Michael spends months in a knitting frenzy every year creating gifts for his family for Christmas. I end up with the dubious job of modeling things that don't fit me, either in size or gender, so that we can have a photographic record of his efforts.  His sons are definitely beefier than I am, and his daughter-in-law, um, slightly more feminine.  ( Read more... )

We had a full-fledged blizzard yesterday, burying Madison in a foot and a half of snow. This is what our back yard looked like in the morning:


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Michael just got back from a trip to Michigan to meet our first grandchild.  Here he is three decades ago holding his son and two days ago holding his son's daughter:


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We found out earlier this year that Michael's oldest son and his wife were expecting their first child (our first grandchild) in early November.  I couldn't help this little bit of free association when I first saw the ultrasound:


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Michael and I have reached the end of a beautiful week in the sleepy Lake Superior port town of Bayfield, Wisconsin, about as far north in the state as you can get:


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I've prided myself on having made it to the ripe old age of *!?!CENSORED!?!* without ever having owned a car.  It has made for a much simpler life.  So I was thrilled to death when Madison closed miles of downtown streets to cars on Sunday for "Ride the Drive", turning the roads over to bicyclists of all persuasions:


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We're celebrating our next door neighbor's birthday at Happy Hour on the deck tonight.  Michael decided to knit him something tasteful for the occasion:


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Michael and I had a great bike ride on Madison's Capital City Trail Saturday with bruinwi , notable as the first longer ride that Michael has done with his two new knees.  He held up just fine in spite of a few hills. Here's Michael on the trail with bruinwi (we'd stopped to watch some deer in the field below):


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Yes, my friends, I have to confess, I am a former wedgie:


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The name madcitypato could probably use some explanation.  I left the country the day after high school graduation four decades ago for a summer of adventure in South America.  It was time to move on and reinvent myself, so I shortened "Donald" to "Don".  But that didn't fly in the southern hemisphere because it's part of a title there, like in Don ( Read more... )