All posts by verily sherrilee

Directionally challenged, crafty, reading mother of young adult
2026, Automotive, Business, Food, Gatherings, Kids

Vroom, Vroom…

23 Comments

Apparently, I am too easy to please.  Despite the State of Minnesota spending a gazillion dollars to entertain me at the fair this year, YA says my threshold is too low.  Why, you ask?

On Saturday, the company that watches over my investments (my, doesn’t that sound grand?) had a Shredding Event.  They’ve done this in the past but I was never free; this year there was space on my calendar so I filled up a bag of papers to be shredded and headed to St. Paul. 

It was an absolutely beautiful day and they had everything well organized; there were a couple of guys directing traffic and parking and then there were a couple more guys helping folks unload their shreddables.  Since all I had was one bag, I was easy!

Something new this year was a “car show”.  It was extremely low-key – about 18 cars, all just sitting out.  Each one had a tag with make, model and year.  Other than that, no other hoopla, although I did find a few owners standing around next to their cars.  I did ask before I took the photos in the header!

I noticed the red things (my car equipment vocabulary is not robust) on the wheel so the two Mercedes-Benz’ that were there.  Luckily one of the Mercedes owners was there so I asked him what the red things were.

He explained, in very simple words that even I could understand) that they were the brakes/brake pads; he even used hand movements to illustrate how brakes/brake pads work.  I asked why they were red and got the answer “because that’s what Mercedes-Benz does”.  Hmmmm.  Sounds a bit like grandstanding to me.  Another MB owner who was standing nearby commented that you can now order black ones.  Guess some MB owners don’t want to stand out? 

After seeing the cars, there was a complimentary food truck, so I had a nice black bean burger with kettle chips for lunch and talked to another couple at my table who were new clients.  Followed that up with some cookies `n cream ice cream and conversed a bit with my two financial guys.  Then I headed home – I was there about 30 minutes.  Have I mentioned what a lovely day it was?

When I recounted my experience, I got a big eye roll from YA with the comment that some folks are easily pleased.  I think that’s better than being HARD to please.  I had a fun time, had good reading time on the way there and back (CD audio book) – what’s not to like ab out that?

Any classic/vintage car stories?  Are you easy or hard to please?

2026, Family, Food

2026 Foods of the Fair Reviewed

23 Comments

You knew it was coming.  The review of the foods that YA and I sampled at the fair this year.  I’m thinking of this as a public service announcement for any trips to the fair that you might be considering for next year!

Staples/Old Favorites (Some of them anyway)

  • Sweet Martha’s Cookies – every day. What doesn’t get eaten right away goes into my Tupperware to be dipped into as the day progresses.  Still yummy when they are warm and gooey.
  • Potato Cheddar Crepe. This is YA’s favorite.  They make the crepes to order so they are also warm and gooey.
  • The corn stand is an amazing piece of production and, of course, the corn is also fabulous.
  • Pickle Pizza. Another of YA’s staples.  They’ve added a second outlet this year so while the lines were long, they weren’t as awful as prior years.  What she likes best is that the base is a white sauce, so the pickles aren’t sparring with tomato sauce for the lead.
  • Cheese Curds. Like usual, the Mouthtrap curds in the Food Building are the best.  They also have a fabulous set-up so while the lines look long, once you’re in line, it goes really fast.  Warm, crunchy, not too greasy.  They’ve got all the other curds beat.

New Foods This Year

  • Pimento Cheese Puffs at Shanghai Henri’s (International Bazaar). Pretty good, could have been fried a bit less; the crunch was a bit much.  Nice cheesy insides, not too spicy with a nice sweet and sour sauce.  5 stars
  • Three Cheese Mac Savory Cone at Roons (near sheep/poultry barn). Like it says – mac & cheese in a waffle cone.  The mac & cheese had too many savory spices for me and the cone was a little “tough”.  3 stars
  • Vegetarian Spring Rolls at Panda Palace (International Bazaar). YA ate most of these and reported that they weren’t anything special.  3 stars
  • Sweet Squeakers at The Blue Barn (West End). White curds, battered, fried, dusted w/ cinnamon/sugar.  Topped with a lemon whipped mousse and raspberry sauce.  Header photo!  Interesting concept but WAY overdone.  You really couldn’t tell that the base of cheese curds wasn’t really recognizable.  4 stars
  • Strawberry Crunch Mini Donuts at Solem’s (North End). They looked good but most of the strawberry flavor was in the topping, so after the top layer of donuts was eaten, the donuts themselves didn’t have a lot of taste.  And I have to say, putting crunch around the edge of the bucket looks striking, it is a MESS.  3 stars.

