Brief Update

I’ve not done a lot of traveling of late but that’s not all bad. (Huppy is of course gallivanting about the Caribbean again.) I’ve been busy building up a client base here in southwest Wisconsin. Two of them have kept me more than a little busy.

First, the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN needed an annual report a brochure and some posters.

And second, and the biggest deal, was a project for the Hillview Urban Agriculture Center here in La Crosse. I started working on designs for the thing back in May and the final product was finally printed a few weeks ago. It’s a fundraising magazine for Hillview and is all about the local food system here; it’s history, what Hillview and others provide for the community and where they hope to take it all into the future.  Give it a looksee. (Hint: You’ll want to move here after you see it.)

I finally get back to my computer to do what I want to do and what’s the first thing I crank out? This!

CHENEY_FIRE

(You might recognize the original drawing from the set of tarot cards I did. I really felt that Mr. Cheney need an update, based on the recent release of the torture report and his “defense” of it. Uff da. Why aren’t any of those bozos incarcerated?)

Trout Fishing at Night

For those of you who know me, you know I truly hate bugs with every fiber of my being. The little “zzzzzzzzzz” in my ears, the feeling of tiny little things bouncing off my face or crawling in my hair…Ugh. I can’t stand it.

But I have this cousin here. His name is Carl. And he’s a trout fishing freak. OK, maybe the word freak has too many negative connotations. Continue reading

Gardening Update: I have a touch of the blight.

OK, so before last week, I didn’t even know blight was a thing. Did I do something wrong to cause the blight? Probably. Do I know what it is I did to cause it? Not even a little. I mean, I can guess it might have to do with overwatering. I should’ve stopped the daily watering a week or so before I did. Maybe that’s it. I dunno. And how do I know it’s blight? Continue reading

Art? Along the roadside? In the middle of dairy land? Really? Huh.

It’s Fermentation Fest in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. For 11 days, anything you want to know about fermentation, there’s a class (or lecture) for that. But it’s not just fermentation. There’s also ecology and art.

I know. Sounds weird. Ecology I’d expect, but art in Wisconsin? Whodda’ thunk it? But somebody did and their names are Donna and Jay. They’re from Chicago and they came out here about 20 years ago to farm, which seems sort of random to me, and I don’t know the whole story behind their decision, just that they did it and 20 years later, they’ve gotten grants and have made this wonderful thing that combines food, ecology and art.

Continue reading

Cranes are so cool

They’ve woken me up with their trumpeting more than a few times. Their voices just ricochet off the bluffs outside the room I’m staying in and it’s like an alarm clock going off. It’ll jar you right out of a sound sleep…at about 5 or 6 am. Every time I see them, it takes my breath away. They are radical birds; they’re big, about 5 feet tall, their wingspan is at least 6 feet and they’re the biggest migratory birds. According to my CousinWIki, wild turkeys might be heavier, but they don’t migrate.

Anyway, I thought I was doomed to not catch them with my good camera. Every time I saw them, I was usually walking the dog. I used to carry my camera when I walked the dog, but it usually became a tug of war with her. She refused to allow my attention to be on anything other than her fabulous walk. So I gave up. This time, however, I ran her back to the house, grabbed the camera and I was lucky they were still in the field when I got back..

Prior to this shot, they were tossing leaves and things in the air. I guess that’s part of their dance. So, behold Lucy and Ricky, a couple of juvenile birds, briefly dancing in a Wisconsin field.