Even the most diehard longtime business owners have to retire someday.
Even if like me, they’re German. (On a writer’s salary, I probably will never able to fully hang it up). And these three departures are so recent that its likely their pensions have not yet fully kicked in.
So we start with the Winzer Stube in downtown Hudson, which as a German restaurant had roots there and the owner often returned back for business purposes. You can only globe-trot like that for so long, unless like some former traveling salesmen I know, its for pleasure not work, and they hit it hard for a while after hanging up their shirt and tie for what I’ll call a leisure suit and flip-flops (how’s that for a style combo).
But back to that German joint, it marketed itself as being rated the fifth best in the country. You don’t get that way without having a crazy ethnic-driven work ethic. But places like that never really close, venue-wise, just change hands, so now has been opened the Black Rooster restaurant, perhaps named for those cool dark basement digs.
Then the store in New Richmond that like a model, can go by just one name, Vintage. Packing in all those great finds, in a way that’s orderly, saps the energy of even a young person. There was a slow rollout of deeply discounting items for quick sale, and other much-bigger-than-trinkets set outside on the edge of sidewalk and offered for free. I met the new owners by chance, who had just bought the building, and were moving out the last of it in favor of a second venue on the other end of the Twin Cities. What would become of the big New Richmond building? The couple said I would have to stay tuned.
Last of this trio is Chapter 2 Books, on the east end of Locust Street in Hudson. The owner who seemed to always be behind the counter, and was a combo of slightly terse and pleasant, appeared to just be overtaxed by all the new basics of doing business, in a town that had a transitional clientele during the height of the pandemic. When approached for an ad on my blog, he said he’d prefer to wait until after all those youngsters from the Cities stopped coming over and raising Cain, not to encourage such types to come into his store.
Relatedly, just down the way on the main drag, The 517 eatery ended its short run in a between-blocks building that has not been kind to a series of such business owners. In this day of hard-to-fill-positions, it had been advertising for everything from managers on down — virtually everything but wait staff. The first sign, in early June, said that the venue would be closed for a few weeks while conducting a restructuring. Then later in the month came the axe falling, that they would be closing and the building soon put up for sale. A nice addition, repeated from the first sign, was that if you had unused gift cards, call to have them refunded.
The old Season’s Tavern in North Hudson, now empty for years, falls into this realm. For a long time, one of the the realtors listed on their Big Sign went by the name of “Johnson.” A very unscientific search revealed that in the greater market area for the tavern there are 57 agents by that surname (OK, just kidding).
And also, in New Richmond, despite some heavy housing construction on certain ends of town, there are some name businesses on the south side that now have their lots empty. To wit: The local movie theater, a big box automotive store, and the local Freedom Value Center (or so it was).

The parallels to national acts are without parallel.
With that said, I was sure that Yam Haus would be back on the national stage again soon, so no rush to laud them. Having YouTube subscribers and monthly listeners on Spotify that are scratching 100,000 each, they wound up being in the Haus and starring on a noted U.S. music talent show. But at least in this particular case, in spring, the house ended up being made mostly of sand. Enter Sandman? Their foray into national attention ended with the first round, although that round was, again, well noted.
So, Minneapolis-based band Yam Haus has already busted out of its small-town Hudson roots. It represented Minnesota, not the Badger State, on NBC’s signature show hosted by Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson.
Composed of Lars Pruitt on lead vocals, Jake Felstow on drums, Zach Beinlich on bass and Seth Blum on guitar, the four have opted for alt pop. For Lars, that’s unlike a namesake who has made his fame through metal-band drumming. He takes the lead in on-stage banter and interaction with the guitarists, as I first witnessed at Pepper Fest.
Pruitt, Blum, and Beinlich met when Hudson High School students.
Then in 2017, there was Yam Haus. Since then, they’ve filled arenas across the Midwest, including First Avenue in a gig that has not been rivaled there by a local band for over a decade, and played major festivals, like Basilica Block Party. Weezer step aside. Although there have been many acts with strong Hudson ties that have played well, and very far into the top 20 of shows like American Idol. And on the other end of the state, the billboarded name Von Maur seems to owe to the word structure of Yam Haus, at least in number of letters, placement of vowels and even the visual shape of consonants.

