The Saturday Morning Post: 50 States in 52 Weeks - Wisconsin

Wisconsin is on the western shore of Lake Michigan, north of Illinois and south of Minnesota. I have been there only once. It was strange I had been to all of the states around it, and not Wisconsin for a long time. So a few years ago when we were in Chicago for a few days, I scheduled a day-trip. We took the train from Chicago to Milwaukee, had lunch, wandered around the spectacular art museum on the shore of Lake Michigan (image above) and took the train back to Chicago in time for dinner.  We wandered through a great market near the train station and had lunch in a working class local bar. 

Much of the state is farmland and woodlands. It has a rust belt post industrial vibe. The southeast of the state is close enough to Chicago for commuters. Someday I will see the interior of the state. 

We will visit next summer, Cousin Ray, who produces the podcast Life Between the Vines lives about 90 miles north of Chicago O'Hare, in Wisconsin horse country. I have promised him we will visit next summer when we are in Chicago for ABA Meetings. 

A nice place to visit in the summer. A chilly place to visit in the winter.  

 

Fabulous Friday: Music

I enjoy a wide array of music. There is almost always music playing in the background of my life. Classican, jazz, rock from the last half of the last century, a little country and western, folk music, solo piano, harpsichord, or cello. I prefer a singer that I can understand.

I dislike and avoid music that is angry, or vulgar. I also avoid classical Opera, the one's where it sounds like the vocalist is being tortured. Some modern Opera in English and in a register within the spectrum of normal human communication is enjoyable. 

Music adds a rhythm to my life. It can make me laugh. It can bring me to tears. It can quiet the noise in my brain. 

Music is fabulous.  

Thursday Ramble: Three Years Ago

I had to double check the embedded data on the photo to verify the date. It seems hard to believe. Three years ago, we were in Spain.  An overnight flight as I recall from New York, I remember finding an empty middle row in the back section of the plane, putting up the armrests and stretching out and sleeping for a few hours - one of the best transAtlantic flights I have had.  We spent a few nights in Madrid, then about a week in Malaga, then back to Madrid to fly home. 

It seems longer ago than that, but it feels like just yesterday that we took that trip.  My resounding memory of Spain, is that by and large the people were happy. Not in a fake, I get paid to smile way, but in a genuine life is good way.   There seemed to be a focus on living comfortably, making the most of what is at hand, and taking time to just be you. 

The markets were spectacular, and the restaurant food reflected that. Fresh, local, seasonal in a relatively warm and sunny climate results in wonderful food that is savored. 

It is nice traveling to places where you don't have to live with the bureaucracy, or politics.  It is easy to avoid the politics when your language skills peak at ordering lunch. 

My photo archive is approaching 110,000 images. Many of them remind me of places I have been, things I have experienced. Digital memories of a life well lived. 

Where to next? San Antonio, Bermuda, the Azores, Carthenia, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Vienna, and Paris are on the agenda for 2026. More adventures, that I will look back on in three years and wonder how it can be so long, seems like just yesterday. 

Where were you three years ago?   

My World of Wonders - The Wednesday Ws - December 3, 2025

Where have I been this week? Mt Vernon for a nice walk last Wednesday, then home for the most part.  On Saturday we took the subway to Crystal City and met a long time friend for a leisurely lunch at a nice French Restaurant. I have been walking on the treadmill as the weather turned cold on Thanksgiving. Monday evening in the Underground at the Community Center for the annual year end arts party. 

Who have I talked with this week? We had a nice long talk with Kent over lunch on Saturday, he is a retired professor, living in New York, he has a lifetime of tales and a dry sense of humor. I talked with my middle brother briefly on Thanksgiving day, he was at Cousin Lysle's house in the midst of a bunch of rocket ranching bikers.  It was a loud crowd and his phone was on speaker so we didn't get to talk much.  Susan stopped to talk as I was walking back from the gym, they are about 3/4 of the way through a kitchen remodel. Monday evening at the Arts gathering, dozens of people.  

What real mail did I send this week?  I mailed a birthday card to my middle brother, whose birthday is sometime this week. And I mailed a Christmas card to a blogger who lives in Wales. When I saw the card, it was perfect for him. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen? For Thanksgiving I roasted a 12.5 pound turkey (a little over a little under 6 kilos.) I baked bread and made dressing (stuffing cooked outside of the bird.) And green beans.  Friday we grazed on left overs. Saturday we went out to lunch. Sunday I made Turkey Vegetable soup. I made french toast for breakfast and a Croque Monsieur for lunch.  Steak and Baked Potato. 

