On the bright side

NOT SAYING I’M ALOOF about catastrophic climate change. But I don’t recall an April in Minnesota more resplendent.

You only get to enjoy this color for about a week.

“I like summer best, but I like winter more. Because of the snow.”

First backyard barbecue of the season at Allie’s sweet new place.

Kirk firing up the bubble pipe for Lola.

We put a third-wheel contraption on my bike for Johanna to ride. She begs to do it, even after falling off while in motion, an awful moment that stopped traffic, but resulted in only minor scratches.

In neighborhood news, the school next door will not be turned into an fugly assisted living facility as planned. It will continue to sit overgrown and unoccupied for teenagers to hang around at night and drink Mike’s Hard Lemonades. Which I’m all about.

This place down the street, a former candles-and-occult-products outlet and before that a junk store, isn’t fooling anyone.

> Quasi – Under a Cloud

Rhapsody in Chartreuse

MUCH HAS BEEN PROMISED by Friday—names, radio spots, proposals, all-day planning sessions, a de-dandelionification plan—and my hours are numbered. I’ve set up a backyard control center to ease myself in with warm breezes, fervent birdsong and the rustle of new leaves. You and me, Nature: let’s get busy.

>> The Turtles – Outside Chance

She’s got it

MIRED IN INTERNET DETOURS du jour, it can take me years to get around to printed matter that matters. So I’m indebted to East Lake Library for setting out Marjane Satrapi’s Complete Persepolis. The movie version was a treat, but I’m over the moon for the original comics. I’ve raced through 30 years in the life of an Iranian child-prophet/radical/ex-pat/artist in a couple days. Satrapi’s flat, unfussy drawings somehow perfectly complement the epic sweep of a memoir punctuated by war, prison, suicide, puberty, punk and political revolt. It makes the First-World banalities of contemporary American graphic artists feel especially scant.

* * * * *
It’s with serious pride (and a little envy) that I watch Sarah’s Rectangle Designs efforts fully bloom in 2010. Nearly a thousand inky hands took turns at block-and-leaf printing during her one-woman workshop at the Walker Art Center. Meanwhile the discerning eyes at the Walker Shop have made her shirts their marquee spring display (get a load of ’em below). She’s doing a massive environmental art piece with Edison High School students later this month and an artist profile in the ‘Strib is expected this week. And so our family’s fame grows. Wealth can wait.

It’s always 1980 somewhere

Since picking up In Harmony at Hymie’s last weekend, Bette Midler’s Blueberry Pie is spun every morning at Jo’s request and proceeds to infect my entire day.