Ryanne and 'Santa Claus'

OK - maybe not Santa Claus - It's just Ryanne and her Uncle Mark, my brother, whom she has not seen for almost twenty years. When we were in Madison, we drove out to Mount Horeb to have breakfast with him. He's a professor at UW- Platteville. I don't actually know what he teaches... Geo-something...

Ryanne and Mark's 'friend' Tomodachi. She is bi-lingual in English and Japanese. Mark sounds pretty good speaking Japanese - I guess he's had a number of Japanese students.

TWW-dreary, timid, embrace

alchemy

a timid hug
will not suffice

embrace
the dreary day

squeeze
dark clouds ‘til

a lemon drop
pops out,

or better yet,
a golden coin,

spend it wisely

Home

This weekend Ryanne and I went to Madison, WI to participate in the Madison Marathon. She did the half and I did the quarter - essentially a 10k -

I was raised in Monona, a suburb completely surrounded by Madison, so it was a chance to see the first house I lived in. This is it! It is on Kristy Circle - seeing as my name is Kristy, I like that. I talked to the owner for awhile. I was really surprised that it only had a one car garage - I didn't remember that. The new owner is planning to add on on that side to expand the garage. I thought the place looked pretty good for a 50+ year old place. I loved the huge oak trees. The whole area was full of these gorgeous, gian oaks.

efficient, treacherous, optimize - TWW

Marital Ascent

it’s a treacherous climb,
warm up, stretch, flexibility
is more important than strength

preview your route, have a plan,
maintain balance, optimize resources,
find spots to rest

choose your holds carefully, but
don’t hang on too tight or you’ll
soon tire, move efficiently

follow the rules, learn from others,
save your strength, take good care
of your equipment

trust your partner, push yourself
but learn to fall safely, most important,
don’t let go

This is my Grandfather

Pretty cute isn't he? I can see my cousin John in him. That is

a LOT of hair he's got going on... This picture would have been taken about 1910? He came over from Norway through Ellis Island. Shouldn't he be blonde? Homesteaded in North Dakota - not successfully though he worked at it, the extreme weather did not cooperate. He brought my grandmother over from Norway after he'd been here five years and after he'd built 'a little house'.

I always thought I'd go to Norway. I came close when I was seventeen, but everything changed when my dad got laid off. I'll bet there are some kids now whose dreams are on hold too.

TWW - nervous, bicker, trajectory

Gravitational Pull

Nervous flicker of eyes,
we wobble off course

unwilling to bicker,
backs turn, take opposite

trajectories, where
will we go? round

and round to collide
exactly here again, or

do we finally have
enough fuel to escape

this orbit

Magnificent Moth!

This unusual critter was hanging on the screen outside our front patio this morning... apparently he is some kind of 'vine moth' and is a member of the sphinx moth family. He had a really fuzzy head. His wing span was about 3 inches... he was scary, yet mesmerizing. If he had moved while I was taking his picture I probably would have freaked out. He was gone when we got back from boating.

Frost/Nixon

Tonight we got around to watching Frost Nixon - I wonder if younger people 'get' this movie. Nixon resigned the 37th presidency in 1974 when I was 20 years old. Being familiar with the 'real' Frost and Nixon was a distraction up until the
last interview - when Frank Langella finally convinced
me he was Nixon and I was barely breathing as I watched
that part, which is kind of silly since I already knew what
he was going to say.

Still - when I was 20 it was about the war. Now it's about
character, about deeper issues, desires, personal failure...
I don't know - not that I felt much sympathy for him, except
at the very, very end, when he envied Frost his ease with people.
That I totally understood.

Incredible Edibles

This incredible edible is my mother's day present from my incredible daughter Ryanne (only 14 more days until we see each other in Wisconsin!)

In case you've never had one of these (and I hadn't) CHOCOLATE COVERED APPLES ARE DELICIOUS!!!

I haven't had any of the rest yet, but you can be certain that it won't last the weekend!

Thank you Ry,

Mom

Write about place - Totally Optional Prompts

Water Baby

Two thousand miles of asphalt,
corn fields, mountains, and desert

Three nights of rolling off at random
exits to find a twenty dollar bed

Four days of fast food, Ritz crackers,
Diet cokes and rest stops

From the center of the country to the west,
drawn by surfer music, and the promise

of never-ending sunshine and water views,
my Vega crawls up the hill on Artesia,

to the top, where my breath becomes trapped
in my chest as I see it for the first time,

the Pacific ocean, beaches stretching left
and right, I coast down the hill to pastel beach

bungalows, the strand, bikini’d roller-bladers,
kicking off shoes, I drag my toes through sugar

sand, never take my eyes off the water,
wade right in

Cryptic, Flash, Malign for Three Word Wednesday

Watch your back

Cryptic words malign us all,
from mother-in-law to cat,
together we serve as targets
for frequent flashes of temper,
it gets old

Happy Birthday to Keith!!

Last Thursday was Keith's (Dale's older brother) 61st birthday... He

and Gidget came down and we went to brunch at the clubhouse,

then took a fun boat ride down the intercoastal behind Estero island

(Fort Myers Beach) - Then we had a cake and I have to say Keith

managed to blow out all those candles BEFORE the smoke alarm

had time to go out, so that was great! Anyway, Happy Birthday Keith

- we had a fun day.

Fort Myers Beach Blues Festival

Who is this girl? Me (I know, hard to believe) and up until a couple of weeks ago, all I can remember about it is that it was taken at my friend Wendy's house in Sonoma County by her boyfriend at the time. I think it was about 1979.

Who is this? This is Wendy!! Wendy DeWitt! I saw an ad for the Fort Myers Beach Blues Festival and one of the featured performers was Wendy DeWitt - when I saw the picture and name it clicked. Wendy, my 'old' Wendy was Wendy DeWitt - I remember her hauling her Hammond organ to every gig.. those were the days. She still lives in the San Fran area and if you get a chance to see her your should - they call her the 'Queen of Boogie Woogie', and she definitely is... she does great Blues and Ragtime.. I really enjoyed her set - we only got to speak for a few minutes, but she reminded me that her old boyfriends name was Francis! so that's who took the picture! They were married for 17 years, but are now divorced.

You can see and hear her here...http://www.myspace.com/wendydewitt

I was very surprised that Wendy remembered me - (sorry I look so terrible, but we were out on the boat all morning and I basically was a sweaty mess, but didn't have time to clean up or I would have missed her set... Had fun - was very glad to run into her again and hope to get a chance to really catch up next time..