Bicycling in Madison

We decided to head over to Madison for the long weekend to do a little house hunting along with catching up with Jo's sister.  But before that we enjoyed dinner and a show on Friday with our friends, Tim and Rosalie.  Dinner was at Tulip in the "Historic Third Ward" which featured a Mediterranean menu.  I had lamb with rice while Jo got a nicely flavored salmon.  Then we went to the Next Act theater to see the Mystery of Irma Vep.  An interesting show that seemed to wander a bit in the middle, but the end pulled all the threads together nicely.  The entire show is performed by two actors both playing multiple parts which involved many costume changes and voices.  Amazing how they kept it all straight.

Saturday morning after our run we hopped in the car for the drive over to Madison.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate so we had to put up with cool temperatures, overcast skies, and the occasional rain drop for the entire weekend.  We spent a good part of Saturday afternoon wandering through the Vilas and West Lawn districts scoping out places we might want to live - assuming we ever can make our dream of a Madison retirement house come true.  Then it was over to a barbecue at one of Kathy's neighbors where we enjoyed brats and a game of bocce.  We finished the day watching the Zero Dark Thirty movie - very interesting but kind of sad that we need to have these type of activities going on. 

Sunday we went for a bike ride on one of the many bike trails surrounding Madison with the highlight being seeing several indigo buntings (at least that was what we called them) along with a cool railroad tunnel that is pitch black in the middle (thank goodness for the light on cellphones today).  We finished just in time as it starting pouring 20 minutes after we got back in the car.  We enjoyed a great meal at a diner in Monticello on the way back to Madison (which didn't have M&M's on the menu although I really thought they should).  Then it was back to Madison to pack up to head home.  Monday was another grey weather day so after working out we decided to take in the new Star Trek movie since if we couldn't be outside playing we should do it inside instead.

Then all too soon it was time to get ready for another week of work for Jo and another week of house chores for me.

Garden is Planted

The weather finally has warmed up enough to get the majority of the vegetable gardens planted - even though we had a frost just a week ago.  We spent a good part of Saturday afternoon out in the sunshine planting our raised beds.  We decided this year to plant the majority of the beds with our favorite beans, lettuces, and cucumber (here come those pickles again).  But we also tried a few experimental items, as usual.  We planted Brussels Sprouts for the first time since Jo has come to love them caramelized and Lima Beans for me since I loved these as a kid.  Now we just need some warm weather to get everything going.  Since we were in a planting mood, we also got our front porch flower pots planted going with pansies and geraniums this year.

For the rest of the weekend, we stayed busy at a variety of activities.  Friday we went to the nursery to purchase the flowers for the front porch and then came home to make a homemade pepperoni pizza with a corn bread crust.  I was probably a bit too aggressive in my ratio of corn meal to flour for the crust, but I thought it was good anyway - Jo's opinion wasn't quite as optimistic.  But we made up for any deficiencies with the pizza by making our first homemade chocolate ice cream of the season - yum - and there was enough cream left over for a small batch of vanilla later this week.  Saturday morning had great temperatures for running so we did an extra long run before heading to the gym.  Then it was meatball sandwiches for lunch using some meatballs Jo had made a few months ago and we had frozen.  Saturday night, to celebrate our planting efforts, we biked downtown to get ribs at the Smokeshack (I told you it was our new favorite place).  Then after biking home we felt we needed to reward ourselves for all that biking and have some more of the chocolate ice cream (remember, always bike to food!).

Sunday after our morning exercising, running for me a long bike ride for Jo, we headed to Grant Park to do the 7 Bridges hike.  We enjoyed a nice 3 hour hike through the woods along Lake Michigan, with a cool breeze coming in off the lake to keep us from getting to warm, chatting about life, retirement, family, and work.  We stopped for a picnic lunch where we had a nice view over Lake Michigan, although it was a bit misty so we couldn't see too far.  One interesting fact about the hike was there is now actually ten bridges so we weren't entirely sure why the trail was named as it was - presumably there used to only be seven bridges.  After the hike we came home to do a few chores around the house and a steak and potatoes dinner with asparagus.  Then it was time to start preparing for another week of work.

