l'attention de mes amis:
In 2006 our brother Les sent us a planter of hardy greens
following our year's hospitalization with heart trouble.
Since then we have kept some of those plants alive
including this Peace Plant which here at
the Odd Fellows hall
continues to thrive and occasionally show its
appreciation by throwing out blossoms.
It is in bloom at present. The flowers
resemble little Jack-In-The-Pulpits.
Once there, they last for weeks.
The full-leaved house-ified plamt
requires little direct light to thrive.
We don't know if Les researched
just how much of a good omen this
green growth really is. But
we certainly appreciate the thought.
The pictures of it herein were taken
by the Nikon F6000 digital camera
Les also gave us for a not un-recent birthday,
and the SRN archival photo records show that.
The two pictures immediately above were taken with the LC cell cam.
Play
ENTRY FROM NOTEBOOK
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DOWNTOWN FARMERS MARKET
Revisited
Per a recent article in the local newspaper, the Huelsmans of Berg Management Co.. major owners of numerous downtown properties including the now vacated antiques stores and their parking spaces adjacent to the Riverwalk, are acclimating farmers market shoppers to the awareness that the property has parking value, this ahead perhaps of a convention center proposed for the site.
Berg is allowing charitable organizations such as high school cheerleaders to collect the reasonable sum of one dollar for the right to park near the river market, and keep the money.
Die-hard shoppers, a few, have had trouble swallowing this tiny pill. Remarks like"Hey, we've never had to pay to park there before!" will fade, as realizations hit home that $1 is not much when bags of produce at the end of a spree total much more in cost.
The Raccoon hears a distant Chinese saying:
TIMES CHANGE, AND WITH THEM, THEIR DEMANDS
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APPLE HOLLOW BAKERY, OF RACINE WI
has splendid apple turnovers and dumplings. The flaky pastry Is evidenced above.
Their walnut sticky buns are also highly recommended by the Raccoon. Find their booth at the intersection of Friedman Dr. and the River parking lot. Lots of great baked goods!
Set up across from them today was singer Becca Richter of Waukesha. A lovely voice, a comely young lady stood at a mike and serenaded the passing and often lingering market shoppers and people watchers.
While Becca sang,
a portly man sat next to me, studying Becca and eating bakery from the Apple Hollow booth next to where we were. All of this happens in a trice; the scene changes before one's eyes like flowing magic.
A nun got some cheese curds at another stand near songstress. Becca. A guitar case near Becca was open for donations, with a note that Becca was earning funds for college in Mobile, Alabama. Her card is attached for more info:
We venture we'll be hearing more of her. We think it might have been her proud parents sitting at a distance behind her. They had her back.
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Here's a little something we saw at the market near the Asian food booth that we would have bought in a trice, in a former day. $40, the price, would have been nothing.
"Ce n'est nien."
......................
Here's a little something we saw at the market near the Asian food booth that we would have bought in a trice, in a former day. $40, the price, would have been nothing.
"Ce n'est nien."
Coming back over the Love Memorial bridge we placed our ghost walking stick over the railing and shot the river and some of the new booths expanding on the north side of the Riverwalk.
The stick was crafted in the hills of Kentucky years ago and bought at Berea College. The ghost's arms are truncated natural protrusions from the wood shaft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CldAGpal-P4
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In walking home to our loft in the Odd Fellow hall, one block from the market, we noted that the downtown churning, swiftly-flowing vortex of commerce is continuing its dynamic. Three of the Five Points are presently vacant, leading us to reflect:
if the Five Points sites, three of them, are vacant,
is the cup 3/5 empty, or 2/5 full?
Fear not, everyone knows the downtown is vibrantly changing for the better, oasis mirages in a desert, and there are determined people striving nearly 24/7 to find suitable tenants for the bank building, above left, and the vacated boutique across from there, and the long-dormant Clark Hotel Restaurant across from that.
One's but to stand by! It is a matter of time!
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HURRAH!
A MONTH AGO WE LOST OUR KEYS GOING FROM THE ODD FELLOWS
TO THE STEAMING CUP.
Backtracking, they were to be found nowhere. Fortunately, we had the Roundys key-ring attachment. The kind where if somebody finds your keys they are to just drop them in a mailbox
and Roundys, for whom you are carrying advertising, promises to return them.
This very day a small manila envelope came from Roundys, and in it were the lost keys!
Thanks to the honest person who took the time to mail them.
And thanks to Roundys Pick n Save!
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