of David