"Well ablessa my asoul, awhat's awrong with me? ..."

In my job, I get assigned to cover many different things. Some are part of my usual work. Other times, I'm covering for somebody else.

Last week, I covered for someone ... and I got to see The King.

The editor was moaning that day, because she couldn't get someone to cover a special event being held in a nursing home in the other half of the county. We supposedly have someone working over there on news, but usually she's over here, working on ad layouts. Anyway, she wasn't "there" that day, and from the way I read the editor's voice, she clearly didn't want to run over there herself.

As you may remember, I had taken Tuesday off to take David to Green Bay, so I said I would. She sounded relieved and grateful. So that afternoon I drove across the county to the county-owned nursing home, where they were having a 1950s style "sock hop" for the elderly residents--nearly all of whom were adults by the time the 1950s arrived.

No matter. A premise is a premise. Besides, they had a special attraction. Elvis was going to sing.

This nursing home is a newish building, with different wings pointing in different directions--quite a bit larger than where my mom is living. They walked me to the large hall, where the residents were being treated to Cokes and French fries, served by staff members who had happily decked themselves out in '50s-style fashion as it existed in the States. In particular, poodle skirts--skirts emblazoned with a fanciful poodle. This picture shows some of the staff distributing French fries to the residents ...


Before too long, Elvis made his appearance. He walked to a music machine, hit a few buttons, and he was all set. Apparently they make "Elvis Minus One" CDs, for the music accompaniment started coming out, and The King went to work ...


It was Elvis all right, albeit an Elvis who at times struggled to stay in tune and who avoided high notes entirely. But he attempted to shake his hips once. That was interesting to see. And sometimes he spoke in that low-pitched Elvis mumble you may have heard. On some songs, he was ... good. On others ...

He sang "All Shook Up" and "Hound Dog" and "Don't" and "You Were Always on My Mind" and a number of others. For the life of me, I can't remember the song where he battled bravely to stay in tune.

At the time, I was squatting on the floor with my camera near one of the elderly lady residents, who seemed to be looking around and smiling to herself. I caught her eye and she leaned forward and spoke into my ear.

"God! Is he terrible!"

Well, everybody's entitled to their opinion. As for myself, it was the first time I had ever seen an Elvis, even a faux Elvis. So for all the Elvises I have ever seen (all one of them), I guess he has to top the list. Of course, there's this DVD set I got for my wife, who likes Elvis a lot. The guy on those DVDs in the '68 concert special ... well, there are certain differences.

Those differences were also subtly evident on the tables, where the staff had favors in keeping with the sock hop theme. They had found a bunch of 45 records that they had on the tables. Some were pop hits from the ancient past. Others were vintage children's records. But they also had some photos of the man who was ...


Now that's a lot more like the guy we saw on my wife's DVDs. And I couldn't help wondering once again why all the faux Elvises emulate the overweight, middle-aged, white jumpsuited Elvis of the '70s, instead of this dynamic, incredibly sexy guy from the '50s and early '60s. I mean, I've seen rebroadcasts of some of the vintage TV shows from about 1955, when Elvis was just being discovered, and I mean ... Wow!

All of us who are old enough know the sad story of Elvis and how his celebrity denied him a real life. I hope he's a lot happier now.

Meanwhile, here's a scene to think about. Look at this ...

Does this--performing at nursing homes--qualify as the absolue nadir of a faux Elvis' performing career? Maybe children's birthday parties would be worse, but this would be a close second.

Anyway, I got out my recorder and recorded about 20 minutes of Faux Elvis' music, which I played back yesterday for the amusement of my office mates while we were proofreading the paper. The highlight was "One Night With You" when he was belting out "Been! Too! Lonely! Too! Long!"

Who could keep a straight face with that? Like some of the visitors seated along the outside of the room, where I went with my French fries, who would steal looks at each other and send messages to each other with their eyes, invoking smirks and suppressed laughter.

So I played the tape for the office. And then I erased it. This was, after all, a moment that man is only meant to experience one time in life.

