Silver and Grace

Silver, it is a word that conjures up some different meanings.  It is both a color and a precious metal (#47 in the periodic table, with the symbol AG).  But, it also is used to refer to the elderly.  One web site denotes certain positive and negative words associated with the word silver.  Positive words, among those noted in that web site, are: illumination, wisdom, high-tech, and modern.  Some of the negative terms associated with the word silver in the same web site are: melancholy, lonely, lifeless, and deceptive.  A deceptive illumination is an apparent contradiction in terms.   The millennial generation likely thinks that silver-haired persons are not likely to be very high tech.  After all, we count on that generation to help us with our tech issues.  In relation to precious metals, silver is bought and sold daily on commodity exchanges, but plays second fiddle to gold.  Silver is also the color to represent a 25th wedding anniversary, perhaps appropriate since my mustache has turned silver from brown. On the other hand, grace is less well-defined and determinable.  It is more a state bestowed, or reached, than something you simply purchase.

Three roses, one for the two of us and one each for our two sons

While silver is used in manufacturing and other processes, it is also used a great deal in jewelry, it is mainly purchased in jewelry.  Jewelry is one method of self expression, and can be used as a sign of social status.  When a person declares their love for another, a piece of jewelry is often given to the lady, in our culture a diamond ring.  Diamonds, as the sales pitch goes, are a girl's best friend.  Diamonds and silver have demand driven in large part by culture.  It is cultural demand that drives jewelry.  Grace does not require silver, but it probably requires love.  Love does not need silver, nor does it need a diamond.  Love comes from your heart and just as importantly your soul.  Grace is bestowed by a loving and merciful God.    

A nasturtium amid the detritus of fall

As my spouse and I celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary today, the color silver will enter my mind, but only as the mark for such an event. My thoughts for part of the day will of course focus on our past twenty five years together, and what our future holds. Then my thinking will get to the real important stuff—like the upcoming Packer game against the Denver Broncos. Will the Packer offense get back on track against a tough Denver defense? Will their porous pass defense be ripped apart by an aging Peyton Manning? The thing is, my wife would not be surprised if my thinking moved to that direction.

Silver--better than jewelry?

We set a course for our lives only to see life has a way of altering our intended direction. This happened to me when I met a petite red-headed young women. When I asked her out, it was  really to get her friend, who I had met during the meeting of a local civic organization, off my back. A week or two after her friend gave me her number the friend called me wondering why I had not yet called the young lady.  I called the number because I figured it was only evening.  The course of my life changed after meeting that red head. Varied events have occurred that have affected our life as a married couple over the past 25 years. There have been illuminating moments and moments of wisdom. There have been times of melancholy and loneliness. There have been adjustments to the changing world. In a way our silver anniversary is somewhat tied to the descriptive words that web site laid out for the color silver. We have had ups and downs.  Although I hope are trajectory is mostly up. High points include the birth of our two sons.  You see and relish their accomplishments, more than you do your own. As parents you also feel their sorrows, more than you do your own. The past 25 years has seen losses, and just two examples: each of us lost our father, each lost a brother at an age too young. We have seen joys and challenges perhaps not uncommon to those faced by other couples, but there were others more unique to our set of circumstances. As I suggested in an earlier post, you know joy from experiencing sorrow.  Perhaps that is one nature of grace.  What is unique is the way our individual and collective nature has been formed by the joys and challenges that have been presented to us during the course of the past 25 years.  Marriage, like life, is a compilation of what Pope Francis terms that wonderfully complicated experience.

Canned tomato sauce

Life is complicated, We are separate individuals, each with our own DNA, each with our own views, each with our own idiosyncrasies, and each with our own mannerisms. There may be little things that annoy the other, but also little things that form pleasant memories. I am the recipient of her scowls, but also her cute little Mom-bear smile. Together we form the T-team. We make a good pair doing yard work, and freezing or canning produce. We make less of a good pair during Packer games. For some reason she does not think Mike McCarthy can hear me when I, in a firm voice, talk to the TV. She takes more than her share of the household duties. I appreciate her panoply of meals that she makes and realize that her Pinteresting benefits my taste buds at the same time it plays havoc on my waistline. When the boys were young she was the one to see them off to school. She was the one that had to put with the fire-drills. but, she was also there for some treasured moments.  It is some of the trying times that we look back with some laughter, and if not laughter than a sense of wisdom gained. Times of testing teach you more than times of bliss.

Our Wedding! October 27, 1990

Those words describing silver are a metaphor for marriage. From our perseverance we gain strength. We are together. Each marriage is unique; it is formed by the two involved; it joins individual and shared experiences each had prior to and within the marriage. Our gold wedding bands, another cultural trait, symbolize the commitment of one to the other. We study history because our past informs our present and our future  Similarly, a marriage is informed the past and present of the two involved.  Marriage is more than love, it is also about service. It is about putting the needs of another before your own.  Every now and then you come across words in a book, or movie that speak to you. This was the case last Thursday as my wife and I watched the movie “The Painted Veil.” In the movie the mother superior from a French religious order tells a young woman who has been assisting at the orphanage and convent, and where her husband had tended to a cholera epidemic before he succumb to that disease, the following: “But when love and duty are one, then grace is in you.” For 25 years that red-headed lady and I have grown together.  I see the workings of grace in some of her actions and in her smile.  On our silver anniversary, love is important, service is important, but it is those grace-filled moments we find together that is the real strength and blessing.  And so our journey continues as we pass by our silver anniversary and head to the next.