— Speaking of visuals, it was just Father’s Day, and this item is about what dad truly believes in — maybe one thing more than the other. I might have to ask him, as he just got off the garden tractor after using it to survey a yard project involving my brother’s house, and as he leaned to the side to I guess prevent tipping, I said to my bro, “He’s driving a Simplicity. Which means it has no side bumpers. Because … it’s a Simplicity.”
Anyway, on the way back, we passed that wonderful tandem of shops I’ve alluded to before, Your Father’s Mustache salon or sorts, and a psychic spiritual advisor. Now I love most psychics as they know me well, but I gotta tease. I’ll bet that when you are driving there for a reading, they will divine that dad is in the next-door getting his handlebar trimmed. Also they will predict that the barber pole will still to there in red and white the next day. —

But back at it, the contest from the producers of The Voice and Eurovision Song Contest, brings together 56 artists representing every state and territory. The American Song Contest will tab its best hit single.
Yam Haus, which stands for “you are me,” and is happier then Metallica’s largely similar signature line in Sad But True, faced music acts of all sizes, for the chance release their tune through Atlantic Records. Putting together the show has been dubbed a Herculean task, executive producer Audrey Morrissey (cool rock last name) said in a press release, along the lines of staging the Flight of Icarus. (I met the guy, at the old Dibbo’s, who was a big part of producing that Iron Maiden stage show).
Could they, still, be the next big song? Epic masterpiece also?

This could the the northern exposure of the St. Croix County music scene. Northwest corner.
It is, the way I see it, a deejay style that features what are not full stanzas, but what could be seen as a line or two, that mix this in a different style and then merge it, taking it off in a new direction that is different but has common rhythm, then bringing them back together. It more commonly is termed mixing and sampling and other styles, and often features an electronic music vibe, at times harkening toward hip-hop.
All sorts of these variations, from many different acts, can be seen this weekend at a festival in Somerset, at a huge and lauded outdoor music venue than is more often thought of for rock shows. I know of this because a nephew, isaak, (stage name and when getting tickets you have to get it right, as for Caps you’d have to go with his recently obtained MBA from the little ol’ state of Texas). He is again one of the performers, as he has been honing his act with great gigs since his early teens, and I knew right away, even though that was back about a decade, that I was hearing something unique. Mixing and matching was at another level.
More of this scene can be seen at the Wild Badger, just up the road in New Richmond, on most weekends. In particular, striking my fancy for those things beyond the ordinary, is DJ Kurt, also known as Just Kurt, minus the German squibbles over the top of the vowels that I purge out even though that is my heritage. Even if its Old School, you gotta have a whole lotta love for equipment that includes a record-player turntable front and center. And to change it up, but much of a similar practice, there is also often there DJ Kris Holliday.
This style that went beyond just spinning tunes, but leaned toward performing music, even if recorded in advance, began with DJ J Strong at Dick’s Bar and Grill in Hudson two nights a weekend, again almost a decade ago, with his dubbed references to bring in rock ‘n roll. There is also the request option of Aaron RamonMC, who no doubt has much the same attitude of both the seminal punk band whose name begins with those letters, and the main gig, who is known to spice it up with intense, urban-street-language. But as far as numbers of dancers, the Smilin’ Moose just up the road soon built on it and took it to a new level.