Just a few lines

Just wanted to stick my head in here. It's been too busy for words.

It's just that the last two weeks before Labor Day are very intense for me, with lots of stuff that has to get done. It's that way every year. This week, for instance, the fall sports are starting up again, and for the next few months I'll usually be out three nights a week, two at girls basketball games and at least one football game. Plus whatever else they come up with for me.

I've got lots of stuff to write about here, once I get the chance to collect my thoughts. But it's late and I'm getting tired. I wanted to write S, but that will have to wait, too. Maybe I can do that tomorrow. I'm missing her. It's been nearly nine months since we last saw each other. Usually it's OK, but tonight it's gotten me sad.

But maybe that's because I'm tired and I've been through an extremely busy few days. It's mentally draining, you know? I'm just down tonight. Maybe I can write a little more tomorrow. I had a funny experience last week, and it's the kind of story a lot of you would love.

Give me a day or two. I think it'll be worth the wait.

A journey to Packerland

Tuesday was the day David and I planned to visit Green Bay to see a Packers practice. But after the Pack made it a closed practice, there wasn't much sense in leaving at 6 a.m. to see the start of a 9 a.m. practice that would be closed to us mere mortals. So we took the normal amount of sleep and left a little after 8 a.m.

We reached Green Bay at about 11. The trip was mostly about shopping--David had written down a list of places he wanted to get to, so we made the rounds. Hobby Lobby. Best Buy. Barnes & Noble. A video game/DVD exchange place.

But the featured stop was Lambeau Field, home of the Packers. Yeah, the Pack closed their practice to us, but we had to stop by and get some Packer stuff, anyway.

Here's the recently expanded Lambeau Field entrance, including atrium.


This one shows David taking a picture of a plaque outside Lambeau Field, under the stern gaze of a statue of Vince Lombardi, who has always been much larger than life among Packer fans ...


We went inside the atrium, and though much of it was blocked off, we took an escalator to the second floor and looked around at a variety of shops and entertainment areas, all of which seem designed to separate you from your money as quickly as possible. Kids games, too--you have to swipe a card to play. Get the idea?

Ironically, here is one of the games I saw in the kids area. Huh?

Actually, they did have an outdoor college hockey game at Lambeau Field last winter.

But the big money-maker is the Packer Pro Shop, where you can buy uniforms and souvenirs with the Packer logo on them. And more. Much, much, much more. I have always believed that people up here are so goofy about the Packers (yes, including us in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) that they will buy anything with a Packer logo on it. Over the years, I have not seen much to persuade me otherwise.

Here's just a part of the men's department ...


Uniforms, sweatshirts, T-shirts, pajamas, polo shirts, golf shirts (costing in three figures!). You name it, they've got it. And endless varieties, too.

And they have a women's department, as well, geared slightly more towards casual wear. They've got just about everything you could imagine ...


Everything, I say ...

If you can see, the price for these babies is $9.95. They cost $8.95 the last time I visited, in 2004. (Yes, I got a picture then too.) But they were white--not the team colors.

In fact, the Packer Pro Shiop has stuff for all ages. How young?

Please note that this is the official NFL product, complete with NFL hologram. Nope, these aren't those counterfeit pacifiers you may have read about. (Maybe in a few years we'll see walkers for the elderly, proudly emblazoned with the big G logo.)

We were in Green Bay about eight hours. Some of David's stops, particularly the videogame/DVD place, were very long. It was his big trip, and I didn't want to rush him. Eventually, though, even he got tired, so we stopped at a McDonald's for a bite to eat before the three-hour drive home.

This McDonald's has a retro sign in front ...

I have included this photo here for sentimental reasons.

This is the same McDonald's I've been seeing since back when my mom and dad were driving "up north," on weekend trips from our home in the Milwaukee suburbs to visit my grandparents (both sets) in the Iron Mountain area.

As I told David, that was even before the expressway around the city was built, and we had to take city streets right past the Packers' field (then known as City Stadium) on our way north. Back then, McDonald's was counting hamburgers sold in the 10s of millions. I can remember 30 ... 40 ... 50 ... the number changing over the months and years. Then 100. Then 200 ...

