A veteran's day
dawned on November 11
2013
with an appropriate Google motif
as above
We are just coming down
from a gala surprise celebration
held last Saturday evening
at the Three Brothers Restaurant
in Bayview south of the Milwaukee
Hoan Bridge
attended as planned by daughter Erin
and Ben
but also flying in from New York
by huge surprise was our son Leland
the Harlem kindergarten teacher.
The History of the 3 Bos. site is well-reported
in this organ:
AND
and many etceteras.......
but as to this particular night, 9/9/13:
but as to this particular night, 9/9/13:
Adding a 5th person to our party
thanks to Lee's arrival
necessitated our taking an 8 pm reservation
instead of our 6 pm for 4 diners.
We had a little wait at the crowded door
for tables to be cleared for us and other patrons
at this prime time dinner hour.
This allowed our chance meeting
of a chap from Missouri and his two associates
who were in Milwaukee to attend an
academic conference.
Pressed for space to stand, the gentleman,
Prof. Peter Monacell, a stranger, offered to hang up
my coat in the rack behind him.
They were there first and eventually
after the wait, took a table
in the back corner, where a waitress
began serving them.
See below photo.
Next, we were seated at a center table nearby the Monacell party.
Serbian salads quickly ensued.......and burek......and........
I offered to take a picture of our chance friends (and another...)
Then asked if they would mind shooting one of us.
"Gladly!" Peter said, taking the LVD mem. camera.
He gave me his card so I could Email him the pic of them.
The Missouri professor allowed as how
they had made inquiries of a really
unique place to have dinner while in
Milwaukee, and were referred here.
Now they are members of a who-knows-how-many
wide group of 3 Bros. fans. We've been patrons
since the 1960s.
A review:
by Lynardo (2008)
This place is a gem. I
am half Serbian and really miss my mother's great Serbian cooking. So going to
Three Brothers is, for me, as close as I can get to sitting at my mother's
table. The sarma and stuffed peppers are my favorite entrees. I know everybody
raves about the burek, and it is really fabulous (especially if you take new
people there - it really is impressive!!!!), but I think the one item not to
miss is the Serbian salad. I have always gotten very helpful and friendly
servers, and almost always the owner stops by the table. All in all, this place
is a very special gem, far above the average for a business traveler like me.
Make sure to order a glass of Slivovitz to end your very special meal at Three
Brothers. Nazdravlje!
Pros:
The Serbian food is awesome
Cons:
A little hard to find the first time.
Yes, you do have to know the route
to reach The Three Brothers.
I used a worn folded map the first time,
but once there it is unforgettable.
Our new friends from Missouri
- the 'Show Me' state -
will definitely be back,
we are assured by a subsequent
communique from Mr. Monacell.
The educators will receive this edition
of the Raccoon News in MO
and see these likenesses
for the first time of them
back there in their cozy corner.
Additional thanks to Monacell for
taking the picture of our party!
They're now safely back in MO.
^.^
Digging through raccoon archives
I found this saved picture of
our friend, Door County WI writer
and educator, the recently late Norb Blei -
with Branco, the Three Bros. owner.
Ethnic bonds connected the two men.
A visit to your table by Branco
is a regular treat. He was off this evening,
but believe me
we'll be back!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3CEbsen1lw
I can never forget the date of our anniversary. 11/11/83.
11 - 11 -( 8 + 3) = 11
not to mention, it's Veterans Day! .......
to reach The Three Brothers.
I used a worn folded map the first time,
but once there it is unforgettable.
Our new friends from Missouri
- the 'Show Me' state -
will definitely be back,
we are assured by a subsequent
communique from Mr. Monacell.
The educators will receive this edition
of the Raccoon News in MO
and see these likenesses
for the first time of them
back there in their cozy corner.
Additional thanks to Monacell for
taking the picture of our party!
They're now safely back in MO.
^.^
Digging through raccoon archives
I found this saved picture of
our friend, Door County WI writer
and educator, the recently late Norb Blei -
with Branco, the Three Bros. owner.
Ethnic bonds connected the two men.
A visit to your table by Branco
is a regular treat. He was off this evening,
but believe me
we'll be back!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3CEbsen1lw
I can never forget the date of our anniversary. 11/11/83.
11 - 11 -( 8 + 3) = 11
not to mention, it's Veterans Day! .......
Beauty hint: I've tried ointments to fight my scrawnied neck
potions don't seem to work
but a beard does......
another 4 inches should do it -
a harder remedy for some girls
Home, 11/11/13 sweet home
.......The Heron
Whenever we noticed her
standing in the stream, still
as a branch in
dead air, we
would grab our binoculars,
watch her watching,
her eye
fixed on the water
slowly making its own way
around stumps, over a
boulder,
under some leaves matted against
a fallen log. She seemed
to
appear, stand, peer, then
lift one leg, stretch it, let
a foot quietly
settle into the mud
then pull up her other foot, settle
it, and stare
again, each step
tendered, an ideogram at the end
of a calligrapher's
brush.
Every time she arrived, we watched
until, as if she had suddenly
heard
a call in the sky, she would bend
her knees, raise her wide
wings,
and lift into the welcome grace
of the air, her legs
extending
back behind her, wings rising
and falling elegant under the
clouds:
For more than a week now
we have not seen her. We watch
the
sky, hoping to catch her great
feathered cross moving above the trees.
Have seen Great Blue Heron
fishing,in early dawn hours
along the mighty Fox River
right in downtown Waukesha;
ephemeral;
For all we know.......
.......
The Big Bang
When the morning comes that you don't wake up,
what remains of your life
goes on as some kind of
electromagnetic energy. There's a slight chance
you
might appear on someone's screen as a dot. Face it.
You are a blip or
a ping, part of the background noise,
the residue of the Big Bang. You
remember the Big
Bang, don't you? You were about 26 years old, driving
a
brand new red and white Chevy convertible, with
that beautiful blond girl at
your side. Charlene, was
her name. You had a case of beer on ice in the
back,
cruising down Highway number 7 on a summer
afternoon and then you
parked near Loon Lake just
as the moon began to rise. Way back then you said
to
yourself, "Boy, it doesn't get any better than this," and
you were
right.
"The Big Bang" by Louis Jenkins, from Tin Flag: New and
Selected Prose Poems. © Will o' the Wisp books, 2013
.......
Finishing up
with Veteran's Day,
John Schoenknecht, historian friend,
was recently in Wash. DC touring
the monuments including the Korean Memorial,
and sent the Raccoon some KM pix he'd taken.
It must have been a ghostly sight
these wonderful works presented.
Well I remember, safely from state-side,
how close we fellows of the WHS class of 54
came to fighting in that 'conflict'.
It was only the luck of the draw -
our chance birthdates -
that saved us.
Finishing up
with Veteran's Day,
John Schoenknecht, historian friend,
was recently in Wash. DC touring
the monuments including the Korean Memorial,
and sent the Raccoon some KM pix he'd taken.
It must have been a ghostly sight
these wonderful works presented.
Well I remember, safely from state-side,
how close we fellows of the WHS class of 54
came to fighting in that 'conflict'.
It was only the luck of the draw -
our chance birthdates -
that saved us.
photos by John Schoenknecht
ibid
ibid
ibid
ibid
ibid
Thanks, John, for permission (we got it!) to reprint your photos.
.......