Shelby’s benefit event in her “hike to remission” from cancer, taking place Saturday afternoon and into the evening at Mallard’s in downtown New Richmond, goes beyond the typical in raffle items.
This takes the form of a several-item gallery of guns, pro game tickets for four, ATVs and more that have great monetary value, as you can tell anytime the product description goes into dozens of words.
There is music by more than one act, if you include the longtime favorite Ponzi Scheme band that takes the newly established stage afterward, and into the later hours, as Mallard’s opens up what will be a regular weekend excursion into rock ‘n roll, to compliment its signature food from all over the map, and drink. The current big gaming room will be revamped for music to facilitate the staging process. All the better for taking in those eyes, regardless of mask or bandana, and you just might catch them if you catch her working behind the bar-rail.
And the nextdoor Wild Badger bar also opens up its back patio for the summer, with the Oatmeal band and Chris Snyder playing. (The seats/instruments that in May had been housed at the rear of the stage, and separated from the rest of the audience area by a dangling downward, informally set yellow police line, will be brought on and put into force, a harbinger of what this weekend will offer. A prelude had been slated for last Friday, as the creatively spelled Nici Peper took to the guitar).

Pea Soup Days in Somerset features two musical groups, one that’s collected rave reviews locally and around the broader region for years, and the other, while well established, hitting their home turf as a debut in the village.
The festival runs this Thursday through Sunday, June 9-12.
Phil and the Blanks serve the role of the fest’s musical opening act on Friday night, and the ultimate killer band of both the sexes, Bad Girlfriends follows on Saturday night. Phil as the good doctor, in onstage banter, might have a few things to say about those bad girls and boys following him.
Phil will front his New Richmond-based band when it treks down the way to Somerset, a hometown of one of the members, and play there for the first time. Look out Ozzfest!
Their covers include The Eagles, Beatles, Doobie Brothers and Eric Clapton, so their sound can be guitar-driven or have other focuses, and vary from a bit heavy to light rock.
They also will go around again with a new set of their originals. That’s right, the second time around with that.
And they may indeed wear their sunglasses at night — like in some of their cover art — come the second set, as the show simply smolders.
Bad Girlfriends rocks and also dips into country, classic and current, and there is a fiddle player in the band, prominently placed onstage.
They also step out of the normal cover band realm and deliver a powerful performance, of course, and you could say epic, of music by the Tran-Siberian Orchestra. They also have enough vocalists, multiples of both genders, to rip through a diverse set list that goes beyond the standards and includes the likes of Dropkick Murphy’s, Joan Jett and Elle King.
Rocker Tommy D has four different tasks with the band and bears resemblance to Axl Rose, often complete with a Bad-Ass headband, as the Bad Girlfriends do covers of that group. And to my buddy Tommy B and his cool Axl imitation, with hands all around the mic and/or harmonica, you’ve got some competition.
Music starts at 8 p.m.
The annual parade features the Somerset Marching Band, an announcer’s area in front of the Village Hall, and has almost 40 entries, which will take a new route through the village.
Grand marshal is Dave Bracht a longtime community supporter, as he started the bi-annual Haunted Hayride and the circus that comes to Somerset every other summer, so show him some love by attending various of those events. He is a former president of the Somerset Lions Club and founding member. He is the owner of Dave Bracht Real Estate.
The lineup of the golf tournament, held at Bristol Ridge, is complete and the softball tournament brackets were recently posted on the Pea Soup web page.

