Spring?

Well, kind of. We're getting there. For the past couple of weeks, we've had a lot of days where the high is around 40 (or even 45! crazy!) and much of the snow has indeed melted. As you can see in the picture above, there are still piles-- and in this case, there had just been another storm that dropped an inch or two-- but the snow is definitely going away.

Lake Winnebago is still frozen, BUT the Fox River is flowing--it's kind of funny to watch it flow down into the lake until there's a point on the horizon where it just-stops.

It's spring "break" if a "break" means writing a conference paper and grading some exams. It is definitely nice not having to prepare for class for a week. Sort of heavenly, actually. We also went to an awesome cooking class at one of my favorite restaurants in the region, the very smashing Big Tomatoes of Neenah. Chef RC made many delights, including gnocchi, pan-cooked pork (ok only I ate that part), a polenta cake topped with strawberries and the best cabbage we have ever tasted. Yum! They were really nice about M. being a veggie, leaving the bacon out of various dishes that might have had some and the bone marrow (mmmm, bone marrow!) out of the risotto until his portion had been served. Good times.

So, early-spring in Wisconsin-- a slight, gradual wake-up. No flowers or birds or blossoms or anything crazy like that, but the sight of the actually ground, and one's face no longer hurts when you go outside. Happy Ostara, everyone. Happy start of the Major League Baseball Season! And, as one of my students noted to me, we had a week with BOTH St. Patrick's Day AND Purim-- two of the drunkest holidays there are, a mere four days apart. Now, if there are more convincing arguments out there for interreligious optimism and the brotherhood of man, I'd like to hear them.

Play ball!