Fascinating chain

I, without energy, having mainly depleted my stores of that which moves my muscles, sit at my information portal. Still I wander.

I read about beer. A man from seventh century Austria and France, who became a priest, a bishop and ultimately Saint Arnold of Metz is credited with the miracle of the beer mug.

Within the Beer Church article, the city of Champignuelles stood out. I googled, haltingly, as it seems the u and e are often transposed, and found this beautiful song by For Your Ears Only, this dance meeting, then more music from Colin Casey.

Celebrate De Pere

I spent 12 hours Saturday and another dozen Sunday at Voyageur Park. Serving festival foods and beverages at the Lions tent for seven hours a day. Then enjoying the music the rest of the evening.

Saturday night, Night Ranger was the headliner of the weekend - awesome show. Tom Vaughan and Kelly Kubicek came over from Seymour and hung out with us. It was a lot of fun seeing them again. We got in contact after many years through Facebook.

Sunday was a run of tribute bands. Journey, U2, Aerosmith, and Pink Floyd. All real good.

Jamie & Kayla had fun all around the park with their friends and cousins.

And now I'm resting.

Know then, that the world exists for you.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I finished watching Ken Burns' Frank Lloyd Wright. A compelling story. In the beginning, an historian relates Wright to Emerson's quote: Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond its world, a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you.

To me, art is the communication of emotion. Wright was a conduit of the art of place. He felt a place and built a projector to show the world how it feels to be in that place.

And again reference to Emerson: Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

Know, completely, what you are feeling, and share it with the world.

Hi Neighbor

It is good to hear of miracles.

Meskousing

Place is very important to me.

I am an individual. I am a part of a greater being. It is one existence.

I understand as much of this existence as I can. And that is my reality. As my understanding grows, so does my reality.

I do not know that there is more than I know. But there always has been. And my best guess is that there always will be.

In my understanding of my existence, I am bound by rules. I will exist in this space and this time. And every bit of time that flows through me, and every portion of space that I flow through is special, because it is me.

Today I learned about a man from Wisconsin, about whom I thought I knew a bit, an eccentric architect. Wow! What a life. And that was only a portion of the story that Ken Burns shared with me. (Thanks Wisconsin Channel.) I think I should be able to - just checked - Netflix has Frank Lloyd Wright on instant play, I'll be able to watch the rest at my leisure.

Then I learned about the last US Battleship - Wisconsin.

I strive for balance in my life. I try not to be boastful, but I do know what pride feels like. And that feeling glows when the idea of this place lights my fire.

Wait a minute, I'm not sure if time exists. So maybe space doesn't either.

My best guess is that I will come to understand more.

Dani Florida

2009 Pulitzer winner for Feature Writing

Thanks be to Moms

Doug came over last night after he visited with his Mom, Shelly, James and the kids, and the Gibsons. We played guitar and watched Once.

Today I worked in the garage for four or five hours.

Happy Mother's Day.

Rollin with the changes, singin' this refrain

Rainy, cool May Saturday. I had no energy this week, a bit of a cold. The house needed a cleaning. I didn't want to, but I had to.

Listened to all four albums in the DVD player twice. Cleaned top to bottom. Went to Wal-Mart and got a new furnace filter. Even scrubbed the carpets.

So I rewarded myself - a quick Nighthawk ride, for a McChicken sandwich - a cheap treat, which interestingly enough, goes well with a bloody Mary and german potato salad :) Bob and Cory on the radio, telling me about the Crew beating down the Northsiders.

Oh and as I walked out of Mickey D's, I heard,... :)

Experience: nothin' like it

Saturday at Lambeau Field Atrium: YMCA Healthy Kids Event.

Michaela did some tumbling with her team to show younger kids how fun it can be to stay fit. Then she joined up with Jamie, Logan & Sami to check out the other activities.

We cooked some hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. Then the kids played some video games and ran around outside.

We headed over to Gibson's for dinner. We all had picked a horse - so we could holler at the TV during the Kentucky Derby. Nobody picked that 50-1. Played some catch and visited whilst the master griller performed his magic on that chicken.

Logan came over to stay with Jamie and I, and Kayla stayed with Sami. Today, Kayla went with Sami and Dave to the Hannah Montana movie, and Logan and Jamie and I went geocaching. We all met up here for a wind-down, Jamie and Logan - video games, Dave, Kayla and I - cribbage, and Sami explored. She spotted a snake, so we all went out for a few minutes of excitement as we tried to corral the two foot garter, but he snuck away.

I had myself a moment

I took a few days off work.

Wednesday I took the truck to Accurate Suspension in Appleton for a leaf spring assembly install. An appointment I made completely by email. I found their's was the place I wanted my work done and contacted them with my info. We exchanged a few emails, then I showed up and they installed the part they ordered for me. It was a new process for me, and I liked it.

That night, the kids and I played some catch, ate some pasta, and watched a movie.

Yesterday I drove to Madison.

But I must digress.

Last fall I found Colin Hay's music again. He was the lead singer for the band Men At Work in the eighties. They were my first favorite band. They made three studio albums together and disbanded. I had Colin Hay's first solo album, Looking for Jack. But then I lost track of him, until Youtube showed me what he had been up to.

His music felt like I felt. I suppose that's why I came to I appreciate it when I was younger. And as I'm prone to do, I searched and learned and googled until I had my fill of info - including that he was not on tour. Well a couple of weeks ago, a similar search returned different results. He would be in Milwaukee, Madison, and Minneapolis on consecutive nights. Where should I go?

I had been talking with a roomate from college on Facebook recently, Dan Rung, who lives in Madison. He said sure. And Madison still has that special new, vibrant, alive feeling. We went to visit another friend, Pram Adriansjach, at his restaurant, Bandung, before the show.

The warm spring evening in the shadow of the capitol, walking past crowds of electric people, seeing old friends, the theater's character, the storyteller with his beautiful guitar - and his voice, so full of knowing, and the voice of his guitar, so expressive,... it was a moment.