Our family made many weekend trips up north. Sometimes it seemed like we'd be going up there every other week. But we all enjoyed it up there, so that is why. When my mom got pregnant with their second child (I was the first), they realized they couldn't afford to stay on my grandfather's farm. They reluctantly moved down to Milwaukee. But their hearts were always back home.

I even remember some of the places we'd stop at along the way. The big truck stop near Oshkosh. John Nero's restaurant in Green Bay. A bar (forgot the name) about 10 miles from our destination where my dad would get a beer. Then the final few miles, through Iron Mountain and then the dirt roads leading to my grandparents' place. We'd get there about 11 p.m., after they were asleep. We'd get there, and soon I was lying on the living room couch, watching the slow flashing of the red beacon on the radio antenna atop the mountain nearby. And that was the last thing I would see before falling asleep.

Huh? Oh, yeah. Excuse my sudden journey back nearly 50 years in time. Just memories. Back to the present.

I made some unexpected decisions during my trip. At the Barnes & Noble, I was looking at a book about Photoshop--the king of photo software, costing much more than I can affod. Then looked at a book about Photoshop Elements 4.0, which is a lot less expensive. I wound up buying the book--and the software.

Here's how it is. I've decided that I want to learn more about working with digital photos. I want to get better at it than I am now. I also want to get better with photography in general. I'm OK now, but I want to get better. To that end, I'm thinking very hard about investing in a new camera.

I know I can't afford a digital SLR. Whenever the time comes, I'll have to keep it under $500 for everything. But I've been looking around, and I think I'll be able to get something pretty good for that price.

I've done OK with the camera I have now. But I think in a few more months, I'll be ready for a better model.

Downshifting for a week

It's been really hectic here. My oldest son returned home from the Detroit area (about 520 miles away) late Wednesday afternoon for a short vacation, and I've been trying to spend as much time with him as possible. That isn't very easy, since he arrived in the middle of a hectic week at work. I'll spare you the details.

But on Thursday we surprised and delighted my mom with a visit, and we all went out to dinner. As usual, I like to arrange surprises, and Phil had this scheme: He would call my mom's room, using my cell phone, from outdoors, while we walked inside and down the hall to her room. The plan was for her to be on the phone with him when we came through the door ... and a minute later, he would come walking through, too.

A beautiful scheme, except my cell phone lost its signal as soon as he walked inside. So there was nobody on the phone when he walked in ... but she was very happy, anyway. We talked for a while and then went to Hardee's for supper.

Aside from that, we've watched a few movies and Tigers games on TV. On Saturday, I'll have some work duties, but we will have a little more time to visit. I sure wish he could have picked a different week to visit, though.

If he had visited last week, maybe he would have gone to the powwow with us last Saturday. (Whew! I figured out a segue.)

*****
You may be wondering: What about the powwow pictures? I processed and uploaded them Tuesday night, planning to write Wednesday--but then Phil arrived, and it's been hectic ever since. Tonight, though, he went to bed early, so now's my chance.)

It was quite an occasion. A beautiful, sunny day for one of the most colorful events you could ever imagine. It took place about 50 miles away, at the old village site of a local band of Ojibwe Indians (also known as Chippewas and Anishanabe; in fact, this band uses "Chippewa" in its name instead of "Ojibwe.") These were the people who were living here when the American pioneers started moving in. Because of treaties, the Indian-controlled lands became smaller and smaller.

Many of you have heard the word powwow but don't know what a powwow is. So I'll help you.

A powwow takes place in a circular arena, with spectators on the outside and an arbor covered with pine boughs in the center. That's where the drums were located. Each "drum" is a group of four to six drummers, beating on a large drum while singing their songs in their language.

Of course I don't know their language, but that wasn't a concern. A master of ceremonies introduces each of the drums and tells what kind of song they will be singing. Sadly, the language is dying out, but there is a determined effort to preserve it and teach it to the young people.

