Post Christmas Post

Well the big day has come and gone.  All the presents have been opened, examined, and put away.  It is time to prepare for New Year's day and then 2013.  This might be my last posting for this year, unless I get motivated next Monday.  This posting also sets a new record for me with 50 posts, almost one/week. 

We had our first, significant snow fall - finally - last week catching just the edge of the blizzard that hit central Wisconsin.  While Madison had over 12 inches we came away with just 1-2, although we had a lot of rain.  That meant getting out to shovel the driveway so Jo could get out to work.  Wasn't enough snow to warrant firing up the snowblower so that thrill still remains.  With the snow came real winter weather with the temperatures dropping down into the twenties on average.  So out came all the warm winter clothes and coats.  Time to bundle up until April - maybe May.

Friday was the official start of our Christmas break.  Jo planned to take off the entire week so we are trying to be a little lazy and not do too much.  Friday night we popped some Papa Del's pizza in the oven and settled in to watch a movie afterwards with some nice toasty hot chocolate which felt good with the cold wind blowing outside.  Saturday after our morning run and lifting, Jo headed to brave the crowds in the mall to finish up her Christmas shopping while I did a little puttering around the house.  Later that night we headed to a neighborhood Christmas party.  Sunday morning was yoga and then we turned on our fireplace while reading the paper.  We caught the Packer's game in the afternoon before taking a nice long walk around the neighborhood to see everyone's Christmas decorations.

We continued to enjoy getting our runs over with in the morning on Monday, before walking down to a local bakery, a liquor, and a grocery store to pick up bread, prosecco (for New Year's), and cranberries (for Christmas dinner).  We also prepared our Christmas stuffing ahead of time to simplify the number of things we had to make on Christmas day.  We also decided to try making challah bread.  We found a recipe in one of our many cookbooks and, in my somewhat biases opinion, were very successful making both a great looking, but also, great tasting loaf.  My sister, Cheryl, came up in the evening and before picking her up, at the train station, we pulled out our ice skates (we both have pairs from high school that amazingly still fit, although the sharpness of the blades leave a lot to be desired) to do some ice skating at Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee.  A video of Jo's skating prowess is below.



Christmas day we enjoyed connecting with various family members, many by video chat via Apple's cool Facetime technology, opening our presents, and chowing down on the traditional turkey dinner.  Unfortunately, Cheryl had to quickly head back home after only 24 hours with us due to her work schedule.   But we managed to catch either other up with all the family gossip.  Today we headed out for another chilly run since the wind had picked up and then went to a local running store to buy me some new running shoes.  We have both been running in the same make/model of shoe for over 25 years and we decided it was time to try out some of the latest technology.  So for the first time in a long, long time we will be running in something besides Saucony Shadow series shoes.  Let's hope my knees and ankles agree with the change!

Our best wishes to everyone for a wonderful and rewarding 2013! 

College Graduation Ceremony

Our big event for the weekend was the graduation of our nephew and housemate, Drew.  While not completely done with his student teaching, the Marquette graduation ceremony for December graduates was this weekend.  We were joined by his Mom, Chris and Angela (other nephew and niece), John, and Amy (Drew's girlfriend)  It was nice to seem him walking with his classmates and since it is a smaller ceremony each student was individually announced.  Afterwards, we enjoyed brunch at the Ambassador Hotel.  Another milestone reached and our last nephew/niece on Jo's side of the family to graduate college.  That only leaves Joe, on my side of the family, still in school for undergraduate degrees. 

Jo had a busy week with work functions as everyone has their end of year celebration with something every night since Tuesday.  I was able to join her Thursday affair as it was the annual Northwestern Mutual holiday party for the senior executives.  This year it was held at the Milwaukee Country Club which has quite a facility.  I am told the golf course with it is also spectacular.  It was a nice party, with very good food, and a good chance to reconnect with people Jo works with that I haven't seen since the summer annual meeting.

Friday night we went out for Indian food with Sandy and Scott (Jo works with Sandy and Scott is like me - a stay-at-home hubbie).  We went to Maharaja in Milwaukee which had a incredible number of choices and for at least the four meals our table ordered, excellent food.  I definitely would recommend it and Jo and I plan on heading back.   After dinner we headed to a Brady street bar to hang with the college kids - because you know how cool Jo and I are!  We went to Nomad and managed to find seats in the window (that might be because we were there at 8:00) and enjoyed people watching, drinking beer (Carlsberg for me), and discussing holiday plans.  The younger generation started piling in around 9:30 when we were all ready to head home for some sleep.  There is a limit to our coolness.

We are ready for the holiday and Jo is especially looking forward to some time off as she has had a very busy December.  This post will tie my record from 2009 for yearly posts and if I get energetic next week we will set a new record.

