Takin' the Blog for a Walk

I've been noticing that one of the best ways to get into many of the ethnic festivals at Maier Festival Park free or at reduced cost is to just attend Sunday Mass. I'm aware of four festivals with mass and only one charges a little for fest admission.

Fest masses are a good way to experience other cultures. You may pick up a little bit by walking through the grounds listening to the music, tasting the food and shopping the vendors, but to really get to know a culture you need to pray with them.

I couldn't have learned any more about the former Italian community of the Old Third Ward, and it's central fixture Our Lady of Pompeii Church, than I did at the Festa Mass. I learned Festa is really a continuation of the traditional religious festivals held on summer weekends not far from the current Maier Park. The mass and procession is the highlight of Festa Italiana and after it was over I wasn't drawn to stay long on the grounds, just long enough to enjoy a couple calzones.

I didn't attend German Fest's Mass yesterday. I didn't hear about it until it was too late. If I did go to German Fest I'd have missed the 18th Century Anglican Church Service I attended by chance at Delafield's Colonial Encampment.

I was drawn to the encampment by the price, free, and the location, St. John's Northwestern Military Academy. The Academy is someplace I've always been curious about and heard of but never visited. I thought this would be a good time to check it out. I was there by myself Sunday morning before it got busy and really enjoyed the time and knowledge the reenactors shared with me to explain what was going on. I'm familiar with civil war encampments and this wasn't much different except it was set much earlier - during the Revolutionary War. One of the reasons I feel these encampments make history come alive is that some of the reenactors research and live like their very own ancestors. If the ancestor they researched was a cloth merchant then they'd know everything about linen and cotton dyeing and weaving in the 1700s. They'd operate a small shop in a canvas tent and sell unusual gadgets as well as patterns and cloth made the 18th century way. They'd inform their visitors that the Revolutionary War coincided with the Industrial Revolution and the cotton gin helped America gain independence from Britain.

I was so long in listening and learning that the church service was about to begin at 10:00 and I had a decision to make. Do I drive back to Waukesha for mass at my own church or stay for a unique 18th century experience? I didn't even have to think twice. The service was held in the beautiful stone Victory Memorial Chapel on the Academy's grounds, a place I'd only seen pictures of, and it was phenomenal. We prayed like they prayed 300 years ago and it seemed strangely familiar. The message was very similar but so were several of the prayers, including the Lord's Prayer. The setting was so authentic, and not a single person didn't take the service seriously. It was an interesting experiment in history. I can see myself going again next year.

******* 7/31 addendum *********

A little more research on this topic produced a total of six ethnic festivals at the lakefront with Sunday religious services. Only Polish Fest charges a small fee and Irish Fest usually a couple cans of food to enter the fest grounds after services. The six fests are; Polish, Italian, German, Irish, Mexican and Native American.

One of the worst things happened Friday at work, (or not, depending on if I wake up from the dream.) After 90+ years in the trailer business, my company told most of it's employees that their services were no longer needed and they'd be ceasing all trailer service at the Milwaukee location. Maybe the opening of the Racine location in December wasn't such a good idea after all.

For over 20 years I've worked with these great men and consider them friends. Several have been at the company their entire career, some over 30 years. It's very troubling to me that this was allowed to happen, and since it was my grandfather who founded it, my sorrow runs especially deep.

My job is uncertain. I'm not union, so for now I'm safe. My main concern today is the many employees at both locations who lost their jobs and their families. When I say a prayer for them at mass today I hope it will be answered and I'll wake up.

My son and I went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Civic Theater on the last day of it's run. We showed up a couple minutes before show time figuring we could get tickets then. Guess what? Sold out. How about standing room? Sold out. We really wanted to see this play. My son's friend Dan was in the play and we knew he spent many hours in play practice.

We ran into Dan's mom who was at the theater helping out with makeup. She encouraged us to listen to the play from the hallway. So we sat in comfortable chairs listening while trying to stay out of the way of stampeding actors running between scene changes. It was better that nothing, we could hear everything through speakers, but not seeing anything was like listening to the radio - we had to use our imagination!

Shortly, Dan's mom told us we should go back up and ask again if there were any seats and sure enough the nice gal at the box office found us a couple nice ones in the back. We were only charged half price but the best part is we got to see a very good play. I found it unusual and interesting that everything, including naration, was done in song. Some of the songs and dances were very high energy and several were also amusing, especially when the king, Pharaoh, came out looking, singing and dancing like the king, Elvis.

The play, co-produced by Ascension Lutheran, took a familiar Bible story and made it entertaining. It was a perfect was to spend a Sunday afternoon and it left us with a good feeling inside. We were glad we were able to see the play and glad to see ol' Dan didn't mess up.

It was something we were looking forward to for a long time. We wanted to pick up where we left off with the last balloon rally of last year. We wanted to hook up with the great couple we hung with last year and share more good times. We were going to help them get their bright yellow balloon up, chase it until it landed, then pack it back up. We were going to talk about the past year over pizza and check out the fair together. It was going to be so great.

Well, we didn't crew for "Yellow Fever" and we didn't even crew for the Re/Max balloon as I mentioned in my last blog. A nice thing about being involved in hot air ballooning is that having a good time doesn't depend on who you're crewing for. The only disappointment can be the weather and the weather was great last weekend. No rain and not too windy meant every time they were scheduled to launch they launched.

Crewing with someone new exposed us to a whole new set of fun. "La Ristra," the 800 pound, 128 foot tall, world's largest chili pepper balloon never took off, just inflated, but that was enough. The pilot, Mike Shrum, from my favorite state that I've never been to, New Mexico, was a lot of fun. Because it takes four times the normal about of crew members to fasten and unfasten velcro on 56 chilis, get trapped air out, lift it, etc., it seemed like a big party. By the time he took off in his regular balloon from Butler Middle School on Sunday morning he had more than a dozen people either in the cab or bed of the pickup truck or following behind in a car. In the two years I attended Butler I never imagined I'd be helping launch a hot air balloon from it's athletic field.

We didn't crew with the people we wanted but we saw them often and even launched from Butler together. La Ristra clearly needed our help. We not only helped unpack, inflate and pack up the chili balloon, but because we were from Waukesha we also navigated the chase vehicle when Mike flew.

Almost 20 balloons launched on four occasions during the Skyfest 2007 rally. I hope most people were able to catch a glimpse of them. Maybe you saw the chase vehicle convoy pass your house or maybe a colorful balloon touched down on your street. Till next year . . .

Yesterday I crewed for a balloon that took five people up for their first ever flights -- a couple in the morning and three people in the evening. The reward in crewing is meeting friendly people, discovering and getting to know Waukesha County, the challenge of finding a good spot to land safely ...

I discovered a new reward to crewing when we landed in a friendly Town of Merton subdivision last night. Mae's Walke Subdivision consists of large lots and streets with names like Roosevelt's Quay and Maryann's Way. Two balloons travelling together both descended on Theodores Cove after 8:00 p.m. and, with all the kids and adults soon gathering around, looked like a kid's birthday. As a matter of fact one of the kids was celebrating a tenth birthday and there were dozens of kids around- all ecstatic. Instead of taking the balloons down right away, the kids climbed in for photos. The other balloon with us even lifted up a few feet a couple times and put the kids to work bagging up their envelope.

Last night's landing was great PR and a perfect neighborhood bonding experience. The residents couldn't believe all the activity on their little streets! I truly hope we land there again someday.

SKYFEST 2007 the 13th annual hot air balloon rally at Waukesha County Fair is this week. Watch for a yellow one or the RE/MAX balloon and you may see me helping out. The launch opportunities are Friday and Saturday, July 20th and 21st, 6:00 - 8:00 a.m. and p.m. with a 9:00 p.m. night glow. There is a Sunday launch window between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m. Pay attention to the wind direction this weekend, one or more balloons may be floating over your house!

Also, don't forget, Wednesday is dollar day at the fair. One dollar to get in and one dollar rides.

The newspaper notice stated a group was looking for extra help today, Saturday, for litter control on the stretch of road they "adopted." If Lady Bird Johnson, who's funeral was today, could devote much of her life to highway beautification, then it shouldn't be too much trouble for me to devote two hours of my time, and it didn't hurt that their stretch of roadway is the mostly undeveloped and beautiful Hwy. N northwest of Eagle.

Besides fresh air, exercise and the nature of the Scuppernong Prairie in Kettle Moraine State Forest, I knew it would also be a good opportunity to learn more about the group, Waukesha County Environmental Action League, and meet some earth-friendly people. WEAL was formed almost 30 years ago by citizens concerned about the loss of natural resources and habitat to development in Waukesha County. Since then they have been involved in educating the public and influencing government about quality of life and growth, about Waukesha's ever decreasing rural environment and wildlife habitat, among other things. Most of WEAL's officers were there for the cleanup including Russ, one of the founding members.

I passed a sandhill crane feeding alongside N as I drove toward this morning's meeting spot and saw a turkey vulture eating a roadkill rabbit shortly after I mistakenly passed up the spot. We were furnished orange safety vests, after introductions, and were paired off and given territory to cover. There were about ten of us total and I was in a group of three. We were told we shouldn't pick up dead animals but one of the first things I encountered was a dead animal I had to pick up -- a sandhill crane. This was going to be an interesting two hours.

