Home cities old and new

What a phenomenal day! Many, many people were at the first day of the farmer's market today, but Susan and I spent the morning out on the porch with our coffee, reading the paper, catching up on e-mail, relaxing as music streamed from the iPod dock through the open windows of the house (David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging," from Lodger, is still in my head). Neighbors came over to join us for a bit.

The winters here are cold for some people, but I am so, so grateful for the beautiful spring and summer here, days when I can be outside and active, comfortably. It was in the mid-70's today, which is more summer-like here. So after our leisurely morning, we set out on our bikes to go a couple of miles down the bike trail to the Earth Day celebration at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. After browsing the tables and getting some leads on earth-friendly building resources, we came back past the house and rode on to the Weary Traveler, a neighborhood bar we hadn't made it to yet, for an early dinner. Like so many of the bars here (no smoking, yea!), they serve not only good beer, but good food; we shared the Thai Tom Ka Tofu soup, I had the Walleye sandwich with rosemary potatoes, and Susan had the vegan chili and cornbread -- all outstanding. Such a wealth of riches we have!

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But enough about my "new" city -- last weekend we returned to DC to visit with friends and family, about a year after our move to Madison. We flew in Thursday morning, and headed to the Eastern Shore to visit Susan's grandmother, Marion. We also got to see Aunt Kate and cousin Sammy! (Check out this picture of Susan and Marion -- some family resemblance, eh?) We also had a chance to stop in at 2 of our favorite spots in Easton: Coffee East, and Legal Spirits (for crab soup -- yep, Susan fell off the veggie wagon for that!). How lucky we were, that upon our return to Northern Virginia, we got to borrow Deb and Courtney's house while awaiting their return from Bonaire. Consummate hostesses, those two -- we were invited to make ourselves at home, and had at our disposal detailed instructions on everything from coffee-making to TV remotes (we made good use of the former, but chose their XMradio player for media instead)!

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On Friday, we had breakfast with my stepfather, Vic. This was a very significant event, as we hadn't seen each other for 15 years; it was great to re-establish that connection.

After breakfast, we went by a couple of Susan's former workplaces, Human Technology (not as scary as it sounds) and the Whitman-Walker Clinic. We also stopped by Susan's former neighborhood in Falls Church, and I literally wept for all of the perfectly good homes that were demolished in favor of new starter castles. It's one of the area trends that made us both want to move, and it only seems to be accelerating.

Food and friends was the theme of the weekend. On Friday night, Kyle & Peter allowed us to sate our long-deprived appetite for yummy food and margaritas at Austin Grill on Old Town Alexandria.

Saturday morning, we had brunch with Richard at Fireflies in Del Ray, then chili at Hard Times with Kris and Christina. Richard is one of the most influential people in my life, and although we aren't the best about regular communication, the connection remains strong. Kris is another of my oldest friends; we met in a traffic jam on the way out of my first (and last, thankfully) concert at Nissan Pavillion in the early 90's, soon after it had opened. This is a theme in my life, connecting with people around music... Susan introduced herself to me at a concert as well!

After lunch we met Kyle at Artomatic . If you're in the area, go; it's not as big as it's been in the past, but a much better space. These were some highlights for me:

• Rose Marie Salinas's birch paintings
• Diane E. Tesler's oil paintings
• Peeps on a train and the other Peeps art
• Aluminum can tab chair
• Christopher Chen photo
• "Walking Home with Pete"

Outside of the Artomatic venue (the old Patent Trademark Office building in Crystal City) before the show, Kyle was good enough to take a few pictures of Susan and I -- here's the one Susan submitted to her Lutheran high school reunion committee. :-)

After Artomatic, we went across the street to Roberto Donna's Bebo Trattoria for dinner with Richard and Michelle. I've never been to Donna's famous Galileo restaurant, but he opened this more casual Italian restaurant in Crystal City while its sister is being renovated. Most of the food was very good, although the service was pretty spotty.

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On Sunday, Eva and daughter Melissa treated us to breakfast in their new house. Eva is a single mom who just recently bought a house in the DC area -- Susan and I are both in awe.

We returned to Deb & Courtney's to relax before our gathering at Whitlow's. I think I spent more time with those busy girls on this weekend than the whole time I knew them in DC, and it made me just that much more appreciative of their hospitality.

Late Sunday afternoon we had invited friends to join us at Whitlow's on Wilson. We were so very grateful to have a great many friends take us up on the offer. We had a great time catching up, and I don't have words to describe how much it meant to see you all there.

While at Whitlow's, Courtney & Deb were exercising their substantial culinary skills on our behalf -- I know, how ridiculously lucky are we?! We enjoyed a fabulous meal featuring a salad with excellent homemade vinaigrette, roasted pepper soup with fried polenta croutons, and a main course of fettuccine with asparagus, shrimp, feta, lemon, basil... wow! I must admit, it was better than the meal at Bebo Trattoria - very impressive. (I made the sidecars!)

