Out and About

We had a beautiful, sunny day here yesterday. It called for an outing.

I discovered the Franklin Ave. pillars that hold up the light-rail overpass have been painted quite colorfully.

I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to see the Vermeer they have on exhibit.

I also went to see the Kunin Collection pieces they have up.  In the exhibit I discovered Philip Guston.

Who surely inspired Maurice Sendak.  I know his relatives inspired the way Sendak depicted the monsters in Where the Wild Things Are but this painting has Max!

You never know what you may discover at the MIA.

In the artwork and in the building.

Today I was dismayed anew by the stadium-in-progress which upsets me so.

A billion dollar structure for a bunch of cheating, wife-beating, child-abusing jerks.

But I can distract myself with the new pair of slippers I made myself this weekend!

Right?

Mini Golf Part II

It's been a good year for mini-golf! Have I ever mentioned I love mini-golf?

During our stay-cation I went with The Girls to the Science Museum and played mini-golf. Then last weekend I went to The Walker with a friend to play the artist-designed mini-golf there.

First we ducked into see what's been planted in the conservatory, which is always interesting:

 

My favorite - an homage to Marcel Duchamp's Fountain.

Also my only hole-in-one.

 It was a great outing, followed by brunch.

Let's hear it for long weekends - hooray!

Further Observations and Ranting

Let's hear it for torn cartilage - the wrist is not broken! 

Of course, I had kind of figured that out by now. Anyway, I only have to use a removable brace/splint for six weeks - Hooray!  Funny how I didn't ever realize until now just how terrible that break was four years ago… 

On a completely different note - This makes me mad … I can feel my blood pressure rise as the train passes the Metrodome every day … what a waste!

They keep blowing it up with limited results.

I saw a wrecking ball hit it today - barely made a dent.  Maybe that's because it was a perfectly sound structure - they're tearing it down because they want a prettier one.   It would be bad enough if they were paying for it themselves, but of course they are not.

On a brighter note, I saw a father/daughter pair on the train Sunday … she was probably about four years old. They were all bundled up and had a snowboard with them. And get this - the dad had a Hello Kitty hat on. How adorable is that?!?!

Stanley Cup

I arrived in Chicago this morning for the Annual Convention of the American Library Association.

I accidentally landed in the middle of a crazy parade of people celebrating that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

And worst of all, I was wearing red like everyone else ... several people asked me for directions.

Hopefully tomorrow will be quieter.

Walker Mini-Golf isBack!

Mini-golf is back at the Walker Art Center. I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but mini-golf is one of my favorite sports.

For those of you who don't consider it a sport, please note that it is played with a ball and a stick, and there are competitions. I think that should leave no question that it is a sport.

Girl-child and I went on Friday morning. Yes, it was cloudy, but it didn't rain while we were there.

This one has a gnome foosball finale.

Pretty awesome.

You can also be mean and play statue on this one, standing between your opponent and the hole on the footprints provided.  Not that any of us would do that...

In spite of having a million possibilities, this one is very difficult.

And this one has a rock and roll theme - each one is a music-maker.

You can even wash your golf ball professionally.

I Forgot to Mention

Girl-child took me to a Roller Derby in March...it was very entertaining!

World Cup and Language Skills

I don't ever follow the World Cup, but I happened upon something in the Spanish press today. One thing leads to another, and I was sent this headline from Beth, who does follow soccer:

Refs prep for U.S. vs. England with curse course

RUSTENBERG, South Africa -- The Brazilian referee and his assistants who will work the England-United States match at the World Cup have been studying English-language obscenities the players might use.

You can see the whole article here.

And here's a photo, just for fun, found in El Pais in the fotogaleria:

A Sports Whine, a Yarn Shop and a Library

Can someone please tell me when we will stop hearing about Brett Favre? I don't follow sports, but it feels like the news has been discussing the fact that he is retired and will not be coming out of retirement for a long, long time. If he is retired and not coming back to play doesn't that mean it is not news? Nothing happening doesn't usually qualify as news.

Sports confuse me.

In other sports news, swimmers' butts are, aparently, under scrutiny. Wow. Careers in prostitution, politics and sports become more and more similar every year.

On a brighter note, this is Dearborn Station in Chicago, home of Loopy Yarns. Loopy is a fantastic shop and it will be offering some classes this summer with Franklin Habit. I am trying to decide about going to one of them...
And this is the Harold Washington Library in Chicago, which I adore. It's the Library station on the El.

It has cool lights:
The combination of glass and brick, along with some sculpture at the top:
A detail:
Kind of a random combination of rant and photos today, but there you are.

Mini-Golf

Didn't get anything done that I was supposed to do this weekend, but I did play mini-golf at the Walker. Each hole is artist designed and most of the materials used were either recycled or found dumpster-diving.

The Water Trap:

Can't remember what this one was called:
The Wave:

Now I guess I'll have to catch up during the week...and maybe next weekend more golf - this is my kind of sport!