Clean and Dirty

Imagine that you are sitting in Camp Randall stadium, home of the Wisconsin Badger football team, when all of a sudden a gray-colored, smelly water-type substance, with brown hunks floating around starts to be pumped into the stadium. You find yourself running up the stairs to get above the rising level. Somewhere above the halfway point, the pumping ends, and you look below. What you see is the consequence of human action in the wastewater stream. The Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) treats, on average, 40 million gallons of wastewater a day at its Nine Springs Treatment Plant. That amount would fill over one-half of Camp Randall Stadium. Forty million gallons seems like an awful lot of waste water, but this comparison also shows the massive size of Camp Randall. MMSD serves over 340,000 persons and its territory covers about 180 square miles. It runs from Morrisonville near the north boundary of Dane County with Columbia County, south to Verona. We all depend on water and much of the developed world depends on sewage treatment plants to treat wastewater. Clean water is crucial to ourselves, and our way of life. But, as everyone knows from grade school science, all the water on the earth is already here. It recycles itself through the miracle of nature.

MMSD Service Territory
Source:  MMSD

Where ever you are in Dane County, you receive your water from the ground. Groundwater moves slowly. One example illustrates this point. The municipal wells in Fitchburg, WI go deep into what is known as the Mount Simon formation. This thick limestone layer sits right below a shale layer known as the Eau Claire acquitard. Above the Eau Claire layer is the upper aquifer, mainly a sandstone formation. While the shale layer is thought to allow some water penetration, testing of a municipal well shows that the groundwater withdrawn is older than 1950. We know this because the water, at that sampling location anyway, lacks tritium which is a radioactive isotope that is found in the shallow groundwater layer. Tritium resulted due to nuclear testing of the 1950’s and shows that the shallow groundwater is recharged by post 1950 rainwater. One hopes that the Mount Simon has good recharge, but that post-1950 groundwater has yet to reach that municipal well.

Cross-section of Dane County geology
Source:  M Gotkowitz, WI Geologic & Natural History Survey

We tend to treat water as a never ending commodity. One would think that the drought in California and some other western states would end that conception. Even in the Midwest, with our abundant Great Lakes, we take water for granted. What we need to realize is that of all the water on the earth, only about 1% is thought to be available for human use. And of course, wastewater is the back-end of human use and consumption. It results as part of the natural biological process of the human body. Everybody poops, even the Queen of England.  In many societies early treatment of wastewater was, well, limited. Prior to indoor plumbing it was not uncommon to see waste dumped directly into the street. Disease would run rampant through populations. It was one of the first great challenges of the construction of a modern society—the handling of wastewater. Let’s take one example. In 1887 Madison, WI was home to 18 sanitary districts supporting a total population of about 12,000 persons. The districts collected wastewater and piped it—to the lakes! Concern over the use of the lakes as a sanitary settling pond and for recreation raised concerns and the first treatment plant was constructed, using a chemical process. This, process, however, would be abandoned in just a few years and a septic tank with trickling filters would be put in place at what was known as the Burke plant. This would be the first use of a trickling filter in the United States. Growth in the city of Madison would prompt the construction of the Nine Springs Treatment Plant, which opened in 1928. In 1930, MMSD was formed in order to best address wastewater treatment on more of a regional basis. We trust that our water is clean when we use it, but after it is used, it is dirty.

Nine Springs Treatment Plant Construction, late 1920's
Source:  MMSD

People tend to dump whole sorts of objects down the sanitary sewer, and they cause problems. Some of these objects cause problems with the districts 18 pumps stations where they clog the pumps. On average, every week sees a pump needing be lifted out for cleaning and removal of objects that affect the pump. Most pump stations have at least two pumps, and some more than four. First, there is no such thing as flushable wipes. Just because toilet paper can be handled at a treatment plant does not mean baby wipes or other paper objects can be handled in that same manner. Second, floss also gets trapped and causes problems. A shelf in the operations room is full of quaint objects that made there way to the treatment plant—mainly toys. Yes, those objects have been properly cleaned. But, sewage treatment is challenged by other modern day occurrences.

