Alberto Contador

One of my TV and only sport weaknesses is the Tour de France. Unlike other years of watching cable TV with Megan, Phil and John, this year I've been keeping track of the progress and scandal via the internet. Team Discovery (Lance's former team) has two men in first and third place. The leader in the yellow jersey, Alberto Contador, is 24. He is followed by Cadel Evans and Levi Leipheimer. Tomorrow I will watch it in the evening on TV. I think I'd like to see le tour in person some day.

New Hat

It seems like I am still collecting on the birthday I had. That's fine with me when the celebration is so divine. Carrie and Amanda sent me this beauty of a hat--knit with love from some "luscious" Debbie Bliss Rialto yarn (such things are mentioned on Carrie's blog, Forks and Needles). It's the perfect brown--chocolate (pronounced mais oui with the most smooth french je ne sais quoi).

(New Hat x 2)

Juice of Argentina

I had a lovely weekend.

FRIDAY: I shared dinner and conversation with Megan and Phil, Rachel, Vee, Dana and Curtis. The latter two recently returned from a year of teaching English in China. I asked a whole bunch of questions! It was very interesting to hear the answers. I love the idea of travel. I am always fantasizing about travel.

SATURDAY: Rachel invited me on an adventure to Stockholm, Wisconsin. On the way, we stopped at the university on Winona, Minnesota. Rachel surprised me with a belated birthday gift: a piece of the Great River Shakespeare Festival, the play, "As You Like It". Shakespeare is brilliant--BRILLIANT! We drove further on to Robbie and Ted's homestead (as well as Franny, Emmet and Louie). As they always do, we were welcomed with open arms and hospitality deluxe. This place they have is heaven. It makes you fantasize of yurts (think about this). I helped pull garlic. I ate the best food ever. I slept outside watching the stars be obscured by the wind blowing the dry leaves, twinkling then rustling.

SUNDAY: I awoke at an early hours with the sun. The dog had stayed outside the tent all night long keeping watch. In the morning it was coffee, dark and rich, pulling garlic, then fresh summer apple pie and tea. Rachel and I made plans to return. Robbie et al sent us off with bags of organic veggies, freshly pulled garlic (we pulled it that morning) and sweet, sweet, good energy. We drove to the neighboring house of Gaylord Shanilec to visit and see the AMAZING project he has going right now. His website, Midnight Paper Sales, is frequently updated. If you know anyone interested in Trees or fine press book collectors, this is THE book to buy! Or, if you happen to have some extra money laying around and really want to treat yours truly, I would not refuse the deluxe version of Sylvæ. Gaylord showed us around his studio and wood shop. I was impressed and inspired by his passionate obsessiveness (a quality I understand and appreciate). Rachel and I returned to Madison, outrunning a menacing storm that left Madison dry. We need rain. I returned to meet Johanna and her little sister Maira(my-rah) playing in the hallway. I interrupted to bring her mom and dad some fresh garlic and Anaheim peppers. They were pleased. Johanna came over and I told here I was almost positive I was staying in Madison and that I could go to ALL of here soccer matches. She was so happy for me and excited she hugged me. I invited Johanna to watch the latest-to-DVD Harry Potter Movie that neither of us had seen. She went to ask her parents, then asked me if I wanted to try some juice from Argentina. Of course. Popcorn? Johanna returned with popcorn and Tang. Yes, Tang! I asked if that was really from Argentina. She said, well, maybe not, but it tasted like what they have in Argentina. I can vouch for her--they have the same sort of thing in Chile. She made Tang and popcorn while I hooked up my speakers and sub-woofer to the movie. It was a sweet finale to a Tang flavored ice cream sundæ sort of weekend.

Lottery

Applying for jobs is getting to be like playing the lottery. I won four bucks today and I think there is light in the job tunnel!

