andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2025-10-11 03:22 am
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Photo cross-post


The children have located Christmas.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

mellowtigger: (Minneapolis)
mellowtigger ([personal profile] mellowtigger) wrote2025-10-10 07:18 pm
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urban adventure

My parents flew into Minneapolis from Texas this week. They're 80 years old, so we didn't roam as much as I thought we might. That's okay, since my lower back wasn't happy either with my arthritis complaining about me standing so much. We did accomplish some fun things that I've never done before.

Click here to see some photos and read some details of different events...

We visited Mill City Museum in downtown Minneapolis next to the Mississippi River. They offer an interesting "ride" while sitting in a freight elevator. The elevator would go up and down between the different floors of the original mill, as we listened to the narrative and watched the sights on each floor. It included audio recordings of testimony from people who worked in the mills long ago. On the main floor of the museum, I thought the toy models of the working water flows that turned the mill turbines was also interesting. For me, it added a grounding sense of reality to the history of those old stories. We saw a few old flour sacks in the main exhibit. My mother remembered wearing a dress as a young girl, something sewn for her by her own mother, made of fancier flour sack cloth that was sometimes used back then. I asked some staff about any flour sack exhibit, and they said previously there was a temporary exhibit about it, but they only had those few simple sacks in the main exhibit hall now.

Afterward, we walked to the Guthrie theater, just as they finally opened the doors to the building at 1pm. We walked to the end of the Endless Bridge (a strange and obviously inaccurate name for it), which extends outward 54m/178ft from the face of the building, jutting out towards the Mississippi River. It offers a nice view of the river, the falls, the tops of the trees along the riverside, and another view of the Mill City Museum.

Next, we walked to Owamni by The Sioux Chef. I had a 2pm reservation for lunch. I've wanted to try this restaurant for a long time, because it's gluten-free by nature. Their menu incorporates only foods that were used by native peoples of Minnesota (with occasional dips into native ingredients from other areas). We had the duck breast, green beans, sweet potatoes, and charred vegetable plate. For drinks we had Sweet Wandering and Black Fern teas. I ended up liking the black fern tea, but I think my parents weren't quite as fond of their drinks. The one thing we all agreed was delicious was the white sweet potato with maple chili oil. So very yummy. I need to find someplace to buy white (not red/orange) sweet potatoes and learn how to make that recipe.

They were already at their limit of walking, even though everything was only a few blocks apart. I got their car and picked up them outside the restaurant. After a brief rest at their hotel room, we walked out to the Mary Tyler Moore statue for pictures. It was about 5 blocks from their hotel, but that was another difficult walk for them.

mother and Terry standing at Mary Tyler Moore status in downtown Minneapolis, 2025 October 09 Thursday mother and father standing at Mary Tyler Moore status in downtown Minneapolis, 2025 October 09 Thursday

On Friday, they wanted to avoid walking. We drove out to the Conservatory but skipped the Como Zoo. My lower back was starting to complain, so I was content to skip it too. We went out for some gluten-free burgers. My mother needs to be more strict than I do. We got back to my place about 3pm and called it a day.

I wore my Flo Mask Pro the entire time, except inside restaurants. I wore my Woody Knows nasal filter while eating. I ended every day's adventure by spraying my nostrils with Nasomin iodine spray. I feel fine now, and I'm expecting to stay that way, no worse for the wear after this "weekend" of adventures. It's back to the grind for me tomorrow morning, and they will fly back to Texas.

cmcmck: (Default)
cmcmck ([personal profile] cmcmck) wrote2025-10-10 07:59 pm

Aubette 1928

This amazing art deco building was designed by the well known designers and artists Hans and Sophie Arp and and the architect Theo van Doesberg.

It's remarkable to think that all this was covered up and lost until restoration in the nineteen eighties and nineties.


See more! )
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-10 08:47 am

Roll For Initiative (The Last Session, volume 1) by Jasmine Walls & Dozerdraws



Old friends unite for one last adventure without fully understanding the implications of the group's latest recruit.

Roll For Initiative (The Last Session, volume 1) by Jasmine Walls & Dozerdraws
andrewducker: (Academically speaking)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2025-10-10 08:51 am

Life with two parents: Just about

My mum had a heart attack yesterday afternoon, followed by an angioplasty.

She was sitting up in bed and drinking coffee by 9pm last night, and seems to be fine now. They're keeping her in until Monday to make sure, but panic over.

Turns out that an angioplasty is nowadays an outpatient operation under local anaesthetic, with over 97% success rate. Modern medicine is awesome. And thank fuck for the NHS!
anais_pf: (Default)
anais_pf ([personal profile] anais_pf) wrote in [community profile] thefridayfive2025-10-09 03:18 pm

The Friday Five for 10 October 2025

These questions were originally suggested by [livejournal.com profile] angelicid.

Name five…

1. ... things you can't live without.

2. ... of the best moments in your life.

3. ... celebrities you can't stand.

4. ... books you enjoy(ed) reading.

5. ... items in your purse/backpack/on your desk.

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-09 08:50 am

The Cool War by Frederik Pohl



A hapless minister is drafted into international intrigue.

The Cool War by Frederik Pohl
cmcmck: (Default)
cmcmck ([personal profile] cmcmck) wrote2025-10-09 12:13 pm

Strasbourg fortifications

The City was fortified by the great military designer Sebastien le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban.

It was always a frontier city with the results you might expect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9bastien_Le_Prestre,_Marquis_of_Vauban

Not an awful lot survives but what is left is pretty impressive.

One of the several remaining fortified towers designed to protect bridging points:



Here be pics! )
cmcmck: (Default)
cmcmck ([personal profile] cmcmck) wrote2025-10-08 09:05 pm

Reflections

We had good weather for our first three days in Strasbourg.

And I do like a nice reflection!


See more! )
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-08 02:15 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Mystery Flesh Pit



Welcome, visitor, to Mystery Flesh Pit National Park: The RPG, the Cypher System tabletop roleplaying game rulebook from Ganza Gaming about the Permian Basin Superorganism.

Bundle of Holding: Mystery Flesh Pit
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-08 11:00 am
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-07 08:51 am
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Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C J Cherryh



Union technocrats had a plan for Gehenna, a plan that failed to take into account local conditions.

Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C J Cherryh
andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2025-10-07 02:41 am
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james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-10-06 02:47 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Achtung! Cthulhu



Everything you need for Nazi-punching Mythos adventures

Bundle of Holding: Achtung! Cthulhu