The comfortiest thing I saw today

There is some road construction taking place outside my office window.

I saw this touching moment the other day:The construction working appeared to be comforting the big digger, it was sweet. Like Danny and the dinosaur.

The yellow belt-iest thing I saw today!

On the way to dinner with fine friends after a sunny and cold afternoon enjoying the Art Shanty Projects, we drove past this clever placement:
Are the ninjas disbanded, or disguised?

I hope you did not need any martial arts experts in a hurry along HWY. 55!

The kickin'-est thing I saw today.

I was stuck on a slow-and-go bus out of downtown the other day, thankfully this guy was walking in tandem to entertain me:He kicked that shoe steady-on for a good 4 blocks before the bus finally broke free of the downtown stop and go bubble.

Do you suppose he was trying to understand someone better by walking a mile kicking their shoes? Or was he breaking a shiny new pair of sneakers in?

The No Rush-iest thing I saw today!

I love checking out garage sales, especially on a whim as I drive around town. I am a sucker for signage like: "MOVING SALE!" or "Multi-Family Sale!" and the best is "Estate Sale!". I will follow those signs around and see what kind of treasures they lead me towards.

I saw a sign in my neighborhood the other day that was not nearly as enticing:


Isn't a perpetual sale actually a STORE?

On another note, the Great Minnesota Get Together starts today! Yes, the Minnesota State Fair is now open for business. I love the fair and I hope to find lots of fodder for drawing when I go on Sunday.

If you love the fair too, or if you need to be educated about the MN State Fair, I recommend the blog My Pronto Pup. The mere fact that someone has a year round blog dedicated to the Fair should be a big clue as to how much people here love the Fair. The author is one of MANY people who go every day of the fair (August 21-Labor Day).

Also, I saw this crazy article in the Strib today about a family from NW MN who walked 400 miles to the fair with an ox cart. What?!?!? I am not sure if the pronto pups and cheese curds are THAT good!

The Humbugiest Things I saw today

We got our new license plates in the mail today. I laughed our loud and beamed with pride when I saw them:

Bah ha ha ha ha!!!

Meanwhile, did you know there are actually more than 10,000 lakes in MN?

The brassiest thing I saw today.

Does anyone have a used Baritone for this kid in Worthington, MN?


I sure wish I did!

Crikey! The awkwardest toy I saw today.

We saw this at the Reptile Gardens (a nice spot if you like animals by the way, not a cheeseball as you might think):

There was no stingray in the Ocean Dive playset.

RIP Steve Irwin. I feel bad that this toy is still on the market, but perhaps you would want it that way?

The steepest thing I hiked over the weekend.

Hello there!

I went to Custer, South Dakota over the weekend and hiked up to the face of the Crazy Horse Memorial with my family. The trip brought much fun and many new things to draw for you.

I need to catch up on my drawing, so I am cheating and showing some pictures for now.

Here we are at the top:

I am not sure if you know about this monumental monument project, but one man started it 60 years ago with a chisel, a hammer and some dynamite. No public money is being used to complete it , it is oodles bigger than Mt. Rushmore and it probably will not be completed within any of our lifetimes.

That is crazy!

The first weekend in June they let you hike through the rugged woods to the top. I recommend it if you like hikes, woods, and singing songs like "Climb Every Mountain", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "The Happy Wanderer".

The instinct-iest thing I saw today!

My darling and I hitched the overnight Megabus to Chicago over the long weekend. Good times!

On the bus trip down there were some kids sitting across from us. Like most of us aboard, they slept through the trip, they even slept through the rest stop. But when the Mom got back on the bus and opened a fresh bag of chips, the sleeping little girl knew just where to reach:

So cute and hilarious. Her little person knew to grab at the goods even while she snoozed!

More to come from Chicago!

The Politest Things I Saw Today

Driving home across Wisconsin from visiting Green Bay we came upon some road construction.

We saw the usual signs and a little Wisconsin charm:

Thanks for the grin, Wisconsin Department of Transportation!

The Landscaping-est thing I saw today!

My darling friend and I were out and about Saturday. We ventured out of the city to White Bear Lake- Go Bears! (As in this Fargo scene.) Oh yeAH.

On our way back to the freeway, we spied this genius landscaping scene:

Treehorn Thug: [holding up a bowling ball] What the f--- is this?
The Dude: Obviously you're not a golfer.

So majestic! Those are my kind of bushes! Bowling bushes!

Do you think they drive one of these?:


It's got that Clear Coat. Ya know they put the Clear Coat on at the factory.

