Madison Briefs

Yesterday, we drove down highway 14 to the state capitol.  The hour and a half trip winds through a number of small towns like Spring Green , near Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin home called Taliesin, a Welsh word for shining brow.  FLW is best known for his Prairie style of architecture. If you live in a ranch style home, thank or curse  FLW . Arena, Black Earth, Mazomanie and Cross Plains are the other whistle stop towns with two stop lights, a cheese factory or bait and liquor stores, car dealerships and farm implement dealers.My youngest came for a visit from Phoenix and brought her husband.  It's been years since I've seen them.  We lunched at the Great Dane on Fish Hatchery Road and went to my favorite Asian grocery store.  It's called Yue-Wah. They specialize in  food from the Middle East, all over Asia and Mexico.  Five pounds of Jasmine brown rice sells for $2.69, for example.  It's the only place I can find Thai coffee.  This morning, I doubled the amount of water so that the coffee laced with sugar( I use honey) didn't pour like molasses. My daughter's husband stuck a pound can of Arabic coffee in my paw as we stood outside the grocery store rummaging around in our bags like kids with Halloween candy.

That's my son reflected in the window of a store on State street. He's the one who had heart surgery three, maybe four weeks ago. It's something I'm trying to forget, but great to see him with his new main squeeze, a terrific woman and friend of my daughter.  She's a night duty nurse in a Phoenix hospital working brutal 12-14 hour shifts.  They seem well suited for each other and as a Dad, I'm hoping she doesn't break his heart ( no humor in that statement).

State Street is partially closed to vehicular traffic and runs from the capitol rotunda to Bascom Hill on the opposite end.  The street is packed with pedestrians. The woman staffing the information booth tells me this is normal when the Saturday football game is out of town.  If you put a dime in a meter off State Street, it buys your four minutes.  Across from our parking space on a side street, there's a restaurant called Fugu. My daughter's husband who's Hispanic says, "We won't be eating there if the place is true to it's name." I don't ask how he knows that Fugu is the art of preparing and cooking a poisonous blow fish.

Traveling to Madison reminds me how culturally deprived I am living in this area.  I live for the peace, serenity and natural beauty, but sometimes I dearly miss being able to eat breakfast upstairs at the Sunroom where I first was introduced to a Depth Charge (coffee with a shot of espresso). It's mid-November in Wisconsin, mind you, and the outdoor seating area of the UW Brat house is packed.  It's a relatively mild day but the wind chill factor forces us'n to put on jean jackets over sweatshirts and in my case, an L.L. Bean chamois shirt I bought myself for Christmas last year.

Brat-Boy's on the sidewalk drumming up business for the Brat Haus. Behind him people are checking out his buns. The woman is asking him if he's hot.  He's giving her the "two thumbs up" .  I didn't stop to ask him what he meant.  I am in search of colorful pictures, of which there are plenty.

My banana bread is due to come out of the oven.  Dawn wants to go to town to find a shoe caddy.  Me, I already got a Chevy and just need to get out of Dodge. I already hauled some wood from the woodshed to the basement, ran over mole tunnels on the front lawn just to piss them off, took out the garbage from my garage workshop because the dead mice I dropped in the white plastic trash can were starting to smell and uncovered the oregano cold frame. That was today's excitement.  It's almost four pm and it'll be dark soon.  Happy Sunday to y'all. Hope the sun is shining in your neck of the woods. Oh gosh. I left off the briefs.

I couldn't convince Dawn to show her support for Bucky Badger by buying  the red pair.Who couldn't love a store that has a book called, I Love Bacon and another dedicated to the art of kissing. I'm going back soon.  Too bad the farmer's market around the state capitol is over for the season.