The Sound of Square Music

In my blog last year (July 23 - The Tip of a Hat) I talked about a Madison, Wisconsin event. Quote - "On Wednesdays during the Summer, hundreds (maybe thousands or millions) of music lovers, picnicers, patrons of the arts and a few winos gather on the lawn around the State Capital building . . . "The Square" to listen to a performance of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. You can pack a picnic basket with your dinner or purchase pretty good food from vendors in little tents around the venue OR if your among the privileged you get to sit at fancy table set up along the main sidewalk that leads to the Capital steps and have a fine dinner, complete with wine served by a formally dressed wait staff. These are reserved for sponsors, their friends, family, employees and anyone else that can come up with millions of dollars for dinner." This past Thursday, due to some really bad weather on Wednesday, seats at one of these tables (bought and paid for) were raffled off. Lo and behold, Mrs. Blume was the proud winner of two seats at a fairly far, upfront table for that nights concert. Food would be provided as long as we were acceptable to dinning on whatever the previous owner had ordered. We were joined by five other winners and settled in for an evening of food and music. Fortunately the "pre-picked" menu was quite tasty and went perfectly with the bottle of $2.79 Pinot Grigio that we brought from home. Last year I made note of the various head wear around the square and even took some photos of them. This year, being much more sophisticated, I left my camera in the car and only mentally analyzed the crowd around me. There were the tables with bosses treating some deserving employees, salespeople treating customers (or prospective customers), Moms and Dads trying to instill culture in their children, husbands showing their wives a good time and those folks that NEED to be there because that's where you NEED to be. I even saw, if there ever is such a show, candidates for "The Real Housewives of Madison". Time to time the "Table People" would acknowledge the "Lawn People" by casting a sorta smug smile their way. Some "Lawn People" would reply with a signal, that I think, meant "First Time?" The weather was beautiful and the music was a collection of patriotic tunes starting with the Star Spangled Banner and ending with a rousing version (is there any other kind of version?) of the 1812 Overture complete with the blasts from sixteen canons. The canon fire came from a rooftop across the street from the capitol and to make it more authentic, pre-selected "Lawn People" fell over as though they had been hit. What a great ending. In payment for their performances, the "canon fodder" were allowed to occupy seats at vacated tables as waiters and busboys cleaned up. All in all a very pleasant evening spoiled only by listening to the broadcast of another Cub's loss on the way home. As I said I left my camera in the car BUT...in two weeks we are returning as "Lawn People". (Lands' End is a sponsor that night so we get to sit in a reserved "Lawn People" section close to the "Table People") In the mean time I'm practicing my "First Time?" signal. Hopefully I will get some photos of both the "Lawn" and Table People" that I can add some smartassed captions to.
Oops, did I mention the chocolate cake with raspberry sauce dessert?

Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Music Director Andrew Sewell
doing that voodoo that he do sewell!

"Lawn People

"Table People"

These photos are only a poor representation of the real thing. I pulled these off other less created sites and will try to give you a more accurate depiction of "Concerts on the Square" in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Corn - Knee High By The Fourth Of July??"?

You be the judge!!!

Life on Liberty Ridge

No particular story here. Just a scene that caught my eye the other day. As usual, I was taking the long way around to get to the grocery store when this little barn popped into view. For a change I didn't have my trusty photo taking machine with me. I did my grocery shopping and took the short route home where I grabbed the old Canon and headed back to this spot on Liberty Ridge Road. I don't know anything about the place other than it makes a nice photo subject. After I arrived back home, I was downloading the shots into my computing thing when I realized that there was a second building in the picture, a dilapidated farm house. Now maybe there is a story here. Let's journey back, say a hundred years, to the time when a young couple found this tract of land in the middle of nowhere (just south of somewhere). They had been living with his parents and she was expecting their first child. They owned a couple of cows, a bull and a few chickens and had saved up enough money to make a down payment on a place of their own. With a loan from a bank in nearby Platteville (this was before the "M" appeared on the Platteville Mound), the land was purchased and, with the help of friends and family members, a house and a barn were constructed. what a joyous time that must have been. I'll bet that on a quiet summer evening you can probably still hear the laughter of those farm kids as they frolic through the fields capturing fire flies and playing "Red Rover". The family grew as did the number of cows and chickens. More land was purchased and the small plot of a couple of acres became a respectable spread of several hundred acres. The kids grew up and moved to places of their own, ma and pa along with their old barn and house had completed their mission. I'm sure that in one of the small weed covered cemeteries that dot the surrounding area, a pair of weathered tombstones mark the final resting place of that jubilant young couple while the skeletal remains of the house and barn mark the spot where a hard working, hard loving family found their "Liberty on the Ridge".

