Tools of the Trade-Turtle Bakery

First you start with Cory who is one of the baking staff at Turtle Bakery, and then you learn how to use some of this equipment.  Cory went to high school in North St Paul-Maplewood, and, after graduating from college,  she started working at the bakery/restaurant located in Minneapolis.  Her first job must be satisfying, since she is still there after two years.  Tomorrow I'll show you some of the delightful things she and her colleagues produce for our tasting pleasure.


APRIL POEM #5

the drum


daddy says the world
is a drum tight
and hard
and i told him
i'm gonna beat out
my own rhythm


     nikki giovanni
      

Loyal customers of Porky's

Karen and Tim drove into St. Paul last Saturday from suburban Apple Valley to taste their last meal of burgers, fries, onion rings, and coke from Porky's (see yesterday's post).  Karen grew up in St. Paul and went to Johnson High School.  Her father would load up the family car with the six kids to enjoy Porky's drive-in. Obviously Karen has some fond memories of the restaurant.  Sitting in a small park behind the restaurant, they enjoyed the sunshiny weather that was melting all the snow (Hoorah) and the hub-bub of the crowds around Porky's. Read here about the efforts to save Porky's from demolition.
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APRIL IS POETRY MONTH: POEM #4


American Haiku Collection...


In this strange garden
   the same notes, the same calls--
      birds of my childhood.

An Iconic 1950's Drive-In

b

A St. Paul icon drive-in restaurant will close permanently on Sunday, April 3, 2011, unless historic preservationist and hot-rod enthusiast can halt the sale of the property to the neighboring Episcopal Homes senior facility.  Porky's has been in business for decades; the present owner started to work there years ago as a teen-aged car-hop.  On week-ends it has been the gathering place in the summer for vintage and hot-rod car owners who congregated there to talk and to compare cars.  When I visited the restaurant on Saturday there were lines of several hundred nostalgic customers patiently waiting in line for their last Porky's meal. Tomorrow I'll show you a photo of one of the loyal patrons. To read about Porky's history and to see a slide show of the drive-in restaurant, click here.

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APRIL IS POETRY MONTH:  POEM #3

At the Center

In Kansas, on top

of an old piano,

a starfish, dry

as a fancy pastry

left sitting there

during a wedding,

spreads its brown arms

over the foam

of a white lace doily,

reaching for water 

in five directions.

    --Ted Kooser

Summer Salad

I'm beginning to wonder if summer will ever arrive so I can duplicate this salad again??!!

Poetry Month Poem #2...

MAKING MUSIC WITH YOUR LIFE

Make music with your life

a

    jagged

silver tune

cuts every deepday madness

Into jewels   that you wear

Carry 16 bars of old blues

wit/you

everywhere you go

walk thru azure sadness

howlin

Like a guitar player

                           --Bob O'Meally

(Explanation:  Since April is Poetry Month, I'm going to try to add a poem to my post each day).

Theme Day - Curves...April Fool!

Today is "Edges" - the Theme Day for April 1, 2011.   I think I like both the colours and the curves.  HAPPY EDGES THEME DAY, EVERYONE!! 

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

ADDED LATER: Since April is Poetry Month, I'm going to try to add a poem each day on my blog.

Haiku by Bosho

       The old man

cutting barley  --

       bent like a sickle.

Cecil's

Cecil's Delicatessen is one of the best delis in the Twin Cities.  Maybe the best! Nick, who grew up in the Highland area, has worked in the store for five years.  A graduate of Nativity grade school  and Cretin-Derham High School he probably knows many of the regular customers.

ABC WEDNESDAY-K-King Tut

Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside the exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota so I had to be satisfied with a photo of this huge poster just outside the waiting area.

Tutankhamun The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs

The exhibition features 50 objects from the tomb of King Tut, including the gold sandals that adorned the mummy's feet and a beautifully adorned gold coffinette that held his mummified internal organs.

In addition to the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun, another 50 ancient artifacts are featured, which highlight many of the most significant rulers of ancient Egypt such as Khafre, whose face adorns the Sphinx in Egypt and the queen who was powerful enough to become king. 

(Source: http://www.kingtut.org/about_the_exhibition?location=st.+paul%2c+mn)

To see more ABC WEDNESDAY post from bloggers around the world, click here.

Handsome Stranger!

It's difficult to get biographical information when sitting in the passenger seat of a car, with a long line of cars behind us at a parking ramp, and a restless granddaughter in the back seat.  Although I vowed to interview and post more information with my posts, I didn't have the luxury to do that this time.  Maurice's face was so handsome and kind, I couldn't resist quickly snapping his photo which pleased him!