Shopping in Chicago

To break with recent tradition, I'll start with our work week (well at least Jo's work week).  Jo was busy at work as she starts to understand her new groups.  She has expanded her role to take on, in addition to her HR stuff, the facility operations group and the philanthropy group.  That will keep her hopping a bit more, but she is looking forward to the challenges, especially as Northwester Mutual announced this week they will be tearing down an old building and putting up a new one.  I continued my work on finishing up the painting on our storm windows (the screen version of them) and are down to only two left.  This takes a while since each needs some serious patching and repairing of the wood.  My other excitement for the week was getting the main water shut-off valve inside the house replaced.  I had noticed it was dripping around the valve stem and decided since it was a 90 year old valve to not just tighten the nut around it myself.  Good call on my part since when the plumber tried it we promptly had water shooting into the basement.  Fortunately we got the water shut off at the street and the valve quickly replaced.  I'm just glad I didn't try it myself!  The rest of the week was filled with the usual chores for me and our evening exercising for the two of us.

Jo had a business dinner/gala in Chicago on Friday night so we decided to head down early to spend a little time with my sister and do some shopping.  We hopped on the train early Friday morning and after getting in my obligatory nap on Amtrak (trains are excellent for sleeping I've always found) we arrived with the rest of the commuters in overcast Chicago.  We trekked over to my sister's place and then headed out for some breakfast.  Cheryl selected a wonderful little bakery/cafe were we enjoyed chocolate (for Jo) or almond (me) croissants with hot chocolate.  Great way to start off our day.  Next up was Macy's, where my sister works, for some heavy duty clothes shopping for Jo.  As she hadn't been shopping in a while she had a lot of pent up demand and both she and my sister head the discount racks hard.  Meanwhile, I looked for a comfortable chair to sit in out of the way.  As Jo walked out with two dresses and a skirt, I considered a success.  It was also interesting to see my sister in action helping Jo select items since this is what she does for a living.  Also got to meet my sister's boss who had really nice things to say about her.

Since that took most of the morning, we headed out for lunch and then over to the Daley Plaza to see the small shops that are set up for Christmas.  Lots of interesting imports from Germany, Poland, and Eastern Europe but we only came away with two small ornaments.  We were pretty tired by then so we headed back to my sister's to review our purchases and then we were off to our hotel to get ready for our evening event.  This was a celebration for the American College which Jo is on the board of one of their institutes.  It was black tie so I donned my tux and Jo tried out one of her new dresses.  All in all, I would have to say we cleaned up pretty good - although couldn't really figure out how to effectively use my Iphone to take a picture of the two of us.  After the dinner it was back to the hotel for some rest; I was certainly tired from standing around shopping all day.


Saturday we took an early morning Amtrak home as we had a neighborhood Christmas party to attend later in the day.  It was nice talking with many of the neighbors since with the cold weather setting in we don't see as many of them outside anymore.  Sunday dawned rainy and cold so we exercised at home and then spent the morning curled up in front of our fireplace reading the Sunday paper.  After a great dinner of pork chops with peach and mustard sauce we watched the Packers squeak another win out. 

First Batch of Christmas Cookies

We enjoyed a peaceful, although busy, weekend at home.  Friday night we headed out for our Christmas tree hunt trying to find the perfect tree with good sturdy branches, since so many of our ornaments seem to be incredibly heavy, the right size, and the right price.  We settled on a Frazier fir - in case you were curious.  Then it was home to get the tree off the car and into the house.  We decided to try a new location this year putting the tree in the family room so we get to see it a bit more since we spend more time in there than the living room.

Saturday after our morning workouts, we spent a little time in the morning decorating the house and tree.  Part of our house decorating is to put out our small army of Danish Christmas people.  We started this collection with just one and have only added one or two a year, but over 30 some years the collection has really grown - to the point where we struggled to find a place for them.  We had to stop our decorating to focus on doing some cooking/baking.  Jo made home-made spaghetti and meatballs while I whipped up some cornbread and banana bread.  We then turned to the most important event of the holiday season, making the first batch of Christmas cookies.  This year the honor went to my grandmother's (or great-grandmother's, I've sort of lost track) cut-out cookies.  This brought back memories of being in the kitchen with my siblings and Mom as she patiently dealt with us each wanting to select the right cookie cutter and press it into the exact middle of the dough while I'm sure she was trying to get the cookies all made in less than 8 hours.  One nice thing now, is that I'm in charge of icing them, so the icing to cookie ratio has gone way up.  We then headed out for a walk since the weather was so warm before settling into our delicious spaghetti dinner.

Our evening was filled with watching the exciting Badger football game as the won over Nebraska (sorry to the Nebraska side of the family, but yeah for the Wisconsin side).  We went to bed that night exhausted from being on our feet all day, but happy to have the Rose Bowl game enjoy watching on New Year's Day.

