Santa Claus Has Already Come To Town

Oshkosh kicked off its holiday festivities a couple weeks ago with a big gathering in Opera House Square. There was caroling, kid games, and food from some local restaurants (including my favorite new downtown cafe). Apparently this was the biggest party going on in the world that night, because Santa chose to stop by our town to meet the kids! Unfortunately I had only my crappy cellphone camera to document the scene. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the party, despite it being one of the first really cold days this year.

The next day Jodi and I stopped at the Fox Valley Mall in Appleton for some shopping. It's a fine mall if you need something that's there, but not really worth a trip unless you're in the area. But I guess Santa had a layover before heading back to the North Pole, because there he was again! I hate to say it, but he looked a little bored until a kid came by to chat a few minutes later. He must have been doing some market research, but he should really get back to the office to oversee production. No wonder there still aren't enough Wii's.

I'm Dreaming of a White Thanksgiving

Today was our second Thanksgiving in Wisconsin, and also the second Thanksgiving for which there is snow on the ground. On Monday morning, we woke up to this:



Yup, that would be 4.5 inches of snow, the first real snow of the year. I must say, the true sign that we have lived in WI for some time is how I was only briefly moved by how beautiful the snow was-- I just kept thinking, "here are the four months of the year when I try to avoid re-spraining my ankle on the ice." Still, the town and campus did look aesthetically pleasing in the snow, and I'm finding that temperatures in the 30s really don't feel that cold anymore. I enjoyed inhaling the crisp snow smell while I walked across campus.

We are having a very quiet Thanksgiving weekend, mostly cleaning, grading, and getting some much needed rest. This morning I ate a bagel with lox (for nostalgic purposes) while watching the Thanksgiving Day parade and missing New York a bit. I never actually went to the parade but did go the night before the parade to see the balloons being blown up, which is an awesome experience. The parade is sheer commercialism and kitsch but I'm a total sucker for it (although I am concerned about the current relaunch of the Muppets-- I'm excited to see them getting some exposure but thought the cheesy Christmas song was so earnest that it desecrated the long history of Muppet irreverence).

This afternoon we went to some friends nearby for The Meal, and their table looked very fine indeed:



After the main meal and before dessert, we all went for a walk in the local park, which is still snow-covered. The annual winter light display throughout the park was already set up and we wandered around looking at the lights and throwing snow balls (always an excellent thing). At the top of this post is my favorite image: a man ice-fishing, in lights, right beside the lake where people will soon be ice fishing. [Note: the lake is not yet frozen. The top of the Fox River IS frozen, but it's not "safe" for ice-fishing the way the lake eventually will be]. A good, frozen time was had by all. We also ran into some friends who live in the same part of town and their extremely adorable daughter.

As we walked, we all talked about how Wisconsinites really have all of these structures in place to make the winter fun and more bearable; some people embrace the winter whereas some just muddle (or drink) their way through it, but there is really quite a lot to do here even once it gets bloody cold out.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night.

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!

The Winter of Packers' Fans Discontent

Well, the news broke this morning while I was proctoring an exam: Brett Favre is retiring. I suspect there will be considerable rending of garments here in the Badger State. It was a great year for Favre and the Packers, despite the pain of the overtime loss to the Giants... wow.

And, fittingly perhaps for this news, the weather just keeps staying cold, cold, cold and snowy, snowy, snowy. I've had it. I'm the kind of person who actually likes winter-- getting out the sweaters, drinking hot beverages, tromping around in the snow, etc.-- but even I have completely had it. It's March. This morning when I got up it said "10, feels like -1."

I'm not asking for 75 and sunny, although I'm so desperate I actually starting looking at California airfares (v. high) the other day. (Those palm trees in Florida on the Red Sox spring training broadcasts look sooooo good). All I want is 45 degrees and no ice on the sidewalks or roads. Seriously. I know there won't be flowers and puppy dogs and short sleeves here for a long time. That's ok. Just 45 and easy walking. That's all I want.

On the other hand, I could live in the world's darkest town and only be seeing my first sunrise since the fall this coming Saturday. That would be worse.

Two Words...

Polartec socks. Those are my two words. Bliss. Lands' Ends' "Weatherfield Shoes" also live up to their catalog description, at least so far.

Just a quick note that we're alive and well and it's winter in Wisconsin. The photo above is actually from last week, and it's the second snow that came through (the first was Erev Thanksgiving). This morning I shoveled the fourth snowfall (so far) off the car. Happily last night's snow was light and fluffy, it's very dry and in the teens right now. This weekend's storm ended in ice. Less fun.

Polartec socks.

I have a long backlog of stories and pictures but the semester has been extremely hectic.... it ends in two weeks, so look forward to a plethora of posting over the holidays.