Cooking the NYTimes and Other Assorted Retirement Activities

  Actually, there are a TON of circumstances in today's world that I can't let go, but this one feels particularly egregious, as if that's even possible any more. Most of you know that Minnesota is considered a fairly progressive state in its politics and widely touted Minnesota Nice-ness philosophy which, I'll agree, is pervasive in its philosophies and actions.   Which is why I'm compelled to write about comments made by the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor. In Minnesota, voters choose the Governor and Lieutenant Governor as a team.  The current elected officials are Democrats, Governor Tim Walz (former member of the US House of Representatives) and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan.  As a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Flanagan is the highest-ranking Native woman elected to executive office in the history of the United States. Told ya we're progressive. The gubernatorial offices are up for election this November and the Republicans hav...

  I love gardening. As a child, my mother had flowers along the fence which separated our back yard from our neighbor's.  I so enjoyed watering the plants and when I grew a little older, I talked my mother into a couple tomato plants to add to the fence line.  I have a very vivid memory of one early cold snap which imperiled the still green tomatoes on the vines.  I had heard on the radio that if you brought in the tomatoes and put them in a brown bag, the released gases would cause the tomatoes to ripen.  Wearing my long seafoam green coat and a babushka on my head, I plucked the tomatoes, placed them in brown lunch bags, stashed them on the kitchen counter. They didn't ripen, but never mind that.  I was hooked. Over the nearly 49 years that the Dan-o and I have been married, I've always cultivated flower and vegetable plots. I chat with the plants, congratulating them as the flowers burst into bloom, encouraging them if they're taking their time (which th...