Santa Cycle Rampage!

Weather was fantastic for the Santa Cycle Rampage today. Throngs of Santas (and reindeer and elves and a fairy [?!]) participated. Cops were on hand just in case Santa was naughty.

Santa brought toys to pass out too- effigies of himself.

In a sea of Coca-Cola Santas, Father Christmas stands alone.

Perfect day for ice

Dog paw sculpture outside of the doggie spa.

It was cold today, but not too cold to walk outside, and most of the time the sun was shining: the perfect day for ice sculptures. What could be more awesome than taking a walk to the grocery store in Shorewood and watching intrepid artists carving giant blocks of ice?

I'm not sure what this (above) is supposed to be. A heart? A butt? It's kind of sexy. I like the way the light was shining on it. Ok, it's pretty hot. I can't believe it didn't melt itself.

Well, I learned something interesting about ice sculptures. What's different about the picture above and the one below? The above shot was taken about 45 minutes before the next one, below.

Aha- I always thought you could only take away from an ice sculpture, by shaving or carving. As it turns out, you can also add parts to one. The miracle of ice!

Of course, it would have been even more awesome if any of the artists was carving otter shapes, since otters LOVE ice. It would have been great symbolism. But alas...

Schroeder Books and Music

Schroeder Books & Music, 7629 W. Greenfield Avenue, Westallica: shelves piled high with books and magazines in genres that you can't find anywhere else. (Adjacent to the "Americana" section is "Linconana.") It's always worth a look-see here. I've imagined that every book ever published is in there...somewhere.

I found a Workbasket Magazine from the 1950's, in case I ever want to tat a doily. These are collectible little mags with historical value- not just needlework (presumably kept in a tidy basket by the hearth) but also for the ads. ("Steady pay every day as a Practical Nurse! Enjoy security, no recession for Nurses. Earn to $65 per week, good times or bad. Florence Nightingale School of Nursing.") As I checked out, the lady said,
"We have hundreds of Workbaskets."
Hundreds?
The mind reels!

I mentioned that I'm a longtime customer (sporadically) and used to go to the old store on 7th and Wisconsin, when it was across the street from the old Duncan Donuts, back in the 80's and early '90's. This was before the "revitalization" of downtown Milwaukee. She told me about the fire that destroyed the store- they had two locations at that time- and thousands of books stored beneath the street, all destroyed. But they have plenty again, so make sure you do some Christmas shopping for the lover of historic needework patterns or Linconana aficionado in your life.

Holiday Folk Fair!

I love the Holiday Folk Fair. It's kind of an annual tradition. I made sure to get there hungry today and immediately stuffed myself with a Siopao, the Filipino steamed bun, washed down with hot ginger tea. This was followed by Danish pastry and then Klobasa, a Slovak sausage.Of course, then I was stuffed like a sausage myself, and perfectly content to watch everybody else dance to the amazing accordion-infused live band.

People from all over the world, dancing the same dance! Fantastic!

This year's theme is "Celebrate the Weavings of Culture," which was broadly interpreted as fiber arts of all kinds being demonstrated and discussed in the cultural area. The secrets of knitting cables were imbued on me by a kindly mystical Irishman. Nearly lost arts like tatting and bobbin lace were proudly and nimbly executed by women with lightning-fast fingers. People's willingness to share and explain? Priceless! Especially since I got a miracle ticket!

The Holiday Folk Fair continues tomorrow (November 22nd, 2009) from 10am-7pm at the State Fair Expo Center.

Amazing bat photos!

These are some amazing shots!

It took weeks for wildlife photographer Kim Taylor to rig wires over a pond and get photos of difficult-to-photograph bats over his garden pond in Surrey, UK. I hope you enjoy the link!

I love you, even when your heart is cold.

Autumn. My favorite season. Apple pies, pumpkin, clear cool nights, and extra-snuggly cats; getting the sweaters out (I never really did put them away this year); fresh, clean air... ...multicolored trees...

...sunlight dappled on colorful leaves...

...and intensely blue skies. I'll take it sunny and cold over cloudy and warm any day.

Vibrant and alive!

We spent some time in the arts district in Asheville, NC, by the river where it's kind of like a constant version of the Riverwest Art Walk here. You can tour artists' workspaces- it's pretty neat. This was inside a mazelike building full of different art spaces. I got a little lost inside.

This one below was on an abandoned building by the train tracks. Creepy, and cool.

Nature shots

Usually it seems that the National Forests in any state are the best places to hike and camp. The Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky was no exception. We found this turtle on one of the trails. Isn't he adorable?
In case you were wondering, it did rain on our trip. A lot. Well, every day, but not all day. The usual procedure was thus: find a place to camp, set up the tent under clear skies, awaken to rain. The mountains were indeed smoky.

And, awesome mushrooms appeared everywhere. This one below popped up after a rain, shredding this leaf as it grew. My camera came home full of fungus, so to speak.

I'd like it here if I could leave and see it from a long way away...

Have you been to the Art Bar on Burleigh?

It is amazing to me that any time I walk in there, it smells like Milwaukee to me. I can't quite define it. It just smells familiar, comfortable, like my own home town that I (usually) love. Do you know what I mean?

We spent ten days wandering generally south, all the way to North Carolina, and then back north again, and visited a lot of places. Louisville, Kentucky (pre-flooding) was probably the nicest and most hospitable. We met a lady there who mentioned a campaign of sorts called Keep Louisville Weird. That is, that the residents wanted to retain the local color and flavor of their city, and support the local businesses that help keep it feeling like a place- its own place- rather than the ubiquitious chains that can make every place feel and taste and seem the same. There is something similar in Austin, TX, she said. Actually, we do have a thing like that here in Milwaukee; it just has a less evocative title.

The whole trip really made me think, what are the things that I would want to do if I were a tourist here? What if I had 24 or 48 hours to visit and wanted to see and do the things, old and new, that make Milwaukee Milwaukee? What would I tell myself to experience?

Leon's, yes, definitely. A brewery tour. Which one? Coffee, where? Alterra? (It's a chain, but a local one.) The lakefront, definitely, and the Calatrava. Live music of a local nature, and a beer- where for that? What about art? Sparrow Collective, maybe? Riverwest? Those are the kind of things I try to do when I am somewhere else- experience the real place, not (anathema!) the McDonald's version.

I've talked to people who have lived here and are moving away. An oft-cited reason is "it's too small." I really don't think so. Trying to come up with a list like that above, I am conflicted: there is a lot of choice. What do you think?

Snakes, bats, and rodents

Super cute! The area we were traveling in is salamander central. This little guy posed nicely for me, don't you think?

Here's the sign on the ladies' restroom door at the first campground we stayed in at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

We saw plenty of each. There were lots of bats at night, which were eating mosquitos and making the campground more pleasant. I love their evening flutters.

Above is a copperhead about to go into the water. Other people on the Abram's Falls trail were afraid of snakes. Some even turned back. Snakes are pretty cool, I think. We did run into a black bear on a different trail, though;I was unable to get a good shot of that even though it was close (150 feet or so), as my hands were shaking a bit. It was getting toward dusk too...no more late afternoon hiking, I think.

Of course rodents abounded as well.