Skip to main content

 I'm not a weatherperson, one of the few professions that allows you to be wrong often and not lose your job. But I've noticed something I think is interesting. We are experiencing one of the milder, more comfortable summers I remember. Who am I referring to when I say we? I thinking of Southeastern Wisconsin with Milwaukee as my center of reference. Not only have we had fewer days of extreme heat, but we don't have any extended periods of high heat indexes (90's) and high humidity (65+ dew points). Often those uncomfortable days are sandwiched in between very pleasant ones.

We have periodic rain storms that might challenge our storm sewer capacity and cause high water levels in the streams and rivers. If there is a problem with rain, it tends to fall on weekends.

Surprise! 

I reached a publishing milestone this week. Last year I published my novel, 26 Women. My lack of promotion tempers my hope of hitting the NYT bestseller list or even long listing in one of the prestigious book awards. I didn't buy any ads on Amazon. Boswell's is our local bookstore, and I did not request to read there. I gave some copies to people I thought would give me some constructive criticism, and they did. I also had some people who bought the book comment on it.

But this week, I learned from one of my coworkers at the All Saints Hunger Book Sale that she saw a copy of my book. Intrigued by the title, she saw the author and wondered if it was me. That meant they displayed my book along with all the big shots. Nice to meet you, Mr. Gresham. How's it going, Mr. King? Enchantee, Miss Penny.

Art Report

The work on the painting of my great-granddaughter, Jonny continues. I'm not getting what I want. This painting is teaching me a lot. For example, trying to paint precisely is not helped by drinking three cups of coffee.

As for my pencil sketching, I found photos of three famous subjects in an article about the photographer, Ettlinger.

From the Studio (Apartment) of Poppa Jeff

Our Motto: Probably Crap But Better Than Expected.

Hauraki Murikami

Edna O'Brien








Walter Mosley






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ring The Bell

 It appears there is a tradition in the radiology department at Ascension Hospital that patients, upon completing their course of treatment, ring a bell. ( We know not for whom this bell tolls.) Ring the Bell with My Sweetheart Jeanne. Jeanne drove me to all but two of the appointments. Pam Frautchi took me to the other two. Today, after being zapped thirty-two times, I rang the bell. This begins a roughly one-month recovery period where the effects of the radiation abate and, I'm assured, a return to normalcy occurs. In my case, I anticipate more energy and greater awareness. Books, Books, & More Books I am simultaneously celebrating the end of the third year of volunteering for the All Saints Hunger Book Sale. Next week, we will wrap up the preparation for the sale and open our doors on August 3 for the public. I ran into this humourous but quite accurate cartoon on a T-Shirt that shows most of the volunteer's sentiments at this point. If you think the printed and bound p...
Post a Comment
Read more

It's time again.

It started in 2004 when we moved to our condo off Downer in Milwaukee. Then we mover to the Westside of Milwaukee when we rented from Ken Karr, the former landlord, now a current friend on Highland and 29th St. Then we moved to Mandeville Louisiana for a little less than a year. Returning to The Fox River Valley, we rented a home in Fox Crossing, formerly The Town of Menasha. When the tree fell on the roof, and the landlord felt no urgency to fix it, we moved to W. Commercial in Appleton. Here is a shocker. Are you sitting down? We are moving. No, I don't mean off the couch and out to the patio. There are too many damn mosquitoes for that to happen. No, we are packing our stuff, or at least the stuff we unpacked from the last move and moving to a home Maria purchased on Mason and Glendale in Appleton. Let me unpack that last sentence (pun planned for). We are moving at approximately the end of September to a house. The house has been in t...
1 comment
Read more

Latest News From The City On The Inland Sea

 Many of us in Milwaukee have put away the black armbands recognizing our grief for the Brewer's early exit from the playoffs. The Packers are going through their season, letting Jordan Love grow into the vacancy left by the departure of Aaron Rodgers. The Milwaukee Bucks are daring anyone to try and take this year's championship away from them. Marquette, UWM, and the Badgers have an abundance of hope. Marquette, however, has the talent. My Treatments We are at a checkpoint. Along with my immunotherapy next Monday, I'm having a scan. It's felt that my body has shed enough radiation so we can get a look at the infected area and evaluate the progress. Watch this space. I am feeling well. I had little reaction to the second round of the Keytruda and don't anticipate any from the next injection. I went to Walgreens to get my Flu shot and my COVID booster. Remember when we used to go to the drugstore because they had a soda fountain. Wanderings Jeanne and I decided to g...
Post a Comment
Read more