Wisconsin

On Friday we pointed the car toward Wisconsin to spend the long weekend with Martha's family. Traffic was light and we made good time, reaching a sleeping Waupaca well before midnight. The desire to go out and hit the bottle at that time of night is decreasing with age and knowing that a good hangover will ruin an entire weekend we went to bed.

Outdoor shenanigans began early on Saturday. Fran offered the option of physical labor on his land and I accepted. One pile of wood was broken down into three piles. Usable construction timber, burnable firewood, dead wood with no other use than to be thrown on top of a new pile dedicated to decaying branches, leaves and other tree matter. A man with piles. Some two hours later Martha and Marci arrived on the scene with supplies of Heineken and cheese sandwiches.

Good weather is never to be wasted. Later that same day we set fire (LINK) to a bunch of wood, had more beer and began to wish that we brought tents. Looking up at the stars and enjoying the warm crackling fire Fran summed up life at that point in time: "eat food, drink beer, burn wood."

The rural night sky is as black as coal and millions of stars are visible. What appears to be thin dusty clouds is actually the Milky Way galaxy, our home. Beer and stars, makes you think. Good times.

Another cool weekend

On Friday night we went over to Nate and Fro's house. They live in northeast Minneapolis, a part of the city that I hope to call home sometime next year. My crude words or photos will never be able to describe how fantastic an area it is. Giant trees hang low over the pleasant streets, strange and interesting shops can be found on Central avenue, amazing old industrial buildings are as numerous as houses, a constant stream of slow moving freight trains bisects the neighborhoods with their horns blasting loudly all day and all night. Soon after we arrived the outdoor fire was set up. We gathered round (LINK) and had a few laughs.

The third weekend in May of every year is when Art-A-Whirl (LINK) goes down in northeast Minneapolis. It is an open studio and gallery tour where hundreds of artists throw open their doors and display their works. There is more going on in this city that I ever knew. We spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday moving from one gallery to another. They were in breweries, on boats, in warehouses and in private homes. We saw art that was great and not so great and we ate as much free food as we could without being too obvious, even though stuffing ones pockets with handfuls of pretzels is quite a visible act. No shame.

Seating rules

Last night we had a few at Keegan's. Pretty authentic Irish pub. The drinks are expensive and the music is too loud. On our table Martha noticed a small sign that said "This table is reserved for a minimum of 3 people." The sign was obviously meant to deter people from hogging too many seats, seats that could be utilized by a greater number of patrons.

"But fumble in a greasy till
And add the halfpence to the pence..."

I had a black marker in my pocket and offered it to Martha so that the sign could be doctored. The 3 was quickly changed to an 8 and the sign was put on the table next to us. No sooner had the sign been placed on the table than in the door walked a group of three men. They made their way over to the free table but upon noticing the new seating restrictions made a u-turn and chose a different place to sit.