Takin' the Blog for a Walk

I've been to the Congregation of the Great Spirit a couple times since I documented my first visit here almost two years ago. I think about them every time I'm running late for mass, which is 9 times out of 10, because their service doesn't begin until everyone gets there. Something mine should consider.

A national radio report on the Congregation this morning interested me because one of my short-term goals is to get there again, soon. We're told the Congregation is the nation's first Catholic parish to combine Native American traditions with Roman Catholic ceremony; hard to believe when you consider the Catholic missionary work in this country going back hundreds of years.

The point of the report was to mention the funding cut by the Milwaukee Archdiocese, which could potentially destroy the parish. It's in a poorer area around 10th and Lapham, and it ministers to some of the poorest in the area: street people, alcoholics, jobless.

It would be a shame to lose such a unique parish, one of only a handful similar to it in the country. The answer might be to solicit donations from Potowatomi Casino, though I'm pretty sure the Archdiocese wouldn't be too keen on that idea.

10/18 Journal Sentinel article

The boutique hotel is open. A little late for Harley's 105th, but getting the tax credits and rehabbing a 100+ year old building took more than planned. Parking has been tight the last few months but the wait's finally over.

On my short tour this morning I was impressed by all the old, restored, recycled and reused items in the hotel. The pool table from the 1800s is beautiful. Bar tables with used gears for the base, chairs recycled from an architectural school. An apothecary cabinet, old toys, a cathedral's window. Most impressive is how well the elements of the building were incorporated into the hotel's theme. Even the building's porticos lended their design to the hotel's insignia. Sliding doors and dock doors were refinished and prominent, as is brickwork and wood floors. 300 to 400 year old hemlock beams were saved as-is or remade into furniture. 

My work is so close to the hotel that we were able to lease shop space and parking lots to them. Our building is similar in age with similar wood beams so I was anxious to see what they did with theirs. The restaurant isn't open yet but everything else appears complete. There's a neat library with fireplace where people can meet and have coffee. The windows are huge and double pane. The interior is open with high ceilings. I didn't see any bedrooms but bar, restaurant, lobby, meeting room and library all look fantastic.

The Iron Horse Hotel is at the south end of the Sixth Street Viaduct in Walker's Point just three blocks south of the Harley Museum. Take a peek if you're ever in the neighborhood.

The weather was Prima. Thousands of happy people came to Retzer Nature Center to celebrate the apple harvest with a Royal Gala... or a Honey Crisp, Cortland or Molly's Delicious.

We started the day by slicing hundreds of apple pies and crisps, and had people asking for it before we were done at 9:00 a.m.. After that it was a steady stream of customers, which soon stretched out the door and down the hall. I felt the prices were very fair for what they got, and happily took their money until I was relieved as cashier around 1:00. 

I bought a slice to experience the sweet taste of accomplishment, and it was good. It was nice to see everyone enjoying the pies that so many people worked hard to produce.(They were baked right there at Retzer.) Apple Jam also entertained the folk with folk tunes while they ate their caramel apples and pie slices.

The scarecrows this year were great!

Wagon rides only a buck.

I bought a selection of the largest apples I could find among the 50 or so varieties. All the apples could be purchased for 50 cents each, or by the peck or half-peck, except Honey Crisp were a dollar, and they sold out first. The largest apple I could find was the 20 Ounce Pippin, a good baking apple.

I spent 16 hours in a library a week ago and didn't pick up a single book... For you.

I was a Fourth District poll worker from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. A long day, but worth it. Getting in practice for November 4th, where the hours are going to be even longer and could even be slightly busier.

Last Tuesday there was a close race between two able Democratic candidates for the 97th District State Assembly in the primary. Because less than ten votes separated them we still don't have a certain winner. Both Ruth Page Jones and Steve Schmuki have likeable qualities and they both worked very hard to get out the vote.

The 4th Aldermanic District I'm in has three wards, but only two are in the 97 Assembly District. Two out of the three wards received several absentee votes. Can you guess which wards?  All the absentee ballots we had on Tuesday were counted Tuesday by us. If the canvass seemed to be taking longer than it should, my guess would be the clerk was waiting to make sure the post office wasn't going to be delivering any more of the absentees.

I voted absentee in the last Presidential, then went over to the polling place anyway towards the end expecting to see a still long line. I saw almost no people in line around 8:00. I expect it to be different this November. To make my job easier, and your wait shorter, you could consider voting absentee. You don't need to prove you can't get to the polls, just call City Hall and ask for a ballot.

Same goes for registering. Last Tuesday just three people registered all day. I'll tell you right now come November there will be a steady stream of new registrants who waited until the last minute. It's important to note that people can register now at the Public Library or City Hall.