Madison water use
Source:  M Gotkowitz

Our modern way of life affects our water quality. For example, salt use in softeners and as deicing agents have led to high levels of salt, primarily in the streams and lakes. Politicians like to put solutions on to point-source pollution control agencies, like a sewage treatment plant, because it is easier and you are not dealing with a host of private individuals. Chlorides in water is just one example. MMSD receives flow not only from homes, but also through inflow and infiltration. Storm water can make its way into the system and with it, particularly in springs rains so do chlorides. MMSD may treat about 40 mgd on a typical day, but it large rain events it has to be capable of handling over twice that amount. Phosphorus is also an issue. While most phosphorus is a result of agricultural practices (P has been banned in detergents for quite some time), treatment plants have to remove ever increasing amounts in an attempt to make up for poor agricultural practices. The easy methods have already been accomplished to remove about 95% of P, but a coming requirement to remove another 3 to 3.5% will place high costs on the rate payers, particularly if a treatment option has to be chosen. There are also other aspects. Anti-microbial clothing, for example, releases mall specks of sliver when laundered. There is also the use of pharmaceuticals which, when passed through the body, still contain hormones and other parts of drugs that end up in our waterways. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction, and just because it goes down the drain does not mean there are not consequences involved in having to handle the mess.

MMSD Treatment Plant
Source:  MMSD

Today, the Nine Springs Treatment Plant at MMSD is one of the most advanced in the world. It would cost over one billion dollars to replace. Its leadership and staff are required to look out at least fifty years in an era where most thinking is based on a few months. The treatment plant is one of a handful of plants in the nation to take most of its phosphorous and turn it into pellets for use in agricultural fertilizers. It was the first in the nation to use UV rays to disinfect the effluent. It is looking at partnerships with farmers to reduce more phosphorus, not unlike past work with dentists to separate mercury from the wastewater at the clinic. It is also looking to partner with high chloride users to reduce chloride loading. It realizes that not all solutions can be brick and mortar, but rather individual action can make a difference. Even today it still continues to study new ways of advancing treatment plant technology, often in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin.

MMSD connection to Gulf of Mexico
Source:  MMSD

As you brush your teeth, wash the dishes, or even sit in Camp Randall, think of the other end of the pipes, and the amount of water used, and how perhaps our individual actions can make a difference. Of course, your visit to Camp Randall may never be the same. Through its work with dentists, and its upcoming work with rural landowners, MMSD knows that individual choices can make a difference. It is up to the individual to take action to conserve our water and other valued resources. Progress has been made in regard to water conservation, but it is more than water conservation, it is having a calibrated water softener, it is being judicious with your use of chlorides on your driveway or sidewalk in the winter. As the MMSD executive director has noted, it takes 40 days for water to go from a tap in Dane County to the Gulf of Mexico. Our individual implications have global consequences.  Clean water is vital to our health, let's just try to keep as much as we can clean.

Playing Peoria

Playing Peoria is a phase often used, perhaps now in the past, about taking the temperature on a product or idea.  I guess Peoria is (was) considered to be a microcosm of the nation's middle class.  On this date, in 1854, playing Peoria meant something completely different than the colloquialism of  today (or recent past).  One hundred and sixty-one years ago Abraham Lincoln made a speech denouncing slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act which had been approved by congress about five months earlier.  As one writer has noted, Lincoln was an "obscure lawyer and congressional hopeful."  However, Lincoln actually won election to the Illinois House of Representatives on Nov. 7, 1854.  Three days later he would declare his candidacy for the US Senate seat from Illinois.  He would lose the senate election to Lyman Trumbell, but his Peoria speech would enunciate his principle of opposition to slavery.   This speech would be the foundation for of later speeches, including some of those in the Lincoln Douglas debates of 1858.

Stephen Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in which he argued for popular sovereignty.  That is, he wished to allow the settlers for each territory to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery.  The act would overturn the Missouri Compromise which had previously set forth a latitude as the dividing line between free and slave-holding states.  He also commented on a little recognized issue that much of the Northwest Territories were, at one time, under the control of a slave holding state, that being Virginia.  However, he would note, at the time of creation the Northwest territories were legislated as being free.  In this ground-breaking speech Lincoln would presage the the several years of violence that would follow the adoption of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.  Lincoln said: "And in this aspect, it could not but produce agitation. Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's nature---opposition to it, is [in?] his love of justice. These principles are an eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely, as slavery extension brings them, shocks, and throes, and convulsions must ceaselessly follow."   The violence resulting from the Kansas-Nebraska act was sufficiently gruesome and ugly for historians to tag the line from a newspaper to forever memorialize and etch this inhumanity--Bleeding Kansas. But yet, this speech did more than simply set forth Lincoln's opposition to slavery.  It also set forth the basic principles upon which he would rely throughout his career.  In this same Peoria speech Lincoln, going back to the Declaration of Independence, would say:

What I do say is, that no man is good enough to govern another man, without that other's consent. I say this is the leading principle---the sheet anchor of American republicanism. Our Declaration of Independence says: "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, DERIVING THEIR JUST POWERS FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED."

This quote is a longer version of what he had to say in what is now likely regarded as his most famous speech--"The Gettysburg Address." In that famous speech he said: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."  Lincoln would depend upon a document claiming that all men were created equal that was written by a Virginian who himself was a slave holder.  Lincoln would alter, overtime, his views to a certain degree.  For example, even though against slavery, at one time he supported the creation of a separate colony, or transport of the African-American population of the time to a resettlement area.  It is often difficult for us in the twenty-first century to recognize the era in history of which events occurred and the different view of the world in play at that time.  

