Bugs, Bike Game, Bride, and Building Project

Saturday, 10/5/19

On the last post I left off that I had just arrived in Waukesha, Wisconsin and rode, dined and stayed with Mark and Jane.

I hope to add to that.  It has been a crazy couple of days.  I lost my wallet! All my cards, my ID, some cash, gone, gone, gone.

But that is a long way from Waukesha, friends and family.

So I will start where I left off, with my first full day in Waukesha.

September 27th, 2019, I attended a wedding!  It was beautiful and fun and more.  That was in the afternoon.

In the morning I went for a walk.  I saw that Wisconsin milkweed, though it looks different than Florida milkweed, gets the same bugs.

 Mark got a game for Father's Day called Flamme Rouge?

It is a bicycle game!  Each player gets a sprinter and a roller.  You utilize drafting behind other riders and being at the front is harder...  like real bike racing.  But it is unlike real life bicycling because I won, and that would never happen on our real bikes.  Both Mark and Jane are faster than I am.
 

I don't normally get dressed up.  Even for weddings I dress up but not really dress up.  The wedding I was attending was for the daughter of the woman I met through Waukesha Literacy.  I was a volunteer tutor of English and Elizabeth was recently from Mexico trying to learn English.  I remember the first time I met her in her small dark apartment.  Her daughter Ile (pronounced EE-lay) was about one year old, walking around with a bottle.

Our lessons would often be interrupted by Ile needing attention.  We met for years and Elizabeth got better and better.  I watched as Ile grew up.  Elizabeth is now a US citizen.  She has worked very hard as a single mom.

Ile is very smart.  She waited until after graduating from college and settling into a career to get married.

Priviously I had attended a baptism for her son.  I knew how the women dress for these celebrations.  I had better dress up or stand out!

I don't have a formal dress.  So I shopped while in Rhinelander at thrift stores.  Guess how much I paid for this beautiful dress!

My sister told me not to tell. 

My sister said, "Be sure to get a prom picture!"  I had Mark take my picture before I left for the wedding.

The wedding was in a barn north of Oconomowoc.  Jane loaned me her dress rain-coat.  Thank goodness!  It was a cool and wet day.

They provided blankets and moved the services to inside the barn when it started to rain.

It was fun seeing Elizabeth's family.   Here I am with her sister.

 Elizabeth's mom gave me a wonderful hug.  She doesn't speak English and I struggle to understand Spanish.  She raised and put eight children through college as a single mom.  She is an inspiration and an incredibly strong woman.  When I visited her in Mexico with Elizabeth she was running a dress shop.  She travels to the US sometimes to buy nice dresses to sell in her small town of Luvianos.

 I also got a very nice greeting from Carolina, her youngest sister. Last I saw her she was a teenager.  Now she has two sons.  She is so beautiful!

Dang!  Elizabeth was so busy, I didn't get a picture with her or with the bride.  There was a photo booth and Elizabeth encouraged me to go down and get a picture.  I was behind a group of four girls between eight and ten years old.  It was so much fun watching them try on accessories.

The ceremony was bi-lingual.  Elizabeth gave her giving-away the bride speech in Spanish.  The bride and groom said their vows in English.  The minister did most of his talking in Spanish and sometimes interpreted in English.

The Groomsmen all did their speeches in English.

The DJ played all kinds of songs.  Some from Mexico, some from the 60's some from today.  I only danced one dance when Elizabeth pulled me onto the dance floor.  It was some kind of Mexican dance with a lot of stamping.  I was barefoot at the time and I was afraid of getting my toes stomped on.  Elizabeth was pulled away in the middle for another group photo.  I was glad to get off the dance floor and away from all those stomping boots!

At around 9:30 I was done and was half way to my car when I heard a line dance song.  A dance I knew!  I ran back in... "to the right to the right to the right, to the left, to the left, to the left, now kick now kick now kick -- walk it by yourself..."

Done, happy, I drove back to Mark and Jane's.

Saturday, September 28th was a special day.  I had not seen my son and his wife since George's life celebration last year.  Since then they had bought a house in Janesville.  Jeremy had told me I might be helping him clear out the garage a bit.  Yes!  I love to help with projects like that... I do the manual stuff, someone else figures out where to put stuff and what to toss.
 

Jeremy had already bought the lumber and watched the YouTube videos for the shelves he wanted in the garage.  After a tour of their home, I got to take apart boxes for recycling and help hold up boards and read the level.  It was fun!


Then we relaxed by a fire before dinner.  Lovely conversation, nice dinner, fun project.  Thanks Mel and Jeremy!  This was my first visit to you since George has passed and you made it super-duper!

Well there you have it.  Two more days of my trip.  Internet is slow here in the evening.  Maybe I will try again in the morning to write and post.   In the meantime, enjoy your moments.