Out and About – Winter 2022-2023

I leave later today to return to my homeland of Australia for a month-long visit. It’s been over three-and-a-half years since I was last in my first home. To say I’m excited about the prospect of reuniting with family and friends after such a long time apart – the longest since my relocation to the U.S. in 1994 – would be an understatement. I am looking forward to it immensely.

Before my return to the Great South Land I want to close the book, so to speak, on the winter I will soon be leaving behind. I do so by looking back on this particularly snowy (and unpleasantly icy) season with the latest installment of The Wild Reed’s “Out and About” series.

Yes, I know it’s a bit premature for my friends here in Minnesota who still must endure another several weeks of winter while I fly off to the end of summer in Australia; but, be that as it may, here’s a review of the people, places, and experiences that were most meaningful to me in the American winter of 2022-2023.

Above: My Christmas tree was in my bedroom this past Christmas season.

This was because its usual spot in the main area of my attic abode has been taken over by my ficus tree (left), a tree that actually dates back to the late 1980s when it was in the office of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM). This was a number of years before my arrival to the U.S. from Australia and my subsequest working for CPCSM and thus my inheriting of this tree in 2003.

It’s been with me ever since, in four different living situations – in St. Paul (2003-2011); with my good friend Tim in two different houses (one and two, right next door to one another) in south Minneapolis by Minnehaha Creek (2012-2016 and 2016-2018); for a brief time on Chicago Ave. just south of the creek with my friend Connie and her cat Charley (December 2018-October 2019); and now here in my current home in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis (2019-present).

Above: Adnan . . . in winter light.

. . . And opening his holiday gift from me – a copy of Sonia Choquette’s book, Trust Your Vibes.

Above: My “best mate in the States,” Deandre (left) with our mutual friends (and his new housemates) Margaret and David.


Left: Tyga! . . . Deandre’s animal companion.

Above: Christmas dinner with friends (clockwise fron left) John, Noelle, Jackie, Alicia, Scott, Liana, Amelia, Dee and Phil.


Right: What a handsome crew!

Above: Another lovely Christmastide gathering. I’m pictured with (from left) Chloe, Kathleen, Mary and Joey.

Above: Seeing in 2023 in my attic apartment with friends (from left) Joseph, Kathleen, Calvin, and a sleeping Frodo.

Above: Lunch with my dear friend Joan at the Highland Grill, St. Paul – January 6, 2023.

I traveled to the Minnesota town of Montevideo on the weekend of January 14-15 to join in the celebrations for my friend Elva’s 86th birthday (above). Elva is the mother of my good friend Angie.

Elva was so happy I made the trip from Minneapolis to Montevideo to celebrate her birthday. As was I!

Above and right: With my wonderful work colleagues having a Hawaiian potluck lunch in solidarity with one of our colleagues who was actually holidaying in Hawaii.

I’m honored to be part of Mercy Hospital’s Palliative Care team, a consultative and interdisciplinary team comprised of incredibly competent and caring health care professionals. I’m the interfaith spiritual care provider (or chaplain) on this team, a position I’ve held since the autumn of 2018.

Above: On Saturday, February 25, members of my work team and I enjoyed lunch at the famed Owamni restaurant in Minneapolis.

Above: Dinner with Joan at another great local restaurant, Heather’s in south Minneapolis – February 15, 2023.

Above: With my dear friend Phyllis – January 28, 2023.

Above: Lunch at Pizza Lucé with my friend Brian – Sunday, January 8, 2023.

Above: My moon-gazing hare in the backyard became a blizzard-gazing hare on February 23, 2023. It was soon completely covered over by snow.

Above: The view from my south Minneapolis attic abode of the massive January 4, 2023 winter storm.

Above and right: Home, sweet home! My attic abode and sanctuary in the Seward neighborhood of south Minneapolis, where I’ve lived since October 2019.

Above: Adnan – earlier this morning, February 28, 2023. My saaxiib qurux badan (“beautiful friend” in Somali) recently paid me a great honor by writing the following to me.

I just want to say a sincere “Thank You.” . . . I won’t go into detail what for. Just know I greatly appreciate you and your constant kindness as well as unconditional love! You’re an awesome person.

Thank you, Adnan! I love you too, buddy.



NEXT:
Central Station – Sydney, Australia

and

Out and About – Spring 2023


Winter 2022-2023 Wild Reed posts of note:
• Honoring the Darkness While Remembering the Light
• Solstice Storm
• Cornel West: “Our Anti-Imperialism Must Be Consistent”
• The Christmas Miracle
• “Our Knowledge of Others Is Always Partial”: Garth Greenwell on the Morality of Fiction
• Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies: Quote of the Day – December 28, 2022
• Marianne Williamson: “We Must Challenge the Entire System”
• In This Time of Liminal Space
• The Light of This New Year’s Day
• Saaxiib Qurux Badan – January 4, 2023
• Progressive Catholic Perspectives on the Legacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
• Kahlil Gibran on Self-Knowledge
• After Record-Breaking Snowfall, a Walk Through the Neighborhood
• Phillip Clark on the Magi as Archetypes of “Witchy Faith”
• Interiors
• Remembering and Emulating the Visionary and Radical Martin Luther King Jr.
• University of Antwerp Honors Patrice Lumumba
• For Rita Coolidge, Love Is Everywhere
• Ditching the Crime, Keeping the Sin: Thoughts on the Pope’s Call to Decriminalize Homosexuality
• Taking the High Road
• The Way of Love and Healing
• Reed Brody: Quote of the Day – February 6, 2023
• A Favorite Burt Bacharach Song
• What It Will Take to Abolish the Police
• Kiki Dee and Carmello Luggeri: “A Classy Duo”
• A Vibrant Relationship
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – February 16, 2023
• Michael Meade on “Slowing Downwards”
• Happy Birthday, Buffy!
• Carnival: “A Necessary Release of Pagan Expression in a Christianized World”
• Pope Francis on Lenten Fasting
• From the Palliative/Spiritual Care Bookshelf
• Kimi Djabaté
• Marianne 2024
• Winter Vignettes
• Carl Anderson: “Still One of the Greatest Interpretations of Judas on Film”

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

For previous Out and About series, see: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

Images: Michael J. Bayly.