This was a rough summer, but hilarious. Pictures!
My Florida friends don’t understand it, but Minneapolis is really pretty during winter.
The Basilica of St. Mary is one of my favorite buildings in Minneapolis, although still haven’t been inside. The amount of streets and highways near the basilica make it difficult it photograph without a traffic light or onramp in the way.
Lurcat is Matt’s favorite restaurant, so I just assumed that his birthday dinner was there. It is Friday evening, I am just off of work and completely late to his birthday party. I run across Loring Park clutching an overstuffed birthday bag and I am hot sweaty mess by the time I arrive at Lurcat.
Last year I went to the Twin Cities Pride Parade and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I skipped the parade this year and went to Loring Park on Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday was muggy and drizzly, so the park wasn’t very busy.
I walked the dogs in Loring Park almost every day last week, when it wasn’t raining that is…
Today was perfectly dull, and yet just right. Work, dog walk, Top Model, bed.
And Loring Park was so gorgeous today.
What a long, exhausting day.
I tried to call the IRS for a clinic client three times today. The first two IRS agents refused to talk to me because I don’t have my CAF1 number yet. They wouldn’t let me fax my power of attorney and special order, claimed not to have access to fax, and it was just ridiculous.
It has happened three days in a row now: it is around 4 am. I am on my fifth hour of sleep, and I hear a sigh from the side of my bed.
I curse under my breath. Gertrude does a Marge Simpson grumble.
I then try to ignore Gertrude, and she flings herself on the floor dramatically and sighs, over and over, until I take her out.
My blackberry keeps seizing and restarting so I decide to take it to the Sprint store near work. The Sprint store is busy and understaffed. The Sprint tech tells me to leave my phone and come back, so I decide to walk my dogs at a park near my office building.
I arrive at the park and get 10 steps from my car when a security SUV swoops down from a hill and informs me that no dogs are allowed on campus.
So I throw the dogs back in the car and unsuccessfully try to find parking near the Mississippi trail. I try Minnehaha park next, realize that I forgot quarters for the meters, and then end up back in Minneapolis.
The dogs and I eventually tumble into Loring Park.
Highway I-94 is usually a traffic disaster, which would be more annoying if the view wasn’t so great:
When I first saw the Basilica, I was horrified that such a beautiful church was so close to a highway.
That changed when I got to enjoy the view from standstill traffic.
Things got churchy tonight:
I think it’s too pretty to abut a highway, but the overpass gave a good perch to shoot the church. I finally got a tripod at Wal-Mart, and I was able to take the night shots without awkwardly finding something to steady the camera.
I took the dog along for the shoot because I knew the park would be sketch-tastic at that hour (3am). I was right. There were two goons who tried to approach me but backed off once they saw the Bullmastiff. It would be better if I could get Harley to snarl at people, but that’s not his style. I’m also continually amazed by the cycling culture in Minneapolis. There are bikers every where at all hours, including the park at 3am.
The gas tank was low so I went to the Super America in Northeast. On the way I ran into the Ukrainian Catholic Church (St. Constantine) That’s where the statue is from.