If you look real close on the right side of the barn,
the remains of the old farm house is visible.

I'm off now to prepare for my "Knee High by the Fourth of July" survey!

Whoa!

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. But what a couple of weeks it has been.
First JoAnne had some surgery. She had a procedure done involving things that I not only can't pronounce and have no possible way of spelling. At any rate everything went after a week or so of "stay-at-home" recovery, Jo returned to work just in time to take an unscheduled trip down some stairs at work. (trip to emergency room required) Results: sprained foot, bump on head , twisted knee and a pair of crutches. Normally this would only be a minor setback but, not if you're expecting a house full of company that weekend for little Eddie's Christening and JoAnne being the Lands' End team leader for the Race for the Cure Saturday morning. With a well coordinated effort on every one's part, arrangements fell into place when... Friday the assisted living place called to tell us that Jo's mom was having a bad turn. (trip to emergency room required) She was put in the hospital for testing so her needs were being attended to. The Race, the Christening and the post Christening festivities went off without a hitch (if you don't count JoAnne having to cheer the team on the sidelines propped on her crutches, the breakdown of the churches audio/video system and Eddie crying through most of the ceremony) Then on top of all this stuff, it happened...Gary Coleman died! (I won't go into any of the sick Gary Coleman jokes that are circulating the internet) It was time to yell "UNCLE". Jo was teetering on the edge of something. Even the crutches weren't enough support. Time for a "Time Out". Jo only had a half day of work on Friday so I told her to pack a bag with enough stuff for the weekend and I would pick her up at LE. I didn't tell her that I had made reservations at the Kohler resort complex. To shorten an already long story. We had a great room overlooking a small lake, enjoyed good food and JoAnne got her batteries recharged. We spent the weekend exploring Eastern Wisconsin.

Disabled Team Captain with able bodied assistant Saffron.
Either gathering team or directing runners to Portapotties.

The Blume/Nimz team sporting their t-shirts honoring
Jo's thirtieth survivor year. Even Eddie and Saffie wore one.

Eddie decides that the hat is a good idea.
He wasn't wearing one and they poured water on his head

Eddie meets Greatgrandma Rezabek for the first time.

Entering a "Timber Tunnel".

A pair of Whooping Cranes.
(at The International Crane foundation)

A whole family of Whoopers from a previous visit.
(Photo by grandson Roy)

Mom Coot and Cootling on nest in at Horcon Marsh.

Now, a quick explanation for the Deer Warning Sign above. These signs are a very common sight throughout Wisconsin and should be heeded. Someone once told me that if you live in Wisconsin and drive, you will hit a deer sometime in your lifetime. With this in mind, I am always extremely watchful as I travel the roads of this state. However, lately I have encountered many things that don't resemble the creature depicted on these signs. In the past two weeks I have had to give right of way to - wild turkeys, pheasants, chipmunks, flocks of suicidal birds, (one or two were successful) a family of Canada geese, a Mallard duck, a large bewildered calf and in the middle of nowhere, some peacocks. I did see one or two deer but they politely stood on the shoulder until I passed. Do we need to clutter the roadside with a slew of new signs? Judging by the carcasses strewn about, I'm sure that raccoons and possums would appreciate them. I even passed the site of a duck massacre where four or five were reduced to a flat mess of features and bones. The roadkill that amazes me most is the tired Turtle. Now squirrels, chipmunks and deer tend to dart out in front of a car without warning. Turtles don't dart very well. Actually they are really lousy darters. Normally you would have more time than it is taking you to read this post to avoid running over a turtle. Enough said. Off to the picture portion.

