stepping off the edge

Here we are in beautiful Minneapolis visiting Mrs. T’s cousin Tim and his wife Terri. Bonus guest? Her sister Deb flew out once again from California to meet us on our trip. Sort of like a reminder of where we need to return, she remains a touchstone for the family I gained from marriage. Funny about relatives, you do not get to choose them and sometimes that is a real disadvantage. I am fortunate to have amazing and wacky relatives of my own by blood and equally and wacky ones by marriage.

We rolled in and almost immediately went to their favorite pizza place and it did not disappoint, even for this Jersey boy. No, not as good as home, but pretty creative and delicious wood fired oven pizza. Add to this the fact that Tim and Terri were welcoming, have a fantastic home, and provided stimulating conversation. Once again, luck of the draw on extended family.

The next day found us at the purple palace of Prince. Never been a fan but this tour educated me on the brilliance and prolific career of this taken-too-soon artist. The studios were great and the collection of performance costumes amazing. Too bad they locked away our phones upon entering for some reason. Ok, they obviously did not want the tour group taking pictures. That was my way of saying, no folks, not many pictures except the one at the top of this post as well as one of us all in the main performance room.

And how can I forget the glamour shot of Mrs T and Deb.

I was coerced (it did not take much) into making everyone dinner that night for Mrs T’s birthday. BBQ oysters, caprese, cacio e pepe and Caesar salad. Walk in the park.

That night we were treated to a Minnesota delight… a tornado warning. Now we had been receiving tornado “watch” messages on our phones and my dear cousin-in-law Tim assured us that it was no big deal since the real danger came with a tornado warning message, which just never happens there. Ah, my dear Nostradamus cousin, little did you know. Fast forward to 1 AM, all the phones in the house explode with the now familiar IPhone warning tone and what came up? Why a tornado warning, naturally! Next thing we know, Terri is knocking on our doors to tell us we had to gather on the lowest floor (that’s where we were) in the middle of the house away from windows. Comforting. And so there we were, huddled in our blankets in the middle of the house giving each other brave smiles and wide awake eyes with terror lurking behind the buoyant exterior.

Only lasted a short time, but I will never forget the sound of the freight train like wind outside threatening to carry us all to Oz. No damage, back to bed, a survey in the morning showed mature trees uprooted only a few miles away. Ahhh, give me a good old earthquake any day. At least we had a good story!

The next night we partook in what I like to call “Pfister Jeopardy,” a quiz of old family lore and scandals that the cousins could remember, Pfister being the family name. Reminded me of the reunion in NJ but there we call the stories, “to the grave,” which refers to where they will go to die forever!

On to the great plains of the Dakotas to visit a couple of famous landmarks. But more of that in the next post…