Another snow day

The weather forecast was good.

Why do we ever listen to weather forecasts!

Sister Annice was originally going to take Heather and Jacynth to their workshop and church service in Oshkosh, but she had a chance to go to Madison to protest.  (She forgot to take her sign "Franciscans for Justice.")  So it was up to me to drive the duo from Green Bay to Oshkosh.  The roads were good, no problem, but the first snowflakes began to fall as I helped unload their gear into the church.

I went off to do some shopping at Fleet Farm for Gary.  By the time I came out, the snow was steadily falling and I hied myself back to St. Andrew's.   I listened to them give a great workshop and teach choir members some a cappella pieces that Jacynth had arranged.  Then there was the church service.It was deeply meaningful with lovely singing and candles, but my mind was on the weather.  By the time the reception was over, the snow was blowing and falling.  I drove back to Green Bay at 40 mph, white knuckles on the steering wheel all the way.

Now we are at Sister Annice's apartment.  From what we've heard, the 100,000 people demonstrating in Madison chanted in snow and cold. Considering the conditions, we are not sure her bus will bring her back to her apartment.  Since Jacynth and Heather are performing at the Methodist Church in Seymour tomorrow morning, it makes sense to me to stay right here so that Sister Annice won't have to do that after a hard day protesting our increasingly unpopular Governor Walker.

So here I am and it looks like here I will stay, once again without proper night time clothes. That seems to be the story of this tour.

Time for a breather

With a day at home, I made a pot of booyah, probably the last soup of the winter.  I have enough now to last into April.  Only four more days of February.  I think I will survive.

The day was sunny if cold, so I walked three miles, long overdue exercise. I stopped at the Methodist church and found out that posters for a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper needed to be put up all over town so I combined that with my walk.

Over at the middle school, I watched some teachers at the school packing their cars with sleeping bags.  They were dressed in Badger red, so I assume they are heading to Madison to protest.

I worked on a few writing projects.  I am trying to line up some travel articles for the summer.

Tonight, I believe I will make apple scones and banana bread.

For me, this has been a slow, relaxed day.  Tomorrow, it's back to driving Heather and Jacynth, this time to a workshop in Oshkosh.  

New Friends

Heather and Jacynth arrived right on time at the Milwaukee airport, but then they found out the CDs they had shipped to me had not arrived.  There were some CDs from previous trips at a retreat house in the area so we arranged to go there, but by this time, the sun had set, rush hour traffic was still heavy, and it had begun to sleet. At 7:00 pm we three dragged ourselves to the warm embrace of the Episcopalian nuns who took one look and said, stay the night.  When we calculated how long it would take us to reach Green Bay, it didn't take long to make a decision.  We each were assigned a room in the serenity of the home.

Once again, this traveler found friends just when she needed them.

We attended the moving compline service and collapsed into our beds with no inclinations to talk.  Good, because this was the Greater Silence in a sequestered group that doesn't talk much anyhow.

Gary says I always know where to pitch a tent.  

Waiting

I'm at Mitchell Field in Milwaukee, waiting for a flight from Newark to pick up Jacynth and Heather.  I made a point of coming early to avoid the rush hour traffic but now I have two hours to wait.  They will arrive at 4:20 but even then we'll slow things down since I don't want to go back on to the highway until 5:30 at least.  Even then it will be a rush.  I may just treat them to a meal here at the airport, as expensive as that would be.

From here I drive them to Green Bay where they will be staying for the next three weeks.  Years ago, they stayed with me but since Gary moved in with me, I don't have a spare bedroom, only a very uncomfortable fold out couch. I'll miss having them singing around the place, but I would miss Gary more if he weren't there.

By the time I settle them in it will be very late before I get home tonight.

Until they arrive, I will people watch and make notes for some possible short story in the future.

I am delighted to find an open wireless network to connect to the world.

I began this blog on October 19, 2010 and have not missed posting an entry since then.  That's 127 blog entries since the beginning.  Some days were busy and all my readers got was a photo, but I usually made up for it with longer entries in the days following.

Now it becomes more difficult.

Tomorrow afternoon, I go to Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee to pick up Jacynth Hamill from Belfast, Ireland and Heather Innes from Sterling, Scotland, who will be performing a capella  Celtic songs around Northeast Wisconsin until March 21.  I've been working as their agent, finding them work.

Much of the time, I will be traveling with them and will have to find time to do a blog from wherever we land, using my little notebook computer.  This should be good practice for my much longer tour this summer.

Tomorrow, I will be posting from the airport.

Even more difficult will be continuing to do my own writing work.  I am almost done with the China Journal, which I plan on publishing as an e-book on Amazon.com by the end of March.  I will have to be in Seymour each Sunday to direct the choir as usual and begin preparing for Lent and Easter services.

As usual, life is a series of puzzle pieces.  I hope everything fits in nicely.  

Watching History Happen

With 12 inches of snow, we've been snowed in all day with no place to go.  The meeting of the critique group, yoga practice, the aquatic center and the fitness center...everything was canceled.

What has not been canceled are the protests going on in the state capital at Madison against the union-busting tactics of Governor Walker.  Gary and I came of age in the 1960's with the civil rights movement and anti-war protests.  This is deja vu for us, so we have been monitoring "twitter" messages sent from the capitol rotunda.  At the beginning, it was only a few hundred teachers who were involved.  By day 4, there were 65,000 protesters in the Square.  It is no longer teachers who protest, it is university and high school students, plus union people from as far as Utah and Ohio. 

With so many people, food became a problem but help was on its way.  It began with some anonymous donor ordering pizza from a local establishment to be delivered to the the capitol building.  The idea spread.  Ian's Pizza has received orders from most of the United States, from New Zealand to Cairo.  

The governor wanted to use the National Guard, the police, the firefighters and even Department of Natural Resources wardens to stop the protest.  Poor man, they've all abandoned him.  The police union made bratwurst.  The firefighters marched playing bagpipes. Today, a furloughed DNR squad came.  Even the Green Bay Packers are supporting the unions. 

The churches have come forward.  The Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists and ELCA Lutherans have all stated their support for the unions. Onward Christian soldiers! I e-mailed

It has been an incredibly peaceful rally.  The people tweet each other, encouraging calm.  When Fox News said that they were .... horror of horrors ... littering, the university students organized garbage patrols.  When the lawn became muddy, the teaching assistants started a collection to replace the grass come spring.  Snow didn't stop the rally.  The protesters brought shovels and cleared the square. 

To keep the anti-union legislation from passing, fourteen Democratic state senators left the state.  (One of my favorite tweets was "South Beloit is lovely at this time of year.") The Governor sent state troopers out to arrest them but the police didn't seem to hurry all that much.   A fund was set up to support the "Democratic Fourteen".  So far, $300,000 has been donated and the senators are still wandering in Illinois.  How Walker intends to get them out of Democratic Illinois is questionable.    

So we sit in our warm house, watch the marvel that is happening, and root for the unions.  It is history in the making, and though we are stuck at home, we don't want to miss any of it.  

Waiting for Spring

Rascal looks out the window waiting for spring, but there's a massive snow storm headed our way.  At least I've provided him with geranium plants culled from my garden in September. It's a bit of green all winter long, and this week, big red blossoms.