This isn’t by any means all the foods we plied ourselves with but a good overview.  Sad to say that there were no new foods that received 5 stars from us.  Next year when we print out our food list, it won’t include any of them.  But the old favorites didn’t disappoint.

If you do the fair next year, hopefully our research will be helpful to you!

What cheese is never yours?

2026, Computers, Fantasy, home, Kids, work

The New Office

13 Comments

During Covid, once I got un-furloughed, YA and I were both working from home – she was fulltime and I was half-time.  She had a desk in her room with the big monitor and I had my big monitor in my studio.  Most days I moved the big monitor onto the floor in the corner so I could use my desk for crafts.  YA left her big monitor up on her desk all the time.

When I retired (and permanently excised the big monitor from my studio), YA began to do her work-from-home Mondays and Fridays from the dining room.  The big monitor in her room didn’t get turned on for MONTHS.  It was occasionally problematic with her in the dining room.  She is very sensitive to background noise when she is on calls so if I doing anything downstairs (like cooking), it bugged her.  And me. 

About two months ago she casually mentioned that we should probably get rid of the old day bed in what we call the sunroom.  It’s a small room, windows on three sides – no closet.  Since I’ve been slowly but steadily de-cluttering the house, I probably said “uh huh” and nodded my head.  Then about a week later, she said that she’d like to make the sunroom into a home office.  The light bulb about the day bed flashed on at that point. 

We had to take the day bed apart to get it to the boulevard.  The city took it off our hands in three different trucks over three different days and then YA went to work.  Cleaned, vacuumed, moved her desk into the new office and positioned the big monitor front and center.  Then of course, she had to fill the empty space in her room – more cleaning and vacuuming.  The little vanity that she moved looked swamped so off she went to IKEA and came home with a new vanity.  It looks good. 

The little old vanity sat on the boulevard for about 45 minutes before somebody stopped and scooped it up.

The curtain fiasco took about a week since first the curtain rods she ordered didn’t work and then the first set of curtains was too short.  I think, as of this writing, she’s all set.  Friday will be the inauguration of the office so we’ll see how it goes.  Hopefully I won’t make too much noise in the bathroom if I keep the bathroom door shut!!

Have you ever worked from home?  What would be a necessity for you in a home office?

2026, animals, Automotive, Family, Mysteries, pets, Uncategorized

Random Chatting

32 Comments

I’m pretty sure that if you asked YA if she would want anything about me changed, the top of the list would be “stop talking to strangers”.

I admit to this freely.  No big, long conversations; most of my talks to strangers are one-off comments, usually having to do with whatever situation I find myself in with strangers.  Lots of “beautiful dog” or “cute dog” or “does your dog like to say hi” or “does your dog like to be petted”.  YA was mortified about a month ago when I rolled down the car window to call out to someone that their Irish Setter was gorgeous.  I have a friend in Wisconsin who can start a friendship with anybody she meets; I’ve been with her when she got name/phone/address with a stranger we met at the zoo.  I’ve told YA she should be lucky she’s got me.  This has never mollified her.

Waiting on line for the State Fair Park `n Ride buses is the exception to my short yakking with strangers.  We’re all there for the same reason.  We all have stories to tell about various parking/bus situations.  It’s always interesting to find out where people are from (we met someone from San Diego this year) and there’s usually good information to be had about foods and entertainment.  YA has to admit that even she has taken part in these bus-line conversations.

So I felt completely exonerated yesterday morning while Freya and I were walking along in Tangletown.  I woman drove by, slowed down, rolled down her window and called out “beautiful dog” before driving away.  I felt like I had met one of my people!

Do you still say “rolled down the window” or “I typed my answer”?  Better yet, do you talk to strangers when you’re out and about?

2026, Food, Gatherings, Health, State Fair, Uncategorized

Nursing at the Fair

22 Comments

We got to see the Emergency Services folks at the Fair in action again this year – NOT FOR ME. 

It was last Saturday, a seriously crowded day.  YA and I were feeling very lucky to have scored seats on the bench across Al’s to enjoy our malts when suddenly a man about 8 feet from us fell into the street.  Neither of us actually saw why he fell, just the fall itself.  I was just about to set my malt down and go over but immediately there were at least 8 folks surrounding him.  It made me think of a scene from one of my favorite films People Will Talk.  Cary Grant has taken over the lecture hall of another professor and during his talk, Jeanne Crain gets dizzy, faints and falls off her chair into the aisle.  All the other medical students jump up to help.  Cary Grant’s line is “Get back, get back. Quiet down, quiet down. A group of  Cub Scouts would know better than to crowd like this”.  I stayed put. 