You could say its the market conditions. Or you could say its an extension of the usual open-close slate for a holiday weekend. Or you could say that everyone, even musicians need a family-or-such day off …
But this just passed Memorial Day found that there were not only the usual take-Monday-off schedule blips that included some nightlife spots that you’d think would be the last to shut down, but they transitioned into other closures earlier in the three-day weekend. But don’t let that mar a big musical Monday.
There was a way to still get such music shipshape, and holiday themed, come that day, with a rollout of five hours of tunes in the park along the water — as the Village People aren’t the only ones who as far as song are In The Navy — but more on that in a bit.
If you wanted to get what could be called a non-music fix that Monday, you were out of luck if your plans included the downtown Hudson cigar shop and smoking lodge, some local pharmacies, a grocer where you could find that chocolate ice cream to die for, and even the public library that could offer that addictive read you’ve come to crave, (better luck two days earlier if at the Friday Memorial Library in New Richmond).
Even that tavern a couple of blocks down that has on-again and off-again Mondays off, took the whole weekend closed (starting Saturday to put it in the books). A shop across the street made the odd choice to be shuttered on Saturday but then open on Sunday.
So what to do? Someone sailed in from across the seven seas to add bounty on Monday.
Riding the wave of country stardom, Sailor Jerri, a veteran of the U.S. Navy although still youthful looking with long brunette locks behind the mic, strummed and sang starting at 2 p.m. at Lakefront Park, perched along the St. Croix River in Hudson. She (metamorphically speaking) had sailed in after leaving Nashville by riding the Ohio River, then the Mississippi River and it locks, then the St. Croix River, passing the Kinnickinnic River to get to the Lakefront Park Park bandshell.
This was also a benefit for the Freedom Park Center in the county, which is shown on posters with a map that uses as a reference point, of course, Hatfield Lake.

— The show gained by trekking miles by the hundreds and hundreds from her home base brought in thousands for the cause, spearheaded by the local VFW. There remains an option for donations, of course. And for more holiday-ish happenings, now that its June 1, check out Notes From The Beat. —

This event to close out with better weather what had been a rainy and cold month. April showers bring … May showers and most flowers would have had to wait. And a sign alongside the street earlier had said it all, May Day and after, no mow of grass.

(As you read the below color commentary, consider that the coach of the St. Louis Blues, nemesis of the Wild, and a couple of sports talking heads from one of the new(er) mega-networks, all sported various duos of pastel colors on their suit-breasts and you would think that non-gainly for figures in a sport where the fathers of the current stars mostly had missing teeth from (well-placed?) pucks. Especially when it goes against sacred team colors. And then there is me, Howdy Joe, with still after all these years only a shadow of a photo up top, (no one has missed). Pitchers usually don’t get chipped teeth, but …)