Sunday we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and walked down to North Street for brunch (about 1.5 miles, one way) while discussing our holiday plans, part of which included discussing should we be plan on going to the Rose Bowl.  It is amazing to be out walking in December in Wisconsin not wearing any jacket.  After brunch, we put on the Packer's game while we trimmed out the tree doing our usual reminiscing about where we got each of our ornaments.  The tree when all finished looked great in its new location and we decided to put up our artificial tree in the living room so we have a tree in each now.  We then enjoyed chili for dinner with the aforementioned cornbread before turning in for another week of work.

Thanksgiving in Madison

Jo took the entire week off to enjoy getting a little more time for rest and relaxation over holiday week.  We got up and going on Monday heading out to a local mall to do our shopping before the mad rush after Thanksgiving.  This trip was focused on completing our shopping for everyone on our Christmas lists (except, of course, each other - I expect Jo to be buying me things throughout the entire month of December).  It was also a great excuse to enjoy a hamburger from Five Guys since they just happen to be located at the mall we picked (pure coincidence...).  We were very successful in getting a little something for all on our list and now just have to buckle down to wrap everything up and get it in the mail.

Tuesday after our morning exercise routine, Jo headed to the kitchen to make cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies to take with us to Madison.  Jo loves to bake and doesn't get enough time for it between her work schedule and our reduced need for sugar calories (well to be honest our desire for those calories has stayed unchanged, just our waistlines ability to hide them is more limited).  She turned out her best looking and tasting cinnamon rolls ever (of course that could just be the sugar talking).  Later that afternoon we packed up and headed to Madison for our annual Thanksgiving visit.  After catching up with Kathy a bit we went to Lombardino's for dinner.  We had eaten here as graduate students although it is supposedly under new management since then.  Still a great Italian meal in a nice setting.

Wednesday started my days of doing nothing but reading and playing computer games.  They did manage to get me out of the house to see the new movie on Lincoln.  It does an excellent job of capturing what it might have been like back in the 1860's, but it is a pretty slowly paced movie.  Also, I personally thought that the dialog sounded like they were reading letters he wrote back then as it didn't sound like how people would normally converse with each other (but maybe that is how they spoke, what do I know).  A good movie for those interested in historical drama, not so much for those interested in an action movie.

To make some room for our turkey dinner, we hiked through one of the parks around Madison on Thursday.  With all those calories burned, we then enjoyed the typical Thanksgiving dinner excellently prepared, as usual, by Kathy with a little help from Jo.  We were joined by John, Drew, Chris and Angela (over from Milwaukee) and no one left the table hungry.  After dinner, we all played "Let it Ride" a board game that Chris and Angela brought with them, instead of collapsing on the couch for a good snooze.  No one was too interested in tackling the Black Friday sales so we all sat around playing on our respective electronic devices (IPad, Nexus, laptops) which probably is a great commentary on today's times.  Friday's entertainment was learning and playing Sheepshead.  It is apparently a popular game in Wisconsin and must have been created by someone (or someones) who had been enjoying Wisconsin's other popular game - drinking vats of beer.  It has an arcane set of rules and scoring that you should check out on Wikipedia if interested - as I couldn't do them justice here.  We came home on Saturday and spent the rest of the weekend puttering around the house.

Holiday Parade and Parsnips

The garden is now officially closed for 2012.  I decided that enough cold nights had passed and harvested the parsnips.  The crop was pretty small as the seeds didn't start very well in the spring and parsnips need a lot of ground to grow through.  But we had enough for a dinner of tasty roasted parsnips with a little basil and garlic sprinkled on.  Now all that is left is dreams of what we might do in our beds in the summer of 2013 - never to soon to start cruising the seed catalogs.  We are probably going to be a bit more selective next year and try to just plant what did well this year.  But I'm sure I'll forget all that once those seed catalogs are in front of me.

We had an evening downtown on Thursday as we had tickets to the Riverside Theater to see the NPR news quiz show, Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me (if you are interested I inserted a link to the show).  This was our first time to the Riverside which is a interesting old theater in a Art Deco/Rococo style.  The actual show was hilarious and both of us had tears in our eyes we were laughing so hard.  If the show ever comes near to you it is well worth a visit to watch it being done life.  I also recommend connecting to the podcasts.

Friday night we went out to dinner with Jo's first cousin, once removed and her husband (how weird is it that I even know what a first cousin, once removed is), Melissa and Matt.  We tried out a wonderful little Italian restaurant in RiverWest, Centro.  The ambiance was interesting as it only has about 15 tables or so, and the food was exquisite.  My pesto linguine with chicken was very tasty and the dishes were all a nice size so you didn't feel like you were wasting food.  Saturday morning after our morning workout we hopped on our bikes to downtown to take in the Milwaukee Holiday Parade.  In the best parade traditions there were multiple marching bands, costumed characters, helium filled balloons, floats, local celebrities (which in Milwaukee is apparently mostly radio DJs) and ended with Santa on his sleigh.  Naturally, this being Milwaukee, what would a holiday parade be without the Brewer's Racing Sausages - fortunately they were just walking and working the crowd, no actual racing going on.

