Within the last week and a half I walked, drove, rode a bike and chased a hot air balloon to the University of Wisconsin Waukesha.

A week ago Saturday was the last time I crewed, possibly for the season. All three balloons that took off together from a park on County K in Pewaukee landed together on the north parking lot of the university. Distance of travel; about five miles. It was fun landing in my own neighborhood for once.

This last Friday I attended the free Fall Instrumental Concert featuring the UW-Waukesha Handbell Choir and the Symphonic Band. Really impressed by the music and little stories behind the music. This was the first year of playing for five of the six handbell choristers and they did a fantastic job. The Symphonic Band took on more than one challenging piece and played extremely well also.

Sunday the university offered free hot chocolate and fireworks after the parade. Friendly volunteers had tables set up to do craft activities with the many children there. It was the second day of the second annual Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for the UW-Waukesha Foundation, a group that supports and promotes students and programs at the university.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the current photo exhibit in the Fine Arts Center on the south end of the campus. The gallery, open just 10:30 to 1:30 M-F, is currently showing 20 or so large, beautifully mounted and arranged photos by Janica Yoder.

Today I enjoyed even more meeting photo artist Janica Yoder during a Visions and Expressions lecture at the university. We saw many slides of her work and she commented on every one. She told us what camera she used, where her models were from, what she was feeling, where she took the photos, how she created certain effects... I found several of the things she said very interesting. First, she loves to photograph at Paradise Springs, the same place I was taking pictures at Thursday. Also, she always uses film, not digital cameras and she exclusively uses natural light for all her photos. We all enjoyed learning how her photos were created as much as seeing the slides themselves. But one of the nicest things of the afternoon was viewing the exhibit once again after learning how the photos were done. Janica's talk gave a lot of substance to the exhibit and I appreciated even more.

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.

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 . . .

How was your weekend? Sunday was a day of firsts. First time I went to Polish Fest. Finally tried paczki for the first time. Attended a Polish mass, walked around Wisconsin's newest state park, Lakeshore, stepped inside and checked out Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin.

Mass at the lakefront started at 10:15 but I was already up by 4:30 a.m. to crew for a first time hot air balloon flight for someone who was turning 50 Monday. To get in to Polish Fest for just $4.00 I had to attend mass and, because I was attending mass, was the only one I could talk into going.

Because I was alone Sunday morning I had time to see what interested me. I enjoyed talking with an interesting man who was selling beautiful paintings he had done on large linden leaves. I listened to the Chopin Youth Piano Competition and was amazed by the skill of the 10 through 14 year olds. I played the benches under the Wind Leaves in front of Discovery World. Watched the sailboats, walked the beach...

With Summerfest starting tomorrow there is perfect opportunity to explore all the new things just outside the gates. On July 8th everyone gets in to Summerfest free from noon to 4:00. You can get a wristband any day from noon to 6:30 to leave and re-enter so you can check out the park, play the benches and turn the Wind Leaves, visit the gift shop in Discovery World, pick up brochures for sailing on the Denis Sullivan, walk the breakwater...