I suspected from YA’s rapt expression that we were going to sit there until the situation was resolved, one way or the other.  When I asked her if this was the case, she nodded, not taking her eyes off the scene.  So I settled in. 

One of the people who had jumped in to help immediately was the woman who had been sitting next to me on the bench.  She knelt down next to the guy as they got him sitting up.  You could see her talking to him calmly; she kept a hand on his back the whole time.  She never seemed to lose her composure and when the first (and then second, third and fourth) set of emergency services guys showed up, she was the one communicating with them.  I said to YA “she must be a nurse”.  YA agreed. 

At first we had thought maybe heat stroke but then we saw the guy holding and rubbing his left shoulder – was it a heart attack?  Then YA heard someone say that the guy had landed on his new shoulder – he has just had shoulder replacement a few weeks back.  Ouch.  There were four different sets of emergency folks who came to the scene – it took quite some time to make their way through the crowds, even with lights going. They also were calm and assured; they asked questions, took vitals and eventually they were able to trundle the guy onto one of their gators and whisk him off.  Well, whisk probably isn’t the right word, considering the crowds.

I talked to the woman who had been attending to him and she confirmed that she was indeed a nurse.  I knew it.  Anyway, I told her that I had thought so based on her actions and I thanked her for her service.  Turns out that May 12 is International Nurses’ Day – I’m thinking we should have more than one of those celebrations a year.  So thanks to those of you on the Trail who are nurses or spent your career nursing – seeing one of your legion in action was really great.

Tell me about a nurse who made a difference to you!

2026, animals, home, Nature, Seasons

Summer Frolic

8 Comments

It’s been so dry here this summer that hint of possible precipitation gets me all worked up.  So, when there was a forecast for rain for yesterday morning, I was happy to hear it, even if it meant getting a bit damp doing my errands.  When it didn’t rain… well, grumpy-city!   

Time to cave and set up the sprinkler.  I did the backyard first and about 20 minutes later, as I was putting something in the recycling on the back porch, I looked out the back door and saw a good handful of sparrows having a frolic!  It was so cute.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture – the dog barked before I could get a shot.  But here is a video that looked a lot like the scene in the back:

(This is a bit long for what it is… won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t watch it all the way through!) I’m not sure why I was so taken with this.  Maybe because we are barraged on all sides daily with such ugliness, seeing something sweet and unspoiled is even more special.  I know, I’m getting a bit mawkish here, but it was just one of days!

Anything sweet and unspoiled to report in your world this week?

2026, crops, Food, Gatherings, State Fair

On Line…

46 Comments

Lines and I have a checkered relationship. 

When my baby sister was 14 and coming up to visit me for a week, I slept in line overnight to get Bon Jovi tickets.  When I had to renew my drivers’ license (and had waited too late to get an appointment), I hit the AAA office at 6 a.m. to get one of the 75 walk-in slots.  The office opened at 9; when I got there at 6, I wasn’t the first in line!  You all know I’ve sat outside of Aldis in the past, in the cold for 3+ hours for the wine advent calendar.

But the lines at the State Fair stop me cold.  I think I told the story about YA standing in the donut line last year; the donut concession has upgraded to a building (they were in an RV before) but the line still runs all the way down the street and looks to be at least an hour wait.  Pickle Pizza has opened a second outlet which helps a bit but yesterday at noon, the main outlet had two massive lines, each going in opposite directions.

Last Saturday YA and went up to the Ag building first thing to see the crop art.  We clearly weren’t the only folks who had this thought.  We got there about 8:30 (exhibit opens at 9) and there was a considerable line.  Then a staff person came out to re-direct where the line was forming.  She said that the “come early” thought must have gone viral because the long lines had formed every morning so far; where we were standing was most likely going to be a 2-hour wait. 

And then there are the Apple Fries.  This is a new food at the fair this year and they’ve gotten good reviews, but the lines go down the street and around the corner.  We’ve read on line that most folks are waiting over an hour to get them.  

Not sure if I’ll see crop art this year.  I’m betting money I won’t be getting Apple Fries either.  YA has waited for donuts and Pickle Pizza, but not me.  Even if I had a stadium chair (like when I waited at Aldis and AAA), I’m not sure I’d want to waste so much time of my State Fair day waiting in line!  Hopefully some day in the future, the line for Apple Fries will be shorter!

Any good waiting in line stories?

2026, books, education, History, Movies, Mysteries

Rebel with a Clause

37 Comments

A couple of weeks back, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go see the world-premiere of Rebel with a Clause at the Main Cinema downtown.  I’d never heard of this but my friend is a writer, super funny and super curious and super intelligent so without so much as even “bing-ing” it, I bought ticket online and that Sunday, off we went. 

