Life on a Cold December Day

The Arctic cold rolled back into Minnesota with a vengeance last night. I woke up this morning about 8:45, apparently tired out from both moving and the Christmas holiday time.

The first thing I did was make bread pudding. I had made some white bread that I really didn't like for sandwiches so went looking for a bread pudding recipe. That's always a good thing to do with bread. I got this out of the oven in time to have it with a bit of lunch.

At 1:00 I went over to my old apartment to meet with the property manager and verify the apartment was cleaned to the required
specifications. This took all of about 2 minutes. Turned in my keys and now I'm all done there except for paying for the gas and electricity for another 15 hours or so, as I write. Paying for heating in two apartments these past two weeks has not been fun due to the extraordinary cold weather.

From the old apartment location I headed to the far eastern border of Saint Paul to a library branch there. This branch had some books I wanted as I thought it would be just as easy to go get them as to go to closer branch and go through the song and dance of having them sent to a different place. I headed down White Bear Avenue when done to Byerly's and got some groceries to making a supper on New Year's Eve and then a luncheon on New Year's Day.

Got back to my apartment with enough time to put away the things that needed the refrigerator or freezer. Then I headed to far western side of Saint Paul to the Highland Theater.

I wanted to see Saving Mr. Banks, and after reading the reviews of this film decided it would not be one that my daughter with special needs would truly enjoy. This is a terrific film. Go see it!!!!

After the film I walked down the street to Panera and had a sandwich and then headed home. This travel was all done in light snow with a temperature of around 0 (-18C) all day.

What a joy to come home to my fireplace on a day like this! Love the new place but it still feels more like a place I'm visiting then where I live.

A Walk Around the Block

After a day of shopping for storage items and other things to decorate my new apartment, my daughter and I decided to take a walk around the block to see what's happening in the front of the building (I live on the "backside" along 11th Street while the main entrance and official street address is on 10th Street).

I thought I had glimpsed that light sculpture in front is done. Below is a video of it. The snow looks a funny color because of the effect of the street lights about. Maybe someday I will know more about the why and how of this; right now I'll just enjoy it. Sorry that this has annoying noise. Perhaps traffic going by.

 The other view we enjoyed in our short walk is of the Capitol dome.

More exploration to do on another day. Right now the Capitol will not be big on my list because it is under major renovation.

A Christmas Evening Walk

When I was in graduate school I met a guy who had grown up and lived his whole life in Los Angeles and was now here in Minnesota.  As the weather began to get colder he asked us at dinner one evening with all seriousness, "Surely when the temperature goes to 32 (0 C), you don't go outdoors?" Well, we had a good laugh and told him that yes we did. That memory came to me when my older daughter and I went out the door about 5 PM this afternoon for a bit of walk to look at lights.

There had been snow overnight and the temperature was about 15 (-9 C) with a rather cold wind in our faces.

We turned the corner on Minnesota Street and headed downhill.

In the next block we saw the door decorations on the condo tower that is a neighbor to my building.

We admired the tree in the lobby of the Wells Fargo building.

 We got to 7th Street and took a right where we encountered some decorated trees and also a snow plow.

We got over to the triangle on St. Peter Street and found these trees

I thought there might be some people at the skating rink by Landmark Center. It was well lighted but absolutely closed.

We enjoyed a view of lights in Rice Park.

Sorry this is so blurry.

We headed up Wabasha Street on our way back to my apartment. The sign in the window of the candy shop said it would be open from 10 -10 tomorrow, so I told my daughter we would be back tomorrow to check it out.

Also discovered the location of a small grocery store. It needs to be checked out too.  And a Walgreen's is there too for items one might want from a drug store. Found one can't drive down a street around the Minnesota Public Radio building, but one can certainly walk through there and save some steps.

So I've begun the process of exploring a new neighborhood. And yes, we do outdoors even when the temperature is below 32!

Moving Adventure #3 -- Creating Christmas at Home

By working 12-16 hours for nearly the last week, I have managed to get mostly unpacked and most things put into a new places. My younger daughter wanted to do Christmas with her family on Sunday and I almost fainted with the news -- we put it off until Monday evening. My older granddaughter came and helped me again on Monday. She did the decorating while I continued to unpack interesting things such as tax papers and find a place for them.

I did go off on Sunday afternoon to do some grocery shopping, too, for I had planned to let the cupboards get very bare and not have to move much food.

So here's how the kitchen looked by the end of Monday.

Yes, the computer is on the island and may be there often. Wireless makes it easy to "work" anywhere, and now I have a new printer up and running too -- another thing I did this week -- that allows wireless printing -- oh, what a luxury.

On the other side of the apartment, here's how the living room looks.

The wall looks unusual because of how a lampshade on a lamp in the room diffuses the light.

I'm rather amazed I managed to move and to create something that looks like Christmas.

Near where I live, well real near -- a one block walk, is a wonderful restaurant, Black Sheep Pizza. It is named that because the ovens are unusual, at least for this part of the country. This restaurant uses coal-fired ovens and produces pizza very much like what I find in Europe. I already have a favorite -- fresh tomato, green peppers, and kalamata olive pizza. It is yummy.

Because I knew I really couldn't pull off a family meal in the midst of a move I suggested going there. Here's three of my grandchildren at the restaurant.

After pizza we walked the one block back and enjoyed Christmas cookies and a gift exchange.

Today I finally got the dining table empty. There are still "desk" things that need sorting and put away somehow, but at least the remaining work looks possible.

I have the console table somewhat organized too.

My new lease prohibits the use of real candles. So all the candles now have LED lights. I had rather moved in that direction anyway when my younger granddaughter was born and there was again a need to be very cautious because of little ones around.