I'll bet you have a house like this in your town, I HOPE you do! What does it look like? Could you draw it? I'll post it!

The Lifting-est thing I saw today!

Driving along, I was lucky enough to see this:

The Jammin'-est thing I saw 7 years ago!

I was waiting for a bus in with my friend in LA (First off, no one seems to take the bus in LA and let me tell you, I have never felt more like I was out of place or more aware that we were both natural blond haired, blued-eyed Midwesterners than when I saw the reactions from the bus driver and the other passengers when the two of us got on that bus- people were pointing at us, smiling, and shaking their heads! I think the bus driver was tempted to tell us we should take a cab.) and we witnessed this man truly enjoying himself on his commute:


This guy had his radio blasting and his tambourine out rockin' along.

Brings a whole new level to enjoying drive-time radio!

Maybe he had to miss band practice, but I like to think that he really had the music in him!

The Touche-est thing I saw today.

'Round these parts it is common to see a car sporting a bumper sticker like this: That is a campaign bumper sticker for US Senator Paul Wellstone, a wonderful man. A man with the moxie and courage to change the world and to speak for those who were not being heard.

A man who died 6 years ago in a terrible plane crash days before the end of a heated election.

His passing left a huge void in the hearts of many Minnesotans. Some people still have his campaign yard sign in their yards, numerous buildings have been named (or re-named) in his honor and some put his legacy into action.

Recently I saw this take on/response to the "Wellstone!" bumper sticker:


I suppose they can mourn their heroes too.

Sigh.

The Make-it-work-iest thing I saw today.

My husband and I ventured out to the mall to see a movie the other week.

It was a Saturday night and it was lightly snowing. The snow sat maybe 5 flakes deep on the parking lot, so I guess people had trouble seeing the parking spot lines:

I am not even exaggerating. You could barely drive your car down the aisle....and I could still see the yellow lines through the snow!

People seem to think that even a little accumulation means we must all park like crazies!

Am I right, other people who live in places where it snows?

Anyway, as I wove through the lot looking for a place to park, I came upon this car, who's driver clearly got fed up with looking for a spot:

Frankly, I don't blame them.

The Speediest thing I saw today.

I was in lovely Denver, Colorado last week for work. Our hotel was on 16th Street, a pedestrian mall with electric buses that go up and down the street for people who would rather not walk.

Cars and bikes are not allowed on the mall. The buses are the only wheeled vehicles allowed on the mall. Or so I thought:




(I actually drew this by hand quickly on the plane and added the color online.)

This is one of several wheel chairs that I saw cruising down the mall where the buses roam.

Well played wheel chair users, well played.

The Dog is my Co-Pilot-est thing I saw today.

Walking through the neighborhood, I saw a loyal pet owner taking his best friend and some other guy on a drive:


The Some other guy had to sit in the back seat. Apparently the dog is a better navigator.

The Plaidest thing I saw today

Up at Gooseberry Falls my friends and I ran into a couple who had gotten lost on their way to the Sadie Hawkins dance...in the early 1990's:

The couple were clearly older than high schoolers, but they wore their matching out of date clothes as they frolicked through the falls. The guy even had an old style Twins hat.

I hope that they have been enjoying all the time that they have been together. I wonder if they know Kurt Cobain died.

The Twistiest thing I saw today.

It has been well over a month since a major freeway bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed here in Minneapolis.

Families affected by the collapse are grieving, healing, and maintain hope for a better tomorrow. People still go an gawk at the site. The city has found ways to keep traffic flowing and to keep us all progressing.

There are benefits going on around town and the University of Minnesota has already launched a class about the disaster and urban life.

And some very strong people are working hard to clean up the concrete and steel and rebar.

The bridge remains are being shipped a bit down river on big barges, lifted up onto the river bank where they are to be pieced together by some people who will try to figure out what happened. My bus drives over the river in view of this "crime lab" each day.

The steel supports lie on the ground in piles- some piles are broken but straight pieces, some look like steel spaghetti piled up. It is hard to fathom that so much life and weight ever depended on that mess.





My thoughts are with those investigators and workers. I am stymied by how they can take a look at all that twisted and broken steel, focus, and make any sensible thought beyond "Whoa." or "Sh_t."

The Juxtaposiest thing I saw today!

En route to an event with a friend on a warn day, we pulled up behind a pickup truck plastered with the passion of the owner.

That truck had the widows down and was blasting a song that left us scratching our heads:



I suppose the meaning of songs can be determined the listener...

or someone was borrowing this truck to move!