and this is where...

I’m so used to taking friends to Poland. Show this, explain that.

I don’t think I have ever shown Madison to anyone.

You might say that I have, therefore, no friends living far and wide and wishing to travel to see me in my home town.

Maybe. Or, you could say that my friends discovered Madison before I did, though that would be hard, since I moved here in 1979. That’s 33 years ago.

So today I made a modest attempt to show my nephew Madison. Which is uniquely strange because he was actually born here. But, at the ripe age of one month, he was back in his home setting across the ocean.

So where do you go, what do you point out?

The Union Terrace?

Our lakes?

It’s not as if he’s just here for a few days. The goal is to show places he can come back to. Here’s the Capitol. So now you can come back and actually see the Capitol. Oh, and here is my office. It's not tourist worthy -- I just need to pick up some papers. But the campus! Ah, the beautiful, yet so empty campus! I'll spare you the photo. You get enough of those in the course of the school year.

After, we take the bikes out and spin around the various routes that he can take to go to place X, Y or Z. Ed and I lead him, of course, to Paul’s café, but our itinerary is broad: the library, the post office, the drugstore, grocery store...

Oh, but do we ever have the good bike paths here! My nephew tells me the countryside reminds him of Poland. I look up and I have to agree, even as I never before looked at it in this way. 

And then comes the reality of a week of good weather behind us and good weather ahead for him: the garden needs watering. Many buckets carted to the fruit orchard, a hose raised high to reach the tips and ends of flower beds. A several hour undertaking.

I feel it’s maybe a bit overwhelming, a huge imposition, a pain in the butt. But my nephew disagrees. Zen like, he tells me. You stand, water falls, very peaceful.

He and I think the same way.

In the evening I have a small harvest from our veggie garden to add to our supper.

So, the deer left something for us. Thank you, deer.

And speaking of animals, Isis is coming around. He avoids Ed (who messes with his wound), but he’s back to purring if I rub him long enough at his side. And he'll take the milk I pour for him. He’s one tough cat.

And that's a good thing.