The Lion in Winter

I finally was able to get together with Jim and Maggie (my aunt and uncle who live near Atlanta) tonight. They came by the hotel, and whisked me off to the Shakespeare Tavern (a mere 0.5 miles from the hotel) to see their production of The Lion in Winter.

I had never seen this play before (or the movie with Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole), so I went in not knowing what to expect. The basic story is in 1183 King Henry II’s three sons all want the throne. Richard is the obvious choice, being handsome and accomplished in war. John is Henry’s favorite, though, so despite his youth and awkwardness believes he will get the crown. Poor Geoffrey, now the middle child, is often overlooked. During the holidays, Henry allows his imprisoned wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, to come visit. Meanwhile, Henry’s mistress, Alais, is betrothed to one of the sons (though it’s unclear which one). The play is full of scheming, conniving, and witty exchanges.

This production was quite good, though I might agree with Jim that I didn’t like Alais’ performance as much as I could have. I also found John’s portrayal a bit too over the top to be believable.

Lunch Box Memories

Earlier in the week I noticed that a lunch box exhibit was coming to the Museum of Design in Atlanta. I love lunch boxes. I don’t exactly collect them, though I am trying to complete my Star Wars collection (the original movies — I have Star Wars and Return of the Jedi). I also have a Battlestar Galactica lunch box, complete with its thermos. As luck would have it, the Museum of Design is on the block between the Hyatt (where the AAS meeting is being held) and the Hilton (where I’m staying). So I ducked out of the conference for an hour this morning to catch the exhibit.

I’ve actually seen this domed Star Trek lunch box at an antique shop. I believe it was going for about $900 when I saw it 5 years ago. I don’t recall if it had the thermos or not (though I suspect that it did).

There was a display on how the space race influenced lunch boxes — of course I thought these were about the best ones they had. I’ll have to keep an eye out in antique stores for these 🙂

The Mall of America

Mom and Dad worked, so I dragged Andrew to the Mall of America. I was still living in Bloomington when “The Mall” first opened. Now, to me, any mall smaller than The Mall seems just small. I still like going each time I go home, so I can see what cool stores are still there, which ones have opened since I last was there, and which have disappeared. Fortunately, one of my favorite stores, The Afternoon, was not only still there, but had expanded. Another cool store had opened, Torrid. It’s a gothy-type clothing store for real women. While it’s not really my style now, I would have killed for a store like that when I was in high school.

Andrew, of course, was bored out of his mind, but at least he now knows why I think all other malls are small.

In the evening, we went out to dinner with Mom and Dad to Pannekoeken Huis. This was a chain that had almost completely gone under. All the corporately-owned stores were raided by the IRS several years ago. Most of the restaurants closed, though Dad said there were a couple franchises that stayed open. However, none were terribly convenient to my parents’ house. Then a couple years ago, and Embers/Pannekoeken opened in Bloomington, and it seemed that we could again get our Pannekoeken fix satesfied locally. However, they tore that building down over the past year and put in a “high class” Dairy Queen. Then Dad said he found new Huises opening up around the Twin Cities.
Yay!

Science Museum of Minnesota

Since Andrew hasn’t really done the museum, we thought we’d drag him not only to the IMAX movie, but to the cheesy 3D theater. The last time I went to the 3D theater, they were doing laser shows — I saw a show about the body — but now it’s more like a regular movie, though in 3D. Certainly less cheesy than the show I saw last time, but still cheesy.

The IMAX movie was about Lewis & Clark. Quite good. I was surprised to find out that they only lost one member of the exploration team. Other than that, I mostly enjoyed the scenery.

The traveling exhibit was CSI: Crime Scene Insects. This one was quite interesting — it showed how the insects present at a crime scene can give clues about the time of the crime and whether the crime occurred at a different site. In one bizarre case, a grasshopper was found with a leg missing on the victim. When the suspect was arrested, the leg of a grasshopper was found in the cuff of his pants. The grasshopper leg was shown to belong to the grasshopper found on the victim, thus placing the suspect at the scene during the murder.

Most of the cases were more grizzly — the time of the crime can be determined by the kinds of insects devouring or incubating on the body. In fact, they had part of the exhibit blocked off with warnings that those who are faint of heart should not go in. Of course I went in. They had a couple cases layed out, complete with floor mats made from photos of the scene.

We also got to see the quack medicine display. It’s kind of disappointing to see them behind a railing with no one giving demonstrations. Our trip to The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, where the collection came from, was much more interactive. Of course, it’s better that the collection stayed together, rather than going to the highest bidders, but I can’t help but feel that Minneapolis lost something important when Bob McCoy retired.

Como Conservatory

As a kid, I hated going to the Como Conservatory. I mean, how much fun is it to look at pretty flowers and plants? For a kid, not much. I wanted to run, to play, to go next door and see the animals at the Como Zoo. Well, as an adult, I find that I enjoy it much more than I used to.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures;

Fun in downtown Minneapolis

A testament to the hardiness of Minnesotans, during the month of December, there is a parade Wednesday-Sunday evenings down Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. It does occasionally get cancelled due to snowy, icy, or cold conditions, but that’s unusual. The Holidazzle Parade is marked by brightly lit floats and characters. Most of the floats are of storybook characters and settings. The princess and the pea (sponsored, this year at least, by a mattress company 🙂 is one of my favorites.

This year, Andrew and I were joined by Dave, Jen and Kira, Kevin and my parents. It wasn’t too cold out, though Andrew pointed out that earlier this month we got sick after a trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin. Perhaps this would be reason to get sick on this trip. I took a few pictures, but they didn’t really turn out.