Saturday afternoon we watched our Badgers lose a close game to Ohio State and then that night we snuggled in for pizza (some of Papa Del's pizza we brought back from U of I) and watching a little TV.  It was a great day made especially nice since we enjoyed unusually warm weather for early November with the highs reaching into the high 50s.  Especially since last year about this time, the first real snow happened.


Sunday we had our morning workout and then took it easy around the house.  Reading papers, catching up with family, and catching a few zzz's.  Wanted to be all refreshed for the big Thanksgiving week and the start of the Christmas cookie season.

Admirals and the Bucks

 Wow, a whole weekend at home.  We enjoyed spending a weekend at home for once and certainly loved the warm weather that came along with it.  But we had lots of activities to fill up the time.  Friday night we went to the Milwaukee Admirals hockey game (they are a farm team for the NHL) along with other members of Jo's HR team.  It is always fun to meet some of Jo's team while enjoying pizza, chicken fingers and the hockey game.  It was an exciting game with lots of scoring and a win for the Admirals.  It was nice there was only one small fight since I personally feel it detracts from the game and the exceptional skating and athleticism of professional hockey. 

Saturday was warm although somewhat cloudy (they usually come together this time of year, if it is clear it is usually cold) and after our morning run and lift we were joined by Kathy and John.  They came over from Madison since Drew was finally ready to introduce his new girlfriend, Amy, to his Mom even though they have been dating for several months.  While waiting for Kathy and John to arrive we watched the Badgers win over Indiana, although our other Alma Mater lost again, poor Illinois.  After meeting Amy and everyone getting caught up they headed out to dinner to get further acquainted while Jo and I headed back to the Bradley Center to take in a Milwaukee Bucks basketball game, with some of Jo's direct reports.  Unfortunately, it was the exact same menu as Friday night so this weekend wasn't exactly a culinary tour - but you can't really go wrong with pizza and chicken fingers!  The game was exciting coming down to the last few seconds to determine who the winner would be - alas it was the Boston Celtics, so 1 win, 1 loss for our sports this weekend.

Sunday, since Kathy was visiting, we walked to City Market for our traditional cinnamon roll.  The weather was perfect (it eventually made it into the mid-60's) and fortunately the walk there and back burns exactly the number of calories in the cinnamon roll (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).  Afterwards, everyone headed off to their respective homes and Jo and I caught up on some reading (and napping for Jo) before it was time to prepare veggie burgers for dinner.  We balanced them with some sweet potato fries since you want to balance your healthy dishes with some less healthy to keep your cholesterol from getting too low.  Then it was time to prepare for another week of work.

I did want to share a picture of our Christmas cactus that always blooms in November (we have two of them and they always bloom together).  We figure it is just being like all the businesses today that start advertising and displaying their Christmas wares right after Halloween.  So we can't really blame them for being early.  On a side note, the 65 degree weather we had on Sunday disappeared rapidly as the high yesterday was 33.  Also had our first flurries of the season - not a real snow since there was no accumulation at all.  First snowfall of last year was on Nov. 17 - this year?

Birthday Trip to Chicago

We packed our bags and headed to Chicago for the weekend.  My parents were in Chicago for a visit with my sister and since this was the year for a major birthday for both parents (it was the big 8-0 this year) we had planned a birthday dinner in Chicago.  So after a Saturday morning run and a few errands, we hopped on Amtrak for the quick train ride down and a fairly short visit.  But before that we spent Friday night nestled at home to catch up on a few of our recorded shows and to enjoy some of the Papa Del's pizza that we had brought back from the University of Illinois (still the best pizza on the planet).

After dropping our luggage at the hotel, we headed over to my sister's apartment by Navy Pier and enjoyed a light lunch (didn't want to fill up and spoil dinner!).  We then spent the afternoon catching up on all the family gossip, solving all the world's problems (that means, the world, the US, Illinois', New Mexico's, the city of Chicago's, and Wisconsin's - so it was a busy afternoon), and debating the pros/cons/ins/outs of the recent campaigning both for president but the local elections as well.  Then it was time to get all gussied up for our birthday dinner. 

