Spent several hours at Pewaukee Lake yesterday. With the no wake law still in force it's unusually quiet, and if my canoe didn't still have gaping holes in it... So we fish from shore. Very peaceful watching the regatta of around 50 sailboats. Later in the day was Taste of Lake Country and fireworks, but that's another story.

Making every cent of my weekend dollars count I went to Milwaukee today to do several things. I parked under the Hoan Bridge by the river, saving $10.00. I attended a very nice Lutheran service in the Marcus Amphitheater and was allowed into German Fest free, saving $13.00.

German Fest is one of the few festivals I missed last year, (Pride Fest will still have to wait) and I wanted to get there for the food and music. I haven't been to this one before. I wasn't into the music and dancing all that much, but the scents, tastes and sights were overwhelming. Got my first look at the new Harley Stage also. Very cool.

Wandered over to Discovery World next door to use the pass I obtained with the purchase of my Les Paul concert ticket, saving $17.00. I spent the next couple hours in my first tour of the Technology and Aquarium Buildings and the Les Paul House of Sound exhibit!  The Les Paul exhibit, indeed all of Discovery World, was way more than I could've imagined. I enjoyed handling everything, trying it out, playing with things, discovering at my own pace.

Discovery World has to be seen to be believed. When I thought nothing could possibly top the Les Paul exhibit, I had doubts while touring the rest of the building. The bed of nails was one very interesting interactive feature of the Technology Building. Fun to try. The Great Lakes are to scale in the Aquarium complete with interactive locks, rain and storms, and bluegills (not to scale). Also had fun touching the rays and lake sturgeon.

The schooner in the Aquarium Building is a fun play thing. Lots of things to touch, turn and see with many things identified with labels. I played with as many things as I could today and the best thing is I only got yelled at once - at the German Fest Splash Pad for not taking my shoes off!  

It's 3:00 a.m. and I'm too anxious to sleep. Too many things going on. Maybe if I blogged about it...

In two hours my phone will probably ring to go hot air balloon crewing. The grass is really wet in the morning and the mosquitos swarm around us when we're readying for a flight, but the days are getting shorter and I welcome any opportunity to go. Regularly crewing is one of the best things I've done with my swiftly-coming-to-a-close summer.

Yesterday morning we took an excited retired teacher up. She was simply following her dream, had already rode a motorcycle. Another thing to check off on her list of things she must do before she dies. Many of her fellow teachers, including the principal, chipped in for the flight and were there to see her go up. By the time they calmly landed on a residential street there were about seven cars following. One of them opened a tailgate and had a little breakfast party ready for everyone.

After ballooning this morning, my mom-in-law and I will drive east for the last ethnic festival of the year at the lakefront, Indian Summer. The non-denominational prayer ceremony will get us into the fest for free but the real incentive is to participate as a Native American. To learn more about Earth Mother, honoring ancestors, sacrifice and cleansing of the soul. There'll be much dancing, drumming, music, speeches and stories. Attending religious services at the many ethnic festivals is another of the best things I've done with my summer and I'm sad that the year is coming to a close.

I'm anxious to get going with this new blog tool we've heard about, and BrookfieldNOW's been using, for a month. It will allow readers' comments and dialog directly on my blog, and if it works right I should be able to add my own photos. It should have begun by now so I'm just waiting.

Still trying to get a new furnace and A/C. I signed a contract and scheduled the install with a highly recommended Rheem dealer then cancelled it after talking again with the Carrier dealer. Hopefully there will be resolution soon.

Looking forward to a tour tomorrow of the near half million sq. ft. Journal Sentinel printing plant in West Milwaukee. It'll be interesting to see how they produce 85,000 copies of the paper an hour, and it'll be nice to meet the publisher, editor and Journal Interactive V.P. Like the downtown facility, the new plant is something I've wanted to tour when I worked as a weekend Journal Sentinel distributor but never had the chance until I left that job and started doing this. Another blog-efit I enjoy.

Have been tired lately but don't know why. I got a good night's sleep Saturday after a late tether of the Re/Max balloon in Richfield and woke up at 4:30 a.m. Sunday to crew again. We set up alongside another balloon at a dairy farm on Hwy. G in Delafield and this time, instead of chasing the balloon, I rode in it. My second flight ever.