The Bucks weren’t out there for long — is it ever long enough even when savoring a title? — in the Wild this Deer District season. The Buck has stopped here, and fewer fear the deer. And the Minnesota Wild? Amounts to a Twin killing, to bring in baseball and our now boys of summer.
But in this year’s playoffs, both of those other two teams — thus like twins — pulled a Packer to pack in another squad and exited the playoffs early, as last weekend’s ending games revealed basically same day. There’d be no repeat of Charles Barkley making the then astounding prediction that the Milwaukee Bucks would find it all and win it all, and prompted the staging of the many hundreds of dollar bills — like their reigning down of threes — falling from the set’s glowing ceiling to the stage. Light is fleeting when you Ride The Lightning. The lyric could lie in a billboard, “Slay the Greenshot.”
We also had precious little time to watch the commentators … commentate … as was the new makeup of the old matchup between The Round Mound of Rebound — in the shape of a quarter, in both the first and the fourth — and the Shaq of similar girth. And Kenny would this year only have a few instances of analysis, by marching up to the Biggest Of All TV Screens and make his points about Midwest Xs and Os. Throw in one more analyst and they all needed more than 10 yards to be put between their Gang of Four sprawling set as they sparred and shouted, in front of a camera lens that shot more horizontal then vertical. There was not nearly as much social distancing by those who picked apart the puck use at the Wild games.
There also would not be a Bucks vs. Lakers best-of-seven, such as in days of yore, but we did have the Celtics coming to town to win a 4-3 series. They did just the opposite in their Game One of the next series, blowing a 13-point lead and going on to lose by 11, in part because of a record number of (other) blocks surrendered. The site where the Bucks lost their antlers would be in that other Milwaukee arena, the Bradley Center, which also provided a shift, not instead being called Miller Park. When I wrote about the retired jerseys hanging there with a different kind of sleeve, and not one of big center Bob Lanier who’s obviously and rightly been in the news of late, I forgot to mention that they indeed go on facia “around the horn” to encompass a series of banners seen from anywhere in the park, not just the Game Sevens.
To take it down a level, so many college stars, and not those in the sky, have announced that they’re entering the so-called “transfer portal” to go to a team with better perks than just parks, having been won over by chances of winning the playoffs and the heart of the fraternity girl provided. OK, that was a way Old School way of what shall I say, enticement to join?
Or, as Osbourne’s song goes, “the astral plane we’ll travel through.” And despite lack of regional games to cover, and such concerts to go to, Ozzy’s lookalike, with his big rounded shades, can be seen at your friendly area Super WalMart, hawking their eye glasses. What? Is it Elton?
And what about those avid viewers of color commentary who when the camera panned, drew a bead from behind, so they would no longer have to endure … Terry Bradshaw, in third and long, having three-piece-suit double trouble, via a wide pink and mauve tie. At the next chair was a talking head with one of tiny black and white polka dots. No self-respecting middle linebacker would wear that. Incomplete. And the Wildless foe, St. Louis, moved into a best of seven where both teams have the Blues on their jerseys.
Don’t know about Gopher coach Fleck in that regard. But he is the near namesake of Ben Afleck and the Aflack Duck via Gilbert Godfried in a football-game commercial — presumably the polar opposites of what is just ducky about sense of style. And we won’t go into those waters about the local real estate agent, sign on the corner, by the name of Fletch, and any comparison to the Chevy Chase portrayal of a defective detective by nearly such a name, although their first names both end in Y).
But the bartender had the Blues over her precious Wild, who set the stage for what was to come by dropping a 2-0 lead to lose 5-2. She was adamant about asking about the final outcome, as it busy and the opposing goals came too quickly to be tracked. Every Series Is One Less To Your Last. On the evening following the downfall, and deflating her mood, she kept the same murky expression while lamenting what had happened, even while turning her head away from me.
That what-are-you-known-by was called online a strange “illusion” when referring to the Minnesota Wild logo combining themes. It was not an illusion that the singer who did her National Anthem thing at a recent high school playoff game, and was caught similarly, on camera a different time, wearing the pro hockey logo-ed jersey and/or hat of the other team! Oh Canada!

This in, since bars and restaurants and music clubs in the area are “banding” together to help those most in need, and that’s saying a lot these days, even if its just the current thing to do. The war in the Ukraine yields this pronouncement, as the ultimate benefit event. Bring the trapped-there child Emmakay home, and I’m writing this at the same time as hearing while doing streaming, Dio belt out — and not screaming — and extend the word “home.” How? Buy a $5 flag of the besieged country, and consider doing two, then get a free drink from Dick’s Bar, home of the claim of being the oldest bar in Wisconsin — and in a twist of timing just found a man who I’m guessing must be from Minnesota taking a selfie that was pointed the wrong way and encompassing the sign that says so — and so Minnesconsin meets the Ukraine. For little Emmakay, even after finding her way from a sorta safe haven in an underground subway with bombs going off above it, that was a temporary “home,” to the initial depot, there’d be multiple bus trips taking in multiple countries. And even then, needs that include short-term and long-term housing once here will continue. Though not even a teenager she has seen the horrors of war, although the thought is still there to get back to the many interests and ones she loves. But does all this smack of the bombs bursting in air and their red glare, and a flag that was still there?
And it’s also out there in the media, mostly in columns, and not in just one place … “Not to make light of an intense moment.” Or more than one moment. But since these moments can’t be ranked — its personal for who all of us are — and build through time, one needs to bring about say a pound of light (if only) through laughter, even if it gets there through an ounce of darkness. But don’t make it more. And be careful about the way you lyrically/comedically/satirically dress it up to reach the light.
So these days, in our country that all is about materialism and only goes out there to fix the world if there is something in it for us, there are — and here I go — so much more important things right now then getting your Chicken Kiev. War and as part of that supply chains and more such factors. And (get it) at a great price, so we can later buy more.

