What can I say -- the weather is messin' with us. Humid, unpredictable, stormy -- and hold on to your horses and hats, Hannah, 'cause it's only gonna get worse.
Delightful.
We are up early. I mean, really early. Ed has eye surgery (yes, in Janesville!) at 6:45 and we have to give ourselves extra time for the drive because of the unpredictability of the weather. Stumble out of bed, feed the cats, hit the road.
Normally, it's not an unpleasant drive, but it's dark when we get going and if you know anything about the small rural communities that surround Madison, you'll understand that the people who live in them most often work in our state's capital. Even at this ungodly hour, there is a steady stream of traffic into town. Now, we are going in the opposite direction. So, no traffic in our lane, right? Yes, true, but there is a constant stream of bright headlights right in your face. I'm driving and I don't have impaired vision like my sweetie by my side, but, still, it's a strain. Luckily, we dodged a band of storms and so at least we were without the hazard of blinding rain and flashing skies.
Since Ed's surgery and recovery are to take about three to four hours, I search out a place to park myself for the duration in Janesville. I pick a newly opened (in a restored old building) coffee shop on Main Street. Just across Rock River.
The river is wide here and it's worthwhile to take a pause and consider its course.
It's a tributary of the Mississippi and though it does not pass through Madison, it does pick up the waters from my city's Yahara River. There was a time Ed and I talked about paddling from Madison, all the way down to the Mississippi and beyond, but a day's run on that mega waterway convinced me that it would be anything but fun to fight big boats and strong currents of America's second longest river (the Missouri is longer).
Janesville's Bodacious Brew (my cafe of choice) is on Main Street. I'll support any eatery that tries to bring life to America's Main Streets.
Still, I don't quite get the right breakfast. Everybody but me would know that an Acai Bowl is actually a frozen smoothie. Sort of like having ice cream for breakfast, while your heart is craving something decadent like a croissant or at least something warm, like oatmeal.
At 8 am I walk over to the Firehouse Park (just up the street). There is a small gathering of police, of firefighters, of city workers and presumably their families to commemorate what is so firmly etched in our minds -- this is, after all, 9/11.
A young man makes a brief speech. He was just eleven on the day of the attacks -- old enough to have a memory of that day. I don't know anyone in this country who isn't in some way scarred by what happened then and thereafter. It's hard to find good words now to express emotion, with wisdom and with respect, but our speaker today hits on some good notes, reminding us that wars have been fought since then, more lives have been lost and yet, here we are in this little park in Janesville. Perhaps looking after each other and reaching out to people who are outside our inner circle is one way to go forward, he tells us. Perhaps.
I return to my outside table at the coffee shop and I feel the temperatures rising. The sun, poking through for a short while, is in my eyes. Time to move on.
A brief walk up and down the rest of Janesville's Main Street...
It is what it is: the commercial heart of the city surely can't be found in these few blocks. Consignment shops, a bar, a music instrument rental place. Nothing that brings daily traffic here.
Janesville (with a pop. of some 65,000) suffered an economic downturn after the GM assembly plant closed in 2008 (it had been a key employer here since 1919; at its peak in the 1970s, it employed upwards of 7000 workers). The SUVs and trucks manufactured here were no longer in demand. Currently, hospitals and schools seem to lead the list of top employers in the city.
And now I get the call from the hospital that Ed is ready to be discharged. I pick him up and we return home.
In the afternoon, Snowdrop is at the farmhouse once more.
(Continue with story based on art work, or pick grandma's flowers? Hmmm..)
(Flowers win.)
Later, when I take her home, I encounter Sparrow...
What's this? Someone got t-shirts celebrating the accomplishments of a famous tennis player...
And now it's evening and the storms are upon us once more. Tomorrow morning, we're back in Janesville again, driving against whatever weather phenomenon comes our way.
Delightful.
We are up early. I mean, really early. Ed has eye surgery (yes, in Janesville!) at 6:45 and we have to give ourselves extra time for the drive because of the unpredictability of the weather. Stumble out of bed, feed the cats, hit the road.
Normally, it's not an unpleasant drive, but it's dark when we get going and if you know anything about the small rural communities that surround Madison, you'll understand that the people who live in them most often work in our state's capital. Even at this ungodly hour, there is a steady stream of traffic into town. Now, we are going in the opposite direction. So, no traffic in our lane, right? Yes, true, but there is a constant stream of bright headlights right in your face. I'm driving and I don't have impaired vision like my sweetie by my side, but, still, it's a strain. Luckily, we dodged a band of storms and so at least we were without the hazard of blinding rain and flashing skies.
Since Ed's surgery and recovery are to take about three to four hours, I search out a place to park myself for the duration in Janesville. I pick a newly opened (in a restored old building) coffee shop on Main Street. Just across Rock River.
The river is wide here and it's worthwhile to take a pause and consider its course.
It's a tributary of the Mississippi and though it does not pass through Madison, it does pick up the waters from my city's Yahara River. There was a time Ed and I talked about paddling from Madison, all the way down to the Mississippi and beyond, but a day's run on that mega waterway convinced me that it would be anything but fun to fight big boats and strong currents of America's second longest river (the Missouri is longer).
Janesville's Bodacious Brew (my cafe of choice) is on Main Street. I'll support any eatery that tries to bring life to America's Main Streets.
Still, I don't quite get the right breakfast. Everybody but me would know that an Acai Bowl is actually a frozen smoothie. Sort of like having ice cream for breakfast, while your heart is craving something decadent like a croissant or at least something warm, like oatmeal.
At 8 am I walk over to the Firehouse Park (just up the street). There is a small gathering of police, of firefighters, of city workers and presumably their families to commemorate what is so firmly etched in our minds -- this is, after all, 9/11.
A young man makes a brief speech. He was just eleven on the day of the attacks -- old enough to have a memory of that day. I don't know anyone in this country who isn't in some way scarred by what happened then and thereafter. It's hard to find good words now to express emotion, with wisdom and with respect, but our speaker today hits on some good notes, reminding us that wars have been fought since then, more lives have been lost and yet, here we are in this little park in Janesville. Perhaps looking after each other and reaching out to people who are outside our inner circle is one way to go forward, he tells us. Perhaps.
I return to my outside table at the coffee shop and I feel the temperatures rising. The sun, poking through for a short while, is in my eyes. Time to move on.
A brief walk up and down the rest of Janesville's Main Street...
It is what it is: the commercial heart of the city surely can't be found in these few blocks. Consignment shops, a bar, a music instrument rental place. Nothing that brings daily traffic here.
Janesville (with a pop. of some 65,000) suffered an economic downturn after the GM assembly plant closed in 2008 (it had been a key employer here since 1919; at its peak in the 1970s, it employed upwards of 7000 workers). The SUVs and trucks manufactured here were no longer in demand. Currently, hospitals and schools seem to lead the list of top employers in the city.
And now I get the call from the hospital that Ed is ready to be discharged. I pick him up and we return home.
In the afternoon, Snowdrop is at the farmhouse once more.
(Continue with story based on art work, or pick grandma's flowers? Hmmm..)
(Flowers win.)
Later, when I take her home, I encounter Sparrow...
What's this? Someone got t-shirts celebrating the accomplishments of a famous tennis player...
And now it's evening and the storms are upon us once more. Tomorrow morning, we're back in Janesville again, driving against whatever weather phenomenon comes our way.
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