Just got back from Wisconsin . . .
Well, I actually flew back from Milwaukee on Monday night, but yesterday was completely given to catching up at work and hurried last-minute preparation for teaching a class that I was almost 100% certain was going to be cancelled for low enrollment!
But my trip to and from Wisconsin for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary went smoothly, as did my visit with my vegetarian sister (she was putting me up at her house in Milwaukee, because my brother has started smoking at my parents' house in Waukesha, after years of being a non-smoker) and the conversations with old family friends and relatives who'd gathered for the event.
Sister and I even managed to hit TWO farmer's markets (the big one in West Allis on Thursday and the smaller but very good one in Waukesha on Saturday) while I was there, since our mother had made the 'mistake' of asking us to provide the salads to go with the cold-cuts and sandwich makings she was offering as a buffet lunch for out-of-state family and friends on Sunday.
Naturally, Sister and I seized that as an excuse to buy every color and shape of heirloom tomato in the market, as well as the yellow carrots (to mix in with the common orange ones), purple peppers, and blue potatoes on offer there.
And so instead of the one pasta salad and one mixed-green salad Mom had requested, we delivered a huge container of pasta salad (tri-color rotini mixed with every color of pepper and cherry or grape tomato, not to mention the marinated artichoke hearts and good olives), another huge container of "red, white and blue potato salad" (steamed purple potatoes coarsely diced, mixed with a fine dice of red radishes and white and red onion, then dressed with blue cheese and mayo), a slightly-less-huge container of pear and arugula salad with a home-made blue cheese vinaigrette, and a medium container of milder mixed greens dressed with craisins and pecans and a raspberry vinaigrette.
Of course, Sis and I also ended up eating a lot of baked blue potatoes, grilled miniature eggplant (the tiny, fingerling ones with purple and white stripes), and grilled yellow squash for supper (very satisfying for eyes and tastebuds!), as well as the rhubarb crisp I couldn't resist making after finding some very late (and very woody, but still tasty) red rhubarb in one of the farmer's markets.
Sis also made sure that I enjoyed a couple of walks (with her and her very active dog) along several of Milwaukee's lakeshore park walking and biking trails, where the long, uninterrupted views of Lake Michigan and of the city skyline further down the shore, plus the delightfully cool (by Nashville standards) breezes did my heart and soul a lot of good, I'm sure. According to Sis, the reason why so much of Milwaukee's lakeshore is accessible to the public still, rather than built up and blocked off like most of Chicago's shoreline, is that Milwaukee had Socialists in charge during some key developmental periods. So, the gorgeous old homes and mansions are mostly separated from the lake by narrow swaths of public park and walking trails, and the average pedestrian is seldom barred from a view of Lake Michigan by more than a couple of trees at short intervals.
Sister also made sure to request season 1 of "Torchwood" from her public library for me to watch while visiting (they'd split it into three sets of discs, and we couldn't get the middle set, so I've now seen the first five and last five episodes of "Torchwood" season one, and am hoping very much that BBC America decides to show some re-runs one of these days, now that I finally get that channel), as well as season 2 of the Canadian series "Slings and Arrows" (Paul Gross butting heads with Geraint Wyn Davies as the recalcitrant star of his reluctant staging of "MacBeth"), PLUS some of the best Bollywood films the downtown library branch had to offer on DVD.
So, I've now seen and enjoyed the mostly fluffy Dhoom:2 (first time I'd seen Hrithik Roshan in a film, and who doesn't love an international thief and man of mystery?), fallen seriously in fannish lust with Hrithik Roshan (not to mention joining my sister in an enjoyable game of 'name the movie reference') while watching him play a superhero in Krrish (twice! had to see that one again), and have seen perhaps the first two thirds of Om Shanti Om (had to leave for the airport, but made my sister promise to fill me in on what happened after Om Kapoor's big party and his remembering his previous incarnation as a minor Bollywood actor who was cruelly murdered along with his true love).
Now, I'm getting ready to leave the office for campus, to pick up the new edition of my New Testament textbook (the bookstore hadn't ordered any texts for my course last Spring, and so now there's a new edition and none of the page numbers in my syllabus or handouts will be correct, and the students won't be able to start their first week's reading assignments until after it's due to be completed) and prepare for the six students who've signed up for my two-evening-a-week section of Intro to NT.