What we need to recognize is that events today, in our enlightened world, challenge the ideals of of the era in which we live.  Just two days ago, for example, it was reported that a major sex-trafficking raid across the nation rescued 149 children.  Interesting is that Wisconsin had the third highest number of children rescued, which was nine.  As bad as that is, keep in mind that 57  adults in Wisconsin were rescued.  Eleven traffickers were arrested.  There is also the horror of what the Islamic State and other religious fundamentalists are doing through out the Mid-East. Maybe we should not be so smug in our views of prior generations.

As I complete this blog post, I think back two years and four months.  It was on June 16, 2013 when I made my first "blog" post, recounting, on the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg the importance of a regiment from Minnesota played during that crucial battle.   That post was actually accomplished as a Facebook status.  My musings on Facebook turned into a regular event, so son suggested that using a blog format would be better than Facebook, so, in November 2013, I began the formal blog. The events of Peoria and Gettysburg were nine years and a bloody civil war apart.  The blood of Bleeding Kansas would be mild compared to the blood of the Civil War.  The Civil War would become one of the defining events of the nation.  Yet, the events leading to war were formed well before, and would affect the nation long after.  Lincoln's speech in Peoria is seemingly lost to history on an American public more interested in a tweet than our collective history. While this speech set forth and would form the foundation of Lincoln's views on slavery,  it is well down the line in speeches recognized as important.  We recognize the Gettysburg Address; we recognize his House Divided speech; Some may even recall his Cooper Union speech.  Yet, in plain Peoria Lincoln would give the speech that was critical in setting forth his basic principles and would provide the basis for much of what he would say later in life.  To this we owe a debt of gratitude, and a need to acknowledge the importance of Lincoln's playing in Peoria.  While his Peoria speech is, comparatively, lost to history, what really matters is the ideals expressed on that fall day.  It is to Lincoln's continued expression of those ideals, perhaps, to which the most gratitude is owed.    

Images from Google Images

Beets Me

This past Sunday I decided to make a beet chocolate cake.  My spouse had come across the recipe, but never had the opportunity to bake this particular cake.  We had beets available from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share. With my spouse's assistance we cooked and then pureed three beets to get at least the one and one-half cups required for the recipe.  While our CSA provided us with red beets, I did grow a few golden beets in our garden.  My garden beets were rather small, about the size of a golf ball, and were considerably smaller than the red beets provided by the CSA.

Beet Chocolate Cake, made Oct. 4 (photo by author)

Some people, like one of my older siblings, likes to eat beets.  But me?  Not so much. They are good for you as they contain a great deal of fiber and vitamin C.  To the weight conscious, they are also fat free and low in calories.  So, you can get your fiber with few calories and no fat.  What a way to keep the plumbing in your body in good shape.  Beet tops can also be eaten,and they too contain good amounts of fiber and C, but also contain vitamin A.  Table beets also contain more sugar than any other vegetable, and that includes sweet corn and carrots.  Growing up my parents would eat beets; in particular I recall my Dad eating them.  Back then they were mostly boiled, or perhaps steamed.  You can, however, eat them raw or cooked.  Today you see beet top greens with their red stems turning up in pre-made salad mixes.  Of course, pre-made or pre-mixed salads are an invention of the late 20th century. Another convenience for the modern consumer too busy to take time to make a salad.  Since you can eat the beet raw, you could consider shredding some on your salad with the beet tops, arugula, lettuce, spinach and what ever other greens one chooses to eat.

One interesting fact, that I read on a California agricultural web site is that nationwide only about 10,000 acres of beets are grown in the United States.  In California, beets are mainly grown for their greens--used in those pre-made salads.  Beet greens last more than a week, which is necessary for the pre-made salads.  But, here is the kicker, that article also stated that about half of all table beets are grown in one state, which is Wisconsin.  I never would have guessed that Wisconsin would produce so much of this one crop.  Beets, both table and sugar, do well in our climate.  Sugar beets are, obviously, related to table beets, but get large, like a foot long and can weigh up to five pounds. Perhaps it is more than climate that made Wisconsin a grower of beets, but also ethnic heritage.

Sugar Beets

A common crop grown in Bohemia and the Czech Republic in the 19th century were beets.  They were not grown simply to be eaten, but for the production of sugar. Wisconsin's climate and geography reminded Czech immigrants to the United States of their native land and so Wisconsin became home to a good number of Czech immigrants.  It was not that long ago that transportation was not only time consuming, but was also expensive. The most cost effective method of transportation for many goods is by ship, and inland countries like Bohemia would probably find it more cost effective to grow beets and produce their own sugar.  The first factory to produce sugar from beets was established in 1801 in a region sometimes regarded as part of Bohemia--Lower Silesia. Beets are thought to have been part of "push" factor for Bohemian immigrants to the United States.  Small farms were being gobbled by larger operations to grow beets for sugar. Like much of the this part of Europe, this area was subjected to various rulers over time--including Poland, Germany and Hapsburg Austria.

