Fireworks and What Not

I made a small movie of highlights from the fireworks show at Heritage Fest. We watched the show from Beth's kayak in the middle of the river, which afforded a great view with the added bonus of solitude. I.e., no screaming kids.



We were going to take both boats, but somehow I managed to lose one of the Boston valves from my kayak, so I couldn't pump it up. So we tested (exceeded) the weight limit in Beth's. Come to find out, we could have probably just walked out to the middle of the river and plunked down a couple of lawn chairs, cuz the water level was pretty low. New valve has since been ordered and received, so, barring any holes or other mishaps, I'm good to go.



It's been raining for 3 days straight now, so collecting nosegays has been difficult. Here are a couple from last weekend, plucked between the rain drops. The asters are getting the crap beat out of them by the rain, so I fear this may be it for the season.




I like this teeny tiny nosegay, which is in my little vase purchased at this year's hysterical society garage sale.



I totally missed the mid-summer display at Snuffy's Prairie this year, but the early autumn colors are nice too.

Garden Harvest

This may be my last eggplant of the season from the garden, but it's a beauty! Shown here just prior to being turned into eggplant casserole. Yum. All the other stuff is from the garden as well (well, except the onion, I got that from Tim at the Farmer's Market).



Here we have documented success with rosemary bread. First bread baked of the season, since we had some cooler weather.



There was this cute cat that was hanging around the yard, so I made a movie of him. He followed me everywhere and had a lot to say. A neighbor took him in, so hopefully it works out. I called him Knucklehead. (The cat, not the neighbor.)

She Ran Callin' Wiiiiiiildfire...

So the Boundary Waters Canoe Area is on fire. How do I know this? Not because the news or weather bothered to report on it in a timely fashion. No, it's because our entire area was blanketed by smoke as of yesterday afternoon. I was eating lunch outside with some co workers, and we couldn't figure out where the strong smell of smoke and eye-burning haze was coming from. Did the ceramics department get carried away with the outdoor kilns again? Is a farmer's field on fire? No...just a giant fire over 400 miles away. !!

I had ridden my bike to work, so was a little worried about the commute home. Our nurse gave me a mask to wear though. By the evening, it wasn't so bad, so I could have probably gone without the mask, but I didn't want to aggravate the old asthma any more than I needed to. My glasses only fogged up when I stopped, which I did at a couple of intersections, and to help a little Hispanic woman who was exclaiming, "DO YOU HAVE KEY TO MOVE MY CHAIR???" I surmised the translation to be, "Do you have a wrench so I can raise my bicycle seat?" Alas, I did not, but she thanked me for trying. :)



THEN...totally unrelated, really, but still noteworthy, I had an unfortunate treadmill accident in the fitness center. What happened was ... I fell! This was not a little stumble and catch yourself fall either. I tripped over my shoe or something (?!), somehow landed on my side (instead of my face), curled up to protect my head (my mad Ninja Karate reflexes kicked in!) and shot off the back of the treadmill and almost into the wall behind me! Funny, I thought of Lenore's cat, Xena (who had a similar experience)! I noticed a white skid mark of sorts on the treadmill belt and thought maybe it was from my shoe...but then realized it was probably skin! Yikes. So now I have three little "burns" on my leg and my ankle kind of hurts. Sometimes pride goeth after a fall, not before. It was really kind of funny – makes me laugh when I think of what that must have looked like! Scott, the attendant/trainer guy, ran over to see if I was OK, then after I got back on and resumed my workout (like, you know, I MEANT to do that!), he came back and asked, "Are you SURE you're OK?!" Then when I was lifting weights, he asked me again, "Did you hurt yourself anywhere?!" Very sweet. I didn't hear any laughing, so all the people hid it well, haha. Yes, first I thought of Xena, then George Jetson, then my coworker, Craig, whose answer for everything is, "Walk it off!" so I did.

