The Overwhelming Dairyland

Where were we?



Oh man there's so much to say about that Wisconsin trip that it's like a damn burden--we can hardly live in the present. So let me try to lay down some remaining images and commentary so we can just let it rest for a while...

Thanks, Grambee and Jim! Congrats on a long 49 years together; here's to another 49!

There's my friend Lillian. (And yes, Arthur, my abs are a testament to how I "stirred the pot" even in the midwest.)

Even while turning down the s'mores that these people so ardently ate. (And who stole and ate the pie Ella left behind, frozen? Grambee has her suspicions, but Ella won't let me state them, here...)

But, wait, yes, we did in fact return to "the Farm"!

This goat is getting used to being milked by Ida every two years or so:

Meanwhile, Miki, beset by hungry goats and lambs, shrieked and demanded to be "tarryed." So she stayed in this handy wagon and wouldn't get out.

Ida betrayed no such fear, even throwing fistfuls of corn straight into this fierce ox's maw!

Ella Vining was there!

You might have wondered what she thought of all that snap plastic jewelry, where we started. Probably something like, "Ah, I'm a fox, just reading a book on vacation, putting up with my in-laws."

Toward the end of the vacation I started getting fancy photo apps for my iPhone so I could take incredibly emotionally drenched and extreme photos of my beauties:

And then we got on a bunch of planes and traveled,

bewildered, through airports.

Picking, in the rain and the sun

You may recall that freakin drenching we had during that blueberry expedition. Well, lo and behold, we got to Wisconsin and on the one day it threatened to rain, Ella talked us into going cherry picking! Damn, I mean darn, it POURED down rain right on us and flies were biting, too!



Look how bedraggled everyone is!



Anyway, the cherry pie was good and hey then just last weekend we returned to the scene of the crime and the rain wasn't falling! We picked blueberries like crazy. For instance, check out Maggie's famously long arms:



Miki. Ratio of blueberries picked to eaten: 45:1. She later had a kind of psychotic episode perhaps brought on by too many blueberries.



Speaking of, Ida's behavior recently has been less than good.



For all of this, we blame the departure of her teacher, Aron.

Les Cousines

Okay, yes: Wisconsin. I got carried away. Still a lot to say. A big part of our trip out there was to see our Canadian cousins, who rendez-vous-ed with us. Sylvia got up relatively early and played foxes and bunnies (above) while Lillian slept. Much cousinly playing and battles ensued. Something about shucking this corn (below) made everyone extremely bewildered:

One of the bright spots was just how tight Lillian and I became. People kept thinking we were related! And she would always turn to me when feeling blue, and if I had feelings I wanted to talk about, I'd find her and then we'd talk. We both like to read, too.

These cousins are also not averse to Ice Cream. (Lillian likes vanilla, just like I do; we ordered the same thing!) Here they are at a little trip to Wilson's:

Ida ate all her ice cream and then noticed they also had popcorn. Could we get some? We sure could!



Miki is getting weirder every day.

a brief respite from Wisconsin memories: what's happening right now

Wisconsin, II

Wisconsin, I

The night before we had an early morning flight to the Dairyland, the Vining Sisters and their Husbands went to a delightful wedding. People had a hard time paying attention to the bride and groom...



Ella was entranced by the ruffles along Maggie's collar, as many people were; Ella gained many compliments from guests of various sexes on her dress, and you can see why!



Okay, Wisconsin. First stop: Milwaukee. Shorewood. After a brutal trip we got to the D'Amato Manse. And from there, to the Pancake House, where some chocolate chip cakes quickly made us forget the troubled airline moments:



Also, the excellent and progressively-minded Sophie D'Amato came along! She even packed her leftovers to take along for her lunch. She's a champion swimmer.



This beauty here is a champion Swedish pancake eater. Clean plate!



Soon, or after a particularly unpleasant and strangely long drive up the peninsula, we were at the Rock Compound. Check it out on the beach:



That's the Compound behind Ida, there:



If you look out the other direction, it's the lake ("the wake!") and the raft, which Ida liked to swim to and jump off of. She also liked to take off her life jacket in twenty feet of water. Her fearlessness is her greatest strength and greatest weakness. It is like she is a Greek Hero or something. Tragic flaw? We'll see.



These foxes, too:



Horseplay inside the Compound:



Oh, you say you've never been inside the Compound? Many are curious. This short/long film made by Ida gives you a pretty decent tour:



How about that! We're not kidding! This swimsuit has a lot of fans, and was made in Portland by Americans!



The sunsets from the deck where we got married (13 years ago) are phenomenal... (though Sophie's brother Samson D'Amato, who uses an ungodly amount of Axe Body Spray and has ten kinds of Old Spice Deodoarant, including "Vice" and "After Hours," claims they all look the same) ...



(to be continued)

Thanks, Grambee & Jim!

After twelve hard hours of travel, I was standing there in the PDX baggage area, and Ida looked up at me and said, "I want to go see Grambee and Jim. I want to play with them. I want to play with all the wonderful games they have at their house."


Let it be known that there were moments in the last two weeks where Ida bewailed the games-to-toys ratio at the Rock Compound. Still, man, we are really indebted to these two for the excellent hospitality they showed us.



There's a life's worth of photos and memories to be recounted, but I thought I'd start with this key note of gratitude. Thanks!

Word from the Dairyland.

Ida's favorite game in Wisconsin is to have me stand fifteen feet away from her in the water and say loudly, "I think my daughter is drowning." She becomes angry if I don't say it loudly enough as she submerges herself.

Summer Daze

Still not so warm, here, but the days are longer. As you may have guessed, Arthur's out of town. Some days when I go to pick up the Bradford girls, no one's there, or no one's awake. So I creep right inside, up the stairs, and what do I see?

Anyway, I promised you the second half of the fourth of July. Here it is! Arthur was in town and he set up the pool! (There are some very nice pictures of Ella in her swimming suit, but I can't post them here right now because I know on which side my bread is BUTTERED!

And he also got some fireworks, some of them illegal; that made Ida happy!

Miki wasn't quite so sure.

This was right around the time Ida got her new haircut:

Elsie claimed some sparks got into her eyes. What's that in Maggie's eye?

Have you heard about Eddie? Look below, and fall in love. Ida shunned the first half of her first lesson because she had a boy teacher, but now she can't talking about him. The girls run from the car, down to the pool, shouting, "Eddie! Eddie! I need you, Eddie!"

And when Eddie's teaching other lessons, Ida runs up and down the edge of the pool ("No running," the lifeguard shouts) saying "Hey Eddie, we're going to have pizza for dinner! What are you doing, Eddie?" There's Elsie, by the way. She's into Eddie, too.

Theo is in the goldfish class! Her first swimming lessons! She sometimes has to get out right away to poop, but that's why I'm here.

These pictures were taken by the babysitter Margaret, who got in trouble for going into the men's showers and then wasn't too happy about being scolded. But she did help out! And Miki made me get her this slush puppy. Why?
Because in the past this Mountebank purchased large ones and shared! Slush puppies remind him of his youth, when his friends threw their baseball mitts in his face and socked him right in the gut!

Miki is "too little to go in the pool," but she does like to take a lot of showers while there. She also likes to watch the baby lessons, and is very curious when they do a "drowning baby" drill with the doll.

Summer!