Category: All (-ish)

US Bank: A Midcentury Building

US Bank isn’t my bank, but my unemployment benefits went to a card with their logo on it. I needed to close that account, and so headed into the location on Interstate.

As I entered, I admired the handsome door handles. Such great metal with grids. The overall look of the bank is a nice midcentury, but it’s obscured on the outside by a boring paint job, and on the inside by many renovations. But that door handle is out and proud.

While I was working with the teller, another customer came in and said she had been banking at the location since 1952! She probably remembered it in its midcentury glory.

7611: New Life for Bankie

In unpacking the trunk, I brought home my baby blanket, known as Bankie. As you can tell, Bankie was much used in my younger years.

But what to do with it?

After sitting around on my folding desk for a few weeks, the solution presented itself. The embroidery piece I’ve been working on for years was finally done enough to be made into its final form.

The plan, when I worked for MFA, was to have a place to set my water and tea when I went into the office. We had a hot desk situation, and I thought it would be nice to have something to catch the drips. I don’t work at MFA anymore, so I’m not sure if this will get used as it was originally intended.

But no matter, it needed filler. And Bankie became the filler.

I went with three layers, and that might have been one too many, but they tend to compact after a time. I saved the rest for use as filler for my next round of coasters.

I’ll post a picture when I’ve sewn up the gap I left for turning.

Unemployment Task Done

Back in May, I tackled the second task on my unemployment to-do list: painting the front of the house.

Something went wrong with the previous paint job, and the paint bubbled on the right side of the door. This was fine (I mean, not really, but it looked fine) until pressure washing peeled off the paint on some lower bubbles, leaving the cement siding exposed.

Matt had previously had the paint matched, and in May I sanded things down. Sometime in July, I borrowed my neighbor’s extension ladder and used Krud Kutter in lieu of pressure washing to clean the surface. That undid my sanding efforts.

And now, in September, I have sanded again and painted! I’m pleased with the results. I didn’t paint all the way up, and used the porch shelter as a demarcation point. But the colors look fine and point where the paint changes is blocked by the bush on one side and the upper porch on the other.

Most all of the bubbles flattened out and while you can see the outline, they blend pretty well.

This is one exception, but we will put back the mailbox and it will cover that right up. You can also see where the wood has rotted. It was very spongy when I did the initial work in May.

Rather than try to replace the wood, I’m thinking of this as a stop-gap measure. the house is up for repainting in the next few years, and the painters replace the boards that need it when they paint.

7611: Slide Quality

While scanning slides, I find it interesting to note that the slides my grandfather purchased (probably at the giftshops of national parks etc.) have mostly degraded and turned a red color. It’s very apparent when I hold them up to look at them, and somewhat less apparent in the slide viewer.

Whereas the slides my grandfather created still look great.

Books Read in August 2024

*Book Group Selection | Bolded Means Favorite

Picture Books

*Let’s Go! by Julie Flett
*Ursula Upside Down by Corey R. Tabor
*Just Like Millie by Lauren Castillo
*Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George and Mae Waite

Middle Grade

*The Night War by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
*Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol
*With Just One Wing by Brenda Woods
*A Little Bit Super: With Small Powers Come Big Problems by Leah Henderson and Gary D. Schmidt

Young Adult

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
*The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag
The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian
Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin
In the Age of Love and Chocolate by Gabrielle Zevin
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Grownup Fiction

Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
The Hunter by Tana French
The Searcher by Tana French
The Hole We’re In by Gabrielle Zevin
Stand Your Ground by Victoria Christopher Murray
The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict
Margarettown by Gabrielle Zevin

Carnegie Hill by Jonathan Vatner

Considering this books was populated with a bunch of rich people who want for little and are kind of spoiled, this was a surprisingly compelling novel. Kudos to Vatner for sketching a guy who could have been odious with a lot of nuance.

This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison

Don’t let the exclamation point fool you. This is an overall downer of a book.

Young Nonfiction

*The Bard and the Book: How the First Folio Saved the Plays of William Shakespeare from Oblivion by Ann Bausum and Marta Sevilla

Grownup Nonfiction


Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West

Recommended reading: the three chapters where West chronicles her loss of love of stand-up comedy.

Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity by Peter Attia and Bill Gifford

Tests Available at Walgreens

Standing in a very long line at Walgreens, I was surprised to see the variety of tests available for purchase without a prescription including food sensitivity, cholesterol, Vitamin D, Cocaine and other drug tests.

There’s even a paternity one. I’m wondering if these tests are available for purchase in drugstores in countries with comprehensive healthcare, or if this is another feature of the “greatest healthcare system in the world.”