Until moving back here I had forgotten one of the very best things about the midwest: sunset. In fact, I will broaden that to include the sky at all times of day (and night). The sky is huge. I always used to think that the apparent bigness of the sky was due to the flatness of the terrain. I still think that is part of it, but I also think that the clouds are often at a much higher altitude and the layers provide a lot of vertical perspective. I often feel dwarfed by the sky in a way that I never felt in the Bay Area. In California, I was often stunned by the physical landscape — come around a bend on the road and catch a glimpse of the bay or of Mt. Tam or Mt. Diablo. Here, that is rare (for me anyway). The landscape is fairly consistent: mostly flat, mostly agricultural (which has its own beauty, but doesn’t usually cause one to gasp). The sky — as if to make up for the relatively sedate landscape — is totally out of control (or, “out of pocket,” as my former students might say). I frequently see clouds that make me gasp, and of course the weather itself is mercurial and violent.

Last night, driving back from Saint Peter to Courtland, I experienced one of the most awesome sunsets of my life. The western horizon had a strip of clear sky, brilliant red-gold with the sun already out of sight. The clouds above were fringed with crimson, and on its own this would have been a lovely scene. But then, marching toward us and fading into the blackness of the eastern horizon was the most tremendous roof of clouds. They were dark and angry, with bizarre whorls and striations, a different pattern in every direction. Flickers of lightning occasionally illuminated the gloomy landscape, but mostly it was dark and ominous — think Donnie Darko, or some cheesy meteorological thriller where sixteen tornadoes might descend from the sky at once. Behind us, the world was swallowed up in the stormy darkness and it seemed like we were fleeing into the gleaming west. Truly amazing.

We visited our new apartment in Saint Paul yesterday to take some pictures and measure a few things.  The current tenants are unbelievably friendly and welcoming.  I’ve included a few images below, or click here to see to full gallery (a dozen photos that walk you through the place).  Note that the furniture and decor are not ours, but check out the floors, built-ins, and colors!

See the full gallery for more!

Today was a very productive day.  A selection of our activities:

• Reorganized all the bookshelves so that they are both orderly and attractive.  (Sarah has taught me many things… you don’t have to just put books on bookshelves… you can stack some books horizontally to break things up visually… you can intersperse photos and art objects… it’s rad.)
• Packed ten boxes and stacked them in the shed along with two empty bookcases
• Rearranged the bedroom now that it lacks a bookcase to make it look more open
• Contacted the principal of a charter school in Minneapolis and scheduled a meeting with him on Friday.  (He definitely doesn’t have a job for me, but gotta start building the network somewhere.)
• Walked down to lakeshore and bought an iPhone!  It’s a very welcome birthday present from my parents (thanks Mom and Dad!)  We’ve resisted the “smart phone” phenomenon for years now, not wanting to pay the added monthly expense.  But with the chaos of the move coming up, the ability to have internet access in the car while driving around the Twin Cities seemed well worth the expense.  Of course I don’t have time to play with my new toy, but I’m sure it will be extremely useful in MN this week.
• Cleaned up the kitchen to make it look like the counters are not usually completely covered with clutter.
• And, of course, we changed diapers and did all the usual parenting stuff… but I must admit that Griffin has been very generous at allowing us to pack and accomplish things while he toddles around the mess.
• Now we’re about to head into Berkeley for a date: Patty Griffin at Zellerbach Hall!  Sarah put this on the calendar months ago, but she called it “Special Date Night” and wouldn’t tell me anything more.  I just found out what it is.  What a great way to end a day!

We haven’t been posting on here as much recently for two reasons.  First, Sarah has been working full time, so she doesn’t have nap-times to post.  Second, we are up to our ears in preparations for our summer move to Minnesota.  When we actually think about the entire list of things that have to happen we tend to freak out.  One step at a time has become our mantra… stop, breathe, just one step.  🙂

Some things we’ve been up to recently:

• Got the house repainted last fall.  Glad we thought to do that early.
• Painters are coming tomorrow to touch up some things and do some odd projects we hadn’t predicted in the fall.
• Gardening team is trying to make it look like we’ve been spending our weekends weeding for the past five years.  (Good luck…)
• Packing… while we’re not quite up to Dave and Nancy’s level (they have packed two gigantic crates!), we are very proud of the growing stacks of boxes in the shed filled with clothes and books and kitchen supplies that we won’t be using again until we’re in the Twin Cities.
• Found a new tax accountant because we found out that our previous guy, who I’ve been using for six years, is in jail for mail fraud.  Yep.  He was in the news.
• I have completed my résumé with lots of valuable help from Jeff (who used to be a career counselor).  Also two different cover letter templates that should be flexible enough to work for many potential job openings.  And this weekend I typed up electronic applications for both Minneapolis and Saint Paul school districts.  (Not that they have any job openings at the moment, but everything is uploaded and ready for review in case anything opens up.)
• I’ve contacted a principal in Saint Paul who I will meet with on Thursday to discuss possible openings at his school and other schools.
• Did I mention that we’re going to Minnesota on Wednesday through Sunday?  (It’s our spring break… and we get to spend Griffin’s birthday with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Jeff and Aunt Alli!)
• We are in touch with a real estate agent in Saint Paul who we’re meeting on Thursday and Friday.  She’s compiling lists of houses and neighborhoods that we might be interested in.
• We’ve changed all the doorknobs and hinges in our apartment so that it doesn’t look so 90s (at the advice of our local real estate agent.)
• Been mowing the lawn every week at the command of the aforementioned gardening team.  (Usually I try to get to it a few times a year.)
• We’ve been enjoying Griffin’s increasing abilities to walk across vast amounts of space.  And the parallel ability to hurt himself more rapidly than ever.  (He’s got a cool pirate-like scrape from his forehead to his upper lip thanks to an aggressive cardboard box.)
• Investigating what to do about our leaking water heater.
• Oh, lest I forget, I have a master’s thesis to write.  Met with my advisor Tuesday morning.  Took Wednesday off and was very productive.  Aiming for a rough draft in my advisor’s hands by April 28.

So, in short, we’re moving to Minnesota.  Somehow between now and then we will sell this house, buy a new house, finish my thesis, get a job, finish packing, hire movers, and drive across country to the great state of Minnesota.

One.  Step.  At.  A.  Time.