The powwow started with the grand entry. The men and veterans entered first, carrying flags and eagle staffs ...


They were followed by the women ...


... and the young men, and the girls in vivid capes, soaring like birds ...


All ages take part in the powwow, from the old men and women to the very young ...


There was incredible regalia all over. Here are some of the jingle dancers ...


Eagle feathers were featured on men and women alike. This is a feather bustle ...


There even was an eagle feather headdress--just one of those ...


More beautiful capes were worn by the young girls ...

Do you see what the woman in the black jingle dress is carrying?

I was amazed when first I saw the bear dancer two years ago. This year, he was back ...

Imagine how hot that bearskin gets for a dancer working in the bright sunlight--it was about 80 degrees.

All groups got their own dances. The boys, the girls, the women and the men. This dance was a highlight.


Of course we got hungry, but they had plenty of good food available, along with vendors for clothing and jewelry. My wife bought a dream catcher, on which she is going to put some of her special treasures.

As for a meal, this is what I was looking for: a piece of frybread, upon which I spread some peanut butter, with margarine on one end (for my wife, who doesn't like peanut butter). Take a look at the size of this and guess how much it cost ...

It cost me all of $1. And it was delicious.

After it ended, as we were walking to the car, we saw a large eagle flying overhead--just like the eagle we saw at the powwow two years ago. Except, when I examined this picture later, I suspect this is not an eagle but instead a large raven (a bird also revered by the Native Americans, though nowhere near as much as an eagle). This bird had a dark head and tail feathers--but so do young eagles. Are there any bird experts out there who can say whether this is an eagle or a raven?



We did not repeat a visit we had made the earlier time, but I'll include this picture, too. It was taken at the 2004 powwow, and it was taken at the cemetery, located nearby ...


These are the spirit houses, which were built over the graves of the deceased. Visitors would leave food or tobacco or other items for the deceased person to use and enjoy. Also, look at all the military markers and flags. We saw them on many of the graves.

In fact, there are spirit houses at a county park near our house, where an Ojibwe community lived about a century ago. When the park was created in the 1920s, the spirit houses were repaired, and they keep on repairing them to this day. Someday I'll have to stop over there and get a few pictures.

So there you are. As powwows go, this was a small one, but Native Americans--mainly Ojibwes but also from other tribes and bands in the region--make this a summer highlight, traveling from one to another on weekends. There was no admission fee, and we were not the only whites attending and enjoying ourselves immensely.

Another highlight of a summer season that is rapidly ending.

Powwow pix and a visitor

It's been really hectic here. My oldest son returned home from the Detroit area (about 520 miles away) late Wednesday afternoon for a short vacation, and I've been trying to spend as much time with him as possible. That isn't very easy, since he arrived in the middle of a hectic week at work. I'll spare you the details.

But on Thursday we surprised and delighted my mom with a visit, and we all went out to dinner. As usual, I like to arrange surprises, and Phil had this scheme: He would call my mom's room, using my cell phone, from outdoors, while we walked inside and down the hall to her room. The plan was for her to be on the phone with him when we came through the door ... and a minute later, he would come walking through, too.

A beautiful scheme, except my cell phone lost its signal as soon as he walked inside. So there was nobody on the phone when he walked in ... but she was very happy, anyway. We talked for a while and then went to Hardee's for supper.

Aside from that, we've watched a few movies and Tigers games on TV. On Saturday, I'll have some work duties, but we will have a little more time to visit. I sure wish he could have picked a different week to visit, though.

If he had visited last week, maybe he would have gone to the powwow with us last Saturday. (Whew! I figured out a segue.)

*****
You may be wondering: What about the powwow pictures? I processed and uploaded them Tuesday night, planning to write Wednesday--but then Phil arrived, and it's been hectic ever since. Tonight, though, he went to bed early, so now's my chance.)

It was quite an occasion. A beautiful, sunny day for one of the most colorful events you could ever imagine. It took place about 50 miles away, at the old village site of a local band of Ojibwe Indians (also known as Chippewas and Anishanabe; in fact, this band uses "Chippewa" in its name instead of "Ojibwe.") These were the people who were living here when the American pioneers started moving in. Because of treaties, the Indian-controlled lands became smaller and smaller.

