Hiking in Milwaukee

What a beautiful weekend.  We had near perfect weather for the extended weekend and we did our best to get outside and enjoy some of it.  Saturday morning we did one of our favorite local hikes with a several hour stroll through Grant Park.  Lake Michigan was a gorgeous blue with a nice cool breeze coming from it (the lake is still at 40 degrees for any of those thinking of swimming in it) and there were several different types of wildflowers blooming along the trail.  Afterwards, Jo spent the afternoon cooking up spaghetti and meatballs from scratch which made for a delicious dinner when joined by some homemade French bread.  We then spent the evening catching up on several weeks of DVR'd shows that have accumulated.

On Sunday, Jo decided to take a long bike ride while I headed out for a long run.  The remainder of the morning consisted of leisurely reading the newspaper.  After lunch, we worked on our vegetable and flower gardens planting most of the remainder of our, hoped for, crops or flowers.  Now we just need the weather to continue to cooperate with plentiful sunshine, warmth, and rain.  Our favorite beer garden opened up so we biked over to Estabrook Park to enjoy some Hofbrau house beer and a soft pretzel.  We were joined by our nephew and niece, Chris and Angela.  It had been a while since we had seen them and it was fun hearing about all the things going on in their lives - which seemed much busier than ours.  Also, got in some useful garden discussions as Chris and Angela are avid gardeners with lots of useful suggestions.  Apparently having a good beer in a park on one of the first sunny, warm weekends this year was a common theme for people as we ran into several people that Jo works with.  To complete our dinner - yes, the beer and pretzel was our dinner - we stopped for some frozen yogurt.  Great way to cap off the day.

Monday we were thinking about taking in a Brewer's game, but the weather report threatened rain for later in the day and we decided we wanted a goof-off day.  So we spent the day reading, talking, and taking a short walk around the neighborhood.  All-in-all, a relaxing and fun Memorial Day weekend.

Retirement Party in Madison

Jo traveled to New York last week to attend the Forbes Women's Conference where she was presented an award to one of the attendees.  She had a great time, had photos tweeted of her, and met some celebrities.  My week was not quite as exciting as I worked on our garden, mowed the grass, and otherwise puttered around the house.

For the weekend we headed over to Madison to attend a retirement celebration for my graduate thesis advisor who is retiring at 70 after many, many years at Wisconsin.  The party started Friday night with a gathering of his former students at his house.  It was great to see people I went to school with over 30 years ago and haven't seen since.  Also, it was a chance to meet other students from the years we weren't in attendance - both earlier and later students.  It was very interesting to hear about their professional trajectories, especially since we all, more or less, started from a common point.

Saturday was an all day organic symposium with talks by former students and professors - Jo opted to spend the day with her sister enjoying the Madison Farmer Market and goofing off since a) it has been a long, long time since she did any chemistry, b) her degree is in inorganic chemistry, and c) she had a really busy week at work.  It has been quite a while since I listened to synthetic organic chemistry talks so it was a interesting to see the changes in the field since I last kept up with it.  The event was capped off with a dinner and roast attended by faculty and students.  Then we packed up and headed home to enjoy a lazy Sunday in Milwaukee.

This week the highlight so far was heading to Lake Geneva to help our friend John christen his new boat and enjoy the maiden voyage around the lake.  We were extremely fortunate as we had the warmest day of the year so far with lots of sun.  We had to naturally stop off in Lake Geneva for some frozen yogurt since what is the point of being out on a boat if not to travel to some yummy dessert.  On the garden front, we are starting to have a few buds begin to poke their heads out of the ground, so hopefully it won't be too long before we are enjoying some fresh lettuce and spinach and of course countless pictures here.  We plan this weekend to plant all the remaining crops so lets hope the warm weather is here to stay!

Quick Update

I have been informed by my roommate that I need to continue posting items.  But, after almost 20 years of writing a weekly missive in a variety of platforms as technology has evolved, my enthusiasm for putting up posts is way down.

First up was a trip to Madison.  Jo has joined the Chemistry Department board and I tagged along to help build some shelves in Kathy's garage.  I spent the morning looking at a potential property in Madison that might work, but we aren't in a big rush to buy anything and then tackled my garage project.  As usual, I constructed a set of shelves that should survive the next Armageddon unharmed.  If you can't over-engineer something where is the fun.  Jo had a great time at her board meeting reconnecting with her long dormant science roots.  Maybe her next job will be back in a lab somewhere...

Right after the quick trip to Madison, I headed out to Albuquerque several days of warm weather and a visit with the parents.  Although we had dust storms for the first couple of days, the temperature was warm and the sun popped out by the end of the trip.  We enjoyed some local theater although the Irish based play was a little on the slow side and most importantly, I got my fill of excellent Mexican food.  A trip to the local casino ended as usual for me with the casino getting all the money.  Although it was only two dollars since I'm not exactly a high stakes player.  We caught up on several movies in the evening and I finished three books while I was there.  A great trip!

Back home to the continuing cool weather I spent some time getting a few things planted in the garden beds, mostly lettuce, spinach, and an early crop of beans (hopefully).  Now just need the temperatures to stay above freezing.  Jo and I attended a Red Cross fund raising event to help support her work on their board and then had a visit by Kathy and John.  We headed over to the Great Lakes Distillery for their tour and a little sampling of the spirits.  Nice tour with a great tasting at the end although it left many of us a wee bit tipsy.  Afterwards, Jo and I headed across the street for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and to give the alcohol a little time to metabolize before getting in the car.

Next up was a long weekend vacation in San Antonio.  We had originally been planning to see Italy again, but with Jo's knee status being uncertain we opted for a more local trip.  We stayed right by the Riverwalk and enjoyed several dinners there.  We took in most of the local sites, including the Alamo, Natural Bridge Caverns, Mission Concepion, and the King William historic houses.  We also visited with Jo's aunt and uncle who live nearby and she hasn't seen in almost 30 years.  Lastly, we managed to find time for some serious spa relaxation and to take in a movie.  We both came back refreshed although missing our trip to Rome. 

That is all the events for the last few weeks.