Beautiful Wisconsin

Fall is the time of anticipation and change.  Maybe that's why we love it so.  You can sense it as you see woolly worms hurrying hither and yon to places and appointments known only to them in an invertebrate sort of cognition.  The geese know it, too, as they fly about in random-seeming groups, practicing for their big event and you hear them calling to one another when you go outside in the morning.   It's also one of the most beautiful times of the year when the heat and humidity of summer give way to balmy days and cool nights with an occasional frigid day or frosty night to remind us of what awaits in the dark time to come.  For me, I think, Fall's poignancy lies in its similarity to life itself to the changing of the seasons (hardly and original thought) and to the religious mythologies that have guided our ancestors and still, in varying degrees, ourselves.

Fall is an especially beautiful time in Wisconsin where we enjoy a year with four distinct seasons.  Vivaldi captures the beauty of each season so well in his The Four Seasons (Il Quattro Stagioni, I believe, for those studying Italian).  I'm listening to it now as I write this post and realize that it has probably been a couple of years since I last heard it. How does the composer capture a part of the natural world in something as otherworldly as music?  The only other composer that has done it as well to my mind is Claude Debussy in his La Mer which is, perhaps, even more remarkable.  Enough. This is getting a little flatulent and I surely cannot claim to be a musicologist.  In any case, I've included some snapshots of the Fall foliage here in the Kettle Moraine area of southeast WIsconsin.  I regret that my skills as a photographer don't do the beauty of the countryside here justice.  My (lame) excuse is that it was difficult to safely stop and take pictures because there were so many other people out doing the same thing and so composition and exposure suffered under the pressure of time and fear of injury.

Yesterday, Janet and I went to Empty Bowls with Dave and Dale DeTrempe.  Empty Bowls is an annual charitable event that works to secure funds with which to provide food for the hungry in the Milwaukee area.  We know from our occasional work at a food pantry that there are more people in this predicament now than in many years.  For a $20 donation, one gets to try a variety of soups made by restaurants and pubs around the area in your own personal bowl, which you pick out from tables laden with handmade clay bowls.  It's an exercise in decision management for some people as they pick up a bowl here and put it down there when they find one yet more fetching than the last.  In the past, a few generous philanthropists bought so many bowls that they've had to limit it to 4 bowls per person!

Today, it has become more than balmy reaching 88F on the weather station in the kitchen.  The sensor is proximate to the deck so there may be some extra heating going on there.  Nevertheless, a very warm and beautiful day with no noticeable humidity.  We've begun the annual Fall trimming of the shrubs and cleaning out of the vegetable garden so we're a bit pooped at this point.  My red potatoes from the garden are very good and I think they do have somewhat more flavor than the store bought potatoes.  Having discovered and become enamored of Chana Saag, an Indian dish of pureed spinach (chard in my case) with garlic, chickpeas, the usual Indian spices including red chile powder, and plain yogurt I'm leaving my monstrously productive chard plants to continue doing their thing in the garden so I can put it up in the freezer for future use in the various iterations of Saag.  Hopefully, we won't get a killing frost soon.

Katie in the closet

Bella taking a break

The girls are still doing well and we're enjoying them immensely.  Katie likes to sleep in the closet of the back bedroom until the sun hits the cat tree.  Then, you'll find her there working on her tan.  Bella is pushing the envelope so far as zaftig is concerned but is remarkably athletic none the less.  Sophie, as I've mentioned in the past, is gradually disappearing as she becomes thinner and thinner.  Duncan is still remarkably well aside from being a little stiff in the hips at times and being largely deaf.  He continues to refine his "walk & drop" technique of defecation, which makes picking up after him a real Easter egg hunt.  But, we love the old guy and he's still spry enough to sneak upstairs and eat the girls' kibble if we leave the gate sufficiently open at the foot of the stairs.  Sadly, our friends with a dog about the same age as Duncan aren't as lucky.  Their dog springs a leak at odd times seemingly unaware of doing so and periodically cocks his head to one side and stares off into space for minutes at a time.  Probably should have done more crossword puzzles when he was younger (grim humor).

Until next time,  arrivederci!