Many of you have heard the word powwow but don't know what a powwow is. So I'll help you.

A powwow takes place in a circular arena, with spectators on the outside and an arbor covered with pine boughs in the center. That's where the drums were located. Each "drum" is a group of four to six drummers, beating on a large drum while singing their songs in their language.

Of course I don't know their language, but that wasn't a concern. A master of ceremonies introduces each of the drums and tells what kind of song they will be singing. Sadly, the language is dying out, but there is a determined effort to preserve it and teach it to the young people.

The powwow started with the grand entry. The men and veterans entered first, carrying flags and eagle staffs ...


They were followed by the women ...


... and the young men, and the girls in vivid capes, soaring like birds ...


All ages take part in the powwow, from the old men and women to the very young ...


There was incredible regalia all over. Here are some of the jingle dancers ...


Eagle feathers were featured on men and women alike. This is a feather bustle ...


There even was an eagle feather headdress--just one of those ...


More beautiful capes were worn by the young girls ...

Do you see what the woman in the black jingle dress is carrying?

I was amazed when first I saw the bear dancer two years ago. This year, he was back ...

Imagine how hot that bearskin gets for a dancer working in the bright sunlight--it was about 80 degrees.

All groups got their own dances. The boys, the girls, the women and the men. This dance was a highlight.


Of course we got hungry, but they had plenty of good food available, along with vendors for clothing and jewelry. My wife bought a dream catcher, on which she is going to put some of her special treasures.

As for a meal, this is what I was looking for: a piece of frybread, upon which I spread some peanut butter, with margarine on one end (for my wife, who doesn't like peanut butter). Take a look at the size of this and guess how much it cost ...

It cost me all of $1. And it was delicious.

After it ended, as we were walking to the car, we saw a large eagle flying overhead--just like the eagle we saw at the powwow two years ago. Except, when I examined this picture later, I suspect this is not an eagle but instead a large raven (a bird also revered by the Native Americans, though nowhere near as much as an eagle). This bird had a dark head and tail feathers--but so do young eagles. Are there any bird experts out there who can say whether this is an eagle or a raven?



We did not repeat a visit we had made the earlier time, but I'll include this picture, too. It was taken at the 2004 powwow, and it was taken at the cemetery, located nearby ...


These are the spirit houses, which were built over the graves of the deceased. Visitors would leave food or tobacco or other items for the deceased person to use and enjoy. Also, look at all the military markers and flags. We saw them on many of the graves.

In fact, there are spirit houses at a county park near our house, where an Ojibwe community lived about a century ago. When the park was created in the 1920s, the spirit houses were repaired, and they keep on repairing them to this day. Someday I'll have to stop over there and get a few pictures.

So there you are. As powwows go, this was a small one, but Native Americans--mainly Ojibwes but also from other tribes and bands in the region--make this a summer highlight, traveling from one to another on weekends. There was no admission fee, and we were not the only whites attending and enjoying ourselves immensely.

Another highlight of a summer season that is rapidly ending.

Fast notes

A frightfully busy weekend ... the way all of them will be before long, once the fall sports get going.

We spent Saturday at the powwow--and with the way the rest of the weekend went, I still haven't had a chance to look over my pictures. I'll get to that later tonight. I think I got some good ones. The weather certainly behaved.

But as soon as I got home late Saturday afternoon, I had to leave immediately for an ethnic softball game on the other half of the county. Didn't get back from that until 10 p.m. On Sunday at 8 a.m., I was on the road again back across the county for a tube float event. It's part of a holiday weekend over there--special local celebration--and the paper was, as usual, short-handed.

Bottom line is that because of the powwow and softball game and tube float, I wasn't able to get to work on my stories until about 11 a.m. I wrote steadily until 2, then back home and worked on stories again that evening. I finally got everything done, but it didn't leave much weekend relaxation for me. Tonight I've got to cover a meeting on the other side of the county. In about an hour, in fact. It's about 20 minutes to get there.

