dreamshark

The Minicon 55 Monday night post-con party will be at Dream Park tonight, starting at 7 pm. Today happens to be Richard's birthday, so there will be ice cream cake, beef stew, and probably a tower of White Castles. Be there or be square!

This is the first in-person Minnstf meeting since March 2020. The weather looks pretty good: 10 degrees cooler than yesterday, no rain, less humidity, gorgeous blue skies. Ten more degrees cooler would be nice, but this should do. I'm a little nervous about entertaining for the first time in so long, but excited. It sounds like a lot of people are coming.

I'm kind of assuming that any local people who would see this have already seen the postings on natter and Facebook, but just in case, here's the details.

======================================================

DATE Sat, June 12.

TIME 4 pm - midnight (or later if we feel like it)

HOSTS: Richard Tatge and Sharon Kahn

ADDRESS Dream Park (4002 Pillsbury Ave S, Minneapolis)

FFI sharon.kahn@gmail.com

First in-person Minnstf meeting since March 7, 2020!

This will be an indoor-outdoor meeting with the following COVID-related policies

Masks will not be required outdoors regardless of vaccination status
Anyone can use the bathroom, but if you are not fully vaccinated you are requested to wear a mask and not to linger indoors
Indoor socializing (without masks) is open to anyone who is fully vaccinated. Honor system - no documentation required. Our household is fully vaccinated.

Outdoors we will have the back patio and a new portable gazebo to provide protection from sun, mosquitoes, and light rain. Music and smoking on back patio.

DIRECTIONS: Dream Park is a large gold house with red and brown trim on the SW corner of Pillsbury and 40th St, which is about halfway between Lyndale Ave and I-35W. If approaching from the north, take the 35th/36th St exit. From the south take 46th St. exit. Construction on I-35W is entering its umpteenth year so you never know for sure, but last time I checked both of those exits were open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you're new to Minn-StF, you should know that our "meetings" are actually parties. The business meeting (5-15 minutes of announcements) will typically be between 5-6pm. We encourage people to bring snacks or drinks to share at the meetings, but that's not required; hosts will provide some food and drink.

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/565070.html

HOST: Kevin Austin

As is customary, this MnStf meeting has been moved from its usual Saturday location to coincide with New Years Eve. It is both a party and an official meeting. Since it is a New Years party, it starts in the evening and runs until the New Year pops.

To attend meeting, open Discord App on computer or smart phone. Navigate to MnStF and open the #general text channel. There may also be something going on in the General voice channel.

This is our 9th virtual Minnstf meeting. It counts toward voting eligibility, but only if you sign in!
Sign in by opening the mnstf-meeting-attendance channel and entering your real name (i.e., a name that will be recognizable to the Minnstf Membership Secretary) during the time slot announced for the meeting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those who are not yet members of the MnStf Discord server the invitation link is: https://discord.gg/g9hSkc3 .
Info on Discord for MnStf members
https://stfnal.com/discord/ FFI: discord@mnstf.org

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/548499.html

Dreamhaven is having an impromptu outdoor victory party today, starting momentarily and going until at least 6pm when the store closes. They have a large outdoor area with chairs and an easily accessible bathroom. Considering the neighborhood there will probably be dancing in the streets. Bring your drums and cowbells!

Note: since Greg and Lisa only heard the news as they were driving in to town, they didn't have time to stock up on supplies, so it's very much potluck. Mostly about providing a safe outdoor space to gather. I'm heading over there soon

2301 E. 38th St.

(612) 823-6161

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/539438.html

Funerals are the opposite of weddings. Weddings are typically over-planned, with the planning stage stretching out for months and months. Funerals, even when not unexpected, are thrown together in a matter of days. Both can be stressful, but different types of stress. Grandma Mary was 100 years old, but her final decline was surprisingly fast so it was still a little bit of a surprise. But the Tatge family is highly competent (as well as extremely nice), and the funeral was everything a funeral should be.The only snag was that about twice as many people showed up as the family had estimated and THE CHURCH LADIES RAN OUT OF FOOD, which is something I have never seen happen. But there were extra meat and cheese platters and crockpots full of BBQ sloppy joe filling and about 10 million pans of bars waiting at various family members' houses, so not a disaster. I was impressed with how well little groups of workers spontaneously formed and got things done without any direction needed. Of course most of them have lived within 30 miles of each other for decades and they have done this kind of thing many times before, but I'm still always in awe at how seamlessly everything just happens.

