Market watch

This is a really great time of year for farmers' market shopping. We buy vegetables until our arms hurt from carrying them, or until we run out of cash. We eat still-hot kettle corn. We sample apples with exotic names and have conversations with farmers about "eating apples" and "baking apples" (as if). The flowers are out of control. Even the sub-par Minnesota corn is killing it lately (hey, I'm from Iowa). Today, out of pure curiosity, we bought some ground cherries. Is it a tomato? A gooseberry? What the heck is this thing? It freaks me out a little. I don't know whether to make salsa or put it in a pie (as if).

Shockingly, the ground cherries were not the most surprising thing we ran into at the market.

Apparently somebody (awesome) decided that 11 am on a Saturday was a good time to push a train from Union Depot, through a mass of humanity and vegetables, into the OMF. I don't know who was squealing more, me or the hundred little kids that witnessed this.

Just think, when I come to the market next summer, it'll be on LRT!

While you were sleeping

Somewhere between last week's food coma and the onslaught of holiday music, the downtown Central station really starting shaping up. At first, I thought it was just some sort of Caddyshack-inspired public art. Go Gophers?


Man, those construction guys are always fighting an uphill battle.

But then I walked past tonight, and - holy bananas - that station is done! I only stood there to pout for a minute or two. No offense, 50. It's just that I'm ready for the upgrade.


Right next door, the small leftover space is starting to look like...a plaza? I think Leftover Plaza is a great name, but again, that might be the Thanksgiving buzz talking. Pie. We need to add pie here.


That's right. Saint Paul's got railgating, too. Somebody get this guy a plaza before he gets hit by a train.




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Location:4th & Cedar

Home improvements

Either they're putting in a huge whirlpool tub at Cedar and 5th, or that's just more guideway work.

Perhaps I have been watching too much HGTV this summer...

Best and Worst of the Week(s)

Let's face it, I'm a terrible blogger. I've let real life (gasp!) get in the way of me blabbing on about construction this spring. Well, I have a good excuse.

I'm tired of construction. Is there no rest for the weary? But, I haven't stopped taking photos, I just haven't written about them. So let's look way way back at the month of May.

Best: Trash cans. The most beautiful trash can I've ever seen. The new fleet is in (and for a while was shacking up with the old ones). The hubby was pretty embarrassed that I stopped to take this photo. That did not deter me, obviously. The old trash cans are gone now, so it's kinda epic that I have this little piece of history recorded, right?

Worst: KSTP investigates if people prefer traffic. So, I-94 is closed and University is down to one lane. If they talk to people sitting at a stoplight, will say waiting in traffic is A) annoying? or B) the most amazing thing they've ever done? What a scoop! What brave journalism! Eyewitness News investigates...10 feet in front of their studios.

Best: Trees. Yes, I've mentioned it before, but the more that go in, the more obsessed I am.

Worst: Intertrack fence. That is what that is, right? I just have never been into it.

Best: The Bacon Trolley. This new food truck is just pandering to me. Pork and trolleys? Yes, please.

Worst: People not knowing how to use a "T" intersection. Because Berry Street does not go through, drivers seem to have lost all logic for how to use this half-intersection. This gentleman is stopped at a red light. In the far side of the intersection. In the crosswalk. Yeah, you better believe I'm taking your picture!

Best: West Bank station. I don't know if it's the best, but it sure is the biggest. You might say we're buying a Stairway to Heaven. Or something.

Worst: Bus wrapping. I get it, I just don't like it. (Can anyone name this location?)

Best: When you actually get the cushy bus with the spot that holds groceries, AND the seat next to it! This never happens. Sometimes bus karma pays back in wonderful ways.

Worst: Crosswalk tape. I am donating a straight edge and a pencil to Walsh.

Best: Non-confrontational signage. I'll take it! Although I'd still like to purchase the "Blight Rail" sign that used to hang in this spot.

Worst: Parking on the guideway at the Farmers Market. I had a small heart attack, but I am going to have to get over this, at least long enough to shop for produce without hyperventilating.

Best: Tickets! Knowing where to tap the card is of the utmost importance.

Worst: Tagging on my new sidewalk. I suppose if I call the city on them, they'll say it's for construction or something. I've just never been so protective of concrete.

Best: Slabs at 4th and Cedar. I think that train might just come through here after all!

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Location:University Ave W,St Paul,United States

Catching up

Being away has made me feel like I have missed a lot of construction goodies - vacation MDT I suppose. So here's the update.

Somebody has been busy paving - all the way up to Victoria in the last week.

New trees are being installed in front of Gordon Parks High School.

Lexington Eastbound station infrastructure went up in a hurry.

A bunch of rail was moved down towards Marion - perhaps so they can finish up that section where it was being stored at Pascal? Just a guess.

Cedar Street got rail...whaaat? Cedar is such a darkhorse in the completeness competition - I've been busy ignoring it for months! My bus detour helps a lot. [Much thanks to Jess, my Lead Downtown Spy, for snapping this photo!]

And just when I thought my home bus stop was lacking in construction excitement, I got some new neighbors. Hey there, hay. You look delicious.

Welding magic

Ok, fellow rail nerds, this is pretty cool. I wonder how long this would take without this awesome piece of machinery! From the Union Depot facebook page:

In preparation for laying rail at Union Depot, crews are welding 39-foot sticks of rail into long strings. In this video, one of our rail workers shows us how the sticks are joined together, called a flash-butt weld. Watch one done in real time.

A fine mess

I said it before - it would be ok with me if we skipped Leap Day altogether. It's snowing slush.

Location:11th Street

It's baaaack

Mark Twain once said that the coldest winter he'd ever spent was a summer in Duluth. Oh how far we've come.

Today, in what seems to be the new norm, we topped off at a blistering 41 degrees. I'll have you know that's only 6 degrees off my personal flip flop tolerance. You see, 47 feels like 74 after a long winter - once the puddles are gone there's no reason to continue putting yourself through the agony of wearing socks. It's all relative in Minnesota...normally.

And then there's this year. Wait, are we having better weather over our winter construction break than we had last summer? It was so tropical this week that crews were pouring concrete on the downtown Central Station, with what seems to be an excessively tall concrete spewing bendy straw machine (technical name).



Please insert LRT here:



In a couple weeks, we'll be back in the swing of tearing up the Avenue and putting in more rail. Construction officially restarts March 1st. Yikes.


p.s. Love that the 4th & Cedar construction site appears to have some sort of internal parking problem - that's so Central Corridor!



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Video Roundup

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how much a time lapse video is worth. $957 million dollars, perhaps? Here are two of my favorites to recap the 2011 season.