Sometimes You Can't Help Yourself

(Detail of a new acquisition - or - Friday night wherever I happen to be)

I went to the Art Fair on the Square. For the least, it was good to leave the house and travel by bicycle, which I have done less and less these days because of Fish Hatchery Road being my mental and physical barrier. Biking on that road is SCARY. But, I am going to try to change my bicycling trend--I must, my pants are all getting tighter!

I went to Art Fair on the Square--I, who had no intention on liking the art at Art Fair on the Square, went anyway. And, I didn't like most of it. But, I did meet the guy who designed the Printmaker bumper sticker on my car. And, I got first hand commentary from just about EVERY bloody Wisconsinite in their finely tuned Wisconsin accents, don't ya know, about how this one thing was "neat" or "interesting" or "nice" which somehow qualified it as, a-hem, really good art I too should like. No. I was in a weird anti-crowd mood that day. Everyone was herding themselves around and around the damn square and I thought I was about to lose my mind. Sometimes I get like that. At least I'm sure I appeared like I was enjoying myself too, laid back, cruising through the meilei, don't ya know. But, what came out of this are two things.

One, I fell in love with the work of this really sweet man, Nicario Jiménez. He lives in Naples, Florida, but is from Peru. He had a huge piece on display that was political, discussing immigration, the wall between here and Mexico/The Americas and the treatment of Latinos in our white delusion. It was a large impressive piece. Sadly, as I would have liked to buy such a great thing, I only could fancy myself purchasing something small. So, I looked at a few things, but quickly dismissed the idea. I have no job! I talked to Nicario for a little while, told him I liked his work, then left to meet Paul.

Two, Paul and I went to the Wisconsin Triennial at the MMOCA. That show closed today. I think some of the work was awesome and some just kind of kitsch. It makes me wonder how some people showed in there with such inferior works; who did they know? Good stuff for reasons of color, pattern, and cleverness: Jenny Angus and Stephanie Liner. There were a few other mentionable things, that I'm not mentioning.

Before I headed back to my place I went back to see if Nicario would be there Sunday. Yes? Ok, I might see him later. He gave me a brochure and I biked home. I kept thinking about how I liked his work so much. Maybe I spent enough time in Chile to have some fundamental thing engraved in my soul. That I believe. I did some research on Señor Jiménez; he's from a family of retablo makers of Peru. Their history is interesting. So, today I went back with my credit card and bought two: the bar and the toy store. They both reminded me of Chile, and are a good synopsis of my life. The toy store reminded me of Cristobal (son of Rosa) who I have been missing dearly. When I showed up, Nicario told me he had been thinking about me earlier in the day. He said he knew I was coming back, but he was actually thinking about me as cosmic connection--a friend from some familiar cosmic goo. He asked me if I wanted to join him and to go to Ann Arbor for a few days or even Washington. I laughed. In my other existence, in some other curve we are going, we are already there. If I am here next year, if he returns, maybe I'll invite him out for a pisco sour.

Links of the day:
Nicario Jiménez

Wikipedia Entry: Retablos

(The bar)

(The bar)

(The Toy Store)

(The Toy Store)

El Padre de la Rosa

When I was in Chile, there were many things I experienced that I did not include in this blog. Privately I wrote about a great amount of happenings in those months. One of them involved a day trip to Peralillo.

Peralillo is a small town 150 kilometers from Navidad. It is the town that my friend Rosa grew up in, where her house still stands, where we went to visit. Paola, another professor and friend from the school, drove Rosa, Rosa's son Francisco and me in her Toyota Yaris, gold.

The roads were winding and mountainous as we crossed through the coastal Andes and wrapped around into the central valley. We passed the vineyards of small and large wineries, including Concha y Toro. I imagine that Colorado looks similar to the landscape there, but if I ever see Colorado and this is true I will think how Colorado looks like Chile because I knew Chile first. At one point, we were descending a hill and out the window was a massive, blue, snow-capped Andes mountain pointing straight up into the atmosphere. The tierra was ochre and spotted with lonesome conifers in dark green. This country, my second country and cosmic home, is infinitely beautiful.

In Peralillo we met Rosa's parents and we toured the beautiful house which wrapped around a courtyard and housed many flies. Rooms had been added as they were needed and the aesthetic was similar to that of a crazy quilt. We had lunch. Paola brought a lemon meringue pie she made and I remember it being delicious. Rosa's parents were excited to meet the gringita and asked me many questions. There was never a shortage of questions (only of answers)! It was a treat to meet Rosa's mom because she does a lot of crocheting and I have (somewhere in my belongings) a piece or two that she made. At the time, Rosa's dad was not in the best of health. Since then, he gradually got worse. Last month Rosa wrote to say he was not well. Today, she said he passed away on June 23rd. It prompted me to write this story and to say some prayers for him, her and the family.

I couldn't tell you the date of my trip to Peralillo, and truly it does not matter. But, I could tell you that we played dominoes that had a silver ball-bearing embedded into one side. Or, that Rosa's sister's children had me pushing them on swings, and grabbed the laundry off the line when they swung out far enough. Or, that I played tag with the kids in the yard and they laughed and laughed and laughed. And, I can assure you that the line which connects my heart to that moment holds warmth. One does not need a time date to describe these things which exist outside of days or hours or minutes or seconds.

Tomorrow is Sushi

I am cooking sushi for real tomorrow. I made a practice round that was comical, but I learned that you need a really sharp knife!

(Sushi with asparagus and wasabi--it tasted ok)

Lottery Tickets

I decided applying for jobs is a lot like the playing the lottery. You think you're going to win and you have big dreams about what to do with the winnings. Then, you lose and you know someone out there has won what should have been yours.

Well, I sent out two job applications this morning. Then I promptly went to the PDQ (gas station) near my house and bought two lottery tickets. Losers.

So that means one of the two applications I sent out his morning will be a winner, right???

The Fourth

I went to two parties. At both, I drank gin and tonics and ate so much food I was about to burst; the company was delightful (friends, artists, scientists, and children). I brought sparklers to the second party because my childhood lacked them, and I believe they are an experience worth having at any age. The kids were grateful and happy and made those things very clear to all present. At darkness, we walked down to the main park in Monona and watched fireworks explode over head. They had one in particular that looked like Queen Anne's Lace and crackled after exploding. It is my new favorite.

A patriotic act is as simple as gathering with friends, family and neighbors, celebrating because you are free to gather and celebrate. Peace.

Canoe Trip (Thanks to the Cosmos)

Yesterday I spent some time with my dear friends Megan and Phil. We planned to canoe in their big heavy battleship of a canoe. So we applied our sunscreen and dragged our goods and the canoe to the river that runs by their house. It's a calm river with murky water, coated with a slick of pollen. We arranged the things in the canoe, got in and took off paddling up the river. There were campsites, people fishing and Wisconsin farmland scenery to look at. We paddled, floated, talked, sipped beer, paddled, and paused to beach the canoe on a campsite to use the outhouses. There was more talking about future plans and paddling while we turned and headed back down river again. Out of nowhere a cosmic force took control of our boat and dumped us into the river--we fell into the murky river. None of us realized how it happened because it was so sudden. Our canoe was full of water, Phil lost his glasses, Megan lost her sunglasses, I maintained humorous disbelief. I swam for the oars, the cooler (now full of empties), the seat cushions, while Megan and Phil went to shore to flip the canoe. Anywhere in standing depth was all mucky, slimy, black murk. One had to keep moving or would become stuck. I leaned into the water to remove my flip-flops which had been detached from my feet and sucked into the slough. I could feel all of the plant roots and slimy mud press against and squeeze between my toes, feet, ankles and legs. It was a strange feeling. I climbed on the shore and helped to hoist the boat up and empty it out. We clambered back into the canoe. Soaked and looking like we had been exploring the Amazon--wet from head to toe, covered in random patches of mud, leaves and river debris--we laughed as we paddled back to the launch site, wondering how we tipped over. I'm sure it was the cosmos sweetly placing its hand into our lives and guiding us away from something less comic.