Dinner was at Tru, which is close to where my sister lives, and to summarize in a few words was excellent.  The service was impeccable and the food was both wonderfully presented and delicious.  We started with a champagne toast to the birthday folks, which was Andre Clouet Brut Grand Reserve that I managed to pick from a wine list spanning 20-30 pages, that was light tasting with tiny bubbles and was hit with everyone.  We then all selected the three course meal, the highlight of the appetizer course had to be Mom's consomme that was prepared at the table in what could best be described as a soxhlet extractor (well best described that way if you happen to be a chemist).  It was fun to sit back and watch it slowly extract the flavors from the upper compartment.  The main course held its own against the showmanship of the appetizer with great presentation on the plate and very tasty food.  I had the short ribs that were incredibly tender and would recommend them to anyone heading to Tru. 

Between dinner and dessert, they served fruit sheets that came looking like clothing on a clothes line.  The grass is wheatgrass and the sheets are dried fruit (think fruit roll-ups) with spices.  Who thinks of something like that to serve at a restaurant (I also wonder how they keep the wheatgrass mowed and green).  We then finished up with dessert, special birthday plates for Mom and Dad and then after dinner chocolates (can't have too many desserts in my book).  To top it all off, they offered us a tour of the kitchen which eagerly all agreed to - amazing how much activity goes on in a professional kitchen.  It was a great evening and a nice way to celebrate hitting 80 for our parents.

Sunday after brunch at a local diner nearby, we gathered up Mom and Dad and all headed back to Milwaukee.  My parents visited us for a couple of days, mostly to enjoy the gray skies and cool damp weather of Milwaukee in the winter especially since my Mom loves being cold and damp.  During their visit we toured the Harley Davidson museum which does an excellent job of telling the story of the company.  We also squeezed in a visit to the Kenwood House exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum.  Once again the curators did a great job with the explanations and the exhibit - it is well worth a visit.   Then it was back to Chicago for my parents on the train Tuesday.  Nothing too exciting to report for the work week portion of last week.

Jo and I are ready to stay home for a bit.  As you can tell from looking back over the last few weeks, we have been on the road for 6 out of the last 7 weekends.  We really need some time home to relax and catch our breath.  So we are planning a relatively low key upcoming weekend. 

Go Illini and The Best Pizza

We had an enjoyable weekend as we headed down to Champaign/Urbana to our Alma Mater, the University of Illinois.  I hadn't visited for almost 30 years and Jo hasn't been there for about 5 years.  Needless to say, there were lots of changes from when we went to school there.  What astounded both of us was the number of new buildings and missing old buildings in Campus town.  You kind of assume that the buildings would stay put even if the businesses in them change.  The downtown theater is gone (now where do college kids go to see Rocky Horror Picture show at midnight?) and the McDonalds that helped put Jo through college is gone - who tears down a McDonalds right next to campus?  Along with the changes was the pizza place that we were planning for dinner when we got into town on Friday night, Garcia's Pizza in a Pan.  Fortunately, they are still in business but the only location, according to the net, is on the far side of Champaign.  We settled for two Zorba's gyros which has gone significantly upscale since we were last eating there.

After dinner we walked around the quad reliving memories of our various classes in the buildings.  We also walked through the Illini Union (best union in the Big Ten in our unbiased opinion - it definitely beats our other Alma Mater's union, Memorial Union in Madison) and went by the place where we first met each other.  The cafeteria in the basement of the Union.  The cafeteria is completely changed but we figured out the approximate place where Jo was sitting when I met her.  We then headed to the south part of campus to see the dorm I stayed in for 2 years and walked through a little bit of Urbana before heading back to the hotel to rest up for our big day on Saturday.

Saturday we got up and ran through campus trying to find the apartment I lived in my senior year.  Unfortunately, we turned right when we should have turned left and missed it, but we did have a great run down the east side of the campus.  Then after checking out, we headed back to campus to see all the buildings in the light of day.  We were able to get into the various chemistry buildings where we both spent a lot of time and saw old classrooms and the lab where I did my undergraduate research.  One nice surprise was finding that our names are displayed in the hallway along with all the other graduates from 1872-2002 (that is Jo pointing to her name).  Next up was a quick visit to Lincoln Hall which has just reopened after a major renovation.  From what we can tell Illinois is renovating most of the buildings around the quad as the chemistry building was all torn up along with the main library and Gregory Hall.

We then headed over to the southwest side of campus to see the Armory where Jo and I both remember walking around trying to register for classes and the challenge of figuring out what order to do them in to maximize the chances of getting your ideal schedule and minimize the number of times you had to go back and make a change.  Oh the fun and stress of class registration before computers - where is the fun of doing it all online with instant feedback, plus where is all the stress.  We next visited Jo's old dorm and then it was time to see the Illini play Indiana.  Unfortunately, not a great day for our football teams as Illinois lost to Indiana and Wisconsin also landed losing back in Madison.  But we enjoyed being in the stadium, the hot chocolate on a cold day, and singing the old fight songs (well Jo did anyway, I didn't remember all the words). 

