Out and About – Summer 2022

I half-jokingly refer to the summer just past as “my summer that wasn’t”. This is because for much of it I was hampered in my movements and outdoor activities by a bout of debilitating sciatica, a condition I’d been living with since the end of 2021. Thankfully I had back surgery at the end of the summer which seems to have greatly alleviated (if not completely ended) my sciatic pain.

Despite living with sciatica for most of the summer, I managed to have an enjoyable and active-as-possible time. And so here a look back at the people, places, and experiences that were most meaningful to me in the summer of 2022.

Above and below: “Take me out to the ball game!”

Above and below: Amelia and Eddie – September 11, 2022.

Above: My friend Deandre and his cat Tyga – June 24, 2022.

Above and right: On the afternoon of July 3, Deandre and I enjoyed the musical Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis.

Above: My friends John and Noelle (Amelia’s grandparents) – June 26, 2022.

Above: Lunch with my dear friend Noelle at the Good Earth restaurant in The Galleria in Edina, MN.

Above: When in a high-end store in The Galleria I saw a beautiful serving plate that featured a French postcard set under glass by artist John Derian.

I later discovered that the art of cutting and gluing paper images to surfaces and/or under glass is called decoupage. Derian collects antique fruit, flower, and animal prints and then, through decoupage, makes them into plates, platters, paperweights, lamps, tabletops, umbrella stands, vases and shadow boxes. His designs are handmade in his studio in New York.

Above: Celebrating my dear friend Angie’s birthday – July 9, 2022. Pictured with Angie is her husband Bryan and mother-in-law Dar.

Above and below: Fun, friendship, and beautiful views at Pelican Lake, Glenwood, MN, on the weekend of Angie’s birhday celebrations – July 9-10, 2022.

Above: With friends Darlene and Tom White – July 23, 2022.

Above: A portrait of my friend Adnan in the summer garden of my south Minneaoplis home – August 25, 2022.

Above: My attic abode – among the trees and clouds! 😄

Above: In the garden of my friends John and Noelle’s St. Paul home the morning after my lumbar Hemilaminectomy surgery – August 31, 2022.

Although my sciatic pain was now thankfully gone, the incision area on my lower back was very tender and sore, hence the need still for my cane. A week after this photo was taken, I was back at work and no longer needing to use a cane. Three weeks after my surgery, however, my sciatica returned, though not as severe as before. In the months since, it has gradually abated.

Above: A summer 2022 self portrait.

Said my friend Angie about this photo: “I can see in your face and eyes that you are no longer suffering in such awful pain. I’m so grateful and happy for you! This is a handsome photo of you and really expresses your loving, gentle and patient soul!” . . . Thanks, Ang!



NEXT: Out and About – Autumn 2022


Summer 2022 Wild Reed posts of note:
• Say Yes to the Light
• Progressive Perspectives on the Overturning of Roe v. Wade
• Gabbi Pierce on the “Evolution of Gender”
• The Secret to Achieving the Most Wonderful Things
• Declaration of Interdependence
• Afdhere Jama’s “Love Song to the Queer Somali”
• “Creative Outsider, Determined Innovator”: Remembering Berto Pasuka
• Yes, the Children Too
• “He Deserved to Live; He Deserved a Chance to Heal”: Remembering Tekle Sundberg
• “It Is in Our Hands”
• Heather Cox Richardson: It’s Up to Us to Prove That Democracy Is Still a Viable Form of Government
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Pope’s Apology Is “Just the Beginning”
• “Queer Love Is My Divine Companion”
• “Come for the Racism, Stay for the Autocracy”
• Cornel West on the Legacy of James Baldwin
• Where Soul Would Have Us Go
• Olivia Newton-John’s Legacy of Healing
• A Trying Time With Sciatica
• Dyllón Burnside: “For Me, the Term Queer Just Opens Up Space”
• Progressive Perspectives on Liz Cheney
• Summer Vignettes
• Alex Vitale: “There Are Good Reasons to Defund the FBI. They Have Nothing to Do with Trump”
• Being the Light
• Heroes Are Never Really Gone: Remembering Chadwick Boseman on the Second Anniversary of His Death
• Historian Nancy MacLean: The Threat to American Democracy Is at “Red-Alert Stage”
• Marianne Williamson’s Politics of Love: The Rich Roll Interview
• First Signs of “By Far the Most Paradoxical” Season
• “Royal, Yet Servant-Hearted. Regal, Yet Hard-Working. Crowned, Yet Kind”: Remembering Queen Elizabeth II
• The Queen and British Colonialism
• Tarot: A Compass For Journeying Toward the Truth of Who We Are and Who We Can Be
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Pema Chödrön
• The Unforgettable and Unique Grayson Hall
• Summer’s Parting Gift

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Out and About – Spring 2022
• Out and About – Autumn 2021
• Out and About – Summer 2021
• Out and About – Spring 2021
• Out and About – Winter 2020-2021
• Out and About – Autumn 2020

For previous Out and About series, see: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021

Images: Michael J. Bayly.