Now PLAY this:
No, not that arrow, this:
..............
Cedar Falls, Iowa - In this sleepy town a fine family
waxed full in a four square house similar to the one we
used to have at 517 Arcadian, Waukesha WI. As a boy
visiting my grandparents there - after having been born
there - I had many indelible foreign adventures.
In the attic there were lots of toys carefully stored
in trunks, including an Indian suit and a bow and
arrow set, plus a cowboy suit with lariat and six-gun.
It was an exotic territory for a Wisconsinite. Somewhere
not far from 2009 Clay Street somebody kept peacocks
on their lush property. The cry of the peacock is unfor-
gettable, especially at night huddled as I was in a dark bed-
room.
Grandpa Dix would buy chickens live and dispatch them
at a tree stump with his hatchet. One time a beheaded chicken
ran dying and followed my scurrying self up the back porch
stairs. I was permanently scarred by this headless chicken spouting
blood.
Grandpa hid his laughing face from Grandma as she came to
my rescue, saw Grandpa giggling and issued her admonition
that was so familiar to me: : "WHY, RAY!"
Another Cedar Falls experience that contributed to the way
I am was the Iowa chigger bites I garnered at every visit.
We covered that already in UNVARNISHED TRUTH:
............................
KD CAT GOES TO HAWS FOR A MANICURE
Saturday, 5-11-13
KD was taken to the Humane Society Animal Welfare clinic
for a trimming of her claws. So far in our relationship it has
been impossible to clip her sharp toenails, but HAWS, the place
where we got her, mesmerizes her somehow and she maintains
a docile posture when their technician does the deed.
Sure, she might be a bit feisty when first taken out of her cardboard
carrier, and Dee does think of her exposed nose at first, but the kind
though no-nonsense experts have nearly immediate sway with her.
Snip-snip, all done in 30 seconds, NEXT?
.....................
Iowa City to Boulder
I take most of the drive by night.
It's cool and in the dark my lapsed
inspection can't be seen.
I sing and make myself promises.
By dawn on the high plains
I'm driving tired and cagey.
Red-winged blackbirds
on the mileposts, like candle flames,
flare their wings for balance
in the blasts of truck wakes.
The dust of not sleeping
drifts in my mouth, and five or six
miles slur by uncounted.
I say I hate long-distance
drives but I love them.
The flat light stains the foothills
pale and I speed up the canyon
to sleep until the little lull
the insects take at dusk before
they say their names all night in the loud field.
.......................
It's cool and in the dark my lapsed
inspection can't be seen.
I sing and make myself promises.
By dawn on the high plains
I'm driving tired and cagey.
Red-winged blackbirds
on the mileposts, like candle flames,
flare their wings for balance
in the blasts of truck wakes.
The dust of not sleeping
drifts in my mouth, and five or six
miles slur by uncounted.
I say I hate long-distance
drives but I love them.
The flat light stains the foothills
pale and I speed up the canyon
to sleep until the little lull
the insects take at dusk before
they say their names all night in the loud field.
.......................
.............................
Interesting things we've seen
at the Waukesha Farmers Market
* Duck waits outside the PIX theater, now the Waukesha Civic Theater,
for the opening of the doors for the Dixie Swim Club production. He
and his mate astounded the crowd of produce buyers in the main aisle
of the Saturday market by not fearing the throngs of people who stepped
aside or halted entirely for the pair of determined, theater-bound ducks.
[5-11-13]
* Regular market-goer and her little tag-along dog. So well-
behaved, the dog stays safely on the scooter platform no matter
what. Kerry Mackay at his Steaming Cup stand is good for
a cup-lid of whipped cream, and the dog seems to anticipate that.
* Spring rhubarb.
To make rhubarb sauce:
3 cups chopped rhubarb
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Dissolve sugar in boiling water
add rhubarb, cover with lid and
simmer till gets mushy,
about 15 minutes
Chill, eat, as-is or over ice cream, etc.
SPRING IS HERE !
.......................
Touring the downtown 5-15-13
Interesting juxtaposition between the roofline at the
Putney (Odd Fellows) building and the canopy over he
1950s or 60s remuddle of the National Bank. Both struc-
tures owned by the Berg Combine currently. The bent
of the current owners is preservation. In the clean-lines
50's-modern, many downtown storefronts took on the pre-
shopping malls look. That's what happened to the National
Bank, and now this camera angle affords a good study
of the comparison of downtown styles.
Note: The Odd Fellows symbol of the all-seeing eye
and the chain links of friendship was incorporated into the
roof-line. On the Main Street side is the Masonic symbol.
>>>>Just look up. They're there!
Inside the corner of the bank bldg is the old city of Wauke-
sha seal in a recently restored terrazzo floor. The present
tenant has a screen blocking the front door and that door
is not open to the public. That is lamentable because the
floor is lovely.
The floor restoration underway. Now it is completed.
Dee, seated outside, withdraws a straw from a malt.
Dee revels at the Bryant sector of the Riverwalk. Beyond her gaze might come
the convention center/city hall/ county office bldg/ and/or - you name it.......
......................
Five Minute University
This is another Guido Sarducci clip. Viewing optional.
