I have had a couple of weeks of stress, fun and stupidity.  First my good friend’s husband died and I went with her to Iowa to plan his funeral.  I am so glad that I could be with her and we had a lovely long ride and a chance to talk a lot about our feelings and such.

A group of friends gathered and drove together to the funeral that Saturday.  Two and a half to three hour’s drive each way.  We did stop in a little town on the way home and had a tour of the place and we girls had a pizza.  The boys weren’t hungry.  It was called The Silent Woman in Fennimore, Wisconsin.  Very cute atmosphere.  The pizza was undercooked and Nancy sent hers back.  They topped the pizza with balsamic vinegar.  Very interesting!

On Thursday night, Garnet, Lauri and I went to Madison, Wisconsin.  It took a while to get there as Wisconsin has decided to go into orange barrel mode.  County T had a detour that I had forgotten when we drove through for the funeral.  And then a little farther up they had another detour.  Garnet sat next to me and brooded that we were lost and wouldn’t make the concert.  She is such a fraidy-cat!

We finally made it to the roundabout in Oregon, Wi and I missed my turn so we had to make another round about the roundabout.  Take about embarrassing!  Lauri had sent me a map of a DETOUR to take because we were hitting Madison at rush hour.  It took forever to drive this country back road to get to Target where we were meeting Lauri.  We went through another roundabout but I refused to do it a second time for Garnet.  The most aggravating thing was that Lauri kept texting me and Garnet couldn’t figure out my phone.  (She can’t figure out hers either.)  So I finally stopped and texted Lauri that we had just crossed Fish Hatchery and that must have made her satisfied as she quit texting me.

We made it to Target and gathered in Lauri’s car and headed off to the Mexican restaurant that Lauri had decided to introduce us to.  She almost ran a red light before I screamed for her to stop.  We were busy talking and chatting.

We had dinner at the Mexican restaurant and I had a delicious chiies rellenos, a tamale and a tostado.  Topped that off with a Corona with lime.  That being taken care of we ventured on to our destination.  We went to the Majestic Theatre in Madison to see one of my favorite bands, Over the Rhine.

I had ordered tickets way back when I saw they were coming and the week before the Majestic emailed me that if I wanted box seats to call the phone number listed.  I called and said I wanted three box seats and gave them my name, phone number and number of the tickets.  I never heard back.

When we got to the box office I asked the girl at the ticket booth if I had been okayed for the box seats.  She checked her computer and asked if I was Marla.  No, I’ve been called a lot but not Marla.  She asked about another name but it wasn’t mine.  I was so pissed!  When I got the tickets initially I asked for the box seats and they told me that their theatre was general admission and first come first serve.

We headed in to get our seats.  The balcony seats I had asked for were empty and I told the girls that we were taking them and if we got thrown out, so be it.  I volunteered to go get the beers.  Figured if we got thrown out I wouldn’t be present.  Not really, I just wanted to treat my girlfriends to a beer.

Well we didn’t get thrown out.  We sat right above the stage for the entire concert.  First up was Lucy Wainwright Roche whom I had seen before with OTR and she is quite good.  She has a very interesting voice that I cannot describe.  She is the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III who wrote Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road.  I hate it when people mention that song because it becomes my next brain worm.

She did a very short session and we all headed to pee one by one so as not to lose our snarfed box seats.  We got settled and the lights dimmed and out they came.  They had a guitarist, mandolinist, other stuffist guy and I didn’t catch his name.

Karen let us know that they were a little low key because they had lost the Big Blue Dog, Minnie Pearl that week.  It broke my heart.  Lauri lost her husband one week and had to put one of her dogs to sleep the next.  My Jessie had died in March.  We all shared a moment of dog love.

They did manage to play one of my favorite songs, Born.  It goes, “I was born to laugh, I learned to laugh, through my tears.  I was born to love.  I’m gonna learn to love without fear.  Great song.  Yes, I cried.

The concert was very laid back.  Garnet had threatened to dance but they only played one song to dance to and she refused my request.  Bitch!

They played their set and came back with Lucy W R and did a really great version of a song that slips my mind right now.  Song about everybody needs someone to love.  But it was a song from a man’s perspective and Lucy and Karen kicked its butt!  (After the fact I thought of it.  It was Hungry Heart by Bruce Springstein.)

Then they finished with OTR doing an easy going version of All My Favorite People which is a song Karen wrote when her mom was in a nursing home and she realized that all of her favorite people are broken.  Really touches your heart.

