darkness between fireflies.

A waterfall from a higher place told me all about you.

a couple weeks ago i finally broke my ongoing curse of missing mason jennings shows. i won't go into detail here of how oddly wonderful and homebound he made me feel, but it made me think--there are quite a few things that remind me of the minnesotan portion of my upbringing, files hard-wired as MINNESOTA in my brain.

to you, and only you, dear readers, i share (though i don't propose that you'll understand):

-cricket noises in the dark

-swimming in a lake (and not freaking out at how still it is or what your feet are touching on the bottom)

-farm animals of various sorts, and their respective smells

-the automatic reaction of saying "jeez" or "gosh" when something bad happens

-freezing your ass off

-but still being able to do it without wearing a hat or gloves

-fishing (walleye, bass, pike, sunnies, crappies)

-knowing to pronounce the above "croppy"

(pretty good for a girl who once sprayed down the whole boat with mosquito repellant forcing a cursing grandfather and uncle to throw every fish back into the lake)

-let's not even get into pronouncing Wayzata or Wabasha

-the smell of lilacs in May when everything finally melts

-knowing what the Mississipi really looks like

-two words: STATE FAIR

-the constellation Orion

-knowing how to allot twenty minutes of your time in the morning towards starting your car

-Matthew Mallard

-Dairy Queen and Perkins

-fried cheese curds (oh how i miss you!)

-loving hockey (and the North Stars)

-reacting to a snow storm by planning for an extra half hour to get to work

-Rev 105 and Radio K

-having an odd affection for bowling as a way to spend your time

-rambling folk songs about vast wide open spaces

-not realizing that any of the above is out of the ordinary

for those in the know, anything you'd like to add?