What is on the easel? I am finishing up a nighttime city landscape, and I have started a new canvas that will be an attempt at self-portraiture. 

Who deserves a big THANK YOU this week? Austrian Airways sent me an email with a change of schedule on a reservation for next spring, it was a ten minute change, so I clicked on Yes Thank You. Then later I noticed that the departure airport had changed.  Oh my, then I looked at the two airports.  The flight had been changed from a regional airport that was 30 miles out of town (with a train connection) to the older city airport, on the edge of the city, a 15 minute subway ride from the city center. The change will save us at least 30 minutes of travel time going to the airport. Yes thank you very much. 

What is coming up?  Wednesday afternoon we install a new Showcase exhibit, Friday morning we install a new Gallery Show, Saturday afternoon is the opening reception for the new Gallery Art Show. 

What reminded me that I live in a world capital? In a quiet moment at the arts festival I was talking with a dear neighbor as we watched and commented on the people in the room. She commented, "it feels like being a spy." I said, "in this town you never know who is or was." Her response was "I wanted to be, but they didn't hire me." Yes it is that kind of a town.  I love it here. 

Why is Gieves up on the sofa? We are breaking in a new robot vacuum cleaner. 

Travel Tuesday: Oxon Hill Farm

 Just across the Potomac River from us in Maryland, and then hidden down a narrow side road, is Oxon Hill Farm. During the War of 1812, the farmers here witnessed the British making their way up the River stopping at Alexandria before retreating. From here they felt Fort Washington being blown up (by the Colonial Army to prevent it's powder reserves from falling in the hands of the British.) After the Civil War the US Government created St Elizabeths Hospital to care for veterans experiencing mental health challenges.  Oxon Hill Farm was part of St Elizabeths for nearly 100 years, proving food and also a peaceful place for patients to tend the farm and heal. It is now run by the National Parks Service. 

Alexandria across the River, we live just to the left of this on top of the next ridge to the south. 

 

Monday Mood: 15 Days A Year

 If you spend an hour a day on something, that adds up to just over 15 days a year (24 hour days.) An offhand remark I heard recently asked, "why do you give Zuckerberg 15 days a year in your head?" 

That is a very good question.  The handful of posts on Facebook from family and friends would probably only take about 3 minutes a day to see, the rest of it is addiction, based on an algorithm designed to keep you scrolling, the more you scroll the more advertising you see, the more money a man who will never have enough earns.  It is a hard addiction to quit, but we can be stronger than the pull. 

What could I spend that hour a day, 15 days a year doing? 

Blogging, and reading blogs takes about an hour a day. I enjoy it, I get to select what content I see.  Posting allows me to exercise my creative abilities. 

I walk an hour a day.  Walking is physical, and mental time. If I am walking outside, I do it in silence, only following the internal conversation. 

I read at least an hour a day. I am on the way to finishing about 80 books this year. Add an hour a day to that, and I would easily go over 100 books a year. 

I enjoy painting, and keep promising to sketch. I should claim that nearly an hour a day, and dedicate it to art. An hour a day would make a real difference. 

I miss old fashioned cards and letters. I send a few, I should send more, I should use some of that hour a day, to write to people. 

I should spend more time listening. 

As we get closer to the end of the year, I start to seriously think about what I want to do in the coming year. Realizing that one hour a day, is 15 days a year, leaves me this Monday reexamining what I spend my hour a day on. 

What hour a day, could you move from what you are doing, to what you would like to do? 

 

The Sunday Five: Out To Lunch

 1: When you are or were working, did you take lunch with you, or go out most of the time? 

2: Where did you eat your lunch when working? 

3: Was there anyone you regularly met for lunch? 

4: Are you more likely to go out to breakfast, lunch, or dinner? 

5: Is there a restaurant that triggers memories for you? 

My Answers: 

1: When you are or were working, did you take lunch with you, or go out most of the time? I almost always went out, often picking up lunch to take back to the office. 

2: Where did you eat your lunch when working? At my desk, a habit formed in my builder days when I really didn't take a lunch break, I was always available. 

3: Was there anyone you regularly met for lunch? Most of the last 15 years I worked, I was friends with an government insider. We would meet for lunch about once a month, and talk about events. He was my mole, I was his outside source. 

4: Are you more likely to go out to breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Lunch by far, I love going out to breakfast, but usually only do that when traveling alone. 

5: Is there a restaurant that triggers memories for you?  East Street Cafe is on the upper level of Union Station in DC, I was surprised to see it was still in business. Oh the conversations that have taken place there.  

Please share your answers in the comments.