That’s a lot of black and white, and a lot of Chicago; let’s do a little color this week, shall we?

This is a street scene at the Twin City Model Railroad Museum at Bandana Square, which I visited a couple months ago with the boys. It’s a pretty impressive layout, with the Stone Arch Bridge and Washburn flour mills in O-gauge. The boys, of course, were in seventh heaven…

A Moody Monday favorite for “False”–can’t you feel the love?

Updated 7/14/2006: Over the last couple days, I’ve received a few hits on this picture coming from the Google image search. We’re not talking millions of hits–this is a pretty low-traffic site, after all–but it’s significant, and it’s from all over, though Spain and Great Britain are over-represented. But the Google image search referer URL doesn’t include the query that brought you this picture–it just includes the URL from which the image was cached.

So–what brings you to the “Blue Light” picture? How did this image end up in your Google search results? Any response will be greatly appreciated–I’m curious…

But I’ll push myself up through the dirt
And shake my petals free
I’m resolved to being born
And so resigned to bravery
Dar Williams, Spring Street

These tulips grow against my neighbor’s garage in our alley–that’s determination.

The Heart of the Beast puppet theater’s 33rd annual May Day parade is today, down Bloomington Ave. South to Powderhorn Park, starting at 1PM. The crowds are thick for this event, even when the weather is foul (last year there was sleet…), so get there early to stake out your spot to see the whimsical, magical, fascinating larger-than-life puppets that roll through the streets of Minneapolis.

A two-fer today, for the Tuesday’s Photos weekly challenge. This is a summer shot, of a Buddhist monk on the Stone Arch Bridge.

This photo, like liquors bar, has been named a Tuesday’s Photos Favorite! How’s that for respect? Be sure to view the other noted pictures in the Favs Archiv; great stuff.

I used to visit the sculpture garden occasionally when I lived in Nordeast; it was a nice summer bike ride. But then I moved to the south side, bought a house, got married, and had kids.

The day before Easter I had an unencumbered few hours while Kelly was studying and the boys were at Auntie Kathleen’s house, so I took the train downtown and hiked through Loring Park. I hadn’t been to the Walker for five years or so, and I felt like a tourist. Well, not quite as much of a tourist as the people who were posing for pictures in front of the Spoonbridge, trying to make it look like they were taking a bite out of the cherry or holding it in their fingers. Such fun. I may have some shots of the shenanigans taken with the Spotmatic; we’ll see how they come out.

This was taken with the Nomad–it’s what the cherry might have looked like if it had been built in 1951 instead of 1991.

University Avenue, Northeast Minneapolis.

Named as a Tuesday’s Photos Favorite for the “Signs” theme! Huzzah!

Another from March 13–Riverview Cafe.

The Million Writers Notable Stories have been announced by storySouth! My story Self Defense, published in Pindeldyboz, made the list, as did many fabulous stories from around the web. Set aside some time to sample the stories on the list; you won’t be disappointed.

The Top 10 will be posted on April 1.

… for a couple days, then off to the water park before New Year’s.

Another summer memory: Jack at Portland Head Light. It’s not quite the Wyeth painting (Wyeth was a friend of my mother’s family–more on that someday), but Jack’s pose reminded me of Christina Olsen a bit.

Yesterday our neighbor Dave, Erin’s husband, came over to help with my storm window project. Two of the windows went in last weekend without a hitch, but two more turned out to be 1/4″ or so too wide. Damn old houses and their characteristically inconsistent measurements. But Dave is a carpenter by trade, and in no time those windows were in place and ready to calk. I’m such a pathetic handyman.

Three things for which I’m thankful:

1. Good neighbors with useful skills
2. Choo Choo Bob’s Train Store, 2050 Marshall Avenue, St. Paul–Santa does all his shopping there
3. “Easy” to assemble gingerbread house kits

Be sure to check out the current issue of JMWW!