It is the third day of the New Year, and we are still nestled into the Dome Home in Vernon County Wisconsin. I was so happy to just be watching and taking in all that was happening as MaryAlice visited many of places and saw many of the people that she knew as a young woman. I love my perch from the purse or backpack, this morning as I am looking out the big triangle window to the east there is "sparkle snow" tiny little snowflakes that are just lit up in the sunlight. It is not going to make the ground any more covered with snow as the sparkling flecks seem to disappear even before they hit the ground.
We haven't taken many pictures but here is one of me hanging out in the window at Maybe Lately's where we had lunch yesterday. We were in
Emma and Mona had to go back to work, they were able to take a longer lunch break so we could all be together. Peg had finished her errands in town and she was ready to drive back to her log house near Utica on the Crawford County/Vernon County line. Marcia and MaryAlice went to the yarn shop and then walked around the public market which is like a flea market inside a big building which used to the Chevrolet Show Place - I can hear MaryAlice singing along with Dinah Shore - "see the USA in your Chevrolet". We are bringing home some Driftless stickers and a Driftless Lunar Calendar so we can remember this time all year long.
After lunch we went to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve so that Marcia could pick up her egg delivery. When MaryAlice lived here there was a big fight about this land. The Army Corps of Engineers had bought many acres of land and they were going to build a dam and make a big "man-made" lake. It was an ugly long protracted fight, but there is no dam and no manufactured lake and there is this wonderful land preservation that is managed by the State of Wisconsin, The Ho-Chunk Nation and community members from the area. It is beautiful sacred land and it is a real symbol of possibility, collaboration and cooperation. Makes you breathe deep as you walk and drive around the land.
We are doing a lot of eating and sharing and talking and we did that again at Ron and Donna Jean's up on the ridge. Ron is an incredible silver smith and his work is so very incredible, he is mostly retired now but here is a piece from his Sandhill Folk Company site. We didn't take any pictures but the house which has had lots of add ons and changes over time is this comfortable, amazing work of art, filled with color and lots of works of art that they both accumulated over decades of doing shows and exchanging and buying other beautiful pieces of art. Such a visual delight and as we sat in the studio with the big wood stove doors open watching the fire and the flickering of the hand dipped beeswax candles sitting on their little shelves behind the stove we reminisced and shared stories of family, travels and moments of dipping into the awareness that we are now in 2025 and being aware that we do not know what it will bring.
Later on we went into the kitchen that was another warm and cozy spot with art enveloping you everywhere. We had somemade bread and soup and quiche and lemon cake for dessert. Anna, who is Ron and Donna's youngest was home. She lives and works in Alaska, she manages a very big resort outside of Seward and spends a few months with family during the winter off season. Marcia drove us back home, we didn't see any deer and we were glad for that.
Tonight they are all going to the Rockton Bar, the Rockton Bar had opened only a couple of years before Steve and MaryAlice moved to LaFarge they still do Friday night fish fries (it is not the walleye fish fries that are essential Minnesota) but it is the quintessential Wisconsin fish fry and it was on the "to do " list, it is the last thing on the to do list while here and we are checking if off tonight. There has been sheepshead card playing, two times, and so much fun. Seeing friends, driving on the back roads (almost everything is a back road) and just hanging out with Marcia in the domehome.
Next stop will be Madison, we are almost half-way through our trip. We have Madison and Jefferson WI, you can get out the map and see that we are going from the west to east. All stops are south and east from here on out. Oh, and the sun is shining, it made its first appearance yesterday and it is now on this morning shining more brightly than the entire trip. Patten is cloudy and about the same temperature as here. I don't think we are supposed to get any snow, and so far we have been spared any artic blasts but I think it might be coming.
I can't stop this blog before I say Happy New Year, may we all find our ways to do what we can to help others, to honor our diversity and to stop the hate. Here are a few pictures from our day, Happy New Year, oh Happy Day!
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