News and Updates

1. It’s technically spring in Wisconsin, which means that in less than a week we went from 74F and sunny to 28F and snowing to gale force winds strong enough to snap trees to pouring rain to sunshine and back to snow again.  It will be t-shirt weather by Tuesday, if the latest forecast is to be believed.  Wisconsin springs are not for the faint of heart or the limited of wardrobe.

2. Not surprisingly I have been not quite sick but not quite healthy for weeks now and it is getting on my nerves, especially since it gets worse at night and leaves me stuffed up enough that it’s hard to breathe through my nose, which in turn means that I become a much less welcome person at night.  I object to this state of affairs, truly I do.  As does Kim.

3. Every time I hear Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” I also hear John Facenda narrating something.  Not sure what, but something. 

4. We spent much of Saturday in Madison for the last ever UW Marching Band concert led by Mike Leckrone, who started as their band leader in 1969 and turned the band into a cultural force in Wisconsin.  It was a hell of a show led by a guy who has become a local legend.  It’s fascinating to watch a group of people who are really, really good at what they do doing what they’re really, really good at. 

5. I have paid my taxes and can feel properly contemptuous of those who employ loopholes and lawyers to shirk their moral and financial obligations to the larger community and the nation as a whole, including and especially the current squatter in the Oval Office.  And I do, believe me. 

6. I wasn’t sure I’d make it, but I got all the way through the backlog of Game of Thrones episodes in time to watch the new season.  It’s a marvelous series, though Season 7 was a bit sketchy and rushed compared with the other seasons (they do a lot of “traveling by map,” as the Muppets used to say).  It takes a tremendous amount of skill to put out a show where the heroes all have done things that make you want to beat them bloody and the villains all have qualities that make you feel for them, where there are clear moral lines and most of the characters manage to find themselves on both sides of them at once, as so often happens in life.  (“Oh that guy?  The one who pushed a kid out of a window and is screwing his sister?  He’s one of the good guys, yeah.  Why?”)  I am now completely caught up and immune from spoilers, at least until next week.  It’s been a great ride, but if Bron doesn’t end up with a castle by the end of it the whole series has been a waste.

7. Having accomplished this task, I can keep my social media accounts.  Honestly I’m not sure whether this is a good thing or not, sometimes.

8. It’s going to be a frantically busy time around here, pretty much through September I expect.  It’s been that way since last spring and in all honesty probably will continue even longer than I just said.  I can’t die.  I have too much to do.

9. Not Bad President Elementary had its 50th Anniversary party last week so we stopped by.  We got to catch up with some of our favorite teachers (Hi, Amanda!) and walk around a bit, marveling at just how they managed to shrink the hallways down so much since Lauren graduated.  Lauren got to tell everyone about her upcoming adventure next year, and we passed along greetings from Tabitha away at Small Liberal Arts College.  It was a nice event.

10. And for further adventures, Lauren departed this afternoon on the big Local Businessman High School band trip.  She’ll be gone for the week, and will no doubt be having a grand time.  We’ll be here, keeping the home fires burning, as one does.