Typically I just stand around feeling awkward because I'm waiting for direction that never comes because everybody else just knows what needs to happen. But this time I did actually get to help with something I know how to do, which was nice. Most of the memorial services I have been to have had a lot of different people standing up to offer memories of the deceased, but in Benson they prefer the single eulogy model. This honor was offered to Richard as the eldest child. Although he is not exactly shy, he is not the most verbal person on the planet and was nervous about it. He finally agreed when told that it would all be written out beforehand and all he had to do was read it. About a half-dozen family members had gathered the night after the death and had it all pretty much written, so easy-peasy. Then Christopher emailed me the eulogy-in-progress, which turned out to be nothing more than brainstorming notes. I sat down at the computer and Richard read me his own random notes, which I rewrote into actual paragraphs. I put it into Google Docs and shared the link with whoever was interested, and a few more memories were added. The original author washed his hands of the document at this point, so I happily took over for the final edit. Marlene and Doug contributed the two best-written paragraphs, one of which I used as a lead-in to the memories and the other as a conclusion. While Richard and I drove out to Benson, various family members fact-checked and made minor edits. In the end, it was just what you want a thing like this to be - better than the sum of its parts. It's here if you want to read it.

And here's Richard, reading the eulogy in the church with the draped coffin in the foreground.

As a celebration of Mary Strom Tatge's endless energy and creativity, somebody came up with the idea of having family members bring in some of the many quilts she had made them over the years and laying them over the pews. There were about 85, which couldn't have been more than a quarter of the number she actually made.

Mary loved dressing up and was known for the variety of colorful hats that she would wear to church. So as a tribute to that side of her personality, the women of the family all wore hats. The pre-funeral text storm of ladies discussing hats and wardrobe for the ceremony was like being back in high school, but look how well it turned out. Not sure how Jesus ended up in the picture, but he seems to approve.

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/502636.html

Richard and I built up quite a head of steam for our annual Minnstf Halloween Party/Minnstf Meeting, and after all that I'm delighted to report that it was wonderful. There was just one last-minute home catastrophe (water heater died on Friday). But fortunately, of all the essential home systems that can fail, the hot water heater is probably the one that has the least direct effect on guests (unless they were planning to shower while they were here). It turns out not to be that hard to heat water on the stove for washing dishes. I like to think that the bracing cold shower I took before the party just gave me extra energy.

Richard traditionally does the cooking and most of the party prep in our household, but this year I did my part by spending two months renovating the attic and talking about it so incessantly that I suspect some people just showed up out of curiosity to see it. And my obsession with christening the newly available space with a music party actually bore fruit. It's been too long since we had music at a Minnstf event. Thanks to the folks who not only brought their instruments but schlepped them up two flights of stairs, and then had to put up with me moving furniture around and messing with the climate control while they were playing. The attic party didn't last terribly long, but I think it was enjoyed by all. We had enough chairs for the musicians, but could have used some additional seating for listeners. I have some ideas for next time.

Our Membership Secretary informs me that 58 people signed in for the meeting! Since there are always people who don't sign in, especially late-comers, I think we probably had 60-70 attendees. Wow! Three large crockpots of hot food and most of the munchies were consumed, which supports that estimate. The first floor was sometimes unpleasantly crowded, but with the attic and fire circle on the back patio for overflow, it was fine. Best of all, it was too crowded for gaming, which meant that people were forced to talk to each other, for hours. There were great conversations going on all over the party space, and the two new people who attended had no trouble finding people to talk with.

There were some great costumes too, which I have been unsuccessfully trying to post since yesterday. I'm using the email method to post pictures to Dreamwidth, which usually works eventually but sometimes takes A DAY OR TWO. So I'll just post this without them.

