Lakes and lakes and lakes

We live by an ocean now, but my real love is lakes.

Recently, I saw two great I-carried-a-watermelon examples of lakes/summer camps:

Wandawega Lake Resort

In Elkhorn, Wisconsin! I wish we'd known about this place before we moved away from the Upper Midwest. See inspirational photos from the remodeling process here (they'll make you want to whitewash something immediately.)

And this, which is closer to home: www.branding10000lakes.com

It's a project by Nicole Meyer based on the idea, "One Minnesota Lake. One Logo. Everyday."
It'll take her 27 years to get done. I like it.

Where I've been

We drove to Texas again, this time the goal was two shows at Emo's in Austin: Screeching Weasel and the Riverdales. It was very important for Joshua to go, and we got to see our dear friend Jo, who flew down from Minnesota with his ladyfriend for the occasion.
We got some pretty photobooth pictures out of it, after a frenzied search for a working booth (the Amy's Ice Cream locations are supposed to nearly all have one, but they are also nearly all broken) if pretty is how you desbribe photobooth pictures:

An old trip in pictures

These are polaroids from our 2005 trip to Tennessee. I got them out the other day and fondly remembered that microwave, the one that broke and that the trash men in Minnesota wouldn't take away. We carried it with us to Tennessee, allowing it to see some of the countryside, where it was eventually picked up by less choosy garbage men in front of Joshua's parents' house. I took a picture to commemorate it and all the macaroni and cheese it warmed up in its lifetime.

Our favorite picture though, was "Lost English, Reward Bulldog"

New books

I just finished a new batch of books for my beloved former place of employment, the Electric Fetus in Duluth, Minn. They're making their way there via the postal service right now.

And we returned mostly unscathed from our weekend RV trek/urban camping adventure to Joshua's band's out-of-state show. This is what I was doing during the show:




You know it's a party when there's a sparkly purse involved.

Home again home again

I had a lovely, slushy trip north to Duluth to see friends + family and generally ate/drank/giggled too much the whole time. My sister and I seem to be prone to giggling at our own jokes. We think we are very, very funny. "EPOXY," she turned to me and said once, reverentially, "it's god's glue."



I also built a tiny wooden car for a pinewood derby:



I named her Gertrude (she's the white one with the red stripe) and she got third place overall. I was pretty tickled about the whole thing. Yes, the car in the back is a sandwich.







My birthday twin Nyssa June and I are happy from all our derby-ing.




Now that I am reunited with my workspace, I'm planning for a shop update with more animals + goodies soon.

albu-quirk-ee

I'm home!

Everything was beautiful, the buildings and freeways were shades of pink and brown, and all the plants looked prickly.

cactusy cats

This is Frances. The poor thing gets a bum rap because I've had him so long now that it's more like living with a furry, disapproving roommate than having a pet.

He's really a very nice cat.

But this post was really supposed to be about how I'm going to New Mexico for a few days to attend a wedding. Whee!

happy trails, we're home again

Like good civics students, we visited the the Texas State Capitol building - where everyone in attendance can't help but stare up at the ceiling, cameras hoisted, like we're all in a big ornate, governor-filled elevator.



Hanging staghorn ferns at the Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin. As a former botany student, I'm always impressed and then a little envious whenever someone has succeeded with hanging almost-air plants.



Our lodgings in Dallas, the splendid Belmont Hotel. We had dinner at the equally splendid restaurant next door, the Cliff Cafe, where we had to become "members" because the restaurant is located in a dry area. Very conspiratorial.



Our breakfast in at the River Inn in Memphis. No matter how old I get, I am always thrilled by individually portioned servings of anything. Needless to say, tiny cream pitchers are a big hit with me.

where Bob Wills is still the king

We're off to to roam Texas for a bit, to call strangers "sweetie", explore unfamiliar flea markets, and eat at Whataburger.