Almost The End of January

Prepping for visitors—Sue doing most of the work. Chilly wind, but from the south. 

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A Landscape

Carl Dennis

This painting of a barn and barnyard near sundown
May be enough to suggest we don’t have to turn
From the visible world to the invisible
In order to grasp the truth of things.
We don’t always have to distrust appearances.
Not if we’re patient. Not if we’re willing
To wait for the sun to reach the angle
When whatever it touches, however retiring,
Feels invited to step forward
Into a moment that might seem to us
Familiar if we gave ourselves more often
To the task of witnessing. Now to witness
A barn and barnyard on a day of rest
When the usual veil of dust and smoke
Is lifted a moment and things appear
To resemble closely what in fact they are.

At The Printer’s...

...Worzolla printing in Stevens Point, to watch KWiL Publishing's first book coming off the press (with the owner having to sign off on each run). The press used—an eight unit, four color, perfecting Heidelberg running at 18,000 impressions per hour. Four, eight-page signature sheets plus the dust jacket. (Unfortunately, each run was a bit less than a full hour, but future offerings are anticipated to require multiple hours of press time.) Ab caught a ghost image on one the the press runs, caused by an incompletely cleaned offset blanket. The head operator's response? "Great catch!" with the blanket cleaned manually, and maintenance scheduled on this multi, multi-million dollar machine.

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Unfortunately, Worzolla is a very high security establishment and photography is emphatically not allowed. If it were, I would have posted shots of pallets piled with 150,000 8-page press sheets of Where the Wild Things Are—or other large stacks of Goodnight Moon, or Where the Sidewalk Ends. Etcetera.

You are known by the company you keep.

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Ice Capades

Much fun despite lack of wind.  Thanks to Ab for most of the photos (and for putting on and taking off lots and lots of ice skates.)

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And here, Bri's boat, front and center in an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Although the article is about stern-steerers, all the boats pictured are Nites.

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Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Hard but bumpy ice. Brisk wind. Nites 10 and 351 took advantage...for a shakedown sail. And shaky it was. On one tack I was running downwind at a high rate of speed with ice chips pinging off my nose when a yellow/red/black bullet whizzed past me so fast I could hardly see it. (351 is going to be rather competitive.)

We didn't stay out long, thinking it would be prudent to keep the boats from breaking apart.

And after the sail, we finally got in our long longed-for Sports Dock tuna melt. (But, being prudent, we ordered only one of the gigantic things, and split it. Still, quite a bit of yum.)

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Back To Bare Ground...

...except for the odd pile of hailstones in shady places.  And, reportedly, almost back to bare ice. I predict we will be sailing Sunday.

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Gutters de-clogged today. And were they ever clogged—mostly leaves from Vi's big Bradford pear which doesn't lose its leaves until December. But also birch, oak, and maple; along with thick bundles of red pine needles.

I have a certain fondness for gutter photos, because, if I remember rightly, a gutter photo graced my first ever blog post.

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And, speaking of gutters, they feature in two sights I find less than appealing—one, rain running down a roof and sloshing over the gutter as if it wasn't there; and two, eavestroughs festooned with luxuriant verdure—forbs, grasses, and saplings more appropriately found either on the prairie or in a deep, dark wood.

Reveling in the Past...

...otherwise known as recuperating.  (No, we really didn't over-do it.) (But no chance of a timely, original photo today, either.) After a lovely breakfast at the top of the Pfister we stopped in, on the way home, to say hi to Becca, Ben, and James. (All doing well, btw.)

Still got a few blues bars rattling around between the ears.

Pax had a good time too. Last night he slept on Will's bed.

I tried to count the goldeneyes.

I tried to count the goldeneyes.

Slippery Sidewalks

Very cold ground combined with a damp mist, puddles of melt water, and a temp just above freezing make creepers a rather good idea when out walking, which all of us did several times today.

An interesting batch of chili made up, using available ingredients, now bubbling softly and smelling pretty good, though untasted as of yet. That, combined with some corn bread will be our football fare as we watch some of the Vikings game. What the heck...its a dim, damp, chilly Sunday evening in January.

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Cheesecake...

...is tasty...and Sue bought a fine, big piece of semi-homemade perfection from our favorite breakfast place  in Milton. But, when we popped in a bit later for a few quick items at a nearby grocery, Pax took pity on us and removed the temptation. I normally never think about leaving food items in the car with Pax. Cheesecake, however, is cheesecake. No lunch for Pax today by way of reprimand (not that he wanted any).

Still windy, but now from the south. Even though the meter got up to 30, it was hard to ignore a lingering cold. Almost nothing of significance accomplished.

Check out this parenting advice from Ellie: https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/greenland-elementary-offers-ounces-of-advice-for-new-mothers

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Clear, Cold and Quiet

Quiet nights of quiet stars, quiet chords from my guitar
floating on the silence that surrounds us
Quiet thoughts and quiet dreams, quiet walks by quiet streams
And the window looking on the mountains and the sea, how lovely.

Um cantinho, um violao, Este amor, uma cançao, Pra fazer feliz a quem se ama  
Muita calma pra pensar, E ter tempo pra sonhar  
Da janela, ve-se o Corcovado, O Redentor, que lindo.

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