Prior to all this excitement, Roland, Amy, and I (or, Roland and his sister wives, as I like to say), went to Wilton, WI to ride the Elroy-Sparta bike trail and do a little paddling in Ontario. (We did get separate hotel rooms, though I had this vision of me between the two of them in bed, maybe watching a movie and eating popcorn.)




I'm trying to figure out a way to link my photos of a Wilton Biking-Bobbing weekend from Facebook to here. Any ideas? I think there may be too many to post, and I'm fed up with Flickr. Stay tuned...

Later that same evening...
Maybe this will work?

Anyway, it was a gorgeous weekend -- could not have asked for more perfect weather, and I really enjoyed both the biking and paddling. I wanted to see how it felt to ride that trail when I had good biking legs from the summer, and it really made a difference. Even though I've been on that trail several times, the tunnels are still very cool (literally!). The longest one is 3/4 of a mile long, so you need a jacket and a light.

The Kickapoo River is one of my favorite places to kayak. It's really scenic and winding, and the people we rent Kayaks from (Titanic Canoe Rental, in case you're in the area), are super nice. Beth was on her way home from a whole week of hard-core camping and canoeing up in the Boundary Waters, but she was willing to stop off in Wilton Saturday evening and then join us for kayaking on Sunday. What a trooper!

On the way home from Wilton, we took a very scenic route (no thanks to my retarded GPS lady) and stopped in Janesville for some New Glaris beer that apparently you can ONLY get in WI. I did sample some, and it's very tasty.

I do need to post this picture here, a shot of the interior of Hardware Hank's, the coolest hardware store ever. They have at least one of EVERYTHING in that tiny store. I could spend hours in there.

Better Homes and Envy

Had a fun Labor Day weekend that involved putzing around the kitchen hiking and biking with Odie, kayaking with Roland and Amy, and ... eating.

Odie and I went to Lake Geneva one fine day and hiked for four hours or so on the lakefront path. It resulted, as it always does, in me having severe house envy. Not to mention garden, birdhouse, porch, and, oh yeah...fancy-ass boat envy too. What am I doing wrong?

Lots of great memories in this little spot -- this is where Nee and Bob kept their dingy, which they used to get out to the sailboat. We used to set up camp right on shore by the boats and spend the whole day there either picnicking on shore or hanging out on the sailboat. Good times.







Anyway...it was still quite pleasant. My favorite stretch is along what's called The Elgin Club, and one of the houses along there is among my favorites.



I don't need a mansion -- this one is perfect.


OK, I like this one a lot too. Cool porch and weather vane!



This was Odie's favorite. I like it too...



Also had a nice float down the Fox River -- I know I keep taking these same shots, but it's new every time!




There were lots of egrets congregating just south of the Algonquin dam. While this shot below is not all that impressive, there were at least 15 right here, and all told I'd say we saw at least 25 egrets, plus turkey vultures, great blue herons and a green heron. I'm dreading the day when they start building that Bolz Rd. bridge, because we can kiss all this wonderful wildlife goodbye, not to mention the serenity of the river. Progress sucks sometimes.


A rare decent photo of a great blue heron...


I almost forgot to post the resurrection lilies -- better known as "Wunderblumen" in my family.




Here's the last of the August nosegays, and a nosegay for my co worker Donna's birthday.

Harvest Update

I think my green pepper broke last year's record! Some of my friends have expressed garden envy, but really, people, 3 peppers and 2 stinkin' eggplants isn't really much to brag about.





Is there any vegetable that's prettier than an eggplant? No. I think not.



Basil and Swiss chard though...now that's another story. I borrowed mom's food processor and put a sizable dent in the basil field I've got growing behind the shed. Though all those many, many leaves only made about one cup of pesto. I left out the cheese so's I could freeze it for another day.

End-of-August nosegays:




Odie came home for labor day weekend and his b.day.


We of course had meatloaf in lieu of cake (but there was cheesecake...), and the two of us went on a nice bike ride. Here's a picture he took with his phone of me sitting on the South End Park bridge.

Maybe This is Why Eve was Tempted

My favorite Chinese co worker gave me this apple. I wonder if she's trying to tell me something.