After the game we headed into campus town to buy some Illinois sweatshirts, try to find the house Jo lived in her senior year, and hit the last highlight of the trip - Papa Del's.  Unfortunately time has not been good to Jo's junior and senior year houses.  Both have been torn down since she left.  One the university built over and the other has become a large apartment complex (all of the places I lived in at Illinois are still standing, I'm not implying anything there, but obviously someone thought they were important enough to keep as compared to where Jo lived).  Then it was finally time for us to tuck into the best pizza we have ever found, Papa Del's.  This was one of the big highlights of the trip for us and we were not disappointed.  It is still a great mix of extra thick, sweet crust, tasty sauce and enough cheese to make a Wisconsite proud.  YUM. 

As this is such a great pizza we came prepared to take several of them home with us - which meant we had saran wrap, aluminum foil, plastic bags, and a cooler with ice in the trunk of our car.  We bought 3 extra large pizzas to take with us and took the remains of our dinner along (which was another extra large pizza).  So all told we had 44 pieces of pizza to wrap up and bring home.  We did the wrapping in a parking lot on the hood of our car, but since we now have a freezer full of Papa Del's pizza for the next several months to enjoy it was so worth it.  We did get a fair number of interesting comments from passersby while we were wrapping.  After our pizza wrapping we jumped in the car for the four hour drive home.

Sunday was pretty relaxing by comparison.  After doing some exercising in the morning we caught up with our backlog of newspapers, had pizza for lunch (yep, Papa Del's) and watched the Packers play.  We made broccoli and potato soup with homemade french bread for dinner and then spent the evening watching a few of our taped shows before calling it a night.  We both went to bed with visions of great pizza in our dreams.

Go Badgers

Friday night we hopped into the car and after fighting through rush hour traffic arrived in Madison for a weekend of Wisconsin football with Jo's sister, Kathy.  Dinner was a tasty barley soup and we sat around afterwards catching up on what has been happening since we were last together.  Unfortunately, we didn't have Rocky Rocco's pizza (our favorite Madison pizza) although I don't blame Kathy since I ask for this every time we visit and I would imagine she likes to eat something besides that all the time.

Saturday morning we enjoyed an early morning run with relatively moderate temperatures (at least for Madison since it was in the 40's.  Then it was off to the football game since it was an early game at 11:00.  The weather was beautiful with just a few clouds and lots of bright sun.  Kathy managed to get us excellent tickets that were on the 50 yard line about 20 rows up from the field.  While it was a bit chilly at first, the sun eventually hit our seats and it was comfortable for the rest of the game.   To complete the perfect afternoon, the Badgers played a great game and came out on top.  Great way to spend the day.  After the game we headed to Target to pick up some miscellaneous supplies and, most importantly, our Halloween candy.  Then it was back to Kathy's for a dinner with several of Kathy's friends before getting in the car for the trip home.

Sunday continued the fine weather and after some morning yoga and weight lifting we took an hour long walk through the nearby Lake Park to enjoy the sun.  Nice thing about walking about town is it easier to chat and walk side by side since you don't have to worry about tripping over roots and stones like when you hike in the woods.  Of course, the scenery is a little less rustic.  We then caught the Packer's game - the copied the Badgers and won, good weekend for Wisconsin sports - and then made barbecued baby-back ribs for dinner.  A nice and relaxing weekend for all.  Nothing too special to report for the rest of last week - Jo worked, I worked about the house, we ran and exercised.

Birthday Girl and Our Lone Pumpkin

We finally had a weekend at home after traveling for the last three weekends.  I would love to say that we used it so productively, but mostly we enjoyed just vegetating along with just a little bit of cooking.  The weather continues to be a little cooler than normal but we haven't had to worry about snow yet although we have dipped below freezing a few nights.  We finally picked our lone pumpkin to decorate our front door.  Even though we planted multiple seeds and had plants that draped all over the bushes on one side of the house, we only managed to have one pumpkin grow.  But it is the largest pumpkin we have ever harvested and it managed it without any routine watering through our drought this summer.  The only funky thing is that it is still mostly green.  We aren't exactly sure what the trick is for turning your pumpkin orange - we just thought that was something that happened naturally.  But even though it is green we still are displaying it proudly by the front door.

Friday night we enjoyed home made sausage pizza - the pizza was homemade, we bought the sausage as we aren't into grinding our own meat products, yet.  We also had an early celebration of Jo's birthday with a homemade banoffee pie (for those not familiar with this UK taste treat, it is bananas, whipped cream and toffee - yum) and in interest of not setting the house on fire we used number candles instead of putting lots of individual ones on the pie.  We then settled in the family room to catch up on some taped shows with a full stomach of pie.

