The Macy's Bathroom

As you can see from the images in the mirrors, sinks lined
 both walls of the "sink room. " Each tile was unique. 

 They don't make bathrooms like this any more. In department stores or anywhere. I found these great art tiles in the bathroom of Macy's in downtown Minneapolis, when I was visiting last June. I know what you're saying: "You've been sitting on these photos for four months?!"

 I've learned that the Minneapolis Macy's building was constructed in 1902, and early on was the flagship Dayton department store. My guess is that the aqua sinks were part of a 1950s remodeling. But surely the art tiles are part of the original construction.

Some of the building's other architectural details are also intact. On the first floor I passed some great old ornate brass elevator doors. The elevators were not in operation, but at least Macy's had left the doors in place, for the pleasure of the customers. Well, for me, anyway.

The old Hudson Department store in Detroit likely had such beautiful detail also. In the 1970s I worked two or three blocks from Hudson's and shopped there frequently. Sadly, that building was imploded in 1998. I understand it is now an empty lot sitting atop an underground parking structure. Geesh. 

Coming upon the tiles in the Macy's bathroom made me happy--such lovely art, such a surprise. I love old ornate architectural details (doesn't everybody?). The beauty of its architecture is one of the things that drew me to Washington. The bridges, the buildings, the train station, the lampposts. Fabulous.

If you're ever in downtown Minneapolis, be sure to go to the bathroom.

Christmas card from 2012: Novel writing, Minnesota capitol

I am repurposing the Christmas card messages I've written since 2001. From old Christmas cards to new blog posts. One a day. Merry Christmas.

What a great year this has been for me. I cut back my work by 50%, putting me in what I call semiRetirement. Tom points out that I might be in semiRetirement but I have not moved on to semiSpending.

In early July Rachel and I took a see-the-relatives-in-the-Midwest tour that was just a blast. We started with a 3-day stay in Minneapolis (see my blog post about the Macy’s bathroom) during which I toured the state capitol in St. Paul. Then we had a 2-week road trip from Minnesota, to Ypsilanti, Michigan, staying with relatives for 2-night stints along the way. Like Tom, I treasure my family and find such joy in being with them.

In other 2012 highlights, besides the Minnesota capitol building, I knocked off the New Jersey state house in Trenton, bringing my total to 20. On the down side, although I was in Boston on business in January, I totally FORGOT that it was the state capital, so like a fool I went to the art museum and did the Freedom Trail during my personal time there.

Rahdi, one of my watercolors from 2012

Although I allowed Tom to do the cover art for this year’s Xmas card, I am still pursuing watercolor classes and really enjoy it.

But in a totally new artistic undertaking, I participated in NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 words of a novel during November. You log in your word count on the website each day, which leads to a message such as “at this rate, you will not finish 50,000 words on November 30 but a good target date for you is July 11, 2015.” And they show you a bar graph of your cumulative words. I just checked the website (NaNoWriMo.org), and can report that 38,000+ people worldwide participated this year. We should all do it next year! 

I was part of a NaNoWriMo email group of 10 who encouraged and harangued each other every day. Four of them made it to 50,000 words. Of course, some might say they are obsessive-compulsives who are still trying to please some authority figure from their misguided childhoods. The ones who say that tend to be the ones who wrote 14,612 words and were happy about it. They are also the ones who are happy in semiRetirement, a twilight stage of life with no goals and definitely no authority figures to please.

One of the reasons I didn’t get to 50,000 words in November was the week we spent with Rachel that month. We tackled Rachel’s huge parent-do list while we were there. This was Tom’s (Mr. Handyman’s) first visit to her new house, so I’ll just say that the week involved three trips to Home Depot and warranted such supplies and equipment as Stripeeze, ladders, pruning shears, wire strippers, lawnmower spark plugs, paint thinner, and a plumber’s snake. You get the idea. We also watched videos, did a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle, and entertained guests. It was a wonderful week.

Love to all

Minnesota Capitol

Minnesota Capitol Rotunda