Howdy, y’all.
It’s time for the weekend update. Real quick-like. Yeah, right! Friday night after work I did my usual rush-to-the-gym thing, then I took Chico to the car-repair store because he’s been acting up. When I drive slowly (which isn’t often), he’s way too bouncy for a car without hydraulics. I told myself a few weeks ago that it was probably a broken tie rod, and also that I would get it fixed before driving 750 miles to Tennessee. I left Chico in their crabby yet capable hands, grabbed my stuff, and walked home. Well, that sucked. It was only a mile and a half, but it was hot and I was in sweaty gym clothes, I was carrying the felted wool purse that likes to rub against my arm in a very irritating way, and also slip off my shoulder, and I was carrying my gym bag full of my shoes and clothes and water and such. But I survived. The car store called me to tell me my diagnosis was correct (I am car-psychic! Others call it car-paranoid), and that little elves in Sweden were just waiting for the go-ahead to forge a new Saab tie rod and ship it to me via Airborne Express. Also, my old tire was ripped up. So I’d have to borrow a car from my parents til next week: the cherry-red Dodge Neon known as the micromachine. It is the opposite of hot, and it is now my ride. Saturday, I went to some galleries and the Edina Art Fair. There seemed to be more kettle corn and less interesting art than last year. I mean, there was lots of art, just nothing really great. Then I got laughed at by the coffeefolks for ordering decaf again. Stephanie and I went to Luce and to see Coffee and Cigarettes, which is Jim Jarmusch slow but has some really good moments. It was beautiful outside so I wanted to go to the lake, but of course by the time I got home, it was raining again. I’m not sure when Minneapolis joined the tropics, but the weather is messed up. So I went to the Y instead, and I owned it, because nobody else works out at 7pm on a Saturday night. Most people have lives, or something. I came home and decided to forego going to the bar for the second night in a row. You might think there’s something unusual about that, and you’d be right. However, this time it was because I had big training plans the next day. I was in bed by 1am. I got up at 6:30 and got all my walking gear together. Since I have to carry a pack with me on the 3day, we’re supposed to train with all that stuff, too. I filled up the bag with 3 liters of water, and also my cell, a pack of tofurky jurky, raisins in case I got hypoglycemic, and bandaids in case I got blisters. I was so prepared! Until I realized much later about the sunscreen. Ouch. I was planning on doing 10 miles again, but it went really well so I ended up with 13. Harriet, half of Calhoun, Isles, the other half of Calhoun, and Harriet again. I stopped to sit down three times, and I drank water constantly, and that made it really easy. I was cursing having filled up the water bag completely because the bag weighs almost 10 pounds, but the water ran out about a quarter-mile shy of the micromachine. The big lesson learned today is that hydration is critical. Yeah, I know you’ve been telling me that forever, but like everything, I had to figure it out for myself. During my walk, I kept encountering hoards of cyclists on the Ride to Cure Diabetes. I realized that’s one of the things I love about this town: every weekend during the tolerable-weather half of the year, there’s a charity ride or walk or run, there’s a festival, there’s an art fair. When I ran into Yuri and Andrea at Lake of the Isles, he reminded me that it was also the weekend for Grand Old Day in St. Paul, and the Red Hot Art Festival in Stevens Square Park. I love that. Last night, I had a dream in which I was in some kind of marathon walking/running/climbing event, and I got delayed at the beginning and found myself in second-to-last place, followed by a gaggle of really old ladies. So, yeah… I guess I’m happy with the walk today. I came home and showered and changed and ate corn on the cob and cherries. And that got me thinking about the garden, and then I remembered about the lawn needing mowing. So I dragged out my silly-ass human-powered lawnmower and went to town. Did you know when you run over mushrooms with that thing, they make this really great flip-flip noise and fly up in the air? It’s like I was making a salad. I noticed that the mushrooms are growing in a very distinct pattern in the yard, too. I’m almost positive it spells something. I’ll have to get up on the roof and look. So the garden is growing! My corn is about a foot tall. The green beans have sprouted. The squash is a little bummed about the rain, but I think it’ll cheer up. The tomato plants are twice as big as when I planted them. The raspberry patch has evolved into a jungle, in keeping with the tropical theme. It’ll still be a few weeks before I can stand out there and eat them, though. The flower gardens are past the tulips and daffodils, so we’re waiting on most of the perennials to open. But I like how it looks anyway. I’m always surprised just to see stuff growing. So here are some pictures. I’m gonna go knit, as I have earned me a serious block of ass-sitting time today. I was going to drill holes in my cabinets today, too, but… no.
Jenni