An Art Show and a Berry Good Day

Warning! Lots of photos ahead.

Indeed. There are even photos of photos in this post.

With the help of my soon-to-be brother-in-law, Blake, I put up my first photo show, "Mapping Disaster," as a part of the FLOW Art Crawl in North Minneapolis. Sadly a day after the show and before a Sunday shift at Geek Squad we had to take the project down.

As you guys may remember a tornado hit our hood in May. During the two weeks after the storm I went out and photographed and recorded my neighbors in North. When I heard about this year's FLOW I submitted my idea for a mapped out photo installation with the photos and field recordings. I had just a half a month to get all the images printed and the audio ready. 

Somehow I pulled it off (with a little help from my friends). The installation cost more than I wanted, but with Blake's help it worked out way better than I expected. I even ended up getting interviewed by KSTP.

What was even better was the reaction from the art crawlers and friends who stopped by.

During the five hour show I had to stick around my venue. I passed time by chatting with Blake, attendees and doing what I do best, photographing. 

The Asian Media Access group that shared the space made origami with the younger ones.

By 6 or so Brooke showed up and hung with us. Brooke said she was very proud of me. That was such a nice thing to hear from my better half.

The other major help for this project was Tyler. He mixed all of my very rough audio recordings. You see, I couldn't find my windscreen the week of the storm. Without Tyler the installation would not have been possible.

Emma, Tyler and Olive came at the same time as my other best-couple friends Ali and Monica. Once they made it, I felt like the show was a success. 

We were all very hungry at the end of the show (plus the church I was set up at had erupted into a hip-hop service). Tyler really wanted to go to Tootie's for burgers, but that wasn't going to work for Ali and Monica. There both vegetarians.

Recently Ali became a vegan. That made things a bit harder. We finally decided on North Minneapolis's only Mexican restaurant, Burrito Cubano. Ali and Coleslaw really dug the Pizza Linda sign. I admit, it's rather cheeky.

When we got home Blake, Brooke and I ate some Neopolitan-factory farm Ice Cream and Brooklyn Lager. Since we're hipsters, we're pretty excited that Brooklyn Beer is now available in Minnesota. I went to bed loathing the idea of taking down the photos.

After spending two days installing "Mapping Disaster" and a day presenting it, it was time to take it down.

It took only an hour to pull down the images, interconnected strings and map. After we were done it was time for me to go to work while Brooke and Blake had fun.

I convinced Blake to stay an extra day so I didn't have to spend Sunday alone. 

  We decided to do some berry picking. It was already 11 and the berry farm closed at 2. We quickly headed straight there.

 We hadn't had breakfast yet and were hoping to stop at a bakery on the way. We didn't see any and stopped at a gas station down the street from the farm.

 

 We ended up choosing The Berry Patch in Forest Lake for our berry picking fun.

 First we picked blueberries.

  

I think Blake ate as many as he picked. 

 

 

Originally we were going to do one pint each, but I thought it would be a good idea to get another pint. If we had a freezer I could have gotten a gallon bucket for $25.00. 

When I went back to get another one a couple walked up and the guy had a camera around his neck. Another gentlemen walked over to me and said, "What's with all the guys with cameras? I noticed your boyfriend or husband had one too." I corrected him, "That's my brother and I made him take it." 

 

Next, we tackled raspberries. I guess I am too used to grocery store raspberries, because these were so big and tasty.

  Blake was extra choosy when picking his. He was more about quality then quantity. 

It was sooo hot. I hadn't sweat this bad since Cornerstone, I just wanted to get my berries and go.

Blake dropped his berries halfway through and pretty much had to start over. 

Then we headed to my favorite small town. If I ever live somewhere with less than 1000 people it would be here. The homes and buildings are so darling. 

Whenever were in the area we have to stop and get ice cream. 

This place doesn't even have a name. Just a sign the shape of an ice cream cone. 

 

We love this place because they make their scoops huge. This is seriously a single scoop. 

I'm so jealous of these two. First, they get to go berry picking and then they get ice cream in Marine on St. Croix. Meanwhile, I'm getting yelled at by some computer noob. 

We were eating our ice cream outside when we noticed a trail. We decided to follow it. 

There was a sign at the beginning that said no motor vehicles. Halfway down we see this sign. 

The trail brought us down to the river and Blake made the joke "I can see Wisconsin from here."

We followed another trail...

 

That brought us to this. Blake said something about being where Black Beard has his treasure. I thought he said something about a black bear and right as I was thinking this something made a noise inside startling me. I immediatly panicked and grabbed Blake's shirt. Only to find out it was just a frog. 

What a Brooke moment.

We were walking to our car when Blake said, "I hear a waterfall". Sure enough there was one right underneath us. 

We hopped back into the car running into a pack of motorcyclists on the way to our next destination.

 We then stopped in Stillwater for lunch. 

This had to have been a normal person's dinner time, but you know how Romenesko's are about breakfast.

We ate at Leo's. I was hoping it would be air conditioned after sweating all day, but it wasn't or it was on really low. 

  I liked that they had Mexican cola.

 

There's lots of antique stores in Stillwater. I picked the one that looked like it had the best stuff. And it had a/c. Whew. I had no idea there were 3 floors at this place.

Blake's going to school in Duluth this fall and found a much needed sweater for their crazy winters.

I found a chair/step stool for our kitchen. Sometimes I'm lazy when I get home from work and I don't want to stand anymore. Now I can cook and do dishes while sitting. Plus it matches our dining table. 

When we get a wood table for the dining room, we'll move that matching table to the nook. It's going to be killer. Can't wait until the day all the yellow is gone from the kitchen.

I was really hoping our garden would be fuller like last years. 

Watermelon is starting. (sorry for the blurry photos)

  I spotted two more pumpkins. 

Yay, lots of tomatoes. I'm pretty proud of myself since I started these from seed.

 Okra is starting.

Broccoli rabe.

 

And our gems from today. 

I made pizza dough. 

She even got to use her new stool.

I didn't realize until I got home that the seat flips up so you can use the second step.  

  

Blake helped clean up.

 

We were sick of sweating and decided to go to the beach.

I got home not to long after this. I was peaved; so, I decided to be lazy and do nothing until they got back.

With all the hot days this summer, the water wasn't as refreshing as I had hoped.

When they finally got home we cut up some veggies and prepared a quick marinara sauce.

The pizzas turned out brilliantly. Not exactly circles, but we're not pros.

We ate outside.

 

That is, until Brooke wussed out. The mosquitos have been extra nasty this summer.