art family music

AURORA, Where Have You Been?

I have found a new favorite musician. Hubby likes to watch reaction videos on YouTube. He was watching The Charismatic Voice, which features the vocal analysis of singers by Elizabeth Zharoff, a professional opera singer, and thought I’d be interested in a specific episode. Elizabeth is a delight to watch, so definitely check out her channel. The singer she was reacting to was AURORA (spelled with all-caps normally, but I’ll only do it this once…

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family history inspiration museums pragmatic historian

The Game’s Afoot at the Sherlock Holmes Exhibit

When I heard the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) was launching a special exhibit on Sherlock Holmes last fall, I knew I had to go. I grew up reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries and have watched a number of the screen versions. For those of us who are Holmes fans, we mentally like to put ourselves in his shoes, thinking we could use our powers of observations to solve crimes. Hubby and I…

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art family home observations

Feng Shui Insight

Bit by bit, load by load, Hubby and I are moving our stuff from storage into our house. Yesterday, we brought home some of our artwork, hanging a couple of pieces and arranging others. I was happy to hang a painting of sunflowers that was in my childhood home and somehow became mine. It was like seeing an old friend again. I also placed my Grandpa Jens’ painting on the mantle above one of our…

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family home observations

Junk Mail Pet Peeve

Now that we’ve moved into a new house, we are getting junk mail again. Apparently, as soon as you’ve signed the papers to buy a house, your name and new address get spread far and wide to advertisers, who make sure you get a flood of “Welcome to the Neighborhood” mailings. On one hand, it’s nice to get mail when you first move in. It gives you a sense of what businesses are in the…

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design observations product packaging

Your Child WILL Defeat This Lock

It’s been a while since I’ve found product packaging that strikes me as strange or curious enough to share, but I recently ran across something that fits the bill. A child safety lock, the type that is plastic and loops over a couple of cupboard knobs to keep them held shut, contained packaging language that made me question why anyone would buy the product. The text on the back of the package, reproduced in the…

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