Former Sugar Factory as seen today

An old, once elegant building in Madison behind Olbrich Gardens was first used to produce sugar from beets. Today we know the building as the old Garver Feed Mill, but it was first owned and operated by the US Sugar Company.  Sugar--a dentist full employment act.  Today, sugar beets produce about one-third of the world's supply of sugar.  This makes sense, as most every culture uses sugar, and not all are sufficiently fortunate to import sugar made from sugar cane.

Beet to Sugar Factory in Madison, was known as the "Sugar Castle"

Table beets generally are a deep red, and in fact this natural color is sometimes used to make lemonade pink, and is even used to add a fuller red color to tomato sauces. I should probably become a bigger fan of beets. But for now, I will continue to enjoy my beet cake.  I found that I can make the cake even better by slathering one of my favorite foods on top of a piece of that cake--peanut butter,  Now, I ask, what other writer would tie in beets, Bohemian immigration, a historic building in Madison, WI and a cake in one blog post?

Unless otherwise noted, all images from Google images

Picnic

This past Saturday my wife and I enjoyed a visit and picnic lunch at Devil’s Lake State Park. We tend to visit the park at least once a year. It is the third oldest state park. The park is expansive. It is the largest of all state parks in acreage. It also offers a variety of activities, and has the second most campsites of all state parks. The park is part of what is known as the wider Baraboo Range, a monadnock among which sediment accumulation at the base, and the forces of erosion have reduced the height of a once magnificent mountain range. The range is primarily composed of quartzite, which is a hard rock and is dated at 1.5 billion years old making it among the oldest rock formations in North America. Most of the activity at the park, however, occurs at the large picnic grounds on the north and south shores of the lake, and the trails to the top of the bluffs on each side. The views from the bluff are a sight to behold and on that autumn day hints of yellow and red were showing among the distant trees in the vast bluff-top view. The wide variety of recreational offerings, perhaps as diverse as any state park, combined with its geographic location make it the most visited Wisconsin state park.

Devil's Doorway, photo by author
Some may say the rocks were stacked by aliens

Being the most visited shows not only in the diverse activities offered in the park, but also in the type of persons it attracts. You have left-overs from the 1960’s enjoying the weather. You have motorcyclists and their biker companions in their leather bike gear roaring by. You have young and old alike climbing the strenuous trails to get to the top of the bluff. There are rock climbers sitting next to a mid-level bluff trail awaiting their turn to scale one of the sheer quartzite rock faces. There are young and old enjoying water activities. A number of watercraft rentals occurred on this mild autumn day. The number of persons in the water was not significant, mostly children, but some adults. Some would wade in the water mumbling at the varied stones that make stepping difficult. The coming of age millennials, off-spring of the baby-boomers, show an energy that a boomer can now only admire, or look back on with some envy. The diversity, however, is more than the type of activity, the demographics or even the socio-economic status. It is also ethnic and cultural.

The ethnic diversity was clearly shown this year as my wife and I began our walk to the pot-hole trail. The first three groups we met, as we were just beyond the parking lot, spoke a language other than English. Two of the groups were likely from Eastern Europe, the other from Asia. The Wisconsin Dells area employs a high number of Eastern Europeans to work as guards at their water parks, and clean their hotel rooms. Being from the Midwest we tend to be friendly and provide a greeting to those we meet on the trail. Some would respond in English, although heavily accented, and then carry on a conversation in their mother tongue with others in their group.

Portion of trail map of park, google images

A trip we made to the park in the summer of 2014 was a day the park was very heavily used. People were almost on-top of one another at the picnic grounds. The parking lot, and overflow parking was so full that cars were parking on Southshore Drive as far as one could see. There were people playing Frisbee that we had to duck, you had to navigate a maze of blankets and picnic gear to get from the beach to your picnic table. People being people, piled trash in the restrooms, even though the park policy is carry-out what you carry-in. However, that summer day also showed the aromas emanating from a variety of grills wafted through the air combining to cause a mixture of olfactory pleasure. The fare was not just brats and burgers. Some ethnic groups were grilling food common to their custom. It was like being at a foreign food festival, but without the chance to taste the variety of foods.