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/495249.html

DATE Oct 26, 2019
TIME 4 pm - late
HOSTS: Richard Tatge and Sharon Kahn
ADDRESS Dream Park: 4002 Pillsbury Ave So, Minneapolis MN 55409
FFI: 612-827-3228 or email sharon.kahn@gmail.com

This is the Minnstf Halloween Meeting/Party. Costumes and fun clothes are encouraged but not required. It is also a slightly belated birthday party for Barb Jensen and Terry Hughes (there will be cake!) and some sort of music party. Musicians, bring your instruments!

Big house with fabulous clean attic available for music party (or gaming if musicians would rather play downstairs). Weather permitting, we will also have a fire going on the patio outside, making the smoking area a nice place to hang out.

House is easy to find, right on the corner and lit up with orange lights and 165 lighted pumpkins.Seriously, 165, according to the Pumpkin Master.

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/494850.html

It's an indoor party, mostly. If it's not ridiculously cold we usually send out an expedition to take a turn up and down the block wassailing the neighbors, but the party continues inside while this is going on.

Date and time: Sunday, Dec 23, 5-9pm

Your hosts: Sharon Kahn and Richard Tatge

Address: 4002 Pillsbury Avenue South, Minneapolis

Phone: (612) 827-3228

DIRECTIONS

The house is easy to find: right on the Corner of 40th and Pillsbury, decked out with many lights. This is about 1/2 mile west of I-35W halfway between the 36th St. and 46th St. exits.

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/477691.html

We are having our annual Christmas Music Party at the usual time: the last Sunday before Christmas Eve. This is a party for people who like to get together and sing traditional Christmas songs and carols (all the verses!).
Lyric sheets will be provided. If you have friends who like to sing Christmas songs, bring them along, the more the merrier! Accompanists welcome, but you'll have to bring your own instrument - we no longer have a piano.

It's an indoor party, mostly. If it's not ridiculously cold we usually send out an expedition to take a turn up and down the block wassailing the neighbors, but the party continues inside while this is going on.

Date and time: Sunday, Dec 23, 5-9pm
Your hosts: Sharon Kahn and Richard Tatge
Address: 4002 Pillsbury Avenue South, Minneapolis
Phone: (612) 827-3228

DIRECTIONS
The house is easy to find: right on the Corner of 40th and Pillsbury, decked out with many lights. This is about 1/2 mile west of I-35W halfway between the 36th St. and 46th St. exits.

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/476408.html

Richard Tatge is startled to discover that he is about to turn 75! He hasn’t had a birthday party for many many years, but has decided that this one is worth celebrating. Won’t you come and celebrate with us?

WHEN: Sunday, April 22, starting at 3pm and going late.

WHERE: Dream Park (4002 Pillsbury Ave South, Minneapolis MN)

FFI: 612-827-3228

Music, gaming, and fun, plus bonus tours of the game collection. Bring musical instruments, food and drink to share (if you feel like it). Kids welcome.

DIRECTIONS to Dream Park: 4002 Pillsbury Ave So, Mpls

It’s the big gold house on the SW corner of 40th St and Pillsbury Ave So, between Nicollet and Lyndale. Take 36th St or 46th St exit from I-35W and go west a few blocks.

And yes, if you arrive after dark the Christmas lights are still up, so you really can't miss it.

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/470658.html

We are having our annual Christmas Music Party at the usual time: the last Sunday before Christmas Eve.

This is a party for people who like to get together and sing traditional Christmas songs and carols (all the verses!). Lyric sheets will be provided. If you have friends who like to sing Christmas songs, bring them along, the more the merrier! Accompanists welcome, but you'll have to bring your own instrument - we no longer have a piano.

Date and time: Sunday, Dec 17, 5-9pm

Your hosts: Sharon Kahn and Richard Tatge

Address: 4002 Pillsbury Ave South (the corner house with all the lights)

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/466514.html

We are having our annual Christmas Music Party at the usual time: the last Sunday before Christmas Eve. In other words, if Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday, then we have the party the Sunday before that, which is what happens this year. So the party is December 17.

