I recently got to spend some time with baby goats (not quite two months old).  They were freakin’ adorable.  This was Goatopia: a place, an experience, a state of mind.  Probably nothing else needs to be said. But, since this is me, I’m going to try and make a blog post out of it, even…

I’m often content to stay close to home, without spending time in shared communal spaces. So when I do go out in the world, I should be thankful if my outing is full of unique and memorable experiences.  In other words, I recently had a night that was rather annoying and somewhat stressful, but the…

Maybe I was just high on DEET, but my recent inaugural visit to Sakatah Lake Minnesota State Park was very relaxing.  Actually, I may still be high on DEET. Even though I took a shower as soon as I got home from my Sakatah Lake trip, I could still smell the mosquito repellant I was…

We’ve lived in our northeast Minneapolis house for 24 years, and I just learned a few weeks ago that the Columbia Golf Course, which is half a mile away from us, used to be a lake. I learned about the vanished lake from friends who also live in NE when they were giving us a…

I felt so defeated–I just put my head down on the table. What calamity led me to these depths of despair? Was I thinking about global warming, learning to play and sing a difficult song, or the likelihood of ever getting all my clothes put away? No, I had just learned that the restaurant we…

“Oh yeah, I’m a Unitarian Universalist minister. I filled out something online so that I could do my friend’s wedding.” –Guy at Bar (paraphrased) We had just sat down at the bar in the really cool Speakeasy at our hotel in Pittsburgh, when we heard the guy next to us say that.  I knew that…

I think Fred Rogers is a national treasure.  He reassured, comforted, affirmed, inspired and entertained countless children.  I was not one of those kids.  I did not like the Mr. Rogers show. It wasn’t because of lack of exposure: My older sister, Jenn, had me watch Mr. Rogers and tried her best to make me…

Last year my sister told me she was getting into Japanese “v-streams” (I think these are basically amateaur mini-travel videos about Japan). I was surprised and heartened by this. Surprised because I don’t think my sister was ever interested in Japan travel or culture before (maybe “Hello Kitty”?…wait, I think that was just me) and…

The Summer of 2023 is going to be my “Wet Waterfall Summer”! Er, how about…”Wild Waterfall Summer”…or “Whimsical Waterfall Summer”? “Woozy Waterfall Summer”? Hold on now, do I need to have a theme for my summer? Of course not, but I glanced at a New York Times opinion piece a while ago that was about…

Chad: “We need flowers for the service tomorrow, so let’s use your bouquet* from our wedding.” Me: “Great idea, although the flowers are pretty faded…then again, so are we.”  Ah, classic Chamy comedic gold. And since the service was inspired by our wedding anniversary, it seemed fitting that we and the flowers were faded.  But…