— For more such silliness, the rule of threes times four, see if you can answer the question posed, in Where Did You See It? —

Satire of a more serious note:
Someone in my family made this suggestion to end the war and its not necessarily diplomacy: Throw several million dollars or more, if needed, the way of the Russian Mafia (note the caps) and have them take out Putin covertly. I’d thought, dare I say this, the same route could easily have been taken with Saddam Hussain and/or Osama bin Laden, as we must have the capability, with our Intelligence, (although they did miss on Weapons of Mass Destruction). No other deaths would be needed, but he likely had his handlers too. They, spoiler alert, could have gotten in the way, or taken a bullet for him.
And on an analytical note:
One has to wonder, couldn’t portions of the Ukrainian populace be airlifted out, was as done last year? It could be noted that The Ukraine is a bit less spread out in overall population, but has more people in a larger number of big cities, so you would have to be residing in just the right location, even though it would seem there are more airports in the Ukraine. So no concentration around just one from which to serve an evacuation.
In the longterm, the Ukraine population is projected to trend around 41.46 Million in 2022, according to econometric models. The population of Ukraine represents 0.66 percent of the world´s total population which arguably means that one person in every 153 people on the planet is a resident of Ukraine.
Or was, after all the deaths caused by Russian flights and the refugee flight to leave it.
There are almost 40 million people, it turns out, in Afghanistan, and about 252,000 square miles. Even The Ukraine is less than 500 miles each way if square, but still it can be a long way to Poland. A trek from the Boundary Waters to the Twin Cities pales by comparison. Russia obviously is many times bigger than both together, and has 144 million people. So, the fact that soon after the last flight left Kabul, I saw a virtual caravan of jeeps taking refugees across Wisconsin to Fort McCoy, near its midpoint …
Stats to consider when there was only the one airport to take people out of Afghanistan, but what about the second when you did not hear about — but it was on the other end of town that was getting rural.
(I was writing this and listening, just by chance, to The Levee, which will soon break, by Led Zep. Could require another major Exodus, and we are not talking about rushing the stage at a concert by the death metal band. Lyrics comment on such a levee were given at length, like usual, by Vin and Sori on their channel — which I highly recommend — and included an important double meaning).
And of all these calamities of war and disease, a president such as Biden could not be faulted for dealing with the virus, since he did not create it, or with Putin or even Rasputin, since he did not procreate them, or the Afghanistan situation, since he did not start it.
Back to Dick’s and diplomacy and its dates, the art was shown by one of the bouncers a short time ago who stepped between a few feuding Twin Citians sporting an upbeat attitude and a sense of common ground, and in short order got them smiling like a moose and slapping each others’ backs. Don’t know just what he said that was so effective in simply seconds, but it was sad and sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man’s clothes.

Fitting that there is the mammoth Mother’s Day buffet, since Fat Tuesday and Cinco De Mayo have been celebrated in slim form in these parts.
And also make mom proud by showing that you can take one of her standards and (don’t tell her this) improve on it, as a part of her celebration when you can fit it in — the Waldorf salad. And although the internet says you can make it in as little as 10 minutes, mom will appreciate it if you choose a recipe that takes a full 20. That way more of the items to throw in, as they abound, from all food groups.

— And how do they do it? (Not asked by Dave of Eddie of Van Halen, in this case). Keep the prices at Sunday’s brunch so low when offering many kinds of meat. Take for example what’s being offered at Wolters Shoreview Supper Club in Amery. They have a full five: turkey, glazed ham, chicken pieces, sausage, and BBQ meatballs. Many venues don’t generally run pricier stuff like roast beef, and God forbid, prime rib or steak.
This is where for a change of season and what it can bring, I’d like to give Mallard’s in New Richmond a plug, over and above what I listed for various venues in prior years, for going a bit beyond the norm, things like smoked salmon and peel and eat shrimp.
And Re: The main post left out the obvious, apple slices, mayo, grapes (of all kinds, but purple is the usual choice. But be careful about using any seeds — so picking jellied can be OK — for those would be too nutty). And their are alt options to just mayo, and just maybe visit ranch. But you knew those first things anyway.–