Many cultures and countries have traditions that happen every Christmas. The US is so multicultural that it becomes hard to know what traditions to celebrate. And I have learned to enjoy holidays by not expecting anything and just enjoying what seems to come along. But when my family was leaving on Monday night I asked my son-in-law if we had started a new tradition with Black Sheep Pizza and he said, "It works for me."

For sure next year should be easier -- at least I won't be moving. Looking forward to having a quiet Christmas Day with my older daughter. The weather outside is a bit frigid as I write, but supposed to be a bit warmer tomorrow. Nice to be here in my new warm apartment.

This Christmas at Mall of America

On Wednesday I took off from unpacking to walk down the street towards the bus. Walking gave me a good view of the outside of my new apartment.

The first full balcony on the top floor of the North Tower (pictured) is my balcony, and now I even know how to open the door to walk out there. The type of lock puzzled me and a maintenance man helped me figure it out. Turns out the door wasn't locked, but it is now!

I also noticed the new fence that recently appeared around the swimming pool area.

I think it is beautiful and at the same time it brings security for any small child being able to get his/her head or limbs through the fence, and it's high enough small children can't climb on it and fall off.

My walk continued to Drivers' Services down the street where I filled out an application to get the address changed on my driver's license. Then I took the escalator up one level and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee at Caribou.

From there I walked through the skyway finding my way to the bus stop on 6th and Cedar. It didn't take too long for a 54 to arrive and I was off to the Mall of America. Being able to take public transit is one reason I moved. How nice to go to a crowded mall during the holiday season and not to worry about where to park!

I found the Mall of America has very subdued decorations this year. In the rotunda there are two large silver trees.

In the hallways there are hanging twinkle lights.

In the corner by Nordstrom's I found large Christmas ornaments.

Nordstrom's itself has more traditional decorations.

Got my shopping done quite quickly, grabbed a bite of pizza, and then made my way back to the transit center and bus to return to St. Paul. Figured how to easily do a transfer which brings me to bus stop within two blocks of where I now live. Great afternoon away from unpacking.

Moving Adventure 2

On Monday the movers arrived at my apartment at 12:30 and we all left there about 2:30. Everything was moved in and the bed set up, etc by 5:30. After that I walked over to the nearby Keys Restaurant and really enjoyed a burger with sweet potato fries. Usually I can't eat a whole meal like that, but I'd really not had anything since an 8 AM breakfast of yogurt and a muffin from the freezer, since the movers were originally scheduled for 10 AM. Snow came on and off that day which made their earlier job that day slower.

Came back and crashed out in my new apartment. First thing I noticed is how quiet is in here -- no more traffic and train noise, although it really didn't annoy too much --but honestly did drive my crazy for about two weeks when I returned from living in Pecs, Hungary where I had a very quiet flat, too.

Yesterday I got up very early and started tackling the boxes for about two hours. Then I walked over to Keys again for breakfast. After that I headed back to my old apartment and moved everything left in the freezer as well as most of the things left in the refrigerator.

Came home expecting Comcast to arrive, and the technician did arrive at about 1:00. He is a terrific technician. Had everything hooked up in about 10 minutes, including putting the key for the modem onto my computer so as soon as he was out the door I was ready for wireless Internet. He also had a the great idea of putting a picture of the key on my phone, where I can enlarge it and so don't have to have to read the fine print!

My younger daughter and my baby grandson then were on their way for a short visit. After they left I tried to rest for a bit, but was hungry, so headed out to find either what was a very late lunch or an early supper. That all disappeared too! But the good news this morning is that I finally found the coffee pot and the carafe and could actually made coffee at home.

Up again very early this morning, and enjoyed seeing the sunrise while sitting along the floor to ceiling window that overlooks my balcony. Even on a winter day it's warm right by the window -- obviously good windows put in.

The building is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified so I had been expecting that windows would include insulation to prevent transfer of heat in the summer/transfer of cold in the winter.

I have tried out all the new appliances except for the stove. The cook top is so beautiful brand-new as it is. -- I hate to mess it up. I read the manual for the stove and it said to heat the oven to 400 degrees (204C) and let it run like that for 30 minutes before using it the first time. --oh my! did the smoke pour out and that's how I found that the exhaust fan works quite fine and isn't too noisy.

Love the morning sun that pours into the apartment during the morning. And the sun should rise enough by summer that I get light only and not the sunlight then. With the huge windows the sunlight flows through the whole living room and kitchen. And in the bedroom the floor to ceiling window lets the sun flow through the closet, across the hall, and all the way to the end of the bathroom.

Pictures of some of this later when I have disposed of most of the boxes!

Basketball Adventure

My older granddaughter, who is a senior in high school this year, asked me this morning if I would come to her basketball game this evening. So I set off at about 6:15 PM for the 7 PM game. The school parking lot was really crowded. I found my way to the place to buy a ticket -- oh, sticker shock! I don't truly think I have been to a high school basketball game since I was in high school. I think then the price was 50 cents. Tonight I paid $5.00!

I was surprised to see a game in progress and thought she had given me the wrong time. But then I figured out it was the junior varsity. In a bit of time that game was over and the varsity teams came out to warm up. I thought the evening was going to be long, since my granddaughter's team shot about 10% during the warm-up exercises.

Soon the game was ready to start.

My granddaughter's team

The other team really dominated the first few minutes of the game, with one of them starting the game with a 3 point shot.

I later told my granddaughter I was probably a prejudiced grandmother, but I thought the whole temper of the game changed when the coach put her in. Her hustle as a point guard upset the dynamics of the other team and finally the score became tied.

In the second half of the game my granddaughter's team pulled away to the lead. There were two boys sitting close to me that kept cheering for my granddaughter. I thought I would probably scare them half to death if I introduced myself as the grandmother.

Here's how the game ended.