Here’s a quick peek into some of what’s been going on around here (no pics of the plumbing problem in the bathroom*).

Last Saturday, Kate & I drove up to Door County for the day. The weather was amazing! It wasn’t in the plan, but we ended up hopping on a ferry to Washington Island — it was my first time visiting the island! The tiny Jacobsen Museum was the main impetus, and worth it, but we also visited a gallery & nature center, a local tavern (though not the “Bitters” one, for that we’ll have to return), the Stavkirke, and Sievers School of Fiber Arts.

I’ve known about Sievers School & have been on their mailing list forever! Janine Bajus, designer of Parcheesi (and many other wonderful things) has taught there. Someday…

We cruised through Peninsula State Park, mainly to get a read on internet connectivity & whether/where it could work for Kate if she camped up there.

We stopped at Olde Orchard Antique Mall — the original & the best, IMHO — where my mom & I had a booth in a lifetime or two ago. We both found a few things. I spotted this mug from afar…

…and immediately recognized the design as one that my sister Sharon painted years ago for a pottery company she worked for in Ohio. We had a Sister Weekend there once, and Rusty & I stopped with the kids on our way to the east coast — stayed overnight & the kids all made a couple of things (many of which are still in daily use around here). I know I have a piece or two in this design from that era (or maybe my mom did). Naturally, I had to walk over & pick it up.

Kate was a booth or so ahead of me at the time, and called out when she heard me gasp to make sure I was OK! I was, but wow… it was actually one of Sharon’s. Her birthday had been just a few days before & the next day I was picking up Ann for a quick Sister Weekend! IT was a nice “HELLO” from my dearly missed sister.

On Sunday, I swung through Madison to pick up Ann on our way to Viroqua for a couple of days. I’d never been there, either, and it turns out that we could have planned a little bit better — many of the businesses in the area are closed on some combination of Sunday, Monday and/or Tuesday. We were able to enjoy a couple of meals at Maybe Lately’s (including my first ever Detroit-style pizza), which I learned about from Wisconsin Foodie, which is hosted by Chef Luke Zahm, whose own restaurant, Driftless Cafe in Viroqua, was one of the things that initially attracted us to the area, but was closed while we were there (and, turns out, we would have needed to make a reservation well in advance, anyway). I keep a running “Wisconsin Wish List” on my phone, populated with foodie locations across the state that I’ve learned about from that show — Noble Rind, where we had lunch on Tuesday before heading home, was another from that list.

Though many places were closed, still found plenty to do! The father of a long-time family friend of Ann’s family lives in the rolling hills between Viroqua & La Crosse, and we went out for a tour of his beautiful garden.

Roger’s house is the green one toward the right, his neighbors on the left are an Amish family. It’s idyllic. He grows all sorts of things — fruit, flowers, veg — and a lot of it for tea.

He also has a mushroom farm! It was fascinating — some parts of the “farm” had been established for a while, others were new. The mushrooms looked amazing!

Our Airbnb in Viroqua was in a little house right on the main drag & walkable… though my tolerance for that activity is not great, I did my best. One of the places we visited was Ewetopia Fiber Shop. We didn’t make it over to the mill, but that’ll also be for another visit! The shop was a lot bigger than I imagined, and in a great old building that was probably a furniture store or department store many years ago. The whole downtown was very cute.

June was Quilt Shop Hop month in Wisconsin, so we visited a quilt shop in Viroqua and I stopped at another on the way home on Tuesday. I was able to visit all the shops in my “section” of the state, which was fun & educational.

By the time I returned, Kate had towed Ducky out to High Cliff for a few days of camping with Kai. Rusty & I went out one evening for a campfire & dinner.

Grilled cheese sandwiches & tomato soup never tasted so good! haha.

The sky was absolutely gorgeous on our way home. I just had to pull over & snap some photos.

Ali & the kiddos will be over on Sunday to do an ice-dyeing project — a group gift at Christmas, and it’s time! Annie will be coming up on Monday to stay (& help) for a few days.

I’ve less than a week before surgery… there’s some borrowed medical equipment in the garage that needs disinfecting before being moved into the house. I haven’t been rushing into that chore, but I’m going to have to do it this weekend. I’d normally be off on Monday, but I’ll be going in to work to button things up before I’m off for… an extended period that I hope isn’t too terribly long!!