Date and time: Sunday, Dec 17, 5-9pm

Your hosts: Sharon Kahn and Richard Tatge

Address: 4002 Pillsbury Ave South (the corner house with all the lights)

Crossposts: https://dreamshark.livejournal.com/465917.html

We are having our annual Christmas Music Party at the usual time: the last Sunday before Christmas. This is a party for people who like to get together and sing traditional Christmas songs and carols (all the verses!). Lyric sheets will be provided. If you have friends who like to sing Christmas songs, bring them along, the more the merrier! Accompanists welcome, but you'll have to bring your own instrument - we no longer have a piano.

It's an indoor party, mostly. If it's not ridiculously cold we usually send out an expedition to take a turn up and down the block wassailing the neighbors, but the party continues inside while this is going on.

Date and time: Sunday, Dec 20, 5-9pm
Your hosts: Sharon Kahn and Richard Tatge
Address: 4002 Pillsbury Avenue South, Minneapolis
Phone: (612) 827-3228

DIRECTIONS
The house is easy to find: right on the Corner of 40th and Pillsbury, decked out with many lights. This is about 1/2 mile west of I-35W halfway between the 36th St. and 46th St. exits.

We are having our annual Christmas Music Party at the usual time: the last Sunday before Christmas. This is a party for people who like to get together and sing traditional Christmas songs and carols together (all the verses!). Lyric sheets will be provided. If you have friends who like to sing Christmas songs, bring them along, the more the merrier! Accompanists welcome, but you'll have to bring your own instrument - we no longer have a piano.

It's an indoor party, mostly. If it's not ridiculously cold we usually send out an expedition to take a turn up and down the block wassailing the neighbors, but the party continues inside while this is going on.

Date and time: Sunday, Dec 22, 5-9pm
Your hosts: Sharon Kahn and Richard Tatge
Address: 4002 Pillsbury Avenue South, Minneapolis
Phone: (612) 827-3228

DIRECTIONS
The house is easy to find: right on the Corner of 40th and Pillsbury, decked out with many lights. This is about 1/2 mile west of I-35W halfway between the 36th St. and 46th St. exits. Richard isn't finished decorating yet, but here's what it looked like last year. Just in case you think you might miss it.
2012_xmas_dp2

... for making our Halloween meeting such a fun party. Special thanks to those who dropped by early in the afternoon to keep mw company during that awkward period before the 4pm rush.

seekerval so glad you and Jeff came! It was a treat to have time to catch up with your lives. I especially enjoyed the early part of the meeting because it got so crowded later I had to go hide (that's actually how you can tell that we're having a successful party - I'm hiding).

The South Minneapolis Fertility Festival was facing yet another dubious forecast (60 degrees and cloudy, no 70 degrees and raining, no...). It was 48 and cloudy at 10am. So we gave up on the big picnic idea, piled on layers of clothes, and headed out with just a backpack each. About the time the parade started out for the park, the sun came out and we all started shedding layers. By the time the parade reached the park we were wondering why nobody brought sunscreen. The leaves came out on the trees, flowers burst into bloom, and birdies sang. Spring is here!

Anybody know what this puppet is? She's not one of the 5 Basic Powderhorn Spirit puppets, but almost as big and far more expressive. I hope she's back next year.

We're going but not sure if we should bother with a picnic with the weather so iffy.

... for making our annual carol singing party a great success. Really, I should say, "Richard's carol singing party" as he is the one who decorates the house, spends days preparing a huge spread of food, and stalwartly leads the singing. Y'all really don't have to bring all that food, since there is simply no stopping R from filling every square inch of our groaning board himself and then we have nowhere to put the contributions. But more food kept showing up, and despite the multitudes (I think there were about 50 people this year!) we have a ton of comestibles left over. Fortunately baked goods freeze fairly well.

Even more fortunately, we're having another party in a week. See you on New Years Eve?

We are having our annual Christmas Music Party at the usual time: the last Sunday before Christmas. This is a party for people who like to get together and sing traditional Christmas songs and carols together (all the verses!). Lyric sheets will be provided. If you have friends who like to sing Christmas songs, bring them along, the more the merrier! Accompanists welcome, but you'll have to bring your own instrument - we no longer have a piano.