Hood's eye view of Pheasant who thinks he can outrun a Honda.

This guy gets wide berth. He has the moves of a squirrel
and potential damage of a bull dozer.

Now here is a Deer practicing proper roadside ethics.

The Truth at Last!

The wait is over. In a week filled with unanswered issues and final episodes, "Nightline" will provide us with the real poop we've all been waiting to hear. Tonight on "Nightline" Jesse James will tell all. For years I've wondered about so many things connected to Jesse James. Things like, did you and Frank make a lot of money robbing so many banks, trains and stagecoaches? Were old fashioned ATMs hard to steal from? Was it cool hanging out at "Hole in the Wall" with guys like Butch and Sundance? Did you and your gang shop at the GAP? How could you feel safe hiding out in the Meramec Caverns with signs everywhere announcing that your hideout was there? Oh, I wish I could be on that program with him tonight. I'd like to ask him if he thought he could out draw Norman Rockwell or out shoot John Wayne. I don't know about any of you, but I'm going to be glued to the "Tube" tonight and my DVR, VCR and Betta recorders will be burning away.

Site of the "Hole in the Wall".

So hard to find that there may still be guys in there trying to find their way out.

With signs like this, it's pretty hard to be sneaky.

After installing this marker, Frank and Jesse fooled everyone by heading to Minnesota.
Too bad their plan to knock over that big mall up there didn't work out.

You don't go foolin' us Minnesoda guys you bet!

Oh yah, dere's a Ford in his future up here aye?

Oh wait! I guess I had the wrong Jesse James.
Well they bear a little resemblance to each other.

A Little Care Goes A Long Way!

This week JoAnne under went some surgery to fix up an internal disorder. Now the doctor showed me photos of the "disorder" and it sure looked very disorderly to my untrained eye. Although any photo of some one's innards look pretty disorderly to me. I would have liked to post some of those photos here but I couldn't get publishing rights. (If you really get off seeing that sort of thing, watch reruns of CSI at almost any hour of the day or night) The good news is that Jo is home with me all day, every day, for a couple of weeks as she recovers. The bad news is that Jo is home with me all day, every day, for a couple of weeks as she recovers. The reason that this is bad is that she gets to see what a lazy existence I lead while she's slaving away at the LE place. I keep trying to look busy but there's only so much jello a guy can make in a day. Relief came Saturday in the form of Jeanna and Little Saffie. Seems that Saffie is a registered Cheerer Upper and that's just what Grandma needed. It was a pleasant day so we all moved out to the deck (my big deck). Much to Saffie's surprise Grandma had found a Saffie sized Adirondack chair. Saffie, her friend Elmo and the puppies, Tina and Snoopy found the chair to their liking. I guess that Saffie had overheard Mom and Dad talking about Grandma's special diet because she dragged out her personal grill and started preparing a light lunch for Grandma. Suddenly, out of nowhere (actually from next door) appeared Trenton our neighbor kid. He immediately explained to Saffie that grilling was a man's job and he took over the controls. It was great fun watching the two work away at their imaginary lunch and it was a real tonic for the patient, patient.
Jo's recovery is coming along nicely. I can attest to this because she's starting to get tired of sitting around watching recordings of the Ellen show. Here's a little peek at the care givers at work.

Saffie and friends check out the new chair.

"Now Elmo, no standing or jumping on the chair."

"Just sit tight Grandma, I'll make some soup
that tastes every bit as good as the stuff you got at the hospital."

"Here, let a man take over young lady."

"You go cut up some vegetables and I'll handle the grilling."

"Wait til you taste this. It's my own recipe!"

Catchin' UP!