I sound sour about the textbook mix-up and the small enrollment, I know, but I'm actually thrilled that I get to teach a course again this semester, when I'd been sure they'd cancel on me again for having too low an enrollment to cover my (admittedly paltry) salary.
But my trip to and from Wisconsin for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary went smoothly, as did my visit with my vegetarian sister (she was putting me up at her house in Milwaukee, because my brother has started smoking at my parents' house in Waukesha, after years of being a non-smoker) and the conversations with old family friends and relatives who'd gathered for the event.
Sister and I even managed to hit TWO farmer's markets (the big one in West Allis on Thursday and the smaller but very good one in Waukesha on Saturday) while I was there, since our mother had made the 'mistake' of asking us to provide the salads to go with the cold-cuts and sandwich makings she was offering as a buffet lunch for out-of-state family and friends on Sunday.
Naturally, Sister and I seized that as an excuse to buy every color and shape of heirloom tomato in the market, as well as the yellow carrots (to mix in with the common orange ones), purple peppers, and blue potatoes on offer there.
And so instead of the one pasta salad and one mixed-green salad Mom had requested, we delivered a huge container of pasta salad (tri-color rotini mixed with every color of pepper and cherry or grape tomato, not to mention the marinated artichoke hearts and good olives), another huge container of "red, white and blue potato salad" (steamed purple potatoes coarsely diced, mixed with a fine dice of red radishes and white and red onion, then dressed with blue cheese and mayo), a slightly-less-huge container of pear and arugula salad with a home-made blue cheese vinaigrette, and a medium container of milder mixed greens dressed with craisins and pecans and a raspberry vinaigrette.
Of course, Sis and I also ended up eating a lot of baked blue potatoes, grilled miniature eggplant (the tiny, fingerling ones with purple and white stripes), and grilled yellow squash for supper (very satisfying for eyes and tastebuds!), as well as the rhubarb crisp I couldn't resist making after finding some very late (and very woody, but still tasty) red rhubarb in one of the farmer's markets.
Sis also made sure that I enjoyed a couple of walks (with her and her very active dog) along several of Milwaukee's lakeshore park walking and biking trails, where the long, uninterrupted views of Lake Michigan and of the city skyline further down the shore, plus the delightfully cool (by Nashville standards) breezes did my heart and soul a lot of good, I'm sure. According to Sis, the reason why so much of Milwaukee's lakeshore is accessible to the public still, rather than built up and blocked off like most of Chicago's shoreline, is that Milwaukee had Socialists in charge during some key developmental periods. So, the gorgeous old homes and mansions are mostly separated from the lake by narrow swaths of public park and walking trails, and the average pedestrian is seldom barred from a view of Lake Michigan by more than a couple of trees at short intervals.
Sister also made sure to request season 1 of "Torchwood" from her public library for me to watch while visiting (they'd split it into three sets of discs, and we couldn't get the middle set, so I've now seen the first five and last five episodes of "Torchwood" season one, and am hoping very much that BBC America decides to show some re-runs one of these days, now that I finally get that channel), as well as season 2 of the Canadian series "Slings and Arrows" (Paul Gross butting heads with Geraint Wyn Davies as the recalcitrant star of his reluctant staging of "MacBeth"), PLUS some of the best Bollywood films the downtown library branch had to offer on DVD.
So, I've now seen and enjoyed the mostly fluffy Dhoom:2 (first time I'd seen Hrithik Roshan in a film, and who doesn't love an international thief and man of mystery?), fallen seriously in fannish lust with Hrithik Roshan (not to mention joining my sister in an enjoyable game of 'name the movie reference') while watching him play a superhero in Krrish (twice! had to see that one again), and have seen perhaps the first two thirds of Om Shanti Om (had to leave for the airport, but made my sister promise to fill me in on what happened after Om Kapoor's big party and his remembering his previous incarnation as a minor Bollywood actor who was cruelly murdered along with his true love).
Now, I'm getting ready to leave the office for campus, to pick up the new edition of my New Testament textbook (the bookstore hadn't ordered any texts for my course last Spring, and so now there's a new edition and none of the page numbers in my syllabus or handouts will be correct, and the students won't be able to start their first week's reading assignments until after it's due to be completed) and prepare for the six students who've signed up for my two-evening-a-week section of Intro to NT.
I sound sour about the textbook mix-up and the small enrollment, I know, but I'm actually thrilled that I get to teach a course again this semester, when I'd been sure they'd cancel on me again for having too low an enrollment to cover my (admittedly paltry) salary.