Halloween 2006 - Spooooooky Ghosts

We went old-school this year. We cut eyeholes in sheets, tossed them over our heads, and headed out for a beer and some spooooky "booing" on Pearl St. We weren't out late but we had fun "scaring" people. Mostly, people just smiled at us. I guess they knew that we were friendly ghosts.

Tea Bonanza

I'm not sure how many details I should write about our tea bonanza. I guess I'll start at the beginning. Mike and I have always liked tea. But when we first had loose-leaf tea at Lau Laan Xang in Madison we had to start brewing loose-leaf on our own. And, as you can imagine, we started reading about tea and "preaching" to our friends and family. We managed to convert Nichole and Matt to loose-leaf tea.

Things got exacerbated when Mike got an ulcer last year and has had to quit drinking coffee. It turns out that tea is easier on his tummy than coffee. So this fall Mike starting researching tea...every night (I'm not exagerating) he read about tea and looked for places to order tea from. Luckily (?) he found a place to order tea directly from China. And recently we placed an order for 11 teas (three varieties) and two teapots. The order arrived last week. We got 7 bricks of Puerh, 1 bamboo stick packed with Puerh, 2 bags of green tea, and an oolong. (I can't help but feel like singing "fiiiiiive golden rings.")

So I took a picture of Mike with the uber-ridiculous pile of tea (an investment by the way because Puerh appreciates with age) and thought I should share.

Visiting Bledsoe

On Saturday October 20 I got to spend the day with Bledsoe. In the morning Becky and I met him and his children, Aidan and Gianna, at the farmer's market. Then in the evening I got him to myself. Mark and I took a blizzardly drive to a wine bar on Madison's west side. We spent some hours sipping wine and catching up. It had been years and our lives have taken many turns since we'd lasted enjoyed each other's company. We agreed that we missed cooking with each other...never before or since the cooking days in Madison have we found those special people who enjoy cooking and sharing kitchens and ideas almost more than they enjoy the food. The specialty we shared with Bledsoe: decadant and lengthy breakfast parties.

Carving Pumpkins

Saturday was like four different days. Day 1) In the morning Becky and I went to the Farmer's Market with Bledsoe and his kids. When he headed out to a football game, Becky and I warmed up from the cold rain in Ancora with Madison's best coffee. Day 2) Then she took me to Epic's new campus... What an unbelieveable campus! The details put the place over the top. Each wing of the campus had its own theme, funky (and a little nerdy) artwork was sprinkled throughout, and the conference rooms were designed to the max. The "Lake" had blue wavey-looking carpet, the "Galaxy" had stained glass windows that looked like outer space, planets inlaid in the wooden conference table, and a bomber globe, and one of the "Antarctic" rooms had white sparkly tile floors and a stuffed bear for a footrest. The entrance had a two-story tree: the bottom was hollowed out for kids to play in and when you walk up the staircase that wound through the canapy you could see artistic sculptures of tree-life (squirrels and whatnot). I know this description does no justice to it all. Mainly, I just want to try to remember. Day 3) After oohing and ahhing at Epic, we returned to Becky's apartment to carve pumpkins. For dinner we went to Lau Laan Xang...the Willy street restaurant was closed but luckily we had the patience and smarts to look up the number and, luckily, found out that there was a second location just up the road. Day 4) When we exited the restaurant we found ourselves in a midwest, early season blizzard. We ventured back to the west side where I met Bledsoe for drinks and Becky met her boyfriend to welcome him home from his trip to Poland. Whew! What a day!

Meanwhile, back in Colorado Mike was carving pumpkins with Danielle and Lyle with powertools!!

Lunch with Old Friends and Beer at the Terrace

I spent Friday morning working at Becky's office in the TDS building. For lunch, Becky had arranged to meet some of my old coworkers/friends for buffet lunch at the Maharajah. So we met and ate with Dave, Mike, and Jim. All three of them have new babies at home so most of our conversation revolved around the topic of children. It is only a little weird to be outside the Epic crowd...and it reassured me that I made the right decision leaving five years ago.

After lunch I got to meet Kylan. Jess and Rob drove all the way from Milwaukee to see me. We spent the afternoon together. We went to the Terrace and had some beer. Well, Kylan didn't get any beer no matter how much he asked for it. I must say that I am entirely impressed with Jess and Rob. They are still themselves with the baby and the family-love is just so strong that it radiates from them all. When we got to the bottom of the pitcher we went for a stroll up State St. before heading to Becky's for dinner. We had an old favorite - Glass Nickel. Honestly, I'm glad Jess and Rob remembered because I had shamefully forgotten about Glass Nickel...even though it was a staple in my Madison diet.