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Joe and I had a lovely brunch this morning with my sister Debbie, husband Jeremy, and Jeremy's parents Morris and Natalie, in town for the weekend from Chicago. We went to the Modern Cafe, a fantastic cafe in NE Minneapolis. I had scrambled eggs with tomato, brie and spinach, delicious.... It was great to catch up with everyone, it's always fun to hang out with Morris and Natalie, and of course fabulous to hang out with my sister and Jeremy. Debbie is starting to show, she's due to give birth in January!! Yea! I'm going to be an uncle! :) They all went by our new house and are very happy we're buying it. It'll be fun to entertain people in the new house. Closing tomorrow morning!! Woo! I hope I can sleep tonight, I'm very anxious!Then I had to come to work the last two performances of "Rent." So, a full day to be sure. More later after we close on the house!
Especially during a storm, isn't this a cool photo?
So we have a closing date for the bungalow! Monday August 14th! We won't move in immediately, want to do some initial cleaning and minor fixing up of some things, and be able to take our time getting settled. We will most likely completely move in the following week sometime, we'll keep you posted. Huzzah! A new venture in our lives. Joe found an interesting organization in the Twin Cities of bungalow home owners, which we shall sometime join. See their site here.
I am looking forward to this animated film, "Monster House." Why? Well, who didn't as a child know of a "haunted" house in their hometown, and firmly believe there were witches, ghosts or zombies living in it? In Clear Lake, there were three such houses that "all the kids" thought had some sort of spookiness to it. There was a house in my neighborhood that had a small "forest" in the backyard and I swear the people who lived there would stand around in the forest watching us kids, but not hardly move a muscle. So we dubbed this the Zombie House. Then there was a house on the south shore of the lake, that was all stone and cobblestone, and the woman who lived there had scary big grey hair, wore BLACK (which was unheard of in the '70s) and sometimes when driving past her house your car would stall! Scary...so this was the Witch's House. Then lastly, just down the road from the Witch's House was the Doll House. And this was for real. This house was owned by a couple who had two life sized dolls that they would set around the living room (and all could see them as the house had a big picture window). They would set them at the piano, in two rocking chairs, etc. No one knew really why this did this, it was thought maybe they had lost two children. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this film, lots of little kids running around the theater or not.
Joe and I had the great opportunity to see "Wicked" on Thursday of this week. It was truly one of the most incredible stage productions I've seen, and I've/we've both seen a lot. It doesn't really stick too true to the fantastic novel by Gregory Maguire, but the gist of his story was there. The musical added a lot of really good humour, especially out of the mouth of Galinda, who becomes Glinda the Good as the show progresses. I could completely see how this role must have been written with Kristen Chenoweth in mind, who originated the role on Broadway. Anyway, it was a big production full of lots of great stage magic, costumes, lighting and music. A sold out house, too, which is always more fun. If you get the chance to see it somewhere - do see it. You won't regret it, or the sort of high cost. :)
We spent five lovely, warm days in Clear Lake for the Fourth this year. Along with my sister Debbie, her husband Jeremy, and my sister Julie (Dia) and her husband, Tim. And of course two dogs, Max and Daisy. Lots of good grilling, seeing the aunts and uncles and some cousins as well. The fireworks over the lake were awesome this year, as they had three barges on the lake from which they shot the fireworks, so it was really incredible. The 4th of July parade was about the same as always, lots of local advertising mainly, with some state politics thrown in. Here is a link to a video of some safe, legal fireworks we had, that Debbie got for us, and we set off on the 3rd. Notice a certain dog barking in the background?
Click here.
Over the 4th of July, which I will write more about soon, I took this quick little video of Max on the deck in Clear Lake, he seems to smell or sense something...it's cute, check it out. Click here.
For those of you out there who are following my summer reading, here's a short update. I have given up on "Ulysses" for now. Just a bit too much for a summer read. Oh well. I shall, though, attempt it maybe as a winter effort.