Afterwards we rushed up to the Marshall Field’s 8th floor auditorium. The display this year was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — each year they put up a display, usually based on a children’s book. The display was quite fun, though crowded as always (though in the past, it wasn’t nearly as busy after Christmas, so I was hoping it wouldn’t be too bad).

Though, more fun that the display itself, was watching Kira. She was on Dad’s shoulders, and started to imitate some of the characters. One of the displays showed the winner of a golden ticket raising her hands above her head, so Kira raised her hands, too.

Como Park and Cafesjians Carousel

Early fall is about the best time in Minnesota for a picnic. The humidity is usually at a comfortable level, along with the temperature. While rain can’t be ruled out, at least snow is only a remote possibility. It was with this in mind that Dad decided that we should have a picnic with my brothers and their families while I was home. We decided on Como Park , perhaps because I had yet to visit Cafesjians Carousel in its new location.

Side note: I love carousels, and am a collector of all things carousel-related. I hope to one day have a full-sized, wood-carved, carousel animal in my house (don’t tell Andrew…). Cafesjians Carousel was originally build in the 1910s for the Minnesota State Fair. In 1988 it went to the auction block. A group (calling themselves “Our Fair Carousel”) raised money to purchase the carousel whole. They then went about trying to find a new home for it. For a while it resided in a mall in downtown St. Paul, but it was hard to get to (parking and all). In 2000, it was moved to a better location at Como Park. Como also has a free zoo and conservatory, which both draw a lot of people each year. Hopefully that will mean that the carousel will be able to get enough ridership and donations to continue operating for years to come.

Anyway, we had a nice picnic with Mom, Dad, Kevin, Brock, David, Jennifer, and Kira. Brock’s birthday is in a few days, so we also incorporated a birthday party for him. After that we went up to the carousel, which everyone knew that I would have to ride — everyone else rode too.

Here’s a not-too-great picture of the carousel, and a picture of Dad on his horse.

After riding the carousel, we walked through the zoo. I can’t remember the last time I went to the zoo, but it must be at least 10 years. It was fun to watch Kira (my 22-month-old niece) watch the animals. She’s still at the point where she’s discovering a lot of things for the first time. Since my brother, David, doesn’t like the idea of zoos (I can’t say I like it much, either, but I still go), Kira hadn’t been to one yet.

All-in-all, a great time with the family.

MN State Fair — Butter Sculptures

Every year counties across Minnesota crown dairy princesses. At the state fair, each princess has her bust done in butter. What other material would you use to sculpt the bust of a dairy princess??

I have pictures to prove it:
   

Both are pictures of the cooler in which the sculptures are made and displayed. The sculptures take about 6-8 hours each are are done with a 90-pound block of butter. In the first picture, there is a completed sculpture facing out of the cooler. In the second picture is the princess (on the left) and the sculptor (on the right), both wearing jackets to keep warm.

So, what do they do with the butter that is sculpted off of the 90-pound block? In past years I have been around when someone brought out trays of the butter on crackers. I assume that they still do that, though not while we were watching.

The princesses each take home their own bust at the end of the fair.

A Day at the MN State Fair

I haven’t been to the MN State Fair in ages. It’s been at least since 1994, because in 1995 I moved to New Mexico for school before the state fair started. When I was little, the big draw was the animals and the midway. Now, I prefer the food, vendors and arts and crafts displays.

We arrived at the fair at about 11 AM, and we made a bee-line to the mini donuts. Mmmmm. I was concerned that I might have inflated how good they were over the years, but, no, they are just as good as I remembered. There are actually a few different mini donut makers at the fair, but Dad remembered which one we liked best. (Though, we couldn’t remember if they were actually better donuts or if they just gave us more donuts for the same amount of money.)

After that, Dad led us to the Creative Arts building. I remember the last time we were in the building was just after I had finished my big carousel cross-stitch . Someone had done the same one, and I think got a ribbon for it. I wasn’t too bitter…

After the Creative Arts building, we went for lunch — spaghetti for Mom and me, lasagna for Dad. Oddly enough, the spaghetti made me feel a bit icky — but the mini donuts had sat fine with me. Oh well. On our way to the grand stand, Dad stopped off at the John Deere display on Machinery Hill. (Boys will be boys.)

Just outside the Grand Stand, there were some of the Linuses that had dotted the city over the summer. (Andrew and I had caught the Charlie Browns two years ago.) We shopped in the Grand Stand, then Heritage Square and finally the International Bazaar. Our last stop was the dairy building (now known as the Empire Building, but everyone still calls it the dairy building). We soothed our tummies with a yummy malt, and watched the butter scupltor for a little while.

We actually got home before 7PM, but it felt like we’d been walking for days. We all crashed — Mom and I watched While You Were Out while Dad made arrangements for his upcoming fishing trip.

MN State Fair — Stuff on a Stick

A lot of people I’ve met in my years since leaving Minnesota just don’t understand the whole food-on-a-stick craze that I’ve described to them. So, on my trip to the MN State Fair this year, I decided to document some of the food-on-a-stick. Here are my results:

A hot dog on a stick — that’s not too weird. Most of us call them corn dogs or proto pups, though.

Perhaps cheese on a stick isn’t that weird, either, since Minnesota is farm country.

I suppose condiments on a stick isn’t all that weird either…what were cocktail toothpicks invented for, anyway?

Now, these are a little weird —
   

Pork chops?? (And not just at one place!)

And don’t forget dessert!