Patio
We assembled the patio furniture today, but there was no time for resting. Painting ruled the day, and we’ll call the landscaping done for this year. Unless of course, my dad can help me remove the tree in the front yard. Last week, the tree experts hired by the electric company were so kind to leave me with half a tree. Literally.
Paint
My mom and uncle Jeff are helping me paint my newly purchased home. And by helping, I mean they are painting all day while I’m at the office. (And, I’m super grateful!) I’m learning there are a lot of steps before you can press a paint roller to the wall: filling in holes from nails and molly bolts, sanding rough edges, taping woodwork and any edges where you don’t want paint (oh wow), sometimes adding a primer layer of Kilz, testing paint colors before committing to one, edging and finally painting the walls with two coats. This house is going to get quite a transformation.
Daylily
A coworker and I took a photography walk at lunch last Tuesday and discovered these daylilies. The daylily is often called “the perfect perennial,” with its dazzling colors, ability to tolerate drought, thrive in many zones, and requiring very little care. Did you know there are more than 60,000 registered cultivars of the daylily?
Sweet Home Minnesota
It’s official: today I’ve become a homeowner. After nearly a year since I’ve returned to Minnesota, I now have a single family house, minus the family. This spring and early summer, I toured 26 homes and researched several hundred more online to combine findings from real estate listings, similar recently sold homes, Google Maps’ streetviews and aerial views, school districts, city parks, county tax records, potential commutes, neighborhoods, and gut feeling.
Another search criteria was a home that could fit a 7’6″ grand piano. Mind you, I don’t even own a grand piano…yet.
This 1986 Plymouth, Minnesota home has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and was sold by the original homeowners, who obviously took great pride in it. It’s immaculately clean, has a large backyard with a perfect patio, and the best part is that no improvements are really needed. There are a few enhancements on my list to contemporize the house such as light fixtures, drapes and window curtains and of course, new paint.
The walls are currently in every color of the visible spectrum from beige and burnt red to daffodil yellow, bright orange to celery green, aqua green to gold and royal purple. So, you fill not find those photos here today!
When I moved back to Minnesota last August, coincidentally or not, I’d picked the apartment floor plan “Plymouth.” Who could have known that ultimately I’d be living in Plymouth next!? Even with my downtown living this past year, most of my friends have preferred doing things in the suburbs or elsewhere in the city that required driving, so suburban living in the Twin Cities is not the same social pariah situation as Elmhurst, Illinois was to the city of Chicago.
I can’t wait to get working in my new kitchen (and for the return of my Weber grill!) and entertain friends with my latest food experiments (here, here, and here.)
I will most definitely miss my amazing, four-block commute to work and being next door to adventures in Loring Park (here, here and here and poutine), though I’ll be closer to my church and some relatives, and I’m ready for my next adventure.
My roots and childhood memories will always belong to a special hometown in South Dakota, but today, I feel at home in Minnesota.
Katahdin
The annual Irish Fair took place this weekend on Harriet Island in St. Paul. I’d gone once before about 10 years ago and was excited to get in touch with my Irish roots with a pint, some fish & chips, and Irish music and dancing.
I really tried to get acceptable photos of the Irish dancers because their moves were really kickin’. Alas, it was dark under the dance pavilion tent. It’s just as well….they say you should write about what you know. And I know absolutely nothing about Irish dancing, unless you count the Notre Dame jig at football games, and that probably doesn’t count!
I do know about sheep and border collies. (Our family had both on the farm.) So, I was excited to see a sheep herding demonstration, and boy, those border collies are wicked smart herding dogs. I’d never seen this sheep breed before, not that that’s saying much with 50 breeds in the U.S. and about 850 worldwide. They are Katahdins, which are a woolless breed. On our farm, we raised Suffolks (meat breed) and Targhees (for wool, and apparently known as a dual-purpose breed, I kid you not.)
During summers, I would “train” lambs for the 4-H county fair, which was a daily endeavor to get them comfortable being around humans and then halter broke. It may look easy at the fair, but it’s ridiculously time consuming. And by the time your sheep are ready for the fair, they’re about three weeks away from lamb chops.
Minnesota State Capitol & IndiaFest
Today, I stopped by India Fest at the Minnesota State Capitol and snapped photos of the capitol building and festival. I love (good) architecture, history and cultural events, so this was pretty much a perfect recipe for a weekend activity. The Red Cross Mobile Blood Bus was also on-site, so I made an impromptu donation. (PSA: Red Cross blood donations are the lowest in 15 years, so please consider donating, if you’re able.)
The Minnesota State Capitol was designed by Cass Gilbert and modeled after Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Did you know the unsupported marble dome is the second largest in the world after Saint Peter’s? (It was under renovation, so no photos of that today. In fact, there were scaffolding structures outside too, which made for an interesting challenge to photograph!)
A gilded quadriga called The Progress of the State depicts four horses, representing the power of nature: earth, wind, fire and water. The women riding in the back of the chariot symbolize civilization while the man standing at the front of the chariot represents prosperity.
IndiaFest celebrated the culture and heritage of India, and the country’s upcoming Independence Day on August 15, with traditional music and dancing, food (mmm, chicken biryani!), crafts and a parade. And, I even ran into my coworker Prachi!
Can you find the hidden “Bullseye”?
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