The big news at our house this week is that my older son is coming up from his apartment in the Detroit metro area to spend a few days here and visit the county fair, along with some other stuff. He's arriving Wednesday afternoon and leaving Sunday, I think. It's sort of a last minute thing, but he's excited to get back up here again. I think. He is, of coure, The Eating Machine, but I'll get to that later.

I hope most of that made sense. If it doesn't, don't worry. That's the way it goes when you're feeling rushed. Deadline pressure! Concentrate!

Fish fries and anise candies

I'm getting tired--it's getting late, after all. I just wanted to report in. But I'm yawning, so I don't know how long I can go.

A bunch of things are on the griddle. Too little time to write about them now. But since today was my last open Friday night for a while (the county fair next Friday, and high school football starts the week after that), I decided to take my wife out for a fish fry. We enjoy that, and the cook never complains about getting a night off.

(She didn't complain about not having to cook lunch today, either. By pure dumb luck, I stumbled upon a credit union office celebrating its birthday by holding a free cook-out for anyone who wanted to come. I got a brat and phoned my wife, telling her not to start anything for lunch--and to get her shoes on, because I'll pick her up in a few minutes. We both enjoyed our unexpected brat feed.)

Anyway, when I thought about the fish fry tonight, I immediately had a second thought: Why not take my mom along? It's been quite a while since she has had a fish fry not created in a nursing home kitchen. And tonight, frankly, was our only chance to see her this weekend.

But it was a busy day for me. Collecting results from the primary election earlier this week. A court hearing in the afternoon. Then back in the office, trying to write up those stories--and also phoning two football coaches about the first week of practice. I got the interview with one of them and then did some some writing. When I looked up, it was about 4:15 p.m. and everybody else had fled for the weekend.

I phoned my mom and warned her that we'd be later than normal, and, sure enough, we got to the NH at about 5:30, picked her and her walker up and drove off to a favorite restaurant that serves pretty good fish fries.

That isn't just my opinion. The place was packed by the time we got there, with a 30-minute wait time. We found my mom a chair to sit in, but it was crowded, people were hustling and bustling here and there, it was noisy, and I guess it was too much for my mom, for she started crying.

That's what happens nowadays when she's feeling tired and nervous. But she still wanted the fish fry and asked to stay. We had to wait for the longest time until finally a table was ready. Once it was, we fetched her some pasta salad from the salad bar, ordered some fried mushrooms and the fish fries for all of us.

As soon as she got to a table and had some of the pasta salad, things seemed to go better with her. Her mood brightened a lot, and she ate pretty well--some of the fried mushrooms, pasta salad, a slice of tomato, some french fries and most of the fish they served her. (Fortunately, I was around to help with the rest.) She enjoyed the good food they served.

Then she started getting tired, and we took her back to her room. My wife gave her a new batch of plant food for her flower, which is really thriving--a number of new buds. She asked me for a few things she wants/needs--some candies.

Things like jelly beans and Skittles are easy to find. Square anise candies, like she remembers from years ago, are not. They're a favorite of hers, just like those tiny eucalyptus menthol cough drops she loves to pop in her cheek when the air is dry. They fight off congestion in her sinuses--and she had been down to her last two before I provided a big bag.

You just can't find square anise candies in the stores anymore. At least not where I live, where the stores just get the name brand stuff from the big distributors. But I'm not worried. I'll get her anise candies the same way I got the eucalyptus menthol cough drops. The internet makes the hunt go very quickly.

We had some shopping of our own to do, too, so we didn't get back home until 10 p.m. So, as I said, I'm tired. And tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Time to head for bed.

Our latest trip

It's time to give an accounting of our travels late last week, along with showing you some pretty pictures. At least some are.

We left on Thursday morning and got back home Saturday night. First stop was Green Bay, where we reserved a room and then went back north--up the Door Peninsula to the Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, which is about halfway up the peninsula.