My very good friend Lynn loaned me two books, one of which I have finished, one I haven't started yet. The one I finished is called "Q & A" and is about a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" type quiz show in India. It was an awesome story. I highly recommend it to anyone else looking for good characterizations and fun storyline.
I am now reverting back to my love of a good mystery by reading a PD James mystery, "A Taste for Death." So far, so good. Has all the things one expects in a murder mystery. Death, an inspector, the usual. And it's British as opposed to the Swedish mysteries I've been reading lately.
I have photos from the Fourth of July that I will work on this weekend, so stay tuned for Fourth of July update, albeit a bit after the fact. :)
At my job yesterday at the ol' Ordway Center, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We had a huge event for the on-sale of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas." And yes, people came in throngs to get their tickets for this holiday show. The lobby was all adorned in holiday ornaments, a scary sight for late June, with carolers strolling around the lobby, holiday cookies, a very expensive 18 foot tree, and yes, Santa. There was an attempt to force us to wear Santa hats, but there was a coup and only a couple of people did. Hats don't do well on me.
My attempt at reading "Ulysses" is going rather, um, slowly shall we say...it's a pretty difficult book, I didn't realize. I do feel like I'm back in school in some ways. I may have to get some Cliff Notes for this one! So far, in the first 12 pages, it's rather "stream of consciousness-like." I barely have an idea of what is happening, so this should be interesting. Just thought I'd keep everyone up to date on my progress. Or lack thereof. :( Doesn't mean I'm giving up, though!
-Tennesse Williams
On Sunday, Father's Day, Joe and I went to the Stone Arch Festival of the Arts, which is always a fun time. Lots of cool artists and their wares, and some yummy albeit "not so healthy" food to chow on as well. Didn't buy any art this year, rather unusual for me. I'm a huge supporter of the independent artist, and generally can always find even more photography to purchase. Too much sometimes, so maybe it's a good thing I didn't find anything that completley "struck me." Then we went across the river to look at the new Guthrie Theater. It is simply incredible. The entire outside is like one big reflection of the outlying buildings, and they have huge metallic "photos" of various playwrights, from Tennesse Williams to August Wilson. Their first production in the new space is a play version of probably one of my favorite books, "The Great Gatsby." So, we'll be getting tickets for that very soon.
This summer, I've decided to tackle what is considered the 20th century's modernist classic in literature, James Joyce's "Ulysses." Pray for me. :) When I was in college, and off during the summer, I would always choose light, sometimes on the verge of fluffy, books to read. Now that I'm all growed up, I thought this summer would be a good time to tackle a tough one. I'll keep you up to date on my progress. Wish me luck!
So back in the early '80s, I lived in Des Moines, working at Younkers Dept. Store for some time. Somehow it happened that I became good friends with people who were in bands, of course now I can't remember any of the bands' names, it's been too long. But there was this one band that had this lead singer, a guy named David I believe, who for some reason once told me "Ken, you're like a Ken doll. But a Ken doll from Hell." I of course wasn't sure how he meant that, but I took it as a compliment because I think I had a crush on him. Then in college, some of my friends also started calling me Ken doll. One friend in particular, who spoke French as I do, took to calling me Ken Doll d'enfer - Ken doll from Hell. Hmmm.... what does this mean? She in no way knew these friends in Des Moines, and would have had no idea of this moniker. Nonetheless, it so happens I was born the same year that the Ken doll was "born." I don't think the doll influenced my parents' decision to name me thusly. And I still have at least one very good friend who calls me Ken doll occasionally, or at least just "Doll." You know who you are. :)
Aunt Marge and Joe enjoying the sun on the deck, after filling up with delicious burgers and grilled chicken, yum. Also a photo of the two sides of the Hahn family, my Mom's sister and her husband, as well as my Dad's youngest brother. They live in Clear Lake so it's always very nice to see them when we go down to the lake.