Saturday dawned rainy so instead of an early morning run we headed to the gym for some cardio and lifting.  After enjoying watching the Badgers win over Purdue, Jo spent the rest of the afternoon reading while I did a few outside chores.  That evening we had dinner with Tim and Rosalie and then took in the show, Microcrisis at the Next Act Theater.  Interesting show as it parodied the CDO crisis in mortgages and actually did a really good job of explaining it using microcredit loans.  Sunday morning was rainy again so after working out downstairs we both plopped in front of the fireplace to read the newspaper.  The afternoon found both of us catching up on some sleep and all to soon it was evening and time to ready ourselves for the following week.

Lobster Rolls...yum

Jo was in New York last week for a conference and we decided to take advantage of the trip and visit Connecticut.  I flew into Providence on Thursday and after navigating the rental car pickup process drove down to New Haven to pick Jo up from her train trip on Metro North.  Fortunately, the timing worked on both ends and we managed to find each other without too much difficulty.  Then we drove to Sheri and Bruno's place who had graciously agreed to our staying with them.  Thursday night we caught up on the happenings in their life especially enjoying seeing their new solar panel array.  It was quite impressive (the picture only shows one of the four panels they had installed)and I thought large enough to power a small neighborhood, although they claim it is just enough to meet their energy needs. 

Friday dawned bright and sunny and after a long run in the morning we headed to Waterford to see our old house and neighborhood.  Not too many changes (at least on the outside that we could see) on the house besides cutting back the forest a bit.  Then it was to Captain Scott's for lobster rolls.  This is one of the taste treats we really miss from not living in Connecticut.  We enjoyed lunch with two of Jo's colleagues from her HR days at Pfizer especially with how warm the temperatures were.  Dinner that night was with all our old friends, Deb and Rich, Mary and Dave, and Sheri and Bruno at the Daniel Packer Inn where we managed to close down the restaurant.  It was really nice catching up and hearing some fun Pfizer stories along with what everyone has been up to.

Saturday had rain threatened for the evening so we decided to do a hike while the sun was out.  We headed over to Arcadia forest in Rhode Island and spent a couple of hours enjoying the fall colors and getting a little exercise.  The highlight for the wildlife was seeing two garter snakes squiggling off the hiking trail - we could be especially calm since we saw both snakes well in advance of stepping on them!  Then after a pizza lunch it was home to rest and relax - well for three of us anyway, Bruno decided to work outside until it started pouring.

Sunday, after a morning yoga class, it was off to the Mermaid Cafe for brunch (Jo's gingerbread pancakes were quite tasty, my tortilla omelet thingy not so much) and then it was time for sad farewells before we headed to Providence and our flights home.  For the rest of the work week, nothing too noteworthy.  I continued to work on getting the storm windows painted and installed many of them yesterday as our weather has been cold.  I also harvested the onions, scallions, and the last yellow squash from the garden leaving only a few parsnips to go.

Visit to Quincy

It is official, Joann's college roommate got married for the first time this weekend in Jo's hometown of Quincy, IL.  We took a long weekend to go back and visit with some of her friends and relatives while enjoying seeing some of her old haunts.  Quincy has changed a bit since my last visit which was almost 10 years ago.  Seems to be more traffic and new houses are up where there just used to be corn fields.  The most amazing thing to me with the growth was how Jo's old house, which used to be on the outskirts of town when I first started dating Jo, now seems to be solidly in the middle of town.  The wedding was a very nice affair and it was great to see how happy they both where.  Also, nice to see that Jo's childhood home, that her Dad built himself, is still in great shape - unlike my childhood home in IL which was torn down (not because of me living there I should add - although it might be due to my brother or sister living there, but you would have to check with them to be sure).  Weather was perfect all weekend, cool and crisp in the mornings with lots of sunshine throughout the day.  Made our morning runs through downtown Quincy enjoyable.

That is now two weddings in September, must be something in the air.  Not too much news for the rest of the week as we both did our usual things.  Chores and cleaning for me and work, work, work for Jo.  Jo did get her flu shot which left a nice bruise on her arm for a couple of days - but then Jo bruises easier than a ripe peach. 

Wisconsin Football

We spent the weekend in Madison with Jo's sister enjoying our Alma Mater and taking in a football game.  We had seats in the end zone this time, which was a first for us.  You get to see some touchdowns really up close and personal but anything past the 50 yard line going away is pretty much a guess as to what happened.  Anyway, the weather threatened rain at the beginning of the game, but turned sunny by the third quarter so while the temperatures where low (only in the high 40's at the beginning) we managed to stay warm enough.  While the team didn't play quite as stellar as last year, we still won the game which gave us all something to cheer about.  We followed the game up with some of our favorite Madison pizza for dinner, Rocky Rocco's, so all was good on Saturday.  Sunday we lazed around the house in the morning and then toured a few "green" houses that were open to highlight green technologies.  Several of the houses had put in solar panels and were enjoying the free electricity that day since the sun was shining brightly.  It would seem that most of these green technologies are best added to new houses as they are being constructed since it requires a bit of either wiring, plumbing, or insulation which seems best done when the walls are completely open.

