I'll glitter and gleam so

baubles, bangles, bright

shiny beads

sparkles, spangles

Let the festivities begin.

Gesu bambino

When blossoms flower e'er 'mid the snows,
Upon a winter night,
Was born the child, the christmas rose,
The king of love and light.
The angels sang, the shepherds sang,
The grateful earth rejoiced;
And at his blessed birth the stars
Their exultation voiced.


My best pal these days at 3:00 am is Pandora.

Pandora will play with me when everybody else is asleep. Let's see what "Erik Satie" will get me. How about "Red Garland"? Tonight the spin was "Roches (Holiday)" based on a "Here's What I'm Listening To" rec from a recently confirmed friend on Facebook.

Roches (Holiday) will get you a lot of flamboyant choir music: Cambridge Singers, Vienna Boys, Morman Tabernacle. Pedal to the metal organ chords. Add to that, quavering and angelic soloists.

How to Recognize a DUI Wisconsinite

Deer Season opens this weekend. Let's have a successful harvest as I've used up the last of the venison. My favorite locavore recipe is Ropa Viejo - old clothes - which features the plentiful tomatoes, peppers, onions and venison.






I don't have the recipe on hand to share but you can find it in EATING CUBAN

She is a brown skinned Negro, the only Negro in La Farge.

When I'm kicking back, I'm doing it in the Kickapoo Valley. When googling, I'm often checking out some aspect of Vernon County. It's where I am when I'm not manning the front desk for the graveyard shift.

Day before yesterday, Ron Johnson, a neighbor on Kettle Road and a jeweler stopped by with a report and a map for the Planning Commission for Whitestown.

I didn't get a chance to tell him how much my daughter liked his earrings. She'd received them as a guest gift at a wedding she'd attended one ridge over this past summer. Her favorite earrings. Silver vertical rectangles with a dandelion design. Ron was jogging back up the hill with his dog trotting alongside at the moment I wanted to comment on his lovely designs.

When googling to figure out a way to complete the compliment, I found out that he'll be showing his wares at the Small Town Christmas Celebration in LaFarge but what was far more distractingly curious was this archived article about "Small Town La Farge". Check it out.

Prepared to Tempt the Most Jaded Appetite

After attending a seminar on legal ethics, my dear friend George is coming into town. Just in time for fish fry. What better spot than Kegel's? Supper clubs, even if they are a peculiar Wisconsin institution are disappearing at an alarming rate. Rarely will you find one with the interior still recognizable from its heyday six or seven decades ago. But compare the barroom today with that of yesteryear. You'd know your way around.

and I do want to tell my friends about this place.

I'd like to mention that I haven't made an entry in DG - Digging the Graveyard - since I met George. He emerged as the answer as to how someone is supposed to get a life when working third shift.

Just tonight, I found another lovely companion for the wee hours: WGBH

Did you know that Smetana was one of eighteen children? His father had had eight children with his first two wives and the composer was the first son of the ten children with the third wife.

Am enjoying the world of Charlie Chaplin as told by Glen David Gold in Sunnyside.

Particularly interesting are the references to the Athletic Club, Mr. Chaplin's home early on in Hollywood. His Athletic Club bears quite a resemblance to my Athletic Club. They have reciprocal membership and the buildings date from the same era.

Athletic Clubs:





Los Angeles and Milwaukee.



The vintage photographs have you wondering if you're in California or in Wisconsin.






But maybe the bowling gives it away that you're in Milwaukee. The above ballroom is Los Angeles though and how similar it is to Milwaukee's.

I have a little bit of a hard time accepting that Milwaukee has such a pervasive rube reputation. But then I can be reminded (quite harshly I might add) as I click through the blogosphere.

Just tonight I come across this preoccupation with crap places featuring Milwaukee and that was about a half-hour after this little slap in the face. Go ahead: punch "Milwaukee" into the search box and you'll get these two (brewski-referenced) heartaches:

BREWED

I want you in my life so bad, I’d move back to Milwaukee. And I hate Milwaukee.

BREWSD?

It’s been four years, and merely seeing the word “Milwaukee” leaves me feeling bruised.

Does everybody deplore Milwaukee?

Therapy From Dusk to Dawn

All-Night Care for Dementia’s Restless Minds

Whatever gets you through the night.