As you may remember from my 4/15 blog, I'm an Annual Midwest Crane Counter and a big fan of the birds. Since this bird was recently killed by a car and was still clean... Yes I picked it up. It would be the closest I'd ever come to one and I wanted to learn more about it. Was it still warm? Was it the one I saw just minutes earlier? There are rules against the public keeping birds like that, and the DNR office is closed weekends so I couldn't tell them about it, so it looks like the many turkey vultures in the area will feast tonight.

The great weather and camaraderie, picking up litter and seeing nature was just part of the total equation. Paradise Springs, a nature trail in the State Park System, is along Hwy. N and we took a few minutes to walk the path to the spring-fed trout pond. The pond is perfectly clear and 47 degrees and we saw many brook trout. There used to be a hotel and horse track in the area and the remains of a spring house and water-driven turbine are still visable.

Before finishing for the day we stopped to bother a local resident with a hundred questions. The woman spent at least a half hour showing us her four extensive gardens and offering samples of it's goodness. I tried currants, gooseberries and raspberries. Mmmmm.

Back at the parking lot we happened upon a writer for Chicago Wilderness Magazine up from Chicago to check out the Vernon Marsh. We set her straight, gave her a map, told her she was in Scuppernong and needed to go east to find Vernon, and pointed her to Retzer Nature Center to learn more.

Witnessed at the Waukesha Fourth of July parade; a police squad car with lights and sirens blaring. Normal? This car wasn't in the parade but trying to maneuver between the kids running for candy in the street and parade entrants. I've never seen anything like it. One problem with running a squad car on a parade route instead of using a parallel street is that it's so expected that it's unexpected. Sirens are so much part of parades that sometimes people don't watch out for them. No one expects a fast moving squad car to come within inches of the curb on parade day.

All kinds of things were going through my head. Did someone get their eye poked by a thrown piece of candy? Someone get run over? There weren't any animals to get loose and there was no ambulance. Did they not know a parade was going on? If this was a cop going from one end of the downtown to a crime on the other end they picked the wrong route. Someone could have been seriously injured.

There was a large crowd for the parade this year thanks to the great weather. I'm glad the city doesn't ban candy-tossing. Find a seat next to someone's kids and there's a constant rain of sweets in your direction. It's like Halloween part II. Even the mayor had something for everyone though I have to wonder why he chose to toss chocolate on a warm July day. The best treat idea came from St. William Cub Pack 122 who've been handing out icypops the last several years. I also like getting a nice cloth American flag every year from, I think, the Order of the Purple Heart.

Hats off to all the entrants. Thanks for a good parade, and thanks for the candy.

I'm so glad Waukesha always stages their Fourth of July fireworks on the fourth of July. I noticed this year that Milwaukee and several other communities wasted the aesthetical opportunity by blowing their pricey and usually nice fireworks off in the rain on Tuesday the third. If only they'd have waited one more day . . .

The Expo Center is close enough to walk to and my son and I passed many fun looking backyard and street-side gatherings along the way. We found an excellent spot, which I won't divulge, that was mowed, practically bug-free, not too crowded and close to the action. There seemed to be people perched in every available vantage point -- even the Huber inmates once again had front row seats -- and thanks to the great weather, every spot was a winner.

I took my camera and tripod and got some decent photos of the explosions by leaving the shutter open a few seconds. I watch for specific things in fireworks and am always surprised by seeing something unexpected. This year my favorite shell consisted of a burst which darkened before multiple groups of sparklies lit up the entire area of the huge circle. The circumference of the explosion was so huge that I imagined I was looking at our earth from the darkness of space, and the multiple groups of sparklies were lit cities at night.

Obviously a lot of effort, and money thanks to Don Belman Homes, goes into creating, coreographing and launching a quality display. By not launching in Tuesday's wet weather everyone here enjoyed the best fireworks display I've personally ever seen. The calm winds were just enough to move the smoke but not too much to distort the "falling stars." Normally the smoke is an unpleasant byproduct of fireworks but Wednesday the smoke took on shapes of their own and was kept intact as it slowly drifted eastward. We saw so many huge rings and spidery trails of smoke that the smoke became part of the total experience -- something that would have been washed out on Tuesday.

Saw a couple Alaskan Malamutes pulling my neighbor today. Not that unusual for a Fourth of July parade, but the parade was still more than an hour off and there were no sled or wagons around. As soon as the large dogs saw Sir Fido and me, they pulled the stout man across his lawn and made a bee-line for the other side of the street where we were. Without too much thought, we changed direction and never looked back.

Our goal was to visit the neighborhood's largest mulberry tree, which happens to overhang the sidewalk, so we took a circuitous route to get there. The area mulberries have been ripening for over a week now and, thanks to last night's rain, the sidewalk was covered with the purple berries. I helped myself to a few large berries fresh off the tree and really enjoyed them. The fruit look just like blackberries but don't taste quite as sweet. They stain paws and hands that come in contact with them. It's one of the prices I gladly pay for a mouthful of sweet berries.