It's been quite a while since I've seriously taken any flower photos. Sunday morning as I passed the room that JoAnne uses for computing and various other officelike duties, I noticed that our foster flower (an orchid that we adopted from the "Lands' End Lobby Beautification System" aka LELBS). The early sunlight filtered though the lace curtains creating such lovely lighting that I couldn't resist running (walking a little quicker) to fetch me trusty Canon. I had to share the results with you. So, as they say, "Here Tis!". Now to the catchin' up.
On my last post I was busy bragging about the Cubs' sweep over the dreaded Brewers. Since then, the Baseball Gods have, to put it mildly, frowned upon our "Boys in Blue". The straws from that celebratory broom have been stuffed up their dragging butts. We even sent our cutie pie mascot, Saffron, to a game hoping to get a winning streak going. She came away with a win and a Dora the Explorer doll clad in a Cub's shirt. The winning streak was short lived. Even Dora got demoted to becoming a plaything for the doggie duo, Tina and Snoopy. Saffie decided that running up and down the aisles and ramps at Wrigley Ballyard was more fun than watching the struggling team on the field. Meanwhile the Grandma bug struck our household. Terminex, Raid and Black Flag didn't seem to help. The only remedy was a face to face "Grandkid Fix". So it was off to "The Cities" (Minneapolis/St. Paul) to check on Little Eddie who was already 6 weeks old and had only been exposed to intensive Grandmothering from Jo for one week. It was a great weekend, Jo Grandmothered, Reid messed with a newly acquired outboard motor, Summer got a well deserved break from nightly 3AM chats with Eddie and I....was forced to keep an eye on the TV and sample various desserts and cakes that Summer baked. A visit to the local Farmer's Market yielded a nice bunch of rhubarb that was quickly transformed into a delicious pie which in truth was my prize for winning the highly touted, very complicated baby pool.
Another highlight since my last post was my Big Springs waterfall quest. In the past I had heard of Big Spring and even seen a road named for it but just couldn't locate it. So on a nice Spring day, I set out with my goal being to find the Big Spring. To make things even more interesting was that Kim, one of Jo's coworkers, mentioned how the Big Springs Waterfall was really gushing this time of year. Wow! Not only a spring but a waterfall too. Off I went. My superior intelligence told me that a good place to start would be . . . Big Springs Road. I drove the road from one end the what I guessed to be the other end. I found Big Springs Creek, a number of wild turkeys, a couple of deer, an eagle nest complete with a pair of eagles and a pair of Wood ducks but no Spring or Waterfall. I even found a discarded 1963 Corvair that was almost completely hidden by foliage. After Jo questioned her friend Kim about the whereabouts of "The Spring" she learned that it was necessary to hike in off the road to find the source of Big Springs Creek and the waterfall that it created. Back to the car and in no time I was trekking down a path along the creek and eventually came upon "The Source". I must admit that on a list of the vast number of waterfalls that Jo and I have hunted down over the years, this one ranked fairly low. But, it was a waterfall and it was only a few miles from home. I took a few mediocre photos and headed home victoriously.We have since celebrated Mother's day with a big dose of Saffie for Grandma Jo. We are presently awaiting a surgical procedure that Jo is to undergo tomorrow and I look forward to her spending more time at home with me recovering. Maybe some soothing rides through the lush green countryside will help the healing process.

Are you glad to see us or is it just gas?

Now that makes Grandpa smile!

I'm not sure what this face means.
Could be Saffie giving The Cubs the "raspberries".

Big Springs Creek.

The heart of it all. Big Spring - "The Falls".

I forgot to mention, there's a lot of these Trout creatures swimming around in that creek.
Must like the clear, fresh, cold water.

Ma and Pa Eagle spending a quiet afternoon at home.

Ma and Pa Wood Duck jus coolin' it. Not much of a photo but,
it's the first time I ever saw Wood Ducks in the wild.

Memory car. Above: The woods version in 2010.
I actually had two of these in the sixties.
A '61 coupe and a '63 convertible. Loved them, in spite of Ralph Nadar!
Below: The street version in 1961