Oh Baby!

On Sunday I went to a 24MOTAB (24 Minutes Around the Abandoned Building). I "raced" my bike which means I completed a few laps and played [beer] domestique to the other racers. My new bike baskets can hold quite a few PBRs. I wonder what the wine bottle conversion is?

(Arriving close to 8pm ATAB)

(On my bicycle. I'm blurry because I was riding so fast)

On Monday I went to visit Carl and Kari and their baby. Babies are amazing! Take for example the handsome baby Merritt, he's so little, but he can make big noises. Here I can state two thoughts: One, I like babies, but I like kids more. Babies are delicate and that makes me nervous. Two, holding a baby did not make me want to have babies but rather was completely magical in and of itself.

(Merritt Kay Mauer and me.)

(Tabbouleh/domestic compensatory act following my baby visit.)

I leave for Kansas wedding bliss on Friday. Weddings. After the wedding I may be heading back to Madison or New York or another planet.

Moving and the Wedding Circuit

I worked this week. The movers came and moved the studio out of storage--Dean, Scott and Mike. They were awesome! I installed bookshelves, shimmed everything around, unpacked the chinaware, found and set up the stereo. I installed a new showerhead too.


(Vandercook installation with the movers)



(Empty studio)



(Studio mid-unpack)


I had a driving lesson in the Arboretum parking lot, where I kept circling the Xerox van in the parking lot and stalling out the Subaru. Eventually, I got the hang of it and put it into second gear. For the record, Tracy spilled no coffee. I bought some new flip-flops on Monroe Street, biked a bunch, and walked Charlie-Bob the dog.

Yesterday, Friday, I went to Tanisha and Martijn's wedding in Monona. It was mellow and full of the nicest matter-of-fact people you could ever meet. I made friends with Tanisha's childhood friend Lateef who is a traveler and has spent a bunch of time in Japan, speaks French, and wants to go to Chile. I invited him to come out with Paul and I after the wedding so I could get to talk to him. I planted the "I might be going to Chile in January" seed in his brain because one never knows if and how seeds will sprout or what they might grow into. "Ah! I recognize this. This one is of familiar cosmic matter." Find your people!

Rachel Melis is getting married next weekend.



(Nikki and me posing before the wedding)



(Paul and me being silly)



(Bride and groom)

Salsa Salsa

Things have calmed down (according to me). I spent this weekend attending MFA shows and graduations and related dinners and parties; parents and siblings and friends of friends. There was sushi and beers and wine. I even got to practice my Spanish (and salsa dancing) with some fellow Americanos. It made me happy that I have not forgotten--all together enjoyable. Everyone needs more dancing.

Transportationally, my 13+ year old bicycle tire blew out yesterday--in a great explosion of complete destruction! I was just testing out some new bicycle panniers (I think that is what they are called), and I drove over a patch of unpaved roughness. The mountain bike just couldn't take my abuse. It made a great Pfft! noise then hissed the entire block to my old house (The Green House). The front tire was split, the tube was as flat as flat can be. With the kind help of Mary I made it to Budget bikes and they hooked me up with some new (and on sale) bike tires and tubes. Thankfully, the tire exploded out of traffic. I knew this moment would come some day, since after all of these years of biking I have never blown a tire (so I'll probably be blowing them weekly for the next year).

After a Week

Not only have I worked all week, but I have had time to do some outside things that I have really enjoyed. Today, I treated myself to the Madison Farmers' Market: fresh mushrooms, chives and asparagus. Next came the library/internet and this blog entry. I caught the end of Tanisha Redict's and Paul Coenen's MFA shows, and will try to get over to the hospital to see Nikki's Hogan's MFA show too. I walked to graduation last evening and sat with Nikki's mom and best friend Robin. It was shorter that my graduation last year (which I was very okay with) and ended in lots of photos of friend and with friends.
I also bought a portable GPS system and drove around trying it out. Those things are so high-tech that I felt like a secret agent or something. The GPS wasn't for me though, and I later installed it in its rightful purchaser's car. Hopefully, it will help her navigate in these amazing cosmos.
I'm off to lunch with Elaine, friend and one of my grad school professors. The last time we went out was in New York. She bought me a $20 Pisco Sour--it was better than any Pisco Sour I had ever had in Chile or not.
This city is good to me.

Bittersweet

I made it to Madison, Wisconsin. It's been a busy two days already. I arrived Sunday night, ate some non-road-trip food and watched a movie with Nikki. On Monday I went to work, or rather Tracy and Mark's house. T gave me the low down on the sorts of things I will be doing here: running errands, hanging out and unpacking with her parents Barbara and Earl, walking Charlie-Bob the terrier, moving Tracy's print studio and oh-so-much more. I am FINALLY going to learn how to drive a stick.
I went to see Tracy's studio which is AWESOME and very empty. Later, I met Tracy's parents and the dog. We had lunch together at Barriques on Monroe, although it was very close to my old neighborhood I had never been inside to eat or taste wine. After lunch we went to the Scandinavian furniture gallery to order bookshelves and look at furniture. Things went sad at this point as Barbara felt sick and we left for the emergency room with heart problems. I ended up getting Mark and bringing him over to Earl's. We delivered some bad news to Earl who was later confused about the whereabouts of his wife. Barbara stayed overnight. In one day I gained two grandparents and felt all the things one would feel after an entire lifetime of knowing them, today. Bittersweet. After work I shopped for an hour, bought nothing, then went out to dinner with Harue.
This morning I brought Harue to the airport. She is gone for a few weeks and I am staying at her place now. I made my way over to the Monroe Street and picked up a list of errands to run. I went shopping, returned in time for a sandwich with Tracy and Earl and then continued the afternoon with a dog walk, running errands with Earl, installing a shower rod and curtain and some bathroom things, and unpacking some kitchen boxes. Barbara was in the hospital all day waiting to have some tests and then for the results. I left at five, sat in rush hour traffic (because I had my car today) and called Nikki. I went over to her place and made us dinner.
In job news, Matthew Brown from the University of Iowa Center for the Book emailed me today to let me know he received my application. Hope.

Mmmmmmmmmmmichigan

(Melanie's basement on a different day)



(Melanie de-installing an installation piece)

Sarnia

(Photo from the drive through Canada to Michigan)

Hello Wisconsin

I'm headed back to the original cheese state of Wisconsin, as far as I know it's just for a month. MADISON HERE I COME!