As mentioned earlier, my son just turned 18. I would've liked to see him register and vote last week. I called home a couple times to encourage it. He was afraid that if he'd vote he'd become a potential jury member. Little did he, or I, know that by being a licensed driver he already is a potential jury member. Maybe he didn't think he could make a difference. Maybe 8 votes of separation seems like a lot to him, but I doubt it.

Poll workers are needed for the November 4th election. You don't have to work all day. Contact Gina at 524-3547 or gkozlik@ci.waukesha.wi.us  Hope to see you there.

I'll be selling apple pie slices from 9:00 to noon next Saturday the 20th at Retzer Nature Center's 22nd Annual Apple Harvest Festival, and you're invited to buy some. Keep me busy.

Last year the weather was great and a good crowd turned out for this applicious event. There will be all sorts of crafts for kids, horse drawn hayrides, planetarium show, over 50 varieties of apples and cider.  A couple of concerts are lined up: Folk group Apple Jam from 11:00 to 1:00 and Celtic ensemble Tairis from 2:30 to 4:30. There also will be Johnny Appleseed, scarecrows, essay and apple pie judging and a silent auction.

The fest runs from 9:00 to 5:00 and food will be available all day. Because the apple prices are relatively low, many varieties of those and the cider ran out last year. Get there early. 

Retzer is at the west end of Madison Street just before it intersects with DT. The number is 896-8007. Admission is $5.00, unless you're volunteering, (and they're still looking for a few of those too.)

My oldest says people in Waukesha sure run a lot of red lights. I said that's nothing compared to Milwaukee.

A co-worker recently purchased a beautiful new 2008 car after years of mechanical problems with their old one. This morning he told the story of getting hit last night on the way home from work. A woman ran a red and clipped the front of the car on his side. His wife was driving. The woman didn't think police should be called but a witness from a nearby auto dealership suggested they do it anyway.

By now the drill is all too familiar. Plates not matching the vehicle. License revoked... If it weren't for the police showing up she wouldn't have been nabbed for the bottle of pills and bag of weed she tossed from the car.

And my fellow co-worker has yet to make his first car payment.

Two days ago I was racing my bike on Sixth St. past the Harley Museum after work. I was trying to catch the next bus to Waukesha so I wouldn't miss the talk by Wisconsin's first female lieutenant governor,which was held at St. William's. I didn't stop for the just-turned red because an SUV in the intersection was turning, thus blocking all traffic from the intersecting Canal Street. Little did I expect a full-size van, doing around 40 and heading south on Sixth, to shoot the red with the turning SUV in it's sights.

The van saved wear and tear on it's brakes by just swerving around the SUV. Unfortunately for me, that meant he was swerving in my lane and heading toward me at about 40 mph. If my heart wasn't already racing from the bike ride... 

I made it to the talk in one piece. Very nice woman. Energetic and enlightening. What a great speaker. Worth every risk I took getting there.

Thanks to a new 175 page animal rights law in Switzerland pigs now have a legal right to shower and freshen up after getting muddy. What about privacy? Will they have individual stalls along with their choice of scented beauty bars? Next time this law comes up for review maybe someone could suggest aromatherapy and bubbles in the bathwater.

I'm not making this up; Fishermen can no longer use live bait or practice catch and release in Switzerland either. I suppose the worms would feel too much pain when the bluegill bites into it.

Parrots and hamsters may no longer be kept by themselves and live goldfish can not be flushed. I can see a future hamster overpopulation, and when junior's fish floats belly up they better make sure it's really dead before getting rid of it or risk a fine.

The Nineteenth Annual Waukesha Art Fest couldn't have had a better weekend. The weather was as gorgeous as some of the works. With cool temps and a breeze it was perfect bike riding weather, so Schwinn and I swerved our way past multiple potholes to see what was going on in Cutler Park yesterday. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the variety. Forty artists from Wisconsin, and one each from Florida and Illinois. Eleven diverse areas of creativity; glass, fiber, painting, etc. Much of what we saw was useful as well as beautiful. The copper ornamental garden sprinklers of Jerry Ross - nice to look at while an attempt was made to bring back the trampled grass at Cutler Park. The plaque with nicely-lettered, thoughtful poetry that's also a picture frame. Clothing as art and, of course, ceramics - nice to display on a shelf, but also fun to use as bowls, candle holders, etc.

Of my more favorite local art, Jill Verbick's large, vibrant pastels are always eye pleasing. But the visiting Wisconsin artists who held me captive were the couple from Mt. Horeb, Sara and John Lash.

