Queries from an afternoon on the lake

Q: Why are the reeds bending fiercely in the photo below? Why is the water so rippled?
A: (Yes there is such a thing as a stupid Q.) It was windy, damn it, windy on the lake!

the winds against the water lilly... can she survive their fierce strength? 

Q: Must have been wonderful to go sailing, therefore?
A: Yes. Sailing would have been two thumbs up! Paddle boating? Well, that proved to be a bit difficult. And especially so if you thoughtlessly went with the wind for the first leg of the journey, then turned around only to realize that paddling furiously against the wind just kept you virtually standing still.

Q: What would you do if you were stuck in some marshes, battling the wind, far, far away from where you wanted to be?
A: Cry? I don’t know. We* made it back. Hours later, but we made it back. [Pictured below: my last few pushes before the ultimate collapse.]

* Three women, one boat, 6 tired legs.

are we really standing still? worse, going backwards?? 

This one’s for YOU!

Today is the birthday of the following people:

Herman Melville (he wrote: “friendship at first sight, like love at first sight, is said to be the only truth…”)
Yves Saint Laurent (arguably the greatest fashion designer of all time, he made women’s pants popular…)
Dom Deluise (he acts, directs, sings, cooks as a chef, writes books…)
Lionel Bart (when he was 6 his teachers told his parents he was a musical genius…)
my daughter (too long! The list of accolades is too long!)

Happy Birthday, S.C.!!

Move over, moon, between the orange and the blue (see post below) we get a pushy sun burning through the early fog.

Yet another Saturday morning foraging for L’Etoile…

Is it tedious to get up at dawn every week to go to the Market?
No. (I get to see the sun rise; see photo below.)

a dramatic awakening

Is it lonely walking around and around the Square with that rickety old thing that some like to call a red wagon?
No. (I meet more people at the Market than I do all week elsewhere in Madison. The Square is overrun by faculty types. Students drag in as well, but they normally get there toward the close of the morning, when my own work is done.)

Blogger "B" makes a Market appearance 

Do I stock up on too many fruits and vegetables when I shop for myself at the Market (a common complaint)?
No. I stock up on too many flowers. I’ve encountered a lot of purple and yellow lately and so I was tempted by the flowers pictured below. But before I could even dig into the purse, I noticed that I already was the proud owner of another bouquet. Actually three.

purple & yellow: definitely this week's colors 

three vases for one table? 

There’s also the problem of too much honey. When I was told by Ms. Bee Charmer that she now had the “champagne of honeys” (made from the black locust flower) I could not resist. It can now join the others on my cupboard shelf: acacia honey, buckwheat honey, forest flower honey, lavender honey and rosemary honey. What do I do with all that honey??? Tory, L’Etoile’s Chef de Cuisine, suggested I make honey-based vinaigrettes. Okay, that will use about a spoonful a week. Chef Odessa pushed for honey with Darjeeling tea. Too sweet! My grandmother would pour honey over all the berries she served for dessert. That’s harder to do when you’re like me, nibbling your way, all day long, through the containers of fruit in the fridge. For now, let’s just say I have a wonderful collection of honeys to show off to visitors.

Bee Charmer joins the n.c. parade of honeys

Even though the lyrics say that the blue moon turns to gold* in reality the orange moon was yesterday, the blue moon is today.

Thanks to my reader pal who found for me the article in Sky & Telescope on the blue moon phenomenon –the modern definition of which is that two full moons appear in the same calendar month. It's likely that everyone but me remembered that the second of those is called the “blue moon.” [The lunar cycle is 29.5 days and so the event is rare; over the next twenty years, there will be a blue moon only 17 times. One such time is today.]

* Blue Moon,
You saw me standing alone…
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold..

By the light of the orange moon…

I am writing a post, but my eyes are riveted toward the window. Outside, a bright orange moon is staring straight at me. Why is that an enormous experience? It’s just a piece of rock suspended in the vacuous space. But it’s so beautiful! Am I programmed to believe that it is indeed beautiful? Or, was the day such that whatever I would see at this point would appear beautiful just because things felt so right?

I’ll not go back to the beginning of a good morning – after all, I WOULD THEN BE ACCUSED OF KEEPING A JOURNALISTIC BLOG (see post below). How wrong you all are, fellow bloggers, I DO NOT, DO NOT report on my days with any degree of detail, I DO NOT!

There, having set the record straight, let me proceed with a bit of a recount of the day.

…And jumping to the afternoon, I want to say a few words again about the foreign attorneys who are at the Law School for the Summer Program. I have grown to love this group as much as I love any group of students. It will be hard to let go of them next week as the Program comes to an end.

Today I arranged for a visit Madison’s Capital Brewery (rated no. 7 in the world and no. 1 in the country, or so the guide told us). I am posting a few shots from the tour because I know that a few families back home are logging in to check up on the participants. I could post more photos, but I am bound by my own slogan of “keeping it short and to the point.” I know, I know, nothing about this blog is short and to the point, but I do try.

The tour was especially interesting to the German attorneys because they learned that not a small number of ideas and ingredients are a direct import from Germany.

Afterwards, I took the two dozen or so of them to Hubbard Avenue Diner for the “typical all American dining experience.” Perfect. Listen, attorneys, this is what America eats! Yes, burgers, BBQ’d pork and PIE! [I loved how they shyly asked for doggie bags, having heard that this is the custom, though not one that is practiced back home.]

In a more serious vein, I spoke at length to the attorney from Colombia (he appears in one of the photos below). (I spoke to others as well, but I cannot expound on all that took place today.)
This man had a wonderful, wonderful perspective on his stay here (and his forthcoming year in the LLM program at Harvard). I asked if he would miss his family (mom, dad, brother – all attorneys like him) during his year away? Possibly, he told me. But he has said to himself that if he is going to do this, it will be with joy and an open mind. No sadness. No nostalgia. It is a challenge and a glorious one at that. I’m going to end this post on that thought – one which I’ve been mulling over for the past hour or two.

Okay, patience everyone else – let me have a photo run now:

the excuse that brought us together this afternoon 

special bonds 

sample beer, sample friendship 

these guys know their beer