Fly a Kite

We went for a hike before Easter dinner at Griffy Lake. On the way back we stopped to let Anne and Al fly a kite. You can see an animated gif of several snapshots - see if you can find the kite in these images. Erin and I mostly sat on a bench and commented from afar.

Dinner was lamb, mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and fennel, spicy green beans, carrots, and rutabaga. Dessert was apple pie and ice cream. Erin knows the recipes to them all!

Happy Easter!

We are celebrating Easter at Erin and Al's with them and their cats. We colored eggs and the "Easter Bunny" hid them sometime before we all woke up. Captain Terrific (the girl cat) turns out to be a terrific egg finder. Fortunately for Ack, no eggs were hidden in phones.

LaLa, wish you were here! (you too, Mia)

Thanks, Pat!

My quarter collection has taken the final great leap forward, thanks to Pat Maley, an English Department buddy of Erin's at IU. Thanks to Pat, who kindly mailed it to me, I now have the second Hawaii quarter I needed. Now my basic 50-state collection is done. Woo hoo!!

But...DC was just issued a coin (Duke Ellington on it) so now I need those.

Thanks to other folks who helped a lot too over the years, mainly Ack and Poppy. And Danny, who looked through a huge pile of coins last Christmas, Ack reports.

During these past few years of collecting the states' quarters, we've discovered many people who had no idea about the two mintmarks you find on the quarter's face. Look below the "In God We Trust" and you'll find a P (Philadelphia) or D (Denver), indicating which mint made it.

Al asked the question, "What's your favorite quarter design?" For me, it's definitely NOT Wisconsin's (pictured above). What's yours?

Margaret's Birthday

Today, April 6th, is Margaret's birthday. The photo is of a brick Carrie and Ellen (Anne's cousin) placed in Olbrich Gardens in her honor. I (Ack) take time off on this day and walk around the gardens and reflect on the year that passed. What a year its been. Some high points and some very low valleys. It has been an interesting year.

Films!

Madison hosted the 11th annual Wisconsin Film Festival this weekend. Inspiring! I want to make movies now!

Thursday night, Bionca and I saw "Darius Goes West" a wonderful film about a road trip with 15-year-old Darius who has muscular dystrophy. On Friday, co-workers Karen, Jeri and I saw "Handmade Nation," a great idea but less fabulous than "Darius." On Saturday I suffered through two hours and twenty minutes of "Our Beloved Month of August," a Portugese film that had some beautiful moments but lots of other spaces in between.

Sunday afternoon, Bionca and I sat through eleven shorts - a very interesting collection. Gave me lots of ideas. Then Sunday night, Ack and I went to "Rock-afire Explosion," a documentary about the animatronic band that used to be at Showbiz Pizza Place in the '80s, a big birthday celebration spot for out little girls.

Honors....

Ack was in DC this week at meeting with NOAA, NASA and USRA. I got to stop by the Albert Einstein Memorial. Anne and Ack were both notified that they are this years recipients of Oneontas' alumni awards. Ack got a Distinguished Alumnus and Anne recieved the Outstanding Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion Alumna Award. More on that later... (Actually there was an error.)

Ack and Al aren't doing so well in their NCAA pool.

Fire and Ice

Another nice March day. Ack went for his first row of the year. The wind picked up on his return. The photo to the right shows what ice heaves can do to the shore line as the ice rams the shore. Most of the ice is gone, but there is a big sheet remaining on the open end of the lake. Anne finished her curling and worked on a pillow with Bianca (her little sister). Ack trimmed up the dead birch tree. We ended the day with a fire - in a healthy fire pit Mike built when we first moved in.