A Warm Halloween Night

Beautiful 70 degree day today led me to enjoy a deep yellow sunset in my kayak on the lake. While out there I found out that some sandhill cranes and at least one blue heron are still around.

Bourbon Country

The annual AFS conference always offers some pre-conference tours to explore the local culture of the host area. This year, I went on the "Saints and Sinners" tour organized by colleague Nancy Nusz. We alternated between bourbon distilleries, like Heaven Hill or Maker's Mark, and churches in this historically Catholic area, including the Abbey of Gethsemani where Trappist monk Thomas Merton lived. Re: the sinning part of the tour, I learned lots about bourbon including that the distilleries give GREAT tours. The photos here show the 'rick houses' for Heaven Hill (these types of huge storage buildings dot the local landscape) and what they look like inside. The black mold on the outside of the building is from the evaporation going on in the aging barrels; it's called 'terula.'

Kentuckiana

Just back from the American Folklore Society meeting in Louisville, KY. It's the 16th largest city in the US, an enthusiastic recorded welcome by the mayor told me at the airport. Right on the Ohio River, it's a bridge away from Indiana. On Sunday morning after the conference, Erin and I went over to Jeffersonville, IN to the Falls of the Ohio State Park, the best place to see fossils I've ever seen, thanks to lots of exposed rock (former ocean floor and coral reef).

Another drawing...

Anne is at a conference, where Erin has joined her for a few days. Meanwhile Ack is back in Madison trying to win at fantasy football and finishing up a drawing started when they here in DC.

two views...

Here are two views of autumn leaves. One before they fall, and the other after they fall! Anne and I went hiking in the arboretum to enjoy the colors on Sunday. We deal with fallen leaves at the house by mulching flower beds, burning and taking them to a compost site.

10-Year Reunion

On Saturday, about 30 people from around the state got together for a 10-year anniversary of the 1998 Smithsonian and Wisconsin Folklife Festivals. We started with a leisurely tour around the Farmers Market where we met another festival participant, Nodji Van Wychen, selling her cranberries. In the afternoon we gathered at Essen Haus where Eleanor Bagstad shared her scrapbooks, the Queens of Harmony sang, Tip, Rick and Mark played fiddle, accordion and clarinet, and we caught up on each other's lives. That evening was a concert at the Barrymore with NEA Heritage Fellows Liz Carrol on Irish fiddle, Michael Doucet on Cajun fiddle, and Ron Poast with his Hardanger fiddles. Three of these photos are by my 10-year old buddy, Cherice.

Morning Moon

Moonrise on Lake Mendota early in the morning, on Oct 15. Happy Anniversary to Mary and Joe 10/15!

Cookin....

Anne entered a one-pot cooking festival at the Northside Farmers Market. She might not have won - but all her "Kickin' Carrot Soup" was gone before the end!

Hiking...

We went hiking today along part of the Ice Age Trail - the Muir Loop. We also stopped along the way to read historic signs and learned about Fort Winnebago, a 19th century fort on a hill near the portage site from Fox river to the Wisconsin River. When we got home we went out on the lake and watched the sunset before returning home to watch two episodes of "Battleship Galactica" and then work.

Art show up...

Last night we went to the Northside Planning Council's 15th anniversary celebration at the Warner Park Community Center. This was also the opening of the "Art of the Marsh" show we are both in. Anne donated her photographs to the silent auction fund raiser for the NPC, and it of course sold (and not to Ack)!

The Weather Guys started a weekly column in the city paper, which is also published on the web every Friday. So, you can learn about:
100 year floods and why cloud bottoms are flat, two articles that Ack wrote.

Produce Auction

On Tuesday I went to the Badgerland Produce Auction in Montello, about 90 minutes north of Madison. Twice a week, all season long, a cooperative of Amish and 'English' farmers sell their produce at a three-hour long auction presided over by the Krueger family of auctioneers. Great prices; when I was there, one flat of 9 mums went for $1 each. Other produce were wholesale quantities of kohlrabi, grapes, basil, apples, pumpkins and more. I went because they usually have an Amish quilt auction but it was canceled this year. I'll try again next year.

Art weekend

On Friday night we went to Gallery Night; an evening where art galleries and museums stay open late to show off art, let you meet artists and munch on snacks. Our two favorite places were Reneeglass, a very nice glass studio run by Renee Miller, and an exhibit by Sue Medaris at the Central Public Library. On Saturday we borrowed Margret's boat and headed down to the UW Terrace to see a different type of art show. Artists painted about a dozen canvas sails and then the boats tacked and jibed in front of the Terrace. This photo is of one boat. The regatta is part of the Mami Wata exhibit on African water spirits at the Chazen Museum of Art. Tomorrow Anne and I drop of our work to be exhibited in a Northside Artists Group show, "Art of the Marsh." The theme - Cherokee Marsh, which is where we live so it's all about home.

Here are our entries, though the photos did not come out too good. We will take more pictures when the show goes up. The three photos were taken by Anne down by our dock. Ack's is an abstract pastel of a red-wing in the marsh.

Not Summer No More

After two glorious weeks of perfect perfect weather, a deep chill has arrived. Here are some scenes from Troy Gardens from the fall versions of the plots.