Discovering a Great Bookstore

We have a short window between the end of fall soccer and the start of travelling basketball, so Saturdays and Sundays are precious during that time.  I was needing some good quality time with my DD#2 a few weeks back.  DD#1 was still home then, packing and working and getting ready for her (now maybe) move out west, and with limited time for us at home.  We decided to make a city day of it.  There is nothing my younger daughter likes more than books, and put her in a book store is like putting other kids in a candy store.  She walks into one, and there is just a beam of light coming from her face.  She has that same reaction in libraries, and loves to check out new ones whenever possible. She  also picked up my habit of rereading favorite books over and over, so she likes to own the ones that are her favorites.  Not very thrifty, but she could care less about new clothes, hanging out in malls, or other things kids her age spend money on, so at this stage, not too worried about the occasional $10-$20 she spends on books from earned babysitting or gift money.  She is never without a book-you never know when there might be some quiet time. 

This particular early November Saturday I wanted to take her to something more unique than a Barnes and Noble.  In St Paul there is an awesome books tore called "subtext".  Subtext is located in the basement, under an iconic coffee house called "Nina's", pronounced like 9a's, not nee-na's. This is important because that was my grandmothers name, pronounced that way.  I never knew that grandma, so it feels like a connection that I never had.  Weird? I am fond of this coffee house as a place to end my work day when it logistically just doesn't make sense to battle traffic to head back to the office, but I'd miss too much  time being able to respond to e-mails if I headed home since I have a pretty long commute. 

Subtext did not disappoint.  When we first went downstairs, her first impression was it was pretty cool, but not a lot of books of her genre.  There were additional tables and soft reading areas with  side tables, as the book store is an extension of Nina's.  There seemed to be a couple book studies going on, as well as several browsers.  DD#1 looked around, and was about to suggest we go, when I directed her to the "Addendum", the alcove off the main book store, set up brilliantly for teens and children.

DD#1 browses at the Sci-fi fantasy, next to a John Green display.

She plunked herself down and started looking at titles and reading first pages trying to make decisions.  This was not  process to rush.  Down the hall, behind a stone wall was the collection of books on home improvement, decorating, and cooking.  Don't you love how they use the imperfections in the stone walls as book displays? I found a couple decorating and some vegetarian cookbooks, grabbed one of the red chairs, and did some browsing on my own.  I was not going to buy though, as I am still on my buy one thing, throw two, and wasn't in the mindset to declutter when I came home.  That rule has been serving me well.  While the house isn't that much tidier, we at least are slowly getting unused and unneeded stuff out of the house, plus, I think we are getting a little boost in the checkbook.  It is crucial because there have been so many other  costs and budget dings that weren't part of the budget.

After she settled on a book, we paid for it, and headed back upstairs.  There we had a sandwich and coffee/cocoa, and chatted about the book she selected, and other titles by the author.  Nina's was bustling with families, college students, and  small groups of people catching up with each other. Missing from my work day stops were the multitude of laptops and tablets, though still a few.  It was Saturday, so people were looking to recharge with human connections. There was going to be a poetry slam at 2:00, and we debated sticking around. We walked around the neighborhood a little bit, but decided not to stay for the poetry reading.  Maybe another time, and with her inviting a friend along to enjoy it with. We did take our time getting home, making a couple other stops on route.  We were home in the late afternoon, still time to get a few home tasks done-neglected from the week, and prepare a nice dinner for the three of us before the hubby got home from work.  It was a next to perfect Saturday.  What about you?  What ways would you suggest for spending an elusive free calendar day?  Where are your favorite stomping grounds?

                                      Closer view of the Addendum-great light from the street above.                                        That's DD with three titles already in hand and looking at more.

Pie and a Borrowed Blue Bike

I took a well needed break from the office today and headed across the state lines to Wisconsin, to "bimble" around the little towns that run along Lake Pepin. It was just the girls as we left my husband on his day off, happily with chain saw in hand, ready to attack the dead river birch in our front yard, and over grown, and dying shrubbery around the front porch. We'll tackle new landscaping in the spring. DD# 2, in typical 13 year old fashion wanted to know exactly what we were going to be doing, and what is actually in these little towns. DD#1 was happy to have a little break from the set today, and went with no expectations.

 We had a brief disappointment in that the little bakery, known for artisan bread and mammoth sized cookies was closed, in our first destination stop.  There wasn't much other to see there so we kept on. After parking,  we wandered the tiny little streets and I pointed out what was in each little shop.  The weather was absolutely perfect for aimless wandering,  sunny and 60ish, but slowly creeping temperatures reached 70 today. We passed a little bike rack, with loaner blue bikes for the borrowing. These are the great no gear bikes of yesteryear.  The type of bike I wanted, but my husband thought a 10 speed would be better. I still beg to differ, since the gears are too complex for me.  When I ride I just want to peddle and be casual about it.  Some of these blue bikes had cute little baskets. There is a sign on each bike that reminds you to just park it in any of the bike racks around town. We saw one other rack. These bikes amused DD#2, and she found her bike of choice, and took a little spin.

 
 We then found the Stockhom Pie Company.  I knew what heaven awaited us once inside.  There were a few customers before us, but they were trying to decide between slices or a whole pie, and what was available. The Pie Company makes all their pies from scratch in a tiny little kitchen.  When the pie run's out, it is out.  They have a limited number of whole pies, and one of the bakers said on weekends and busy days, they are completely out by mid afternoon. We each picked a different kind. DD#2 picked traditional apple with a dollop of whipped cream. DD#1 went for triple berry, but me, never one to turn down peanut butter or chocolate, went for peanut butter fudge. We even were kind and bought the last 6 inch mini triple berry pie for the hubby.  The girls thought they would get another sliver of that one later. Now it was nearing 11:00, and the little place was getting crowded. The wipe board showing what pie's and slices were left was being updated and erased as either the last pie sold, or a new one was ready to come to the case. We squeezed around a little table, and dug in, sampling each others.  All were insanely delicious, but the pieces were quite large, and we didn't finish all three.  This was definitely a splurge, at close to $30 for the pie and beverages for each of us.  I know I was going to gladly eat from the pantry after splurging on take out Chinese on Tuesday, but this day was planned, and it was pie!

An inside look at the Stockholm pie company.  Not a big place.

To work off the pie, we kept our walk around the little village, poking in the little shops.  The allure of the blue bike caught my daughter again, and she went back and found the same one.  While she was tooling around on a back gravel road, the other D and I just sat and chatted a bit.  She hasn't really found a place yet out west, and is getting a little stressed by it.  She is excited to think about a return trip to the UK to see the showing of her cohorts final projects.  She doesn't know how she is going to get her stuff purged and packed.  There is a lot to think about when you are 23 and want to be fully launched but aren't quite there. When DD#2  had enough,  she returned her bike and we got ready to check out more on our route.  We did some old book shopping, and some wine tasting at a little winery and apple orchard and found delicious cheese at a cheese factory to take home.  We grabbed a very late, real lunch there as well-the pie had finally  been burned off, and shared a bottle of sparkling lemonade.

Days like this are a gift not to be wasted.  I knew when we got back I would need to log into the office to finish still that blasted report, but I amazed myself that I didn't read e-mails once after we left the house in the morning, and until back home. Our front of house was almost unrecognizable without the tree and the Shrubs.  DH had worked up an appetite and was really excited that we brought him the pie.  I went to get a glass of water and he had just finished it stating, "great pie."  I asked where the rest was, and he said he ate the whole thing.  I guess he deserved it, but dang, a little sliver would taste mighty good about now.

This was a nice cozy area to sit and talk.  The hay bales looked inviting but we sat at the tables.