Last Saturday a few things took my notice. First, was the Chinese family, a man, two adult females and a small child. They were dressed as if they had an important event to attend, not unlike people would dress today for a wedding. While the man did not have a tie on, he had on a dress shirt, nice dress trousers, and dress shoes. They took it upon themselves to rent a paddle boat. They were fortunate that the concessionaire, seeing their predicament, dried the dew off the seats, and waited for them to load and then pushed them in the water. The return journey required the man to remove his shoes and socks and roll his pant legs up to knee level to get out and pull the boat back to the sandy and stone shore. This was a contrast with the typical attendee in shorts and t-shirts. Also in contrast was the second group we noticed. A group of Mennonites were at the far west shelter in the south shore day use area. There you could see them, women standing in a group outside the shelter, and the men in the shelter sitting down. Some of the women would walk along the shore, their light blue shirts, and white bonnets, one waded in the water. Interesting, is that most we say were young, typical millennial age group or younger. The men in their black jeans and light blue or green shirts would walk by our picnic table perhaps on their way up the bluff. A few young couples walked by together, but that seemed more the exception. One thing I did notice, and was consistent with Mennonites we saw at the top of St. Peter’s Dome was that they did not have individual water bottles but a couple quart sized water containers for shared use. Most others, if they had a water container, had an individual water bottle. The Mennonite group was in contrast to the group at the center shelter, a fair distance off the lake. A birthday party was being held, a typical American event with balloons drawing guests to the shelter.

View from a bluff, google images

Also present were four legged guests. With the water-beach interface occupied by only perhaps 30 persons at the most, some people took liberty and would take their dogs down to the water, ignoring the “No Dogs Allowed” signs. With the number of dogs in the water at the far west end of the beach, perhaps that area was reserved for dogs. The furry creatures would run in the water to fetch a ball and then return to shake themselves out. Some persons took their dog on a canoe ride. Whether the dogs left some undesirable debris along the lake shore, I choose not to check.

Most groups that walked by had conversations, at least those in English, that seemed rather common. There was one millennial, however, who was walking down the path with a female friend, who was trashing his mother. Metaphorically speaking, he said to his partner, that “his mother can take the wind out of my sail.” He would go on to recount how one can be doing really well enjoying the day and then his mother comes along and bam, there is no more fun, there is no more joy. She would destroy his day. She just sucks the life out of the guy. While it made me chuckle a little, my wife had a discernibly different reaction, wondering if that is how her children talked when not in her presence. While moms hold a family together they also get the grief. Perhaps at some point that young man will make the recollection that was made famous (I think by Mark Twain) and apply it to his mother when commenting that he was amazed how much his father had learned over the span of four years from his child’s late adolescents to early adulthood.

Size of Devil's doorway, photo by author

One never knows what you can observe on a picnic at a state park. Our Saturday visit to the south shore showed the richness of the varied cultures that occupy the nation. One does not need go to a large American city to see the diversity of culture, you only need to visit a state park. The cultural milieu of the nation can be observed at Devil’s Lake State Park. Devil’s Lake is within the larger Baraboo Range which, according to the Nature Conservancy, is home to over half (or about 135) of the 226 bird species that breed in Wisconsin. Over 250 species of birds nest or pass through the area. Devil’s Lake State Park may be one of the top jewels of our state park system, but the richness and diversity of its natural environment and activities provided is matched by the human richness of ethnicity and culture of its guests. In the end, our visit was an example of what Pope Francis referred to in his recent US visit when commented that the nation should celebrate its differences.

What I found the most surprising is, how few digital photos I could find of Devil's Lake, considering all the times we have been visited. I thought for sure I had the camera last year, but I could not find any photos

35 Years Ago

It was on this date, 35 years ago that my mother, Mary Jeanne Sweeney Hovel, passed from life on this earth. She was born in Chicago, IL on 1 October 1923 to an Irish father and a German mother. Mom was a product of the neighborhoods in which she was raised. After schooling, and time for discernment, she would marry and then venture a few hours north to make her home with her husband in Sun Prairie, WI. She, and my Dad, were part of the Greatest Generation, which not only saw the US through a horrible conflict, but would forever change the course of our world. They, and other members of their generation, would see a rapid change in the built and social environment of the nation. With others of that generation, they would produce a demographic tsunami the consequences of which we see in our economy to this day. Mom and Dad produced their share of that demographic tidal wave, by having ten offspring. Their first child was born in 1948, just days into the new year; their last child would be born in the fall of the last year (i.e. 1964) recognized as the baby boom generation. In between in 1957 the largest population cohort of the baby boomers would be born, and so to with our family as Mom gave birth to twins. (But for my brother wanting more space and pushing me out, we were to have been born in 1958.)  Thus, the family would span the breadth of the baby boom generation. We became part of the great American experiment that changed our land use, would alter the nation's social mores, and in so doing change the fabric of the nation. In our family we were a mix of ancestry—German, Bohemian, and Irish. A combination now not unknown.

Leo Sweeney Family

However, in early 20th century America, the mix of ancestry of was in its early stages. While the US is often thought of as a melting pot, it was more of a stew, as ethnic enclaves were formed from large cities to small towns. These urban enclaves, began forming in the mid-19th century and continued into the first part of the 20th century. What resulted was a social, political and religious environment that would form the values of generations. Mom's values were formed in a big city, but my Dad’s values were formed by his growing up on a farm next to small communities in Iowa and Wisconsin. While there were marked differences in the built environments from which they arose, both had some crucially shared values of faith and family. These elements would dominate their life not only growing up, but in raising their own family.

