Lake Street, Minneapolis

Martha took these photos on a recent walk down Lake Street in Minneapolis. The neighborhood we explored is mostly made up of Mexican businesses and restaurants. The smell of great food was heavy in the air and made me want to smash my fist through the window of a chicken place and grab one of the chickens that was roasting on a spit. Next time. I walked past a Chinese take-away and observed that the staff were all Hispanic. I'm still trying to work that one out. Was there Chinese people cooking in the back and Hispanic people taking orders up front? Was English the common tongue? It must have been.

I'd love to know another language (aside from my limited prowess in Deutsch and Gaeilge). I think Icelandic would be cool to learn. I often fantasize about living there. Two hours in Reykjavik airport a few years ago is my entire Icelandic experience. Beautiful airport though. Maybe I'll pursue this pipe dream further when the energy crisis hits in about 20 years. The Icelanders are no gobshite's. Geothermal energy will support their economy for many a millennium.

It was a busy weekend here, the best kind of weekend. On Saturday I raked enough leaves to fill 11 large black bags. Might not sound like much but it was nearly three hours pseudo-solid work (stopped twice for a beer, once for tea, once to go and get some free windows that I will build into kitchen cabinets next year) and I still have to do the front garden. Screw it, I'll just go over the leaves with the lawn mower. Martha will never notice. She's thick like that. Each bag is really compressed. I didn't want to try and drag 40 bags to the city compost site. St. Paul recycles its leaves into mulch that is then spread around the city. There is a lot of leaves in this city and they all come off the trees at the same time so serious effort is put into getting them off the street to prevent them from clogging the drains.

Our new baby is due next Friday. I had a dream/vision about her the other night and was able to see what she looks like. I wonder if it will be true.