Yes, I heard about the two hot air balloon deaths in Canada the day before. I don't know what the cause of that fire was, and may not know for quite a while, but with the safety precautions we take here, I knew I'd be safe. Pilots have to be licensed, winds have to be calm, have to have enough daylight and weather prediction has to be good. We're in radio contact with competent crew, and redundant controls virtually eliminate accidents. (the balloon I flew in had two burners, two tanks, two vent ropes, three people in the chase vehicle...)

Winds were dead calm for my flight so we travelled just a mile or two in an hour, from north of Hwy. 18 on G to just south of 18 on G. There was a little wind at 100 feet so we used that to find a spot to land and took the envelope down on a driveway between a row of trees. It was neat to see Lake Michigan, Pewaukee Lake, Lapham Peak...

After a quick breakfast, and more coffee, I headed to Maier Festival Park for my fifth ethnic mass and festival of the year, Mexican Fiesta. Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiga lead the two hour Spanish Mass, along with Archbishop Dolan and Bishop Sklba. When the cardinal remained seated for the homily, that should have clued me in. The half hour sermon must have been great because he gestured, raised his voice, got a few chuckles and a large applause, but I only knew about twelve out of the thousands of words he spoke.

I was still in the dog house for spending nine hours at Irish Fest the previous weekend, so I didn't stay at Fiesta very long. I did enjoy what I saw very much though. I got a good look at the Ballet Folklorico and Milw. Ballet II in the Cultural Village, along with many handcrafted items and demonstrations. There was a lot of music, food and activity, as you'd expect, with approx. 70,000 attendees anticipated for it's three day run.

To make a long story not as long; Soon as I got home gave son ride to party. On way home from party stopped at an acquaintance to visit. They're disabled and needed to mow the lawn that day because landlord coming. Mower not working -- grass real long. Went home, got my mower and finished what they had started. When done, rushed home to get ready for evening balloon crewing. Was pretty windy but we waited until after 6:00 and pilot, Rod, was able to lift off with two passengers. We chased the swift-moving balloon all the way to just this side of Holy Hill and walked it out to a gravel road through 6 foot tall weeds. It was dark by the time we got back but still only 8:30 so I went home, ate something, read the paper, and contemplated this blog entry.

African World Festival is the seventh. Last week I pointed out the six ethnic festivals at Maier Festival Park having Sunday religious services. Add another to the list because African World Festival also holds one. And, like all but one of the rest, allowed free admission to the fest.

Six of the festival masses, including African World, are Catholic so I'm comfortable. I had to be comfortable to sit through a two and a half hour service at the lakefront today. It seems this year I'm trying to go to as many ethnic festival masses as possible. As I may have mentioned; it's not only an inexpensive way to get into the different fests to try them, but diversity of prayer is also a great way to learn about other cultures.

The 10th Annual Sacred Liturgy at African World Festival was engaging, vibrant and electric. There was enough energy emitted from the choir, drummers, dancers and musicians to spread to the audience and we clapped often. The choir may have received the most applause but the sermon also got it's share. A Dominican priest from Chicago gave the homily and it started out in the usual way. But soon Father Paul gained speed and momentum and his sermon started sounding more like song than speech. His words all came together so rapid-fire that I thought I was at an auction for Jesus' Love and Father Paul was the auctioneer. It was wild, it was why I was there, and I applauded him.

After mass I walked around and tried to find lines of people at food stands, which would indicate to me which ones to be the best. I didn't find any lines, there weren't a lot of people there, so I bought some gumbo and worked up a sweat eating the spicy meal out in the sun. As I walked around the marketplace I kept seeing the same product offered -- one I'm not familiar with. Shea butter was being sold at probably more than half the stands and looked messy, especially when the sun got to it. African shea butter is made from the seed of the shea tree and is supposed to be better than cocoa butter for skin and best when it's not processed. There were huge chunks of it everywhere I looked.

As I headed toward the exit I discovered some long lines at the fried catfish and wings stand, but by then I was full of gumbo and had to get going.

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.