Month: August 2019

This is the last full week before my kids head to school.  My eldest is in second grade while the youngest heads to Kindergarten.  I’m not sad that they are growing up, but they’ve been in a wonderful summer program and I’m going to miss those folks.

Neil Young is a cantankerous treasure, isn’t he?  This was a fascinating article about the man, his process, and a few other interesting flights of thought.

This picture of three Italian grandmas holding migrant children in their laps restores some of my faith in humanity.

I’ve talked about my love of Olivia Colman, haven’t I?  (If I haven’t, find the BBC’s show “The Night Manager” and watch her in all of her glory.  She is wondrous.)  I know that I’ve talked about my love of the Royal Family and so I’m psyched to see these pictures of Colman and Helena Bonham Carter in the upcoming season of Netflix’s “The Crown.”

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Listening: Tanya Tucker … grateful that she’s still on this planet and grateful that she’s still making music.

Reading:  Still reading Glensheen’s Daughter by Sharon Darby Hendry.  Still.  Finished J.D. Horn‘s “The King of Bones and Ashes” the first book of his “Witches of New Orleans” series.  So good.

Writing Life:  Ooof – I barely survived girls’ weekend.  (And am still recovering two weeks later?)  But it was productive and challenging.

I am looking forward to a long weekend.  I think pickling green beans is in my future.  Happy Friday!

– Shelley

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What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs.  I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.

I’m a child of the 1980s.  One of those kids who grew up in the middle of nowhere, but had enough TV signal to watch the World Wrestling Federation (WWF before it was the WWE) when I was growing up.  And dare I say, not only did I watch wrestling (my whole family did – it was our thing), but I enjoyed it.  I loved Brutus the Barber Beefcake (erm, had a poster), Rowdy Roddy Piper, Andre the Giant.  I remember watching a certain future Minnesota governor in the ring.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend NerdinOut Con 2 and one of the featured guests was none other than pro wrestler Jake “The Snake” Roberts.  Roberts was one of the bad boys of the WWF and his schtick involved a 10-foot python named Damian and a move called the DDT.  He also happens to be my brother’s favorite wrestler.

On the morning of the con, my mind supplied a random memory.  I *too* liked Jake “The Snake” Roberts.  To the extent that I stole my brother’s collectors card of Roberts back when we were kids.  And some 30 years later, not only did I remember my childhood petty misdemeanor, but I knew EXACTLY where I had hidden it.  So, the picture below: top left is me explaining to Roberts how I stole my brother’s card (I LOVE that my dad shot this picture as Roberts is looking at the card and probably wondering why the hell he attends cons); top right – the signed card; bottom left is the back of the card; bottom right – my brother and his childhood hero.

Spoiler alert: My brother got his card back.  And I had a great day hanging out with my dad and my brother at the con.  Both of them were out of their element.  (I think that Saturday was the first time they had ever heard the word “cosplay” let alone actually witnessed what cosplay is.)  We drank a lot of beer, but it was a lot of fun.

I also got to be the eccentric aunt to my beloved nephew Joe.  (We’re both the youngest children of our families and we love coffee and food.  He’s a great kid.)  It was a great weekend.

So much of my childhood and my small-town upbringing informs my writing, so it’s always an experience to revisit the past and to step outside of my own element (and chat up retired pro wrestlers).

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Listening: I’m grateful to live in a city with a vibrant and growing arts scene.  One of the standbys in the summer is Down by the Riverside, free Sunday night concerts in a downtown park.  (Full disclosure:  I’m on a board that advises Riverside Concerts, the City department that organizes and curates these concerts.)  This past week, Sleeping Jesus, a band from Winona, Minnesota, was the opening act and man … that’s music to write to!

Reading:  Still reading Glensheen’s Daughter by Sharon Darby Hendry.

Writing Life:  I have a girls weekend planned with some writer friends. Looking forward to gathering some writing inspo and filling the ‘ol well. 

Happy Friday!

– Shelley

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What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs.  I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.

A couple things happened this week and on the same day, even.  My eldest son celebrated a birthday and that coincided with International Cat Day.  My feline has been gone for over a month at this point and although missing him is a daily thing, I texted my husband that this particular birthday was hard.  I made my kid a pumpkin cake and didn’t have to worry about the Cat trying to sample my baked goods and there’s no one that’s trying to chew the ribbons off of gifts and balloons.  Grief is weird and manifests itself in strange ways.

I’ve recently started using Pocket to collect the random articles I’ve been finding on the Internet.  So far, I’m liking it, although I’m anticipating the day that I have too many damn articles “bookmarked” in the app.  Oh well, here’s some good reading:

The Muppet Movie turned 40 recently.  I’ve loved rediscovering the Muppets’ music through my own children.

The Man with the Golden Airline ticket – this is a long personal essay, but worth the read.

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Listening: Sarah Jarosz is luminous.

Reading:  I’ve been reading Glensheen’s Daughter by Sharon Darby Hendry. Glensheen is the iconic North Shore mansion in Duluth and was the site of a pair of gruesome murders in the late 1970s.  While the victim’s son-in-law was found guilty of the murder, there’s been ample speculation that the victim’s daughter orchestrated the crime.  As macabre as it sounds, the plot lends itself to a delightful musical called Glensheen.  I had the extreme fortune of scoring tickets to the show at St. Paul’s History Theatre and found out about Hendry’s book through the musical.

I also read Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings which was simultaneously one of the funniest and most delicious looking cookbooks I’ve ever read.

Writing Life:  Progress is slow but sure. 

Happy Friday!

– Shelley

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What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs.  I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.