So: You can add not only walnuts and/or pecans, but get both and do it one better with just a bit of mixed nuts, and add the almonds that we recommend with light or no salt. Just slice them in half.
There is my mom’s old standby, one of a few I didn’t know we had in common until she told me so, just a bit of horseradish, which can be very inexpensive even when custom-made.
Then two of my old standbys that fit into many a dish, chopped green peppers and oregano. It should be noted that all things green-colored lend a spring theme to your creation. May Day lives a week later.

— The Cinco De Mayo scene I checked out in downtown NR could of been better — or worse — as the north end of the county went somewhat south as far as sustained customer traffic. Fitting I heard the jukebox song, “I’ve seen better days …” But the Corona, and not the virus, tasted great for $3 even when ordered at 12:10. However, the bartender said she’d seen enough for the night, and the karaoke-meister packed up early. But for more Mother’s Day music, the Wild Badger has Kevin Lombardo from 4-8 p.m. Next best thing to Guy Lombardo. Cinco stuff still was available and on special on Saturday at Your Local Hometown Grocer, at the same time as their Mom’s Day cupcake walk. And all around New Richmond proper continue to be cool trappings in that vein, with their bright colors and decor, and one even is shown on the (required?) mask of a cabbie. More of that flair is on downtown benches, facing both to and fro, the street his vehicle roams.–

Back to mom: Cole slaw greens and even dressing can be mixed in with a small form. Or if your bowl is oblong, just wallop in a dollop at each end. And lettuce is particularly a part of the package, iceberg is good and romaine is better, and if you’re daring for a bit bolder taste, the sprigs of green like parsley at the end of your celery, but you don’t get that if buying only hearts. And spinach anyone? And one recipe adds that it should be “Boston” lettuce, which is where some of my matriarchs hail from.
Here is a listing of the other ingredients that will show mom you did your homework, in order from the dollop size doses, down to the mere dustings, working with the well-said wonder of Wikipedia and its wonks, with my own adds. To wit: Chicken and/or turkey chunks (watch out for the other white meat), pears, yogurt whether plain or flavored to mesh with what’s listed above, raisins or sliced raisinettes candy, apple juice, orange drizzle and chunks or juice, olive oil, cinnamon, lemon juice and lemongrass, whipping cream, vinegar, black pepper …
May need to make it 1 salad 2. And watch your combos of sauces and juices, don’t overdue with multiples.
As always, other than the above ranking, HudsonWiNightlife leaves it up to you to experiment and come up with your own measurements for the ingredients, (that way we can let you plagarize and make it your own, and it can be our little secret, we promise we won’t tell mom). Just like she never told you about that thing she has … woah, we won’t go there, especially on this, The Eighth. And yes, we do again encourage you to use up what’s already in your fridge (just don’t let mom think you’re being cheap, so hit the store for a thing or two and keep the receipt).

It started with some bittersweet dreams, but May Day — and some checking revealed that this date might be fitting — brought with it a reaching out across that apparently thin veil from some people who passed on suddenly last summer, only now evoking a mid-summer night’s dream, and a group from earlier on who paved the way for the more recent ones.
It seemed, indeed, that they wanted me to join them. And the framework of why now was given by themes pervading the music of a heavy metal icon who passed away over a decade ago.
So three layers of departure stepped forward in far less than 24 hours, that ended fittingly, I think, on a Sunday morning.

