Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at Art and Lil with the four of us and Andy, Marianne and Louise's family. We had a touch football game prior to dinner. A tie score between the Ellery Eagles and the Brentwood Bombers. Here Erin and Cam celebrate a touchdown. More later...

Tundra Swans

There are nine HUGE white birds congregated at the edge of the ice this morning. From past years' migration sightings, I'm guessing they're tundra swans. An article from the Wisconsin DNR says they're on their way to spend winter in the Chesapeake Bay area. Wish I had a photo to post but they're too far away this year.
UPDATE - During the day, the count of the swans ranged from 120 to 40-ish. The meager nine I first listed was the smallest of any of the numbers I could have/should have named.

Cold November...

It has been a below normal November in terms of temperature. Anne gave her talk today and now returns to a colder climate. The river in front of our house is frozen over. Ack stayed home, cleaned, got some cloths for Louise's wedding (a green shirt and tie), hoped that he can beat Mike in Fantasy Football, and worked on a new drawing - images from the NY Gates exhibit in NY Central Park. Anne and Ack went there with Anne's brother Mike and Ack's Mom and Andy. It was a fun visit.

Hotel Dakota

Anne here, in San Francisco to attend the American Anthropological Association conference and give a paper on how Catholics decide to believe (or not) in Marian apparitions. That's tomorrow. In the meantime, since arriving on Wednesday I've attended really stimulating sessions, seen some great and not so great ethnographic films, eaten consistently good food, and saw a terrific play last night, "The Quality of Life." Beautifully written and directed by Jane Anderson, it explores questions of life and death in a northern California setting. This production by the American Conservatory Theater had some stellar actors: Laurie Metcalf, JoBeth Williams, Dennis Boutsikaris and Steven Culp. I laughed; I cried; I highly recommend it if it should ever be produced near you.

Trying to minimize the cost of visiting this expensive city, I made a reservation for a $75/night private room in the Adelaide Hostel just two blocks away from the conference site. The hostel building itself only has dorm rooms; the private rooms are in the Dakota Hotel one block away on Taylor and Post. It's a funky old converted apartment building that I'm really enjoying. This wonderful mural is a few buildings down from the actual hotel.

Sunset and Ice

We have had a below normal temperature in October and are on our way to a below normal November. Lake ice is also trying to form! Sunsets on the lake can sit be colorful - even with the cold weather and lake ice.

Snow!

For the past week, there has been some bit of snow in the air just about every day but today it accumulated. For about an hour, in between wonderful bouts of sun, big fat feathery flakes of snow fell. This photo was taken at noon out my building's back porch balcony.

Don't Forget the Camera

The last couple of weekend outings with my 'little sister' Bionca included the Wunk Sheek Honoring Our Veterans Powwow last Sunday at UW-Madison and the Cambridge High School's production of "Seussical" last night with some colleagues from Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture. The powwow was very moving and the musical was excellent in every way. This photo is from the powwow, a men's fancy dancer, but taken with the cell phone. (Don't enlarge it and it will look better.)

'Tis the Season

...for lutefisk! Here in Scandi-land, fall is when churches (mostly Lutheran) and lodges (like Sons of Norway) hold community lutefisk dinners. I went to my favorite one yesterday at Lakeview Lutheran Church, about a mile down from the house. The fish itself isn't what appeals to me - it's too gelatinous for my taste. What I love is the visiting you get to do with all the other people at the long table in the church hall. The food is served family style so there's lots of passing of plates. It's all really tasty too: meatballs, mashed potatoes, rutabaga, cranberry, coleslaw, lefse, pitchers of melted butter (for the fish), and apple or pumpkin pie for dessert. There are lots of ethnic jokes that go along with the fish too; in Madison, it's mostly Germans making fun of the Norwegians but here's one that our electrician told me after explaining that he never goes to those dinners because he can't stand the smell or the taste of the fish. He told a pared down version of how an Irish guy tried to kill some Norwegians with poisoned fish but they ended up eating it all and loved it.

Now We Are an Obama Nation!

Watching the election results with friends last night was so deeply inspiring. All that talk of hope throughout the months of the campaign became manifest in the votes that were cast. Both McCain and President Elect Obama (I love saying that!) were gracious and put forward the vision of a united country striving for the best we can be. I'm delighted that Obama won and that he'll have a Democratic majority to work with in the Congress. I'm very proud of our country for overcoming the racism that plagued us institutionally for centuries. People out on the streets at 11:30 last night were delighted too - lots of chanting and cheering with car horns in response. Hope you celebrated too!

Alana sent this link to a DC blog about the election night celebrations there. She and housemate Mia are in this video from U Street. Look on the right after the camera starts panning the crowd.

November...

Well we are into a new month and it has started to be an unusual one. Warm weather this weekend got us both out on the lake in tee-shirts. We have started to curl again - which is a lot of fun. Dinner leagues this year for us, though we are not on the same team. And of course the wonderful election results!