The Common Loon

The Science Museum of Minnesota is basically an educational as well as an entertainment establishment. One of the galleries which focuses on the Mississippi River has a mock-up of river scenes.  The animal pictured is the state bird, the common loon. (No wisecracks, please!) This scene  duplicates its natural habitat.

Science Museum Exhibit

If you live anywhere close to St. Paul, Minnesota, come to the Science Museum on Kellogg Boulevard to see an amazing exhibition: February 18-September 5, 2011.


Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs is organized by National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions, with cooperation from the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt.

King Tut-Steve Martin Lyrics

Now, when I die
Now don't think I'm a nut
Don't want no fancy funeral
Just one like ole King Tut (King Tut) 

What Can I Say?!

 I'm about ready to go round the bend.

Instead of the predicted 1-2 inches of snow last Tuesday, we got 6 more inches.

And, I'd rather be in México!~ 

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago. 

-Christina Rossetti
Mid-Winter, 1862

The Colours!

Red Peppers and Olives - My favorite part of any deli!

Greek mythology records that Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and peace, struck her magic spear into the Earth, and it turned into an olive tree, thus, the location where the olive tree appeared and grew was named Athens, Greece, in honor of the Goddess, Athena. Local legend tells us that the original olive tree still stands growing after many centuries at the ancient sacred site.

ABC WEDNESDAY-J-Jars and more Jars

Jars, more jars, and square vases, all the work of potter, Randy Johnston, whom you met here. 

To see and enjoy more ABC WEDNESDAY posts,
click here.

Classmates #3

Randy Johnston who chairs the Art Department at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls is another of Michael Simon's classmates from their years together at the University of Minnesota in the 1960's.  Both the Ikebana Long vase and the large triangulated platter are his art work.

It's Not Just A Cup!

According to ceramicist Michael Simon: "The cup is the most intimate of pottery forms.  Whether in the palm of the hand or the fingertips, we experience the weight and texture as we drink.  We pick it up without looking, kiss it with our lips and drink from it.  A good cup seems to hold the truth.  Every human culture has  developed cups..."

And for the first day of spring!!

Because my mood and spirits have been adversely affected by the mounds of snow and loooong winter here in Minnesota, I bought several bulbs to watch bloom.  It helped!

Northern Clay Center's Reception

During the Michael Simon's retrospective pottery show last Saturday (full explanation here), this man entertained the large crowd at the reception, playing non-stop for several hours.  Because he was busy, I did not interrupt him.  Steffe thinks, correctly I might add, that I need to add more biographical information to my portraits, the circumstances did not lend itself to interrupting this fine musician.  Next time!

Classmates #2

Another classmate, architect Wayne Barnum, had these ceramics on display.

See previous posts for background information on this retrospective of potter Michael Simon's work now on display at the Northern Clay Center on Franklin Avenue.

Classmates

In addition to Michael Simon's pottery, an accompanying gallery exhibited work, "Classmates,"  by four ceramicists who studied at the University of Minnesota with Simon in the late 1960's. If you missed the background information on this incredible retrospective, click here. The pieces above are the work of Sandy Simon, Michael's first wife who now operates an art gallery in Berkeley, California.

(An appropriate choice for St. Patrick's Day!)

An Irish Blessing

(A Blessing from St. Patrick)

May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, May the rains fall soft upon your fields, And, until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

(Traditional Irish Blessing; origin unknown, although some attribute it to St. Patrick.)

ABC WEDNESDAY-"I" Incredible Artist & Imaginative Pots: Potter's Homecoming #2

Above:  the artist is signing his book for an admirer. The artwork below Michael Simon's photo contains more of his nature images that are important elements as part of the designs.

See my post yesterday for more about this artist and his retrospective exhibition that's at the Northern
Clay Center on Franklin Avenue. For additional information read the article here that caught my eye and discusses the artist and the exhibition.

To check out more ABC Wednesday posts, click here.

Hate to add this, but BEWARE THE IDES OF  MARCH!!

"Potter's Homecoming"

The headline "Minnesota-born Michael Simon returns from Georgia to the Northern Clay Center for a career retrospective" caught my eye. This article  in our local newspaper claimed that "Simon is one of his generation's more influential potters" so I had to see for myself.  On Saturday the Clay Center's galleries and showroom were wall-to-wall people when I got there, and after spending a short time viewing his work, I decided that the description of the artist's reputation was not hyperbole, but well-deserved. The top pot has a horse design and the bottom shows a frequent bird motif that he uses.  Tomorrow I'll show you more of his work plus other pots in another gallery that featured artistic creations of ceramicists who studied at the University of Minnesota with Simon in the late '60's. (I'm going back again next week, hoping that the crowds will be gone so I can take my time looking, and looking, and looking!)

"Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable. " ~George Bernard Shaw