Mary Jeanne Sweeney

Historians and urban sociologists tell us that in a number of large urban centers, particularly in the northeast and Midwest, neighborhoods were identified not by their polity, but by their neighborhood Catholic Church. Putnam and Campbell say that even non-Catholics would identify their neighborhood by that Catholic parish.  The church served not only as the religious center, but also as the social center and welfare center. One example in mass media is in the movie “Cinderella Man.” When James Braddock was fighting Max Baer, the neighborhood residents gathered in the parish church to listen to the fight on the radio. This was the depression era, and the church was the unifying institution on which people depended. Today, the German and Irish have moved on from the neighborhoods in which they, or their ancestors, were formed and with that move certain bonds and values were affected.

For some reason, even though my mother was half German and half Irish she identified more with the Irish side. You never saw her, or really anyone, celebrate St. Boniface day.  But, she did celebrate St. Patrick’s day. Perhaps it was that the German’s became more of just another ethnic group, whereas the trials which the WASP nation put the Irish through was a different matter. Ireland was dominated by the English, and so the ruling and dominant Anglo class in the US would make life for the Irish in the US less than desirable. This of course had the effect of drawing the Irish closer to their own kind, and to the neighborhoods and the one institution they shared in common—the Catholic Church. My mother would be educated at Catholic schools. My father’s family moved from rural Iowa to Sun Prairie so he could be educated at Catholic schools as well.  Even though one was raised on a farm in rural Wisconsin and the other in the then second largest city in the nation, they had common values.

Mary Jeanne and Roy Hovel

My mother would give birth to and raise ten children. She would bear the heartache of having lost a son in a tragic accident when he was only 4 years of age. As much anguish as that loss produced, I cannot help but think she was also pushed beyond her chronological age by other events. She was pushed by ten births, She was pushed by many other pregnancies which were only part-term. Maybe she was also pushed through the actions of her prodigy. As much laughter as the stories of the antics bring in later years, they probably were not very funny at the time, at least to her. Although I am sure my Dad found some of them quite funny. After all it was my Dad who caught on his movie camera a fight between my two oldest brothers.  While Mom is screaming for them to stop, my Dad has his Kodak movie camera moving around the action.  The most surprising thing is that one of my brothers did not slug him.  We would often hear the comment from Mom..."Oh, Bernard that is not funny!”  Other antics were more than my brother wearing his short tails out. Or, my Dad bringing a pony up the steps into the back hall. They were antics not totally uncommon to boys and girls of the age, but the antics tended to be multiplied by the mere fact that there were ten children, of which there were seven sons before a daughter.  We proved the adage that boys will be boys.

Being self-employed my Dad was at work quite often. He worked long hours, particularly during tax season when he would return to the office for a few more hours of work each night. As was not uncommon, he was also immersed in various civic and church groups. My mom ran the household. Again, that was not unusual for the day. It was a different era than that seen by the helicopter parents of today. We walked to school, we walked or biked to visit friends. We climbed trees and played in the creek. We would be set outside during the summer only to return for lunch and dinner. Of course, many of our activities were in our large yard, if not within a few blocks. We got hurt, but we survived, even if few stitches were required. We (or me) built ramps on which we would ride our bikes, and then would place pedal cars and tractors and try and jump over those too. It was not unlike what was in “Sandlot” or other movies representing life of an era and childhood that as we age we tend to look back on with fondness rather than enmity. Mom’s life was the care and well-being of her children. She was not a helicopter parent, but was sufficiently present to provide necessary guidance. Of course, she had eyes in the back of her head. Her mother’s intuition was very strong. Her life likely mirrored many other mothers of the day. Having grown up in an urban area, she would raise her family in the suburban culture as Sun Prairie moved from a rural farming community to a suburb of Madison.

Mom and Dad

She was a city girl that appreciated the five acres her large boisterous brood had available to roam. In Sun Prairie today, my lone brother to live in Sun Prairie notes, the term “are you one of the Hovel boys” is still asked of him. Perhaps less common than 35 or 50 years ago, but it is still present. In a then version of Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, her phone network often had her hearing of some the antics of a child before they returned home. It was a small town where you really could not get away with anything. The words we did not want to hear were “Wait to your Father gets home.” Although her punishment was often more exacting than his. Yet, it was still the threat. Not unlike what the Barone boys saw between Marie and Frank in some of the stories told on “Everybody Loves Raymond.” We would go to church Sunday mornings at 9:00 am. Sunday was my Mom’s morning off from kitchen work, as my Dad would do the cooking—generally pancakes and bacon or sausage. Of course, the young two being spoiled had bunny shaped pancakes, with chocolate chips for eyes.  Her life was one of service, primarily to her children. Her success was not measured in the deals she cut, the money she made, or some other common measure of success. Rather, her success was in raising a large family.  She was quite self-less, not after for her own personal gain, but rather the gain of her family. Yet, her actions moved beyond the family.  When friends needed assistance she was there.  She was well practiced in the lost art of letter writing.

