Just today I was thinking, “Too bad I don’t have access to pacifica radio. I want something really out there.” In switching my radio from A.M. to F.M. and finding the NPR station I found BBC on the hour and started listening. A Madison station have a fund drive. Oh, my! It’s community radio; it’s Pacifica. And it’s everything I love about Pacifica–irreverent and smart-alecky and they have a labor news segment, a woman’s news segment and every kind of music you can think of. Once a week they have a 2-hour show in Mong. Democracy Now airs here so I’ll get to check it out after hearing an interview on On The Media. This is one of the reasons I moved to madison, to get some real local flavor. Who would think Pacifica would be here. Just listening to the books they are giving away for becoming a member could be worth the price of admission. A great line: Free Speech Ain’t Cheap. And their tea-shirts are union made.

It only took 3 tries and checking the documentation for the correct email address. I was close, but computers are stuck on exact.

It’s been a while since I did an emailed post so let’s see how this goes. Yesterday I attended a sort of Taize service at church. I say sort of because it was day 1 of an experiment. I think we were in what some folks would call the chancel but is not called that in a Baptist church. We were where the choir sits, near the piano. Around us people were getting ready for the multi media youth service. Everyone runs late. This experiment will be live for 3 months on the 1st Sunday of the month. You see how confused all this is. We did some Taize singing with some Scripture and some prayer. It lasted half an hour. The pianist doesn’t want to play the chants repetitively. Twice and he wants to move on. Singing some in Latin, which he did, blew the other folks away. Fortunately, it was one of the Latin ones I knew so could join him. When we got all done, and we were giving feedback, I said, “I want a kyrie elaison.”" I also discovered the others think of prayer as for individuals while I was contributing for this and for this and for this. What can I say? I’ve hung out with litanies for a long time. Anyway, several more people expressed interest in the service. I ride with the leader and we talked if another time would work for the group though maybe next month more will be interested. It was a good contrast to the youth service. ...

As I write this, it is 48 degrees and windy. Fortunately, the heat is on and the talking thermostat is installed and working well. it was quite a shock to listen to the Brewers game today with the game time temperature in Philadelphia at 72. I think it was 49 here. Went off to church for dinner, discussion and Bible study. Still getting to know people. They are patient with me and work hard to identify themselves which is very nice. Elwood was very restless. He doesn’t like a cold floor on which to lay down and Bible study ran long. He wanted to go home. ...

No wonder I felt chilly this morning. It is currently 42 with a wind chill of 35. I only wore a fleece outside. The winter Crocs and socks work very well.

I’ve been using the FM tuner in my Iriver mp3 player to listen to my NPR station. In Madison, I get Wisconsin Public Radio so there’s little local news but some state news. It’s not a really powerful radio. I had my boombox sitting on the work station which wasn’t good for reception. I brought it into the dining room but it wouldn’t work. The batteries were dead. I finally checked it out in the bedroom and the radio worked if plugged in. I brought it back to the dining room. No soap. On a hunch, I threw the switch in the living room. Voila. This particular socket is controlled by the switch. Now the radio is working fine and the Brewers’ game is on. It’s a Milwaukee station. Two stations away the same game is playing out of Chicago. Not looking good for the Brewers in the 3rd inning.

You would think it would be pretty straight forward to check in with 2 kids to determine their schedules so their grandparents could see everyone when they visit in Wisconsin. Not so. I will have to track them down.

Today I went shopping with 2 new friends from church. We hit Good Will first. I found jeans, shirts of various kinds, tan pants, a wool pair of pants, a merino sweater to match and a comfy red valore shirt. My discount card from Good Will is not valid in Madison. Elwood hung out with our driver. Elwood does not like hanging out but he doesn’t like changing rooms either. Then we went to lunch–an Albanian owned diner with American style food–very pleasant. Elwood was very good as he and I were reunited and basking in that was enough for him. We did Walmart afterward to find a few things unavailable at Good Will. A good time was had by all and will be repeated when they return from Upper Michigan peninsula.

Sunday I went out to lunch with my ride and some family members. Not all the people in the “family” are directly related to one another which makes it remarkable that they consider themselves family. I had the opportunity to review a Braille menu which was not only incomplete in the meals offered but some of the words were cut off. The folks were startled that the Braille did not follow the large print. I was surprised they thought it would as they are different sizes. Afterwards, we stopped at the farmer’s market at my corner. