Too long a day

My family took me out for a belated lunch.. No corned beef for me, I don't like it.  Neither does Jacynth, who is Irish!  Instead, each year we go to the Asian Buffet for a nice selection of Chinese cuisine.

Next, Tisha took me to St. Vincent de Paul to look for clothes for the summer tour.  I will be doing twenty five performances in a month, which doesn't leave much time for laundry.  The solution is to have thin, lightweight dresses I can hand wash and hang on a line at the campgrounds. We found two of them, to add to the two I already have.  We'll look for at least one more.

My grandson gave me two potted plants of tulips and daffodils.  Gary already gave me a lily..  They will all go into the garden when the frost is out of the ground.  Not long now, the crocuses are up.

Tonight, I drove to Algoma, on the edge of Lake Michigan to pick up Heather and Jacynth who were performing at the Catholic church.

I remembered that I hadn't been in Algoma since I was in high school. I had gone to Door County to the north and Kewaunee to the south, but had not been in the area between since the 1960's.  We were there for some kind of field trip, as I recall.  I had a new umbrella, a pretty thing I still have.  It was raining off an on but finally the sun came up.  My two chums Sue and Norma, and I decided to walk out on the breakwater.  The rocks were covered with herring gulls.  Someone suggested that we run as fast as we could, chasing the gulls into the air.  Great fun until the birds returned on a bombing mission.  The three of us huddled under my new umbrella which took direct hits.

It was a learning experience and possibly the reason I hadn't returned to that lovely little town for over four decades.

Time for a short breather

Jacynth and Heather had a dynamite concert at Seymour's Muehl Public Library.  The party didn't break up until almost 11:00 pm, then I delivered them to a friend's house to stay the night.  This morning we went swimming at the aquatic center, then I drove them to Oshkosh to send them off with Gloria Hays, another friend, a nurse and hammer dulcimer player, who was wearing a Solidarity armband.  She's been at the state capitol since the beginning, fighting for collective bargaining for public workers.  As a nurse, she has much to lose.  Nurses don't earn enough as it is.  Gloria arranged a concert tonight for the Celtic duo.

Traffic was hectic, coming and going, with people out for spring drives, the start of a weekend, and the beginning of road construction.  At one Menasha exit we were slowed by a crash.  A big truck had flipped over, throwing beef carcasses on the road.  On my way home, there was another three car crash.

Tonight, I look forward to an early night.  Tomorrow, possible lunch with my grandson Evan and Those People He Lives With, as Gary calls my son and his wife.  Then it is off to Algoma, a pretty town off Lake Michigan, to pick J&H up after yet another concert.

I look forward to next week when nothing much is happening.  

A Day for Blarney

This morning I went to Shawano to pick up Heather and Jacynth, who stayed the night at the United Church of Christ pastor's house.  They did a Lenten service last night.

From there we drove to St. Brendon's Inn in Green Bay for the blessing of the shamrock by a Catholic priest, with translations to the Gaelic.  The place was crammed full of Irish and wannabe Irish with a din that equaled the noise in Beijing.  The poor ladies did their best to sing over the ruckus and later Heather played her hand held drum with the fiddle and guitar players and Jacynth danced the Irish hornpipe.  Occasionally bagpipers played.  They had it easier since a bagpipe makes far more noise than a crowd of rowdy Irish.

I'm afraid I finally escaped out to the banks of the Fox River to watch the waterfowl paddle around, mostly lesser scaup with a few mallards thrown in.

We shopped a bit for necessities this afternoon.  Now they are at a friend's house. Lois will feed them supper then I will pick them up for a St. Patrick's Day party at the library here in Seymour.  Beer will be served!

Today is my birthday.  As I often remark, St. Patrick's Day is the very best birthday because no matter where you happen to be, there's a party somewhere.  I'll have two today.

Getting organized.

This morning I finished sending out a sample press release, my photo, and the itinerary to all the libraries I'll be visiting this summer.  Next week, I'll start work on the theme song:  One World, Many Stories.  I have the melody, just have to write the lyrics.

The time keeps flying by.  Gary gave me a poster that reads:  "Dates on the calendar are closer than they appear."  I keep plugging away at the trip.  There are maps to make, last minute work on the car, arrangements for Rascal the Cat, and so on.  Doing a tour is almost a year long process.

Heather and Jacynth are interested on doing a library tour like mine in 2012, but I wonder if there will be money for artists then, with the Governors of so many states cutting library budgets while they give big corporations tax cuts.  The theme then will be "Night".  I wonder what that will mean for storytelling.  I would like to go to the East Coast, perhaps taking time to hike a few days on the Appalachian Trail.

When I return from the West Coast, I'll have a mere two months before I start on the 2012 tour.  

Spring Arrives

This morning we took a drive to Waupaca to pick up Gary's new van.  It's even bigger than the last one, which didn't exactly fit in the driveway.  The rear end lopped over onto the sidewalk.  This one is 26 inches longer which means my car will have to be worked deeper into the garage and the front of his van pushed inside as far as he can get it.  He would build an addition to the garage but the lot is too narrow.

This vehicle has seating for fifteen people.  Why he needs this is beyond me.  I suggested we could take protesters down to Madison on a regular basis, but that is not likely to happen.  Instead, he will re-do the interior with a bed and camping gear.  I shake my head but it is his money to do with as he likes.

Afterwards, we took a drive into spring.  In the course of an hour we saw sandhill cranes, red winged blackbirds and a robin.  I hear the turkey vultures are heading this way.  We can expect tundra swans any day.  Last year they showed up on St. Patrick's Day.  The rivers are slowly turning from ice to open water.  Our first canoe trip on the Wolf River was on March 23 last year.  As I write, Gary is affixing the canoe bars onto the top of his new van.  In theory, spring should arrived on March 20th, but I now declare the season open for business.

I just took a short run out to the gardens to see what is happening there.  The snowdrops are blooming.  I think I will put away the St. John's wort and call Seasonal Affective Disorder done for another year.

Another Rally

Yesterday I drove Jacynth and Heather to their performance at the Neenah Library.  The parking lot was almost filled and at first I thought, wow, people came early for their performance.  But the library was still locked.  Then I noticed the crowd to the east of the lot.  It was yet another union protest.

I must be getting addicted to rallies because I abandoned my friends at the front of the library and went over to chant "This is what democracy looks like!"  Some of the people had been at Saturday's rally and we compared notes.  We agreed that the newspapers were under counting the amount of people at these gatherings.

I picked up a Sierra Club sign supporting the unions as a present to Gary, a supporter.  One of the governor's aims is to gut our environmental programs in a state that has a long history of conservations.  John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Gaylord Nelson are Wisconsinites we take pride in. That sign now hangs in my living room window.

I still managed to get back to the library in time for the Caim performance.    

Madison yesterday

This was the scene yesterday at Madison.  I was outside of this photo to the left and bottom, standing next to the Veterans' Museum.  I couldn't move for half an hour because of the masses of people, but the folks I was standing with were friendly and informative.

According to the Madison police there were 85,000 in the square, but that didn't include the people up and down the streets leading to the square or the people behind the capitol building who kept on circling it and chanting.  All those people and not a single arrest.  We behaved ourselves.  

I talked to teachers who have dedicated our lives to our children.  I talked to librarians who told me that interlibrary loans might be discontinued and hours shortened.  I talked to nature center personnel who told me what would be taken away from this most environmental of bills.  I talked to pipe cutters, farmers, senior citizens, college students, and veterans.  I talked and talked and heard stories of the damage this governor is doing to the citizens.

It was a remarkable day.  The first of the horrible bills may have been signed but the battle is not over.  The courts are now looking at multiple problems with it. The open sessions laws say it has to be publicized two days before (it wasn't) and that the bill has to be available to the public (it wasn't). It was a fiscal bill that would have to be approved by a quorum and the Senate didn't have one.  Plus an amendment was tacked on the Assembly version which was not then re-approved by the Senate.  Before it is law, the bill has to be published by the Secretary of State.  But his name is Douglas LaFollette and he will hold off until he has heard from the courts.  How remarkable that it could be a LaFollette that comes to the rescue!

Recall petitions have started.

This is an historic moment.  I am so glad I was there.