The institutions in her Chicago neighborhood that were important to her have been in decline. Mobility has altered the way we live; our form of development has helped to decrease the importance of some of the institutions on which families of her growing years depended. These institutions have been significantly damaged by a variety of forces, some self-inflicted. Today, it is often not the common good which is important to a person, but rather what an individual can get for him or herself. The individual nature, rather than individuals forming a collective consciousness, can be seen in many different facets of what we refer to as our post-modern world. In their basic form, institutions are a collection of persons with a common interest, which should work to advance the common good.

Tombstone in Sacred Hearts Cemetery, Sun Prairie, WI

Times have changed between my mother’s childhood in Chicago and when she raised her own family. Times have changed between my being raised and my current age. Of course, we should not expect things to not change, life would be rather dull and boring if it did not change. Yet, the aspect of community, our "common home," seems to be less important as individualism takes hold. Individualism can be good, individual activity can drive advances, but like all things, it needs to be tempered by some other aspect, and that aspect is community.  My mother showed the true value of caring for others.  A value instilled by the family and larger community of which she was apart.  She understood the value of the common good, and the role an individual plays to assist the larger institution or community in which they participate.   She would understand the comment by St. Thomas Aquinas who (as quoted recently by Martin O'Malley) wrote: “Any seeker of a higher truth or of God, must eventually and inevitably come back to the idea of community.” As time has lingered, some of the memories I had of her have unfortunately diminished.  Yet, the lessons learned, and virtues formed through the institutions that formed me, including the family unit, continue to inform.

Can Never Have Enough....

Last week my wife said something I thought I would never hear. No, it was not what you may be thinking. She said she was going to miss zucchini. By this time of year, who in their right mind would utter such a comment? One does not have to be a long-term gardener to know that zucchini are the rabbits of the vegetable family. They keep coming, and coming, and coming. By September you have pretty much have had your fill of zucchini, and other summer squash. Most would prefer not to see one again, but of course the following late spring, you have once again planted zucchini knowing that you have at least one crop that will produce. By this time of year you may be wishing for a frost more to get rid of the zucchini plant than to tone down the mosquitoes.

Two over-sized patty-pan squash

Left unattended for too long zucchini will get as big as whiffle ball bat. They get so big, JK Rowling missed the mark by not having a zucchini be the big club to fit into the giant hands of Hagrid’s half-brother Grawp in the Harry Potter series. Daily trudges to the garden are necessary to keep zucchini in check. Although, under the giant leaves they become hidden where they are difficult to notice and then they reach a size disproportionate to your desire. But, you can find a use for them, whether it is in baking bread, or cubing or cutting. This is where my wife has developed a new found love affair for zucchini. She purchased a spiralizer that can take normal sized (if there is such a thing) hunks of zucchini, and she has even done this to patty-pans, to create small noodles. I have to agree they are quite tasty, at least the way she prepares them. She has well expanded her repertoire for cooking summer squash that she actually enjoys the challenge of using this ever abundant crop. I have to say her culinary preparation of the summer squash family has had the effect of expanding my waistline. As one example, she has improved upon a recipe of oatmeal zucchini bread. I enjoy the bread which I love to, much to her chagrin, slather with peanut butter.

I need to admit that I have been an enabler for her cooking of zucchini. When I was in the library last week I happened to see a cookbook sitting for all to see titled The Classic Zucchini Cookbook. This book offered 225 recipes for zucchini and all types of squash. With zucchini being ever present I was surprised to see it not only so visible on and end cap display, but that it was still there. Perhaps it proves my thesis that all others are by now tired of zucchini and cannot wait for the first frost. An on-line search showed eleven copies in the South-Central Library system for just this one cookbook. She was as excited as teenage girl receiving seeing her rock idol when I showed her the cookbook. I think she wants to get a copy to add to her cookbook collection. As of last Sunday, she has made three recipes from that cookbook.  Three vary different dishes. Who knew you could get such variety with zucchini.  All were quite good.

Omelet made with zucchini with other garden vegetables

As fall begins to set in our summer squash crop will produce less and less.  This week we pulled the zucchini out, due to disease, and the patty-pan will likely follow in the next week or two, provided we do not have a frost.  I harvested the last zucchini for the season this past Sunday.  The days are shorter and the garden is in shade shortly after the Packer-Bear game kickoff.  Not much sunlight for a productive crop, even if it is zucchini.  For many recipes you cannot use frozen zucchini. Frozen will not work in her new toy--the spiralizer. I suppose a benefit of the spiralized zucchini is that is healthier than eating flour noodles. On the other hand, eating all that zucchini oat bread, while tasty, is probably not all that good for the body.  I can, however, justify eating it by knowing that she took the recipe and cut out some of the fat content.  The nice thing with zucchini bread is it can be made with zucchini that had been frozen.  As fall approaches and our zucchini supply has now come to an end, my wife will need to content herself with either purchased zucchini or regular noodles. As inventive as she is, however, perhaps she will spiral up some other vegetable to replace a noodle. That than gets to the question, can one ever have too much zucchini?