The rest of the week was filled with the usual weekday events.  Jo was in Washington, DC for work and got to stay at the Hay Adams hotel right by the capital.  Great views from their rooftop meeting room and she really enjoyed her runs down the mall - although the ongoing construction meant a fair number of detours.  I held down the home fort while she gallivanted around DC with mowing, painting, and general repairs on the house.  I have now hit 5 events of door handles coming off in my hand and the other side plopping on the floor.  In the three previous homes we have owned that has never happened, so I guess this house is trying to make up for it.  It would get to me if it wasn't so comical when it happens.

Fun in the Sun - oops Rain

I went to visit my parents in beautiful, sunny, warm Albuquerque last week and what do I get - rain, rain and more rain.  Not only the rain, but the temperatures stayed in the 70's for most of the time there.  It was kind of fun since I hadn't really seen it rain in New Mexico in the many trips we have made over the years, plus there was actually a little humidity in the air so it didn't seem so dry to me.  The lower temperatures made my morning runs more enjoyable, but I hadn't really packed warm clothes - New Mexico is supposed to be hot!  Anyway, I had a great time catching up on the happenings of my parents and especially enjoying the two Mexican meals we managed to squeeze in.  Nothing like sopapillas with honey to complete a meal - especially when you don't have to share the honey bottle with anyone.  Also got to see a roadrunner in their backyard, but wasn't quick enough with my camera to get a picture - so you'll just have to take my word.

Came home to more crops in the garden, so we picked the last of our carrots along with some more cucumbers - so yes we canned some more bread and butter pickles (I think we are pretty well set with them for a long time) - and probably the last of the tomatoes and green beans.  The fresh carrots are great and have a wonderful flavor when compared to those in the store (of course, that could just be the dirt that I didn't get completely washed off).  The only thing now left in the garden is some parsnips (which are looking pretty iffy as a crop, very small roots) and onions, plus whatever last minute green beans pop up.  The success this year. especially our carrots, is making us excited for next year and refining our plantings and placement. 

The rest of the weekend consisted of rest as I'm still struggling through a cold that has settled into my lungs and some long walks.  The weather has turned early this year as several nearby towns had lows overnight this week around 32 degrees.  Must be trying to get us all ready for snow to start flying.  I've held off on turning on the heat in the house so far - just seems wrong to have it on in September - but each day the house is another 2 degrees colder.  It was down to 62 this morning when I woke up, but it is sunny today so hopefully we'll gain a few degrees.  Time to get out the warm comforters.

We got carrots

 Our raised beds continue to amaze us and for the first time in our gardening experience we managed to grow carrots of a size you could actual eat them for a meal and not just a quick snack.  The did come out of the ground looking like they grew next to a nuclear facility but they tasted delicious as we roasted up a bunch for dinner the night we picked them.  This along with another cucumber and bean harvest meant we spent a large portion of the weekend in the kitchen packing away our vegetable treasures to enjoy through the upcoming winter (another 8 jars of pickles are now in the basement).

The rest of the week was filled with resettling into our routines after our vacation and family visits.  I spent a day in Chicago to catch up with my sister and we enjoyed walking around Navy Pier and taking a water taxi on the Chicago river.  Unfortunately I was battling a bit of a cold during the visit which limited the amount we got to do.  Hopefully, I didn't leave that behind for my sister.  I was tempted to ride the Ferris wheel, but just didn't feel up to it, so that will have to wait until a future visit. 

We spent some of the remaining weekend on fill-up runs to Woodman's grocery store and Target, watching our Wisconsin football teams struggle (that's the Badgers and Packers for those not in the know on football), and catching up on some reading.  Monday, Jo's HR team had an outing to the Brewer's game.  We sat out in right field which was a first for us at the Brewers.  It was a pretty slow game until right at the end and fortunately the Brewers came out victorious.  As is my tradition, I've included a photo of our racing sausages but the finish line instead of mid way through the race (completely changes your interest level in the race, doesn't it?).  For those tracking on their Excel spreadsheets, the Chorizo and and Italian sausage are tied with 16 wins each - it is going to be an exciting sprint to the end of the season! (full results are at the link - check it out, you know you want to).

With all the family news last week, I forgot to add that we visited our favorite local beer garden in a nearby park with our nephew Drew and his girlfriend.  We mostly go for the wonderful pretzels and cheese sauce (it is Wisconsin, so you must have a cheese sauce) although the beer is pretty good as well.  Although with the shorter days we need to drink our beer a little faster than before and remember to bring jackets to stay warm.  We took our bikes this time as it is close to a bike trail that isn't too far from our house.

That's all the news for this week.