Really, this is not just a weather report...

I found this funny.  We are supposed to receive/get a measureable snowfall (1-3 inches) tomorrow and tomorrow night.  It is the first time since 1976 that this has happened in May.  But of course I will be in scenic South Dakota for a NACADA conference, so the glamour and glitz of Sioux Falls will more than overshadow any inclement weather that we might have "out West."  Where the dear buffalo roam.  And, after all, it is SOUTH Dakota, so it will be warm and sunny. 

Surf's up!!!

Hazy moon

OK, that bright shiny orb in the sky was a bit confusing these past few days as many wondered whaet it was.  It has been a while.  It did mean that at least for tonight, you could see/enjoy the full moon.  It was hazy, perhaps denoting or predicting changing weather.  That might be true.  It was in the 30s today, the 40s are expected for tomorrow, and the 50s are predicted for Friday.

These temps must be a sign of some sort of spring, as are my almost swollen shut allergic eyes.  I can't imagine a single possible thing that is blooming, but some pollen-ish things are out there in force.  It is so bad I took the photos left-eyed as I couldn't focus with my right.  I'm a sight.

I bet that they are confused...

It is snowing again, and I only braved it long enough to take a few photos.  I think that these poor creatures must be pretty confused.  Heck, I am confused.    Now, to add to the confusion the weather is going to change dramatically.  By Sunday, it is supposed to be almost 70, and not even 70 below.  That might be Tuesday...

I give up

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 AM CDT TUESDAY.

* TIMING: RAIN WILL BEGIN TO OVERSPREAD THE AREA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WHICH WILL CHANGE TO SNOW LATE THIS AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL TAPER OFF OVERNIGHT. SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES THIS EVENING WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ALSO POSSIBLE.

* SNOW ACCUMULATION: 6 TO 9 INCHES

Art day

As I sip a very dark Italian roast bowl of coffee, so dark my usual dollops of cream barely break the taste of this roast, I think about my day so far.  The second load of laundry is in finishing up and I even folded clothes.  The kitchen is usable and there are only three cameras on my dining room table, a considerable improvement from earlier in the day.  I even did some work!  I have had 27 emails since Friday at 4:00, the last I checked, and I had to respond to seven or eight of them.  Oh well.  Either I do it now or do it tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I had history geek thing for National History Day so I spent some time at the Minnesota History Center.  Even for those with a less historical bent than I have would enjoy that place.  It really is impressive.  Plus, that much brain power in one place pretty much powered and lit up the grid for the day. Maybe a few days

The best part of the day was spent at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.  The MIA is a gem in the Cities and a real reminder of why I should just spend more time down there.  It's free, pretty easy to get to, it has a surprisingly good collection, and it is just good space in which to hang out.  It has been a while since I have visited,  probably for a lot of reasons.  There were some ghosts to deal with but it was worth fighting through those.  I had brunch in the cafe which serves the best food in a museum cafe that I have had.  I spent four hours on one floor just looking around.

James J. Hill, an early and very prominent railroad tycoon, helped fill the museum's European galleries.  Certainly he provided the volume if not the quality.  I laughed when I noticed that most of his legacy was simply referred by the artist and then "part of the European paintings collected by Hill."  I imagined him heading to Europe to by paintings by the boatload simply because the paintings were from there.  There were a few gems, but a discriminating eye was not always evident.  Others have left their legacies in care of the museum, too.  The Dayton family, late of Target fame, have shared extensively.  Their Chinese collection that they donated is impressive.  The Mandarin scholars library, a period room that was not long ago disassembled in China and brought to the museum, is a place I would like to work.  The crickets and their cages would have to go, though.   Of course there are a few other names, like Pillsbury, that decorate donor tags.

I found new favorites.  I loved a Kandinsky with bright colors.  A Brett Weston photo of a Spanish village, though taken later, was every bit a Cubist wonder.  There is a Monet of his Japanese bridge and pond that is just dark and stormy and of such a mood that you could stare at it for hours.  It isn't that it is better than his other paintings but it is just so different that you wonder what was on his mind when he painted it.  A Van Gogh of olive trees with the yellowish sky and the very yellow sun was fun, too.

What I had forgotten or didn't see before was the remarkable collection of furniture and other fixtures supporting a view of the Prairie School of architecture.  Louis Sullivan, prominent among them, led the "school" of like minded artists such as Frank Lloyd Wright and the collection is pretty impressive. I have always loved that era and its design and feel, and I really enjoyed that part of the museum.  Sad, though, were all the collection notes that stated again and again that the objects on display were remnants of now demolished buildings that once decorated the area.