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You can find more pictures of our trip here, and I'll let you know when all of Susan's pictures are up.

WP: Madison Named 'Most Walkable'

[click link above for full AP article]

Prevention Magazine rated Madison the most walkable city in the U.S. in its annual Stroll Poll. Madison is the only city not in the South or West to even make the top 10, having apparently overcome the weather factor with its other virtues.

I love the end of the article:

Zac Stencil, 23, a senior at the university, said he walks about two miles every day to and from classes. "You can meet cool groups of people who are walking beside you," Stencil said. "Plus, when the lakes are frozen you can walk right across."

Speaking of the weather, the temperature reached 47 degrees today, and it felt like springtime. I sat out on the porch with Indy dog and Molly cat and read the paper. Tomorrow it'll go into the low 50's, and I can tell you I will be joining many outside in it. The days of walking on the lake are soon behind us. Canoes and kayaks will soon be towed to the lake, by foot and by bike, instead.

Ok.... NOW it's cold

Today, the high was -3. No, that's not a smudge on your screen... today's high was 3 degrees below zero (yes, I understand that is not significantly better than 3 degrees above zero, but still). Wind chills below -30. It was so cold, schools were closed.

Now, I know that a lot of people thought I was crazy for moving this far north, but I have been loving the weather, truly. The spring (what we were here for), summer, and fall were all fabulous. And winter has been fine. On the rare occasions that temperatures fell into the teens, I grimaced a bit, but it was bearable. But now... now it is some 25 degrees below normal. I am earning my midwest bona fides.

Marines per Gallon

Sign in our neighborhood:

One of my favorite Madison landmarks

The Badger Liquor neon sign on State St.

Strict Vegan Ethics, Frosted With Hedonism - New York Times

Mother Fools, my favorite Madison coffee house, serves exclusively vegan food (for drink, they offer cow's milk, but soy milk is no extra charge). Their cupcakes look insanely great, but it's Jennie Capellaro's soups and the East Side Ovens cookies that I really love. Susan sipped a cup of their dill dahl on her way to class this very evening, but the tortilla soup is our favorite ("are you sure there's no cheese in there?")!

All that is to say: here's an article for you about vegan punk bakers; I am amazed that they don't live in Madison.

Strict Vegan Ethics, Frosted With Hedonism - New York Times

Harmony, Neighbors, and Football

Harmony Bar

We're going to the Harmony Bar tonight to see Spin Cycle , an improv comedy troupe that an acquaintance of ours is in. We love the Harmony... fantastic food (four cheese pizza featuring bleu cheese is phenomenal, as are the walnut burgers), and a really friendly diverse group of people on both sides of the bar. Here's a good recent review with more detail, and some pictures of one of the most interesting, comfortable, friendly places in our neighborhood.

Neighbors

Speaking of the neighborhood... our next-door neighbors, who have lived in their home for longer than I have lived, are putting their house on the market. I keep telling myself what a good thing it is that this is such a big deal to me... after all, neighbors came and went in the DC area and it never really mattered much, because they didn't generally interact anyway...

Favre update

Surely you've heard the latest... the local news reported that Brett Favre has allowed his golf club membership to lapse, prompting speculation that he is planning to retire and leave the area. No, seriously, that was reported on the news.

NFL Playoffs

Very awesome that New Orleans won yesterday's playoff game, although I was kind of rooting for the Eagles because I'd love for Jeff Garcia to be "Super-Bowl-winning QB Jeff Garcia" if he ever comes out. Still, a Redskins fan will never complain about an Eagles loss... and the Cowboys went out so fabulously painfully last week that it makes the Redskins' futility a bit more bearable.

I was also glad to see the Colts beat the Ravens - any opportunity to force humility on Brian Billick is welcome.

Who do you want to see at the SuperBowl (Susan's answer here)?

Lake Monona, winter

Originally uploaded by sfrikken.

Susan was out taking pictures in the first snow since October (!). Love this one of a foggy, snowy backdrop of lake behind the sharp image of the tree... she notes the "line of waterfowl, in the curve of the lake."

Capitol Peek

Capitol Peek
Originally uploaded by sfrikken.

Susan took this one! "Looking SW onto the Capitol Building from the US Bank Building on the Capitol Square."

Growing pains, shrinking gains

A couple of months ago, the NY Times was singing Madison's praises as "the new Berkeley" , but yesterday's front-page story describes some of the less desirable aspects of Madison's growth, as "thousands of young professionals, retirees and former suburbanites have moved to glistening condominium buildings in the shadow of the state Capitol’s dome and only a few blocks from the University of Wisconsin’s main campus." The key issue is perceived to be concentration of population in the small downtown area, and its large population of bars. The state government is seeking to decrease the number of bars by changing licensing laws.