It's an indoor party, mostly. If it's not ridiculously cold we usually send out an expedition to take a turn up and down the block wassailing the neighbors, but the party continues inside while this is going on.

Date and time: Sunday, Dec 23, 5-9pm
Your hosts: Sharon Kahn and Richard Tatge
Address: 4002 Pillsbury Avenue South, Minneapolis
Phone: (612) 827-3228

DIRECTIONS
The house is easy to find: right on the Corner of 40th and Pillsbury, decked out with many lights. This is about 1/2 mile west of I-35W
halfway between the 36th St. and 46th St. exits.

Today has been lovely. Thank you David Emerson for the ride home at about 1:30 am this morning. I slept until 11am, had iced coffee with my breakfast, sat in the backyard swing reading Friday and Saturday's newspaper, worked on jewelry, ate ice cream and tuna fish sandwiches, then read today's paper. R and T are still at the con, and I'm luxuriating in being alone. But best of all is the stillness. No whooping, shrieking, caterwauling, giggling, yammering, group singing, floor-shaking bass lines or the sounds of people rebounding off of hallway walls. I can open a door and just walk through it without having to shove my way through a sweltering mass of howling humanity. What bliss.

5,400 is just too damn many people for that hotel. The Convergence staff does an amazing job of managing the people and the space, but ultimately you can't get a gallon of water into a 2-quart measuring cup no matter how hard you try.

There were some good times, of course. I think the Minnstf room party went very well - thanks to all who helped out and especially to mle292 and vanaabegra for shouldering primary responsibility for the entire weekend. There were quite a few vintage Minstfers at the Friday night party for Jim, and it was gratifying to see some of them reconnecting with people they hadn't seen in many years. I think Jim would have been pleased.

Probably the best part of the con was the new (outdoor) smoking consuite very capably managed by Cayenne Chris Conroy. Variously referred to as "the Plaza," "the smokers' tent," and "the Taj Mahal," it was a re-imagining of the deserted U-shaped space on the east side of the hotel into a sprawling outdoor cafe. The con rented a big tent and the hotel provided chairs, tables, ambient music and a short-order grill. Periodically, weird entertainment events would transpire, such as the roller derby scrimmage on Saturday. Even during the "Heatstroke Hacienda" days before the weather broke it was pleasanter than the non-stop mosh pit atmosphere inside the hotel. I probably spent 2 or 3 hours out there over the course of the con, and most of my pleasantest con memories are from there. Among other things, I think I saw all the Brusts out there at one time or another, although it was indoors at the base of the escalator that I ran into Corwin, Dee and Anika. I had some nice conversations in the Minnstf room too, including a long chat with Ruth Anderson and her new husband. A lovely breakfast with Chas and Bonnie and Liz. Some enjoyable random conversations with strangers and surprise encounters with old friends. Didn't catch much programming except for the Marian Call concert, but that was well worth attending.

So all in all, it wasn't a bad con for me. But none of it holds a candle to the relief of being done with it. I'm pretty sure that's nature's way of telling me that it's time for me and Convergence to part company.

Profile

dreamshark

March 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2026

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Ivory Alcea for Mobility by branchandroot
Resources: Mitsuba Aoi

|

Entries tagged with events

Dead Dodo Party right here, any time now!

Minnstf TODAY at our place!

Minnstf New Years Eve Party starts at 8pm

Dreamhaven victory party (outdoors)

Grandma Mary's funeral

Survived the big party - and it was a great success

Last Warning - Minnstf Halloween Party today

Caroling Party tomorrow!

Annual Caroling Party Coming Up: Sunday Dec 23

Richard's 75th Birthday Party - Sun Apr 22

Caroling Party TODAY at Dream Park

Annual Caroling Party - Dec 17

Annual Dream Park Caroling Party - Sunday Dec 20

Dec 22 - save the date for the Dreampark Christmas Caroling Party

Thanks to all ...

Powderhorn May Day - it worked!

Who's going to May Day celebration?

Thanks to all the lovely singers

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat...Carol Party reminder

Gee, It's Great to Be Back Home

Profile

Page Summary

Style Credit