Almost as enjoyable as all that was, the MIA is a great place to people watch.  As I read later, it is one of the Twin Cities best places for a date, and for making out while on a date.  Really.  Hoping to reach that goal, a semi-organized 20s-something group of singles were testing the (shark-infested) waters of first dates on Saturday afternoon.  There were lot of them--I suppose more than 40 couples that I could see--some of them may have been in the Greek and Roman sections but I didn't get to them.  Most were in the decidedly awkward stage, and I overheard some great conversations.  I swear I didn't make these up

One young man actually asked what the woman studied in college.  She explained that her degree was in chemical engineering.  He asked "so, you're sort of smart, then, huh?"  After probably noting that he wasn't, she confirmed that "yes, I am sort of smart."

Another woman noted that she hadn't milked cows, but that she had grown up in Milwaukee in an apartment overlooking Lake Michigan.  I get that, too.  Just because I am from Wisconsin, I didn't grow up milking cows!  Probably equally as frustrated, one woman who perhaps was of Asian descent pointedly said when asked if she spoke Chinese, "No, I am from Mounds View!"

I suspect that some of these were last dates as well, but the people watching/non-stalker-ish eavesdropping just added to the fun of the day for me.  I need to take advantage of the nearness of these opportunities.  I think I will!

Day is done, and that is good

I am sitting here in the almost dark, the fireplace and the glow of the computer screen providing the only light.  My music is playing a bit too loud for an apartment complex, but it needs to be loud today.  On the couch next to me is a plate of fresh mozzarella, grapes and a pear, a bowl of oil and the last of my decent balsamic from Italy, and some surprisingly good bread with a crunchy crust.  On the table near me is a glass of the best bottle Chianti I could find in St Cloud.  And the bottle (and the plate) is less full than it was a bit ago.

While I am noshing away, I can peek out of the window at the falling snow.  Though I doubted it, we will get all of 6 inches of snow and then some tonight and tomorrow.  It is blizzardly, to say the least.  All I can say is that it wears on you. People have commented that it has affected the College--student attendance (and for that matter, faculty attendance).  Tempers are short(er) and it really is hard to get up and going in the morning, or so I have heard.  We are going on more than 5 months of winter and snow on the ground, and it will be weeks before all this disappears.  No doubt the snow will be followed by floods and then locusts and then boils.

As much as the weather is staying the same, work is changing dramatically and quickly.  My dream team of enrollment specialists and administrative staff is being broken up, or re-tasked to meet greater College needs.  Yay.  Good for the College, and great for our students.  Really.  And a wonderful opportunity for the advising staff and concrete recognition of their skill and how good they are.  I am very proud of them.  And maybe a tiny bit of proud of me, too.  I worked hard with this team and I am taking a tiny bit of credit for their success, though only a little tiny bit of credit.  They are great.

That said, this presents some challenges for me and for what I am trying to accomplish.  I am not even sure where my office will be, much less how I will handle my part of the advising.  April snows and all that cover this up for a bit, but by May 1, most of the changes will be in place.  I have told other people that our job descriptions never promise that we will be happy or that it will be easy or that you always get your way.  They should have mentioned that the job will pay for an occasional bottle of decent wine or other therapy,  so all is good.

April 18th, mind you, April 18th!!!

My car this morning, with 3-6 more inches predicted by tomorrow noon.  It probably won't snow that much--the rest will just be freezing rain.

I know I am a lousy and limited  poet, but I don't know the poem that includes the phrase "April snowstorms bring...

Snow and other silly things

So it is April 11, and today we were blessed with 8 inches or so of snow.  It was a significant snow, and in the morning it was down right blizzard-like.  It took me more than 40 minutes to get to work, a trip that normally takes about 12 minutes.

I am but one of many people in the Upper-Midwest who are seriously tired of winter in any way, shape, or form.  Last year at this time there were tulips in full bloom, people weren't afraid of frostbite if they showed any flesh, and we were long done with scraping windows.  Perhaps that is why this lingering, interminable, unending, too long, never ending season seems to hurt so much.

All that whining aside, it was beautiful this morning.  After an earlier snowstorm, someone asked me if I had taken photos, and I pointedly said no.  For so much of my life I felt programed to take photos of every change of season or weather event.  If it snowed, I was like Pavlov's dog and headed out to my car to drive around and find a feature photo.  I have experienced surprising joy by skipping this ritual.  But just like the first snow, hopefully this last snow was significant enough to photograph.  I had only two cameras with me, a point and shoot and my phone, almost an empty camera bag for me for a pretty big event.  It was a $500 point and shoot, and a pretty good phone, but still.  Actually, it was one of those days where all you had to have to make a good photo is a camera, any camera.  As you can see.  I hope