An article about downsizing of another sort was in the NY Times Magazine a few weeks ago. The city of Youngstown, Ohio is purposefully downsizing itself to match its current inhabitants, now half of the 170,000 people who lived there when the steel industry reigned. A creative approach, and I hope it works there and elsewhere. Short article is below:

December 10, 2006

THE 6th ANNUAL YEAR IN IDEAS; Creative Shrinkage

By BELINDA LANKS

For decades, depopulated Rust Belt cities have tried to grow their way back to prosperity. Youngstown, Ohio, has a new approach: shrinking its way into a new identity.

At its peak, Youngstown supported 170,000 residents. Now, with less than half that number living amid shuttered steel factories, the city and Youngstown State University are implementing a blueprint for a smaller town that retains the best features of the metropolis Youngstown used to be. Few communities of 80,000 boast a symphony orchestra, two respected art museums, a university, a generously laid-out downtown and an urban park larger than Central Park. ''Other cities that were never the center of steel production don't have these assets,'' says Jay Williams, the city's newly elected 35-year-old mayor, who advocated a downsized Youngstown when he ran for office.

Williams's strategy calls for razing derelict buildings, eventually cutting off the sewage and electric services to fully abandoned tracts of the city and transforming vacant lots into pocket parks. The city and county are now turning abandoned lots over to neighboring landowners and excusing back taxes on the land, provided that they act as stewards of the open spaces. The city has also placed a moratorium on the (often haphazard) construction of new dwellings financed by low-income-housing tax credits and encouraged the rehabilitation of existing homes. Instead of trying to recapture its industrial past, Youngstown hopes to capitalize on its high vacancy rates and underused public spaces; it could become a culturally rich bedroom community serving Cleveland and Pittsburgh, both of which are 70 miles away.

Youngstown's experiment has not gone unnoticed. Williams's office has already fielded calls from officials in a few of the many American metropolitan areas that have experienced steep population drop-offs. When cities hit rock bottom, it seems, planners can find new solutions for urban decay -- if they are willing to think small enough. BELINDA LANKS

Northern Lights revisited

Earth, Wind, and Sky
Originally uploaded by WisDoc.

"Taken from the shores of Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. I had been trying to photograph the Aurora Borealis a few nights ago, but it was very windy and the clouds rolled in and covered up the view. I was about to head home, but I stayed and snapped a few long exposure shots of the clouds quickly moving as well as the waves rolling towards the shore."

Misty Lake Monona

Misty Monona 2
Originally uploaded by thechrisproject.

Why I love Madison, (reason #498)

"Now, with the shuttering of this McDonald's and the one on the Capitol Square, there's not much corporate quick food available on State Street. Wendy's, Hardees, Pizza Hut and Burger King have all left the area."

[Full article from the Wisconsin State Journal linked to title above.]

Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis
Originally uploaded by Ting-Li Lin.

Northern Lights in Madison, 12/14/06

Activist girls

I told you about my appearance in the Wisconsin State Journal; one of Susan's comments was noted by The Capital Times:

One resident said the water killed her plants, while another angrily accused the Water Utility [sic] of not doing its job to provide safe drinking water for children. Still others voiced concerns about how contaminated water might affect people with already-weak immune systems, such as people with liver problems or those infected with HIV.

[Full article]

I'm in the newspaper. :-)

Susan and I attended a meeting with water utility and health officials discussing issues with the well that serves our area. My comments were well-received, and a Wisconsin State Journal reporter asked for my name afterward. He didn't quite get it right (I had written the mayor questioning the director up public health's approach, not called Schlenker directly), but it's close:

...residents at the meeting remain uneasy about what they perceived as the city's lack of response to health concerns. Deb Hanrahan, from the Marquette neighborhood, said she called Schlenker last summer and asked if the health department planned to track potential illnesses that might have been caused by exposure to manganese. She was told only that the department is keeping track of phone calls from people with concerns, she said.

"I was very disappointed," Hanrahan said. "There's a real lack of confidence here."

[Full article]

Lakeshore Nature Preserve

The Path Less Taken
Originally uploaded by WisDoc.

near Picnic Point

A Tree Without Leaves

A Tree Without Leaves
Originally uploaded by Johnny Blood.

"A large oak tree has lost its leaves against a colorful autumn sky near Madison, Wisconsin."

Red Bike

Red Bike
Originally uploaded by FlickrFinn.

"A 'red bike' docked at a rack on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Red Bikes is a community service that allows you to 'check out' and use a bicycle at no charge, like a library book."

a gorgeous capture of the Lake Monona skyline

A Glowing Madison Morning
Originally uploaded by WisDoc.

"A Glowing Madison Morning

The skyline of Madison, Wisconsin taken just as the sun was coming up over Lake Monona."