Nothing very notable about our respective work weeks.  I worked on various outdoor chores, cleaning up flower beds and getting a sprinkler system going in the vegetable gardens.  Jo had meetings, meetings, and more meetings to get ready for meetings this week.

A nice quiet weekend

Nothing too exciting to report for last week and weekend.  During the week, I painted the inside of our newly enclosed porch to get that all set for our use this summer - still have the outside to go.  Jo had a busy, but routine, week at work.

We spent the weekend running a few errands and catching up on some reading/napping.  Friday night we went to a local art gallery to see a show that someone Jo works with was presenting in.  Saturday was sunny, but chilly that kept us inside for the most part except for a nice hour long walk around the neighborhood.  Sunday was more of the same weather so we plopped down in front of the fireplace to read and catch up on some needed sleep. 

Since we didn't do anything really photo worthy this week, I've added some shots to show that the weather is slowly warming up in Wisconsin.  The lower shot is our peas struggling to get going - can't believe it is the middle of May and our peas are just starting to shoot out of the ground.

Carrie Underwood Concert and Chicago

A very busy week, last week.  On the home front, I started preparing our newly renovated enclosed deck for painting.  That meant sanding the entire thing along with patching the countless nail holes needed to attach everything.  Such fun, since painting and the prep work is my favorite things to do. 

On a brighter note, Jo had a meeting in Chicago from Wednesday to Friday so I tagged along to see my sister and to get away from painting.  We took Amtrak down which is a really pleasant way to travel between Milwaukee and Chicago.  After checking in, Jo was off to her meetings while my sister and I headed out for dinner at Province.  A delightful place with good food, my scallops and short rib dish was wonderful, of course, that could have been the mashed potatoes.  We then took a leisurely walk back through town catching up on our latest doings.  Thursday, I headed out, on my own, to take in the Field Museum.  After breakfast at a local diner, I had a great time touring the museum for 5-6 hours especially since I didn't have to worry how long I took at each exhibit (as those who know me in museums, I tend to dawdle reading everything) and besides the gem room, mammals, and plants (fun fact, did you know that mangos and poison ivy are in the same family - apparently the bark of the mango tree contains a poison), I had to see the dinosaurs.  Still amazes me that something that big could roam the earth and find enough food to eat.  Thursday night, Jo was able to join my sister and I for dinner at a local Thai restaurant.  Friday morning, I lazed around while Jo was off to her meetings and then it was back home.

We arrived home in time to welcome Kathy and get dinner before heading to the Carrie Underwood concert at the Bradley Center.  She put on a phenomenal concert and it is clear why she has sold as many albums (or do you say songs now in the ITunes era?).  It also doesn't hurt that she is a truly beautiful human being.  Drew and Amy were able to join us for the concert and we all had a good time although my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.  The stage floating over the crowd was interesting both from a technical standpoint (how do you support it, make it turn, and add safety devices to keep it from crashing into the crowd) as well as giving a chance for those in the back rows to see Carrie up close.
 
Saturday, John (Kathy's significant other) joined us and we took in the Milwaukee Public Museum to see the pirate exhibit.  This was built around the finding of a sunken pirate ship off the coast of Cape Cod and the artifacts found in it.  It was very well done telling the history of pirates as well as the particular ship that sunk (although pass on the audio tour as I didn't feel it added much).   Certainly learned a bunch and we all came to the conclusion that pirates were some of the first socialists.  After exhausting ourselves with the museum we got lunch at Jo's new favorite restaurant in the Third Ward - the Smokeshack (prepare yourselves if you visit, she is likely to take you there) where we enjoyed their famous pulled pork.  The afternoon was spent resting and then after a great pasta dinner (I prepared it, I write this blog, so ergo, the meal was great) we spent the evening playing Sheepshead.

Sunday we hiked over to City Market for our traditional cinnamon rolls and then to John's aunt's house to see her postcard collection.  After everyone left, Jo and I collapsed on the couch to catch up on our backlog of newspapers.  And yes, I went link crazy in this posting.