Explaining it doesn’t even begin to do it justice, so here is the trailer:

It was SO funny, mostly because the idea of her quest is funny and a lot of the folks in the clips were hilarious but also because the audience was also hysterical.  The movie is split up into chapters.  For example, The Comma was a bunch of clips about comma questions.  In fact, when “Commas” came up on the screen, there was a huge reaction/laugh/groan from the audience.  Clearly grammar and usage hit a spot for many people and the audience obviously knew what those hot spots are!  This happened several times.

I have never been what you would call a stickler for grammar but for most of my adult life I’ve lamented about the sad state of English.  Even having studied Shakespeare and Chaucer and knowing that English has evolved, I stood my ground.  And then I had one of those life-changing reads.  The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson (what a great title too).  He was so effective in mapping out the path of our language that by the final page, I was completely converted.  The grammar that we were taught in school really is just arbitrary made-up rules and communicating is what’s important, not whether we’re splitting infinitives or not.  (And I’m really hawking his book – interesting and funny.)

This doesn’t mean that I have thrown grammar to the wind.  I still like to speak well and I certainly appreciate it when someone uses the subjunctive correctly.  I also still cringe when people mis-use reflexive pronouns, which seems to be more often than not these days.  But overall, I’m trying to let all that go.

Ellen Jovin clearly comes down on the side of not holding people’s feet to the fire over their use of grammar even though she really knows her topic.  (This is not a spoiler alert by the way.)  Turns out that in addition to setting up her Grammar Table, eventually, in all 50 states, she also wrote a book about the experience.  I have it on hold at the library. 

So…. (VS acknowledges she is using the ellipses incorrectly) I’m highly recommending both Mother Tongue and Rebel with a Clause.  And, if you’re here in the Twin Cities, the movie will be showing again at The Main Cinema on September 21 and September 24.  Highly recommended!!

Do you remember learning grammar in school?  Any grammar rule/s that you feel warmly about? 

2026, Art, Gatherings, Mysteries, State Fair, Uncategorized

Eye Catching

20 Comments

For years I wore my State Fair t-shirts to work in August – a different one each day up until opening day.  But then, for some reason, I never wore any of them TO the Fair.  I’m not sure why and I’ll admit I never really thought it was weird.  I have a nice number of flowy, tunic-like tops (you Blevins folks have probably seen all of them) and I usually wore those during fair days.

Then this year, I had several dirty projects the first week of August and didn’t wear any of my fair shirts.  This made me think about my pattern and I decided to wear fair shirt to the fair.  Radical I know.

On Saturday, I wore my newest fair shirt (above) in addition to a pair of earrings I found last year at a little shop in the Grandstand:

I don’t think I’ve ever unintentionally drawn so much attention to myself.  From the time we got in line for the Park `n Ride bus until we got back to the parking lot (about 8 hours), 13 people commented on my shirt, 2 on the earrings.  All positive comments.  And after a few of the remarks, I started to realize that a lot of folks were noticing the shirt, even if they didn’t say anything.  It was weird and surprising since only two people had said anything about the shirt I wore on Thursday.  And one of them was at the Star Tribune booth; the shirt was a Steve Sachs design…

I met a gal later in the afternoon wearing the same shirt and we had a quick conversation about the shirt and she said she had experienced the same thing I had.  I suppose the colorful corn dogs on the black background make it stand out more than most fair t-shirt designs.  The great irony is that I don’t even eat corn dogs!  Haven’t even tried the vegan one at the fair yet!

Wonder if I’ll get a lot of comments when I wear the corn design shirt with the dangly ear of corn earrings?

Do you have any items of clothing that have gotten remarks?

2026, Food, Seasons, State Fair, Travel

It’s That Time Again!!!

35 Comments

You all know where I am, right?  That’s right – the VS State Fair Fest has begun!

Tickets purchased (actually bought them in November for last year’s price).

Blue Ribbon Coupon Book purchased.  Both YA and I have added our post-it notes.

Food list assembled and printed off.  This includes traditional items that we like every year (corn, cookies, crepe, Hawaiian shave ice, etc.) as well as new foods. 

Trial drive to parking lot done.  I do this every year to make sure there isn’t any surprise road construction.

Turtle bag “packing list” updated… actually just printed out this year – we didn’t make any changes from last year.

Turtle bag packed (bandaids, Tylenol, pad/paper, address labels, collapsible container for cookies, coupon book, cash…).

Depending on what time you’re up and reading this, I’m either feeding the dog/cat before I leave, driving to St. Paul, waiting in line, on the Park & Ride bus.  Once the bus gets to the transit hub and I get through the entrance, who knows what the day will bring for me!

You’ll have to talk among yourselves today.  Anything planned for YOUR day?