*Drip, drip, drip. Not a sound I (or anyone) want to hear emanating from the basement (or anywhere) at 8p on a Tuesday (or anytime). The toilet, of course. The toilet that I’ve complained about on more than one occasion over the past year or so because it’s been taking so painfully long to refill after a flush… and, y’know, it’s all related. Rusty turned off the water, which is fine — we can manually flush with a bucket — but in doing so, the cold water was also shut off to the sink & shower in the (our only) bathroom. Luckily, the apartment is vacant, so I went up there to take a shower yesterday morning (it’s been decades). So fine, fine, fine, Rusty’s able to fix everything (sink & shower restored yesterday, toilet today), and I’m more than grateful that it happened this week instead of next. I’m huffy about it, though, like steaming… I don’t understand why, when there’s a known problem, that it can’t be fixed (he did “look at it” a couple of times)… and why we always have to wait until it’s a disaster! I could go on, but I won’t. /rant

We headed out on Saturday morning, and here’s how our few days went:

• Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park
• Visiting cousins (2)
  • + First cousin once-removed & his fiancee
  • + Stevie the blind pet squirrel
  • + horses, pigs, alpacas, sheep & goats
  • Taking possession of Grandma’s photos
• Meeting up with high school classmate
  • Returning book borrowed in 1976
• Visiting uncle
  • Maddy embarking on an impromptu paddle in the kayak
• Climbing inside Looking at a giant musky over a fence & through some trees (things have changed)

The first stop on our trip was in Wausau — for an estate sale, and for lunch. We both scored some things at the sale, and lunch at Red Eye Brewing Company was yummy & worth the short wait.

Onward… unfortunately, we arrived at the Concrete Park just as the visitor center closed — Maddy saw them flip the sign. But the grounds are always open, so we wandered.

It was totally worth the stop. I love a museum gift shop, though, so will have to make it a point to stop again. I’m pretty sure I’d find something there that I couldn’t live without!

That’s “Mable the Milker” directly above. One of the few among over 200 with a posted name. Most animals are recognizable (even with their humorously skinny, straight legs), but ol’ Fred apparently had a whimsical period now & then.

The Budweiser/Anheuser Busch wagon was the last & one of the largest sculptures that he made.

There’s Maddy for scale.

There’s so much to take in!

Horses with skinny legs! Interesting observation: they all have real horseshoes.

Fred had a tavern right next door, and this was before the age of canned beverages, so he had a lot of “fodder” material for his sculptures. I was really intrigued with the use of stacked “bottle bottoms,” as above. It’s really amazing that so much of these have remained intact — especially those with the vulnerable full bottles.

Our destination/base camp was in Hayward. We stayed at a Holiday Inn & had a lakeside room with a little patio, table & chairs — it was nice!

The McDonald’s in Hayward — ONLY in Hayward!

Used to be, the giant fiberglass fish was just part of a public park… now it’s part of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and can only be accessed with admission. We weren’t that interested. heh.

On Sunday, we drove over to Solon Springs to visit with my cousins, Gail & Gordy, who are neighbors; Gordy’s son Trent & his fiancee Amy also joined us. Gail & Gordy both have a lot of interests and amazing workshops/barns, which were fun to tour. Gordy, and Gail’s husband John, are into saws, mills, planers & the like. Gail has an enviable workspace for her Rock On Jewelry business, as well as an area for creative endeavors with driftwood… not to mention shop space in the barn for her welder, plasma cutter & accoutrements. Not gonna lie, I’m a little envious (or a LOT) of all that dedicated space!

Gordy has a pet squirrel, Stevie, who is blind in one eye & also suffers from seizures. He built a pretty great habitat for him.

After lunch we stopped at the farm across the road where Gail boards her horse, Nutmeg — she’s the cutie on the left. She’s only two, I think. There are both types of alpaca on the farm, those above are Suri.

Madeleine the animal lover!

John, Gail, me, Gordy, Maddy. I should have stood on a crate! haha.

Gordy could not find the old photos of Grandma’s, but had run across them in the not-so-distant past & knows they’re somewhere… he will send them to me when they turn up again.

I messaged & texted my classmate… turns out, she only gets messages on her iPad & she mistyped a digit of her phone number, so never received my text. Next time, I guess!

On Sunday night, there was a loon family out on Hayward Lake. The “baby” was nearly full-size, but different in color — and definitely not interested in getting its head wet! It just floated along, waiting for mom/dad to swim over with a tidbit. It was fascinating to watch them fish & swim — they’re so fast under the water — and one of them swam right under the dock where we were sitting.

We’d learned of a Monday flea market from a couple we chatted with on the dock, so we checked that out before leaving Hayward, along with a thrift shop, and those were also worthwhile stops.

On our way home, we made our planned stop at Uncle Jimmy’s on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage. Jim is my dad’s youngest brother — only about 10 years older than me, so of course he was our favorite uncle.

Maddy spotted Jim’s “fishing” kayak & he half-jokingly asked her if she wanted to go for a paddle. Um, YES! She went around the island and took the long way back.

We had a very nice visit, chatting about neighbors, relatives (some are both), dogs, bats, kayaks, and making maple syrup, which Jim does every spring. We brought home syrup for all!

It was such a fun getaway with m’girl!

Today is her last full day at home. I’m cutting out of work early & am making BBQ ribs tonight — one of her favorites. Every time ribs have come up in the dinner conversation, I’d say “wait until Maddy comes,” so now’s the time! She’ll spend a couple of days in Milwaukee before flying back to Australia on Sunday or Monday. boo.