— Thought(s) for the day(s). And it’s about the day(s). My beloved screen saver new thingee told me that May 1 is the first day of Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2022. Also, earlier this year was (play your) Jukebox Day, (Capitalism motive). Wait, aren’t there a lot more music lovers broadly speaking, than those type of Islanders (and not New York). Shouldn’t that order be flip-flopped and we have a whole such music month? But wait just a minute, the former also encompassed Asian Americans, so I guess my theory was a Shot In The Dark. While I’m at skewering people, I reminded myself of a plea made on social media when a particular enclave ended up on the wrong end of the shtick on a certain issue: “Lake Elmo people are people too.” Uhm, are you sure? C’mon man, you’re telling me those (hefty) Iowans are the only ones we can make light of … —

This thus was a weekend marking remembrance of spring renewal and a halfway point of the sun year, International Workers Day and the well-known pilot’s signal of May day, May day, to show their distress is real. Ah, distress.
It also for me became a time to give memory for in many cases really the first time, to those who have passed on months ago, and in some cases longer, but not to the degree of a day of the dead. But now accentuate the positive fully.
Thus it did leave me, after a half-day process rang through completely, to have a burst of renewal. Have a pint for that midpoint?
But first I needed to do my homework.
Online information gained in several different searches was helpful, and although it provided a framework for dealing with individual situations and ways to grieve, it gave lots of detail. When offering condolences, timing is vital, from immediately to after months, and I was away for the summer when some loved ones passed. But the upshot was clear, write letters and notes to them, think of them and make it be known the fact that they will be remembered, recall specific warm memories — like the cheesy photo of Danyiel in her snakeskin pants on a Harley, and yes I was able to get it published — and even “talk” to them. I had not done this, I had not even taken time to grieve in any of those cases, just went to the next step of life, rather than acknowledging death. My mental way of doing this was, typical for me, a combination of telepathic message, prayer to them also, and meditation. It was short and sweet, but conveyed what had long been needed to convey, if only in short form. (I kept thinking immediately afterward, is there another facet they I have forgotten to stick in, did I emphasize the key points enough). And writing this post sealed the rest of the deal, and I will get some closure to this part of the process by adding for each of them this omission: I love you.

It was 6 p.m. on April 30 and although dog tired — like Ozzy asking in song why darkness is overdue? — I feared another sleepless night. So I took two different forms of sleep meds, the recommendations for dosage of the 25 mg of that one I can’t pronounce, and 10 mg of melatonin, and a half can of NA beer. Did this sway what I experienced in near sleep, or is there more to the story?
I kept getting this feeling of quickly being pulled toward the abyss through knock-dead fast sleep, and have to mentally fight it off — or should I? — and later when May Day arrived, deciphered this could have been a means for those summer people to have me come join them in an afterlife. Strange, but not unprecedented, but I wondered since this was the first May Day after those Big Three had passed on last summer …
So I googled like only I can google to get a handle on this, as this is what I and almost all in our internet-based society come to do in times of trouble: Is May Day a time when people who are deceased reach out to the living?
The answer was interesting as there was a pagan religion that stressed the belief, through an observance called Beltane, that May Day was a time when the year is divided in half between light and darkness. This resonated. Why? Another part of the death picture on last night was that, as an introduction to it from favorite rock lyricist Ronnie James Dio who died over a decade ago, and was a friend of a friend, his words of the interplay between light and darkness spawned many an album. This spun off to dreams where in the process of counting my batches of coins, which I kept on finding in new places, I had to enter the houses of such people while having a limited time to look, and not have materialism overshadow the main theme of the day — a parade/funeral that featured music. Prior to this in the dream I had the first few digits for my bank account number appear before me, and an invitation to try to remember the rest. I declined, for fear I would remember them in the wrong order. Meaning? There were many events we’d all wanted to get tickets to and attend in order to bond much further, but with finances always extremely tight, never could because there was never even a Benjamin to throw to it. (That denomination is chosen with purpose, and yes I remember the instance — with more then one person).

An alert for a later and related post: The deep meaning behind such things, in many different layers, as the Slayer song, Seasons in the Abyss. Much more as I eventually segue into that type of lyrical analysis.