Lauri got us safely back to my truck at Target and said our goodbyes.  Garnet reminded me of the detours and I made my mind to take a different route.  When we got close to the Amish farms in Brodhead, I headed east to the first road and took that south.  I was sure it would take us to Route 11 and we ended up riding for quite a while in a lovely but kind of spooky country road.  At this time Garnet started on her whine about being lost and having to call her hubster to come and save us.  I asked her if she had locked her door.  She quickly did.

I was just hoping that we wouldn’t come across a bunch of deer.  She was hoping we would see civilization which we didn’t see for quite some time.  A light came over the next hill just about when I was ready to stop and get out my smart phone.  We ended up in Orfordville, which is the home of the famous Knute’s Bar and Grill.  They have this blue gill and walleye fish fry on Fridays which is fabulous, if you’ve never been there. And their potato pancakes are the best ever!  It is well worthwhile.  We were just a few miles out of Brodhead on Route 11.  Told you so!

We went through Brodhead and took Mt. Hope Road to Stateline Road and made it home safely about 12:30.  Garnet and I said goodnight and she drove home in the dark and I was so worried about her but she texted me and said she made it safely.

My next adventure this week was the annual Lake Summerset Garden Club’s Fall Plant Sale, of which I was in charge for the first time.  I had ordered my $200 in small bills and a money box from the bank in Davis.  Plants had been ordered, signs made, put a notice in three papers and put it on the Neighborhood on-line site for Lake Summerset.  I was all set.

I packed up my truck with my supplies the night before and was all set for Saturday at 6:45.  I got to the front gate and put up my signs and started setting up.  The lady who was in charge last year was there to help me get set up.  Little did I know that the email to garden club members had said to be there at 7:30 and not 7:00 as I had scheduled.

The truck arrived at 7:00 and the two older folks who delivered and we two gardeners started unloading.  The guy who drove the truck said, “All your volunteers are watching us and will show up when we are finished.”  What an attitude!  At 7:30 several volunteers arrived on time and we finished unloading the truck and van.

We had to count the plants before we started and I kept getting 120 of mums instead of 130.  Stupid calculator.  I’m used to an adding machine.  We counted again and I was satisfied.

Just about the time we got into full speed with the plant sale it started to rain.  I hadn’t thought to bring a jacket because it was supposed to rain a little and stop.  The wind was bad and we were all soaked in no time.  We actually sold quite a few plants despite the rain.  One lady had an extra jacket and I put it on.  I was out there in shorts and a tee shirt and they all had on parkas and umbrellas.

One volunteer admired my naturally curly hair.  Naturally fuzzy if you ask me! I took a photo of the volunteers but they insisted that I be in the photo so one lady volunteered to take the photo.

Just before my second crew arrived the group insisted that I go home and change my clothes and wet shoes, which I did.  The dog acted as if I had been gone for a week.

I got dried off with fresh clothes and went back to the sale.  At the end we had nine mums and two asters left.  Not bad, not bad at all.  I went back later to take down my banner and the security chief bought two mums and the two asters.  Seven mums were left and I am taking them to the Garden Club meeting on Monday, where I am the speaker for the day.

I am giving a presentation tomorrow to the Garden Club on vegetable gardening.  I don’t know how many will show up for this.  I can’t imagine it is an interesting subject for most gardeners.  Most of the gardeners have really pretty yards whereas I have a vegetable garden and a so-so yard.

Today I am practicing my presentation.  I hope to get outside and tackle my tomatoes which are pretty much done for the season.  I also want to get a few weeds out of my flower and shrubs.  I also have to change the hummingbird feeders and it will probably be the last week for the birds to come visit.

Fall is a wonderful time but I start getting depressed because I know winter is coming.  I used to enjoy winter and went cross country skiing and walking on the frozen lake but I am older now and afraid of falling and being unable to get up.

After tomorrow’s presentation, I plan to veg for a while.  I was thinking of going to Cheese Days but heard it is a crowd of thousands and I can’t deal with that any more.  Although I am a cheese addict I think I will stick to the house or maybe go kayaking with Garnet.

I also have a class on Thursday night this week.  I am taking a class to learn to use my I-phone.  I am very excited about that as I am constantly embarrassed that I can’t figure out how to use it properly and to my advantage.  Wish me luck.

Peace be with you.