As with the other stops, my wife studied a AAA travel book and chose these places as the ones she was most interested in. Along the way, we also picked up flyers and tourism books about other attractions in the area. We can study them at home over the winter while planning future adventures.

The museum proved to be a worthwhile stop. They had a lot about the history of shipping on the Great Lakes, the transition from sail to steam and the many shipping disasters on the lakes. Also, a lot about the shipbuilders in the Sturgeon Bay region.


In the middle of the first floor was a periscope, taken from a submarine, and it worked. We got a great 360-degree look at the area. I even managed to get a picture of the view!


They even had a flotilla passing by, outside the museum ...


That was our only stop in a highly touristy part of the Badger State--but we'll check out the books for other places to visit in the future. From there, we drove back to Green Bay and a large craft store that my wife loves. Alas, we got there just as they were locking up. It was 8 p.m. already. So from there, we went off to the motel and bed.

But the next morning, we had breakfast ... and then made a beeline for Hobby Lobby, where she shopped for over an hour and picked up several pieces of fabric and a quiilt book that is inspiring future projects. (Evidently Hobby Lobby is a chain--we later saw Hobby Lobby stores in Appleton and Oshkosh.)

Then we went south to Appleton and had our motel booked by noon. From there, it was off to Menasha and the Weis Natural Science Museum on the campus of UW-Fox Valley. We spent several hours there, looking over their displays of fossils ...

... and rocks and displays on the natural history of the earth and the different kinds of rocks created during our planet's lifetime ...

We even saw a rock in a prominent display that came from our area!

The next stop was back in Appleton at a 19th century home that has been preserved with period furniture and decorations. It was very opulent, and we learned a lot about how "society" and "proper etiquette" worked in the Victorian and Arthurian eras. The main historical significance of the house is that it was the first home lighted with electricity in Appleton.

Alas, they forbade photography inside. But they must pay a price for that policy--I'm not mentioning the name of the place.

We were there a few hours, and the main attraction of the evening was visiting the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Class A Midwest League. The Rattlers were playing the Fort Wayne Wizards. (That's my hand at the top of the frame, trying to fend off the low-angle sunlight.)

The T-Rats have had a long season. In this game, the lead went back and forth several times. The Rattlers took a 4-3 lead into the 9th inning--whereupon their closer coughed up three runs, and the team took a 6-4 loss.

But they did have a nice fireworks show after the game.


We got back to our motel room with the king-size bed. Too tired to do much of anything except hit the hay. It had been a busy, long day.

Saturday was the final day of our trip, and I wanted to visit Oshkosh and an outlet mall, where they had a Lands End store. When I visited S in Oshkosh (exactly 52 weeks earlier), I stopped there and got a nice raincoat on closeout. This time, I wasn't looking to buy anything, but I wanted to look at several of their men's fall/winter coats. That's on my shopping list.

Alas, they had nothing like that in stock. But my wife found a few things at a book closeout store--which itself was closing out permanently.

We had one last stop to make, and this was one I discovered myself in the tourism stuff. It's Memorial Park in Appleton. We had hoped to stop there Friday, but we stayed too long at the two other stops. Now we had time.

It's a relatively new park, about 10 years old, and just getting developed, but it had many beautiful floral displays. The bees certainly know all about it. There were bees all over the place, happily pollinating the flowers. So here's a series of shots, starting with a Scottish thistle ...







After the bee and thistle are a daylily, hibiscus, not sure, orchid and tigerlily. These photos aren't up to Grnidlady's standards, but they were nice to look at. The park is expanding--the orchids were from place-settings at tables where a fund-raiser was going to be held that night. We saw a layout of what the park could look like in a few years. Impressive!

Then it was time to head back north. We stopped to visit my mom and then went for supper at Pizza Hut. While getting out of the car, we saw a strange sight--a crane, in a big, shallow puddle on an empty lot between the Pizza Hut and a discount grocery store ...


I'm not sure what he was stalking, but he seemed very intense about it. Don't think there are fish in the puddle, but my opinion isn't important to him. It was worth a laugh ... and one more photo.