Sara and John's booth was rather spare and simple. A small white saucer represented their entire porcelain inventory. The woodwork; turned bowls and other delicate, oiled pieces, were represented only in the pages of an album. John did mention that he sold a few pieces, but the only things that remained around the 5:00 closing were metal objects. Even though many stamped owls hung in the air, the things that caught my eye, and ear, were the gongs. A four foot industrial gong made from a discarded scuba tank greeted browsers to his booth with a long, loud tone. Other gongs sat on a shelf. One of the gongs was made out of an old fire extinguisher and was suspended by an automobile leaf spring, another was with the Japanese kanji for "dream" welded on it and suspended by rebar.

While there were a couple of other pieces, a welded-wire bowl and torch-cut tree sculptures for instance, I was most interested in sound as art and, if they ever introduce Tibetan singing bowls, sound as prayer and meditation.

I became even more interested in the couple's art after I visited their website, www.elementsarts.com. Besides learning how and where the couple grew up and met, it was interesting to note that as much of their material as possible is recycled from dumps or scrap yards and are finished in the most ecologically friendly way. Also interesting to note that all profits from sales of the welded-wire bowls go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. (I was guessing they must know someone with MD, but it turns out John himself has a form of it.) 

My Uncle Lee used to use found and discarded objects in his welded art years ago, and John Lash's art reminded me of him. It's a pleasant memory.

It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling so I'll tell the story.

Bought a set of cargo straps at Walmart Monday to replace the ones claimed by the Fox in April. 

Later in the day I stopped by someone's apartment to ask if I could help haul their things from a storage facility in Elkhorn back to Waukesha for them. They were appreciative because they were told it would be sold if payment wasn't received by Saturday.

Among the items they didn't want to take was a decent twin mattress, so I put it on the van roof, tying it down with the new straps. I didn't need the mattress myself, but with my St. Vincent volunteering I knew there'd soon be a good home for it.

Chanced upon a couch by the curb Tuesday, the second decent one in four days, but by the time I looked at it after work it had rained a little. Plus it sat too low for the person I knew who needed one. It was a terrible waste because it was in otherwise beautiful shape, and was a hide-a-bed.

An hour later I was visiting a family with a friend of mine. We were attempting to help her with furniture through the St. Vincent thrift store, but with the living room bare she and her four kids needed more than we could help with. They also were looking for a mattress. Within what seemed like 20 minutes, but was probably an hour, my friend and I picked up that hide-a-bed and delivered it, with the mattress, to the woman. Everyone was happy.

I helped someone move and kept a mattress they didn't need. The couch was too good to throw out, yet I had no need of it. Less than a day after acquiring the mattress, that and the couch had a new home. It's the ultimate in recycling. The warm feeling is the reward.  

It's Brien Lee's 18th birthday today. My oldest son is now a man.

Happy birthday Bri. You're a good kid and we love you.

Dad

If I could hang a banner from an overpass it would read "Thank You". I'd want to show appreciation to the tens of thousands of Harley riders who joined in the celebration of the 105th making it a huge success, and making many businesses in Waukesha very happy.

It's impossible, and probably unnecessary, to try to describe the crowds Downtown, especially Saturday night. Impossible, because I have trouble estimating things that get into the tens of thousands. And no photograph; by the time Montgomery Gentry started playing at 9:30 it was too dark, (wouldn't have mattered, can't squeeze that many people in a photo except from above, way above.) Unnecessary, because judging by the crowd you were probably there. Suffice to say I've never seen so many people in Downtown Waukesha.

Crowd control? You'd think with that many people and that much alcohol things could quickly get out of hand, but I never saw it or heard of it. The police were visible and did an excellent job keeping it under control. The crowds were the best kind: not too rowdy, spent money Downtown and, hopefully, return in five years (or sooner).

One of the more interesting discoveries in Waukesha this weekend was a group set up and playing decent tunes outside Martha Merrill's. The idea of Guitars For Vets started just a year ago when Dan Van Buskirk, a Vietnam Vet with PTSD, related his relief and the healing he felt from music to Patrick, his guitar teacher. In a rather short period of time, through donations and sponsors, this incredible organization now provides six guitar lessons and a guitar to U.S. Military Vets who've suffered trauma and are receiving treatment through the VA system. They are currently working with VA centers in Milwaukee, Madison and Tomah but hope to expand to the Midwest and around the country by next year.

This is taking off so fast because there was nothing else like it and it is helping. Veterans are happier and some are requiring less medication. Picking up a new skill gives them something to practice and improve at. It has tangible results with the possibility they'll maybe share their joy with others. It's "meditation in motion." It's full circle: a vet with PTSD plays music and teaches other vets to play as therapy for himself. The student learns a new skill and enjoys theraputic benefits of music. The new student brings joy to others by performing.

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