Withering Glance: Things We Love

Rick Nelson and Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, etiquette, culture, relationships, grooming and more.

CP: The other day I unsealed the tomb and let some actual outside air into the house. It smelled like a rained-on leaf. Loved that.

RN: I became a little weak in the knees when I got a whiff of my first freshly mowed lawn of the season. I felt compelled to dab the scent on pulse points.

CP: Minnesotans appreciate spring's extremely late arrival like Cher embraces the bugle bead and the cantilevered headdress. What else is making you glad all over?

RN: Cher, for starters, because La Sarkisian is gracing Target Center next month. The arena's upcoming $97 million renovation is also elevating my mood. We have barely seen a rendering, but let's face it: Any fix to that eyesore is going to be an improvement.

CP: Elsewhere on the pop-rock continuum, I'm happy that the Replacements will give their long-awaited hometown reunion concert in September. Who needs palm trees at Coachella when you can perform alongside the train tracks at Midway Stadium?

RN: Exactly. I'm also pleased to see that the exercise in tackiness that is Block E's faux-Ye-Olde-Towne facade is coming down. The complex is being renamed Mayo Clinic Square, for its new primary tenant. On several urban design blogs, I've seen it referred to as MC². Heh.

RN: I fear you are being sarcastic, and that is so not the theme of this bluebirds-and-rainbows edition of the Glance.

CP: Guilty. But I really do love it when the icy silence of winter gives way to a lilac brimming with singing birds. I even saw two catbirds twerking on my deck rail like they had just eaten some big berries full of "get down."

RN: For me, the sudden, welcome return of birdsong is even inspiring charitable feelings toward the coven of rabbits feverishly nibbling our back yard down to a nubbin. What else is bringing a smile to that stern visage of yours?

CP: There's no need to sit around idly grinning, but I do anticipate big love for Season 2 of "Orange Is the New Black," which unspools June 6. Netflix has a teaser streaming now that spotlights the show's terrific cast and talented writer, Jenji Kohan.

RN: I'll be on an emotional Cloud Nine if Diane Lockhart kicks some major you-know-what in tonight's season finale of the better-than-ever "The Good Wife."

RN: Yes, dear. Happiness, food-wise, comes by way of those pretty holishkes, stuffed with nutty kamut berries and mushrooms, at Russell and Desta Klein's new Brasserie Zentral in downtown Minneapolis.

CP: Best veggie entree to come along in eons. And the restaurant is surrounded by the beautifully reused 1914 Soo Line Building, which must put Mr. Preservation into his Happy Orbit.

RN: Beyond thrilled. Let's send a floral horseshoe to developer Village Green. They deserve it.

E-mail: witheringglance@startribune.com