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.)