Just A Peck 0064 // Alex, Jousting, Starlink

Just A Peck

Welcome to the latest issue of Just A Peck. I’m glad you’re here!

JOURNAL

On Sunday, we took a park-and-ride bus to the Renaissance Festival to celebrate Alex’s birthday. It was a perfect day — overcast and a little breezy, but not too cold — so we didn’t get overheated in our costumes. We had mead, watched jousting, visited craft shops, and ran into friends.

A selfie of the five of us in costume in the middle of the festival lane, one in a flower crown and one in a fancy hat
Three of us holding mead in front of the festival's timbered shop fronts
Justin and Matt in wool cloaks, laughing, with a longship and picnic tables behind them
An armored knight on a barded horse at the edge of the jousting arena in front of a packed grandstand

We ended the day Sunday with creatively-frosted birthday banana bars and gifts at Alex and Kelsie’s house. This was Alex’s 34th birthday — a fact that I’m having trouble wrapping my head around. We’re so proud of the smart, funny, resourceful, hard-working man he’s become.

Baby Alex in a yellow romper, grinning and reaching toward the camera
Alex, Corey, and Spencer posing in front of a glowing aquarium tank full of fish
Justin and Alex at the wheel of the riding lawn mower
A teenage Alex carrying a little Kaylee on his shoulders
A teenage Alex in an apron at the dish station of the Dinner Bell
Alex in a hard hat, high-vis jacket and chainsaw chaps, hoisting a giant log over his head
Alex and Kelsie leaving their wedding through a tunnel of streamers and cheering guests
Alex in his kitchen holding up a pan of creatively frosted birthday banana bars with lit candles

Apparently the only thing that can prompt me to pay money to a company owned by a certain South African supervillain is how much I absolutely loathe CenturyLink. After decades of dealing with their abysmal service and support, and the increasing frequency of lost work days due to service outages, I broke down and replaced my DSL internet connection with Starlink. Download speeds and latency are great. We’ll see how the uptime compares.

The Starlink dish mounted on the side of the house, tipped up toward a blue sky

We’ve gotten a few nastygrams from the US Postal Service letting us know that our mailbox was too small. Replacing it with something larger has been a complicated process, since our mailbox is mounted on a (very rusted) swinging metal arm that prevents it from being pulverized by snowplows. BUT, I found a company in Ashland that makes those arms and with several helpful email exchanges, they were able to send me exactly what I needed. Look at the size of that thing! (So much room for activities!)

The new oversized black mailbox on its swinging arm at the side of the road
The new mailbox with its door hanging open, a single envelope inside and an enormous amount of room to spare

On Thursday, Jody and I attended the opening night performance of American Son. An intense drama that plays out in real time in a Miami police station where a couple try to find out what has happened to their son. A gut punch of an ending, with a final line evoking the deaths of Eric Garner and George Floyd. Kudos to everyone involved.

The American Son program held up in front of the Zeitgeist stage, dressed as a Miami police station with flags and a city seal on the wall

On Saturday, I attended the wedding of a friend. It was at a marina, since both the bride and groom are sailors. It was windy and chilly, but the service was approximately five minutes long, after which we were able to head into a tent and visit.

The bride and groom embracing on the dock with sailboats and masts behind them
A selfie with a tableful of friends gathered under the reception tent
Friends around the reception table, one of them waving at the camera

WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK

Written on the Wind poster
Written on the Wind (1956). Pretty great. Criterion's summary ("The Technicolor expressionism of Douglas Sirk reached a fever pitch with this operatic tragedy, which finds the director pushing his florid visuals and his critiques of American culture to their subversive extremes.") is spot on.
Resident Evil poster
Resident Evil (2026). This was a blast. Cleverly constructed, hilarious, and scary in my favorite ways. Austin Abrams is perfect as one of the least likely, least capable people to face a zombie apocalypse. Great job, Cregger!
Niagara poster
Niagara (1953). This isn't very good, but I watched it to complete the movie mural at the Zinema in Duluth and I learned a couple of things. First, it's not Joseph Cotten kissing Marilyn Monroe in that painting — it's Richard Allan. Second, I've always wondered why a giant image from a movie almost no one remembers is front and center, and I suspect now that it might be because Cotten shares that everything has been going wrong in his life "...ever since Duluth".

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK

Plays:

Books In Progress:

BOOKS I PURCHASED

MEMORIES

15 to 20 years ago, this was usually homecoming week. That meant we got to see the kids marching in the homecoming parade! These two pictures are of the middle school marching band — one from 2011 (with Spencer playing trombone) and one from 2006 (with Alex playing the bass drum).

The middle school marching band coming down the street in the 2011 homecoming parade, trombones out front and red maples overhead
The middle school marching band in the 2006 homecoming parade, the bass drum riding high in the middle of the horn line

WHAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT

I’m headed to the Guthrie and Latté Da today to see Godot and Indecent in a whirlwind, down-and-back, two-show day. More about that next week.

Guthrie promotional image for Waiting for Godot, two figures under a bare tree on a moonlit road, with a BroadwayWorld pull quote calling it truly a perfect production
Theater Latte Da promotional image for Indecent, the company reaching upward on a smoky stage, with a Minnesota Star Tribune pull quote calling it a revelation you can feel in your bones

Boat Club Productions' Church Basement Ladies opens this week. Get your tickets!

Boat Club Productions poster for Church Basement Ladies, four illustrated women standing behind a church basement buffet line

MY FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Not duty,
beauty.

If we want to live in a beautiful world,
full of beautiful ideas,
beautiful structures,
someone
must do the
work.

— Emma Howlett, Aether

That’s it for this week. Stay safe, friends. Thanks for reading!

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