It's cold. Really cold. As in we're hoping to get up to +1ºF. And then there's the wind chill. Lots of newscasts have been spent reviewing frost bite avoidance techniques. But the state seems to be giggling conspiratorially about the cold, ever since the Cowboys lost, rendering Lambeau the venue for Sunday's big game. Wisconsinites imagine the oh-my-goodness-you-gotta-be-freakin-kidding-me frigidity is going to give us an edge. Like we're somehow impervious to it. There's a lot of group reminiscing going on about the "Ice Bowl" --- a game that neither St. Brett nor I was alive for. Honestly, when I moved to ATL and discovered how Southerners behaved around college football, I thought I'd seen the epitome of crazy. They don't hold a candle to frothed-up cheeseheads. But I like it. I love running errands around town in the midst of Packer-mania. I don't bother with wearing a coat if I'm popping in and out of a lot of places, but those who do are wearing green and gold almost exclusively. And I watch them nod and grin at one another. Perfect strangers are asking one another where they're watching the game. And the obligatory greeting "Cold enough for you?" has been replaced with "Think we can make it any colder for those *@ New Yorkers?" I really like the feel of this united group mania. Would that we'd been this unified and involved when the legislature was slogging through the budget impasse last fall, but I'll take it where I can get it. Tonight is pork schnitzel... but I think tomorrow has to be chili... with a big pile of cheese on top. Speaking of cheese, did I ever post the taken last September? (I added the sunglasses on my BIL.) Gotta love it! And even though football doesn't necessarily make it to the list of top 100 things I love, GO PACK. ;o)

Steve and I were up at 4:00 am yesterday (ouch!) to catch our flights to Montreal. He's got a conference here all week, and I'm sticking around until Tuesday night just to play. We got to the hotel a little after 1:00 yesterday and asked for a recommendation for a neighborhood in which to find a good restaurant. A five minute walk later, we found a great little restaurant specializing in charcuterie. We settled in with a couple of charcuterie sampler plates, a great bottle of wine, and watched the World Cup with the locals. My French is still a little rusty, but clumsy as I am, we're able to joke, communicate and carry on just fine. We came back for a nap, and then joined another couple we know to walk to the huge international jazz festival that's going on. After dancing around in the audience for a couple of acts, we found an outdoor restaurant with great views of two stages, found a table where we could watch both while enjoying an excellent bottle of Cotes du Rhone, a cheese plate, and followed it up with some good port. We enjoyed one act in particular, and I intend to buy their music when I get a chance. They're called "Caravan Palace" and I think they're from Paris. High energy and a great sound... couldn't ask for any more! This morning Steve and I figured out the metro (which is clean and does NOT smell like pee, as does every other I've ever been on). We took it (with some help from the very friendly locals) to a huge farmers market (Marche Jean-Talon) where we wandered around enjoying the sights, sounds, smells and tastes after starting out with some well-made espresso and chocolate/banana crepes. As cool as it is to have food from around the world at a farmers market, I fell in love with our little Madison farmer's market even more for the fact that our 300-some vendors sell entirely and only locally-produced foods. Steve had to run to a meeting, and I'm contemplating a nap. We might try to see Cindy Lauper tomorrow night. She's singing the blues as part of the jazz festival. I've always enjoyed both her voice and personality. Or maybe we'll see if we can get tickets to the Cirque du Soleil... There's no shortage of stuff going on here. I think I could live here. It's an interesting combination of big city, midwestern-style politeness, diversity, and French flavor. This is a great start to a most excellent adventure. :o)

I was too busy to ramble much Friday, so I'll do a Saturday ramble. The DH is off on one of his little excursions today, so my doggie, the cats and I are holding the house down. The sky is darkening, and I hear a boom of thunder now and again on the horizon. At times like this, I think of blue body paint, and old times at the GW and the rain dance. We need it badly. I just finished off a leisurely brunch. The simple repast as John used to say. I cracked an egg I gathered yesterday into a ten inch cast iron griddle, and it filled the whole bottom. I had to fold it over to fit the spatula under it and put it on the plate. Doubtless left by one of the old biddie hens, who is smart enough to know that the pullet's legs are banded this year. That means it's culling time at the henhouse and she's smart enough to know an egg the size of a tennis ball buys her a presidential pardon. LOL. I made a potato pattie to go with the egg, and toasted a couple of slices of the bread I baked yesterday, sopped them in real butter, and drowned them in homemade strawberry jam. It doesn't get much simpler than that, but it also doesn't get much better. Last night, we had the first veggie soup from the garden. Cabbage, green beans, celery, baby carrots, tomatoes and probably a few things I've forgotten, simmered all day in the broth from a big beef knuckle and served with a loaf of bread so hot from the oven, you couldn't even slice it. The DH and I had a ceremony early last week, honoring the first ripe tomato. It was cleaved in half, still warm, and served up with the salt shaker. You have to grow tomatoes to appreciate what I mean. I still haven't been fishing or swimming yet. It's coming down the pike. Hopefully I can scoop up a g'kid or two for the occasion. I asked myself last night is my vanity worth giving up swimming? I said no. I hope that never changes as when I was a young woman, I used to really feel sorry for the older crowd who sat by the beaches, never bringing their swim gear, and having that 'look' in their eyes. It's a positively wonderful experience for an older person. Such gentle exercise, almost weightless. I starting to see some butterflies, finally......but not the wild orgy of them I used to see before the industrial park went in nearby. The dragonflies are abundant and venture away from the pond regularly. The crawdads are burrowed deep into the stream bed and the first good rain in months should bring them back out. Summer.

How about old fashioned Chocolate Fudge and Peanut Butter ice cream all by itself? NUM !Only a few calories ! Or I've found that a nip of "Cask and Cream" helps relieve a tired body!