View of the forest from the trail (above)
If you listen to the locals, they'll tell you that Madeline Island is the only one of the Apostle Islands that the NPS "didn't have enough money to buy." Here, on Madeline, are the summer homes of the Maytags and Bristols and, oddly enough, some dude from St. Louis who bought 600 acres of forested land, cleared it, and built two huge greenhouses from which he grows and sells stock plants. And, while what he did with his property did initially shock the old summer families and locals, the fact that he "does well" seems to have made up for his environmental faux pas.
Bill's drizzle-style sandcastle (above)
So, the NPS controls all the islands but Madeline and maintains the Apostle Island National Lakeshore (which I still hope to explore day). But, the folks of Madeline, or at least the Wisconsin DNR, are concerned too with preserving the natural beauty of their island. Big Bay State Park is one such area that you can find a healthy dose of nature. We spent a couple of half days there, walking the trails and hanging out at the beach.
The trip to the Apostle Islands was awesome! We never made it to any of the smaller islands beyond Madeline (bringing along a 3 year old tends to plant you) but we still a great time. I'll update the site as I get more photos ready for posting but here are two from the Madeline Island Ferry.
Here's the run down: 
The Henske Three are heading to the Apostle Islands for a fun-filled family vacation.
On Wednesday, my friend Laura and I met for dinner at Sameem's to celebrate her birthday. Sameem's also happens to be my current fave Grand Avenue restaurant. The main man, who is the presumed owner, is a super friendly guy who is quick to greet and seat. It has great ambiance, an attentive wait staff, excellent food, and, on the weekends, a belly dancer who dances with a snake and gigantic sword. Who could ask for more? Then, we walked down the street to The Gelateria for gelato--I had 1/2 cappuccino and 1/2 chocolate. Awesome choice.
I always notice other things too. Like these Bill McClellan Motherfucker stencils. I guess they are/were a band. If you know anything about them (aside from winning RFT's "Best Band Name"), I'd love to hear about it.
But, I digress.....So, the high school question has definitely come up a lot in my post secondary lifetime, but only in the context of a conversation something like this: "Me: A lot of kids in my high school smoked cigarettes. It wasn't a big deal. Other person in conversation: My school was like that too. Where did you go to high school?" That scenario is fairly ubiquitous. You ask because you're curious or maybe you're trying to find a commonality. But, I think, that the STL version of the question is usually posed as a way to learn about a person's class and/or socioeconomic status. Either way, it never meant much to me for a couple of reasons = #1 I don't put off a "talk-to-me" vibe in new social situations, #2 I'm not usually in new social situations, and #3 it seems to be irrelevant once you've hit a certain age.
But, having a kid that's entering pre-k in the fall means that school talk has entered the Henske vernacular. What's been so surprising during our researching and evaluating and visiting in the last year is how important it is to get your kid into the right school, right away. Well, at least that's how you're made to feel.....whether it's truly important is obviously debatable. But, seriously, parents of kids entering elementary school are already thinking about secondary schools! I thought that only happened on TV. Maybe on the Coasts or in big cities like Chicago, but never the Mid-West and never STL. So imagine my surprise to not only find it in STL but to also find myself getting sucked into all of that drama and competition. For example, I was cool when Willa was wait-listed for school choice #1. Lots of competition, very few spots. Wait-listed was actually expected. But, I was emotionally and intellectually devastated when she was also wait-listed for school choice #2. That was the safety school! What now? It was like, "Well, I guess the kid will just work in a glue factory." And, that mindset continued until we found out in early May that we made it off the wait list and were enrolled in school choice #2. Naturally, I'm happy but I've also had time to go back to what-does-it-matter-anyway thinking. Of course, I say that with the confidence of knowing that at least we got into school choice #2. But, does it really matter? I suppose that the answer to that question is somewhere in that great big gray area--the same place where you find most of the answers to life's little quandaries.
Willa enjoying the Dragon at St. Margaret's of Scotland School
The Henske three went to see The Sleeping Beauty as interpreted by the Saint Louis Ballet. It was an outstanding show! The dancing was amazingly beautiful and delicate and fluid and alive. Took my breath away actually. Tear, in my eye, right now, just thinking about it...sniffle, sniffle. We also got an unexpected treat. Erin King, who was Willa's first ballet teacher at COCA, recently, as in earlier this month, quit teaching to dance with the Saint Louis Ballet. We already had our tickets but hadn't even thought about the connection until we got to The Edison Theatre today. And, there it was--her name in the program. Willa was so excited! It was too bad that she didn't get a chance to talk to Erin in her costume and have a picture taken. Maybe next time.
I've never owned a car that I really liked for more than a few months until my VW Jetta. It has everything that I need in a car: decent gas mileage, a worthy interior package, and an appealing exterior look--not too sporty, not too conservative. The only issue that I have had with the car since I bought it in 2001 is the color. I call it blue-ish. VW calls it green-ish. They even gave it a fancy paint name which is something like "midnight green at dawn in january." I think everyone else calls it "the color of pavement." As in, my car and most paved roadway surfaces are the same color. And, it must be true because I have been hit 3 times since I've owned the car. Which is how Ernie Patti Collision Center and I became good friends. And while I appreciate the awesome work that they have done rebuilding my car over the years, they have done just as fine of a job helping me to keep her clean. I take the Jetta in about once, maybe twice, a year and let them work their magic. It's a little pricey but entirely worth it. And when the Jetta comes back, she looks brand new, well as brand new as a 7 year old car with a 3 year old co-pilot can look. So, go spend part of your "stimulatin' the economy check" on giving your car a fancy bath. I did.
David Sedaris is, and I'm takin' it back 90's style, da bomb. He would be "the person that I would most like to have dinner with" except I doubt he'd go for it. My loss. Oh well. So, Sedaris has a new book of essays out titled, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. As usual, it is effortlessly witty, insightful, and hilarious. Not as laugh-out-loud funny as some of his earlier work, but really funny nonetheless. I can't decide which story is my favorite. Go buy it. Read it. Leave a comment telling me which is your favorite and why.
Ask a teacher and they'll probably tell you that they really don't get much of a summer break. You may not believe them but it's very true. Take me for instance. I teach. I get a summer break. But does the break really add up to any more than a 2 or 3 week vacation, which is what most people get who work year-round? Let's do the math. My last day of school was May 30th but I had to work June 2-4 & the 6th. So I had one day of vacation on the 5th of June. From June 9th until today, I've been writing curriculum with Laura, our Library Media Specialist. Everyday, for almost 3 weeks, working in the library (pictured above). And, while it is a beautiful library, it was also work. Since we're done writing, I'm taking tomorrow and Friday off. Now, I'm up to 3 days of vacation. I still owe the district 2 weeks of curriculum writing for my 20th Century Studies class so I may knock those out from June 30 to July 14th. Then, I'll work at least one week on planning and organizing for next year. Let's say I'll use July 15 to 21st. Now, I can start my vacation--a grand total of approximately 3 weeks before work starts back on the 11th of August. So, the next time someone wants to talk about how much time teachers get off in the summer, remember this story.
Our friends Dan and Colette have a nice little pond in their backyard that we've been admiring for awhile. It looked fairly easy to set-up so we decided to give one a try in our backyard. We bought the solar powered pump and basic heavy duty pond liner online last winter. Once we decided where the pond would go, and weather permitted, we dug the hole. Bill actually graduated the depth of the pond, giving consideration to potential freezing and, most importantly, death by cat. We took a few Henske Farm stream bed stones from a started, but never finished, walking path in the backyard and gave them new life as part of the pond habitat.
We need a few more stones to complete the project but, as you can see, the pond looks quite nice. Willa even picked out three goldfish, two tadpoles, and some plant life to add to its authenticity.
We saw an excellent line-up at Twangfest on Friday, which was sponsored by local fave radio station KDHX. I Love Math from Dallas opened. Miles of Wire from St. Louis were up next followed by Hayes Carll. All the openers were great, but the last two just felt oh so right! The Old 97's were headlining so they played last. They alone were worth the price of admission. And, I bet they played for at least 2 hours. Sounded awesome!
Tomorrow night, day 3 of Twangfest. Tomorrow night, Old 97's @ The Pageant. Tomorrow night, can't wait.
Woo Hoo! Dona and I have started considering the various destinations of our 2008 summer walks. As usual, Tower Grove and Carondolet Parks will play heavy in the rotation for a couple of reasons---#1 I live by TGP and Dona lives by CP, #2 Both are decent sized parks with lots of walking opportunities, especially on days where you want to walk for exercise rather than a potential adventure (not that I won't have my camera), #3 They are shady and scenic, especially TGP (well, I'm partial). Because I'm still gathering destinations, I would love to hear from locals who might have a suggestion for a potential adventure walk. We've typically stayed in the city-- walking its neighborhoods, parks, and sites--but there are no hard fast rules here.
