I can see your Kiku

I wish the owners of the Kiku restaurant downtown would not have named it something so obscene.
It's kind of like this. But maybe I'm the only one that thinks so.

Ex Fabula

What? There really is forensics for adults? YES! It's called Ex Fabula- a series of true-storytelling events. Last night it was held at Stonefly in Riverwest. Real people (real people, just like you and me!) come prepared, put their names in a hat, and a few are chosen at random to get up on stage to tell their own true story using the night's chosen theme as a guide, however loosely.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous to be in the audience. Would it be anything like the poetry slams they used to have at Y-Not II back in the '90's? (No, thank heavens.) Would any of the storytellers be unrelentingly boring? (No.) Would it be painfully hip? (No!) It was awesome. The proctors or whatever you call them- the people in charge- run a pretty tight ship.


The next Ex Fabula event will be held on Friday, May 14th, in the decadent splendor of the Turner Hall Ballroom.

Gorgeous girls!

If I had room for any more cats, I would take these two beauties home with me.

Mary Jane (above) and Pookie Lynn are sister cats up for adoption with For Cat's Sake. They're currently living at the Glendale Pet Supplies Plus, where they are on the lookout for someone to take them home. I hate to admit it, but these girls are even prettier than my own kitties.

Yesterday, Mary Jane rubbed her forehead on my hand, through the glass. She has perfect little white mitts and the most luxurious fur on her tail. Pookie is a little more shy. They're about eight months old, complement each other perfectly, and are ready for their forever home!

Grafton dam referendum (squee!)

Well, it looks like the citizens of Grafton want to keep the Bridge Street Dam where it is. The binding referendum passed April 5th. "Should the village preserve the Bridge Street Dam until at least 2019, a state imposed deadline for demolishing, upgrading or replacing the structure."
1,685 people, or 75%, voted "Yes!" No votes came in at 573, or 25%.

The Riverkeeper is disappointed. “These dams are very expensive to maintain,” she said. “They’re not necessarily providing a lot of benefit other than recreational or aesthetic," noting that stimulus money could provide funds to replant the mud flats, to create a riverside green space with trails. I'll just note here that a year after the Estabrook Dam's been not damming the river by us, the riverside green and brown space is a swath of unstimulussed mud, weeds, and plastic bags.

Look here for some aesthetic possibilities.

Good for you, Grafton.

The Pig!

So, all of a sudden there's a Piggly Wiggly on East Capitol where Lena's closed (and before that, Pick'n'Save). I don't even remember a "Coming Soon!" sign. All of a sudden it was there, fully stocked and open, and even equipped with a liquor license.

I went. I shopped. It was okay.


The staff was exceptionally, almost absurdly friendly. The deli people asked how I wanted my sale ham (piggly, but not wiggly) sliced and then actually sliced it the way I requested. Pick'n'Save? Nope, the sale ham there is already pre-sliced some kind of medium.


Signing up for yet another frequent shopper card, I asked the lady at the table when they had opened. March 17th, you say? What? Well, then. She said that people were telling her they were happy they have a choice now. But the thing is, there already is plenty of choice! Aldi, a treacherous walk across Capitol Drive from the Outpost; Lena's, on Holton and Concordia; Big Lots, for cheap HFCS-laden snacks; and on and on.**
**KD Supermarket, above, at 418 E. Center Street: the only food store I could find anywhere that was open Christmas Day 2008. That's worth something. Photo courtesy of Google Street View.