T is for teddy bear

Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater (30 minutes east of St. Paul) is closed for the winter, but come back in April for a teddy bear picnic. For more ABC Wednesday photos, go here.

Alley graffiti

A little preview of tomorrow's post - this funny stencil appears on an electrical box in an alleyway in my neighborhood. Wonder of Excel Energy knows about this or maybe they did it!

Through the woods

Are these over the river? Near Grandma's house? They're in suburban St. Paul, that much I know.

Coal barges

Waiting to be shipped downstream, I suspect, from their collection point at Upper Landing in St. Paul.

Uh-oh...

Watch out for the mounted police in my neighborhood.

Morning walk

We have been having some unexpectedly pleasant weather for the end of November and Twin Citians are quick to take advantage of this. Thanksgiving morning on the Stone Arch Bridge was breathtaking.

Thanksgiving: Minnesota style

Did you know that Minnesota produces more turkeys than any other state in the union? Here's how we celebrate in the Twin Cities. Happy Thanksgiving!

S is for satellite dish

The local ABC affiliate on University Avenue has multiple dishes (the better to serve up all that news and entertainment). For more ABC Wednesday photos, go here.

Thanksgiving bounty

The decorative stack of squash outside Forepaugh's restaurant in St. Paul would make a lot of pies for the Thanksgiving table.

Ready for roasting

I love garlic mashed potatoes. There's enough here (on display at the Farmers Market) for multiple Thanksgiving dinners.

Up the hill

I was out in Stillwater recently, a 30-minute drive from St. Paul, to do some early holiday shopping and saw this great "ghost sign" as a visitor to this blog called them a couple of weeks ago.

Composting

This will be one of the last weekends to get those leaves to the compost. This site is off St. Clair near 35E in St. Paul and is jam-packed with cars and trucks on the weekends.

Did you get this week's theme? It was pretty easy, no? Birds - live or otherwise (see Monday or Thursday).

Downy

Last post for this week's theme and it should be more than evident today. This photo was taken along the Mississippi.

Park here

If you've been to the State Fair you may recognize one of the signs that help you find your way back to your car. It's not an easy job. Post #4 for this week's theme. You probably have it by now.

R is for robin

If the robins know what's good for them they'll be heading south about now (this was taken last spring in Fort Snelling State Park). For more ABC Wednesday photos, go here. And, remember, this is the third post for this week's theme.

Night heron

Post 2 for this week's theme is this night heron perched along the shores of Como Lake.

Banksy in St. Paul?

Just discovered on the back side of an apartment building along Grand Avenue. Looks a lot like our very own Banksy wannabe. First post for this week's theme.

Empty vines

On last weekend's trip down the Mississippi, I wandered through this vineyard behind the river bluffs. Long past grape season and ready for the first snows to arrive (though we've had two lovely weekends in row now - holding off the inevitable...). Here's what I found here one spring.

Dinkytown to downtown

We've been having some pretty fine fall days here in the Twin Cities and this view of downtown Minneapolis from Dinkytown (the commercial area near the U of M campus) is proof of that. More university views here.

Small town commerce

You get two for the price of one on this last day of photos from places within 100 miles of the Twin Cities. The top one is in Decorah, Iowa and the bottom one in Winona, Minnesota. Both show typical commercial properties in the Midwest from the late 19th and early 20th centuries with just a hint of what the buildings once contained. Here's a previous post from St. Paul, too.

Wind farm

Back to our theme for the week - places within about 100 miles of the Twin Cities. Today's location is somewhere on the southwestern plains of the state where the wind whips through summer or winter and the turbines stretch for as far as the eye can see - which is pretty far!

Q is for queue

We would say "line" in the U.S. but since we speak a form of British English (Britican? Amerish?) in our household this will do nicely for today. However, the location does not make it a candidate for this week's theme. These students are boarding a bus right in the middle of the U of M campus - not some 100 miles from the Twin Cities.

To see more ABC Wednesday entries, click here.

Spider Lake Lodge

Another Wisconsin locale about 100 miles from the Twin Cities - this time heading northeast into the woods near Hayward.  The former resort is now really a B&B since the cabins have been sold off to individuals and the lodge remains with its cozy rooms and stone fireplaces.

Rail corridor

I spent a recent weekend away on a stretch of the Mississippi south of the Twin Cities and on the east bank (or Wisconsin side) of the river. We must've counted dozens of trains shuttling north and south on a narrow bit of land wedged between the river bluffs and the water.

The theme this week is places within about 100 miles of the Twin Cities. Kind of a difficult one to discern from photos even if you know the area well, so enjoy knowing this one ahead of time.

Birth of the Electric Fetus

I recently took a historical walking tour of Cedar-Riverside which is in large part a history of the music scene in Minneapolis. The Electric Fetus record store is no longer in this part of town but here's where it started.

Waiting

The traffic around the Twin Cities has been especially bad recently, in my frustrated opinion. Lots of construction (lots of jobs which is good) and lots of impatient drivers. This is on the Lake Street Bridge looking across from Minneapolis up the hill into St. Paul.

The theme, by the way, for this past week was based on the ABC Wednesday post - pink (even though Monday had no pink, they were technically pink flamingos).

Got pink?

If you've been following the blog this week, you'll see a pattern. This Friday post reprises the Monday post and was, in fact, taken at the same location earlier this year.

Lights, camera, music!

We've been at Lee's Liquor Lounge before but this image goes the best with this week's theme.

P is for pink

These young ladies were out drumming up business for a salon on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. Shocking! See more contributions to ABC Wednesday here.

Theme day: Fences

The art community of Lowertown in St. Paul advertised their recent art crawl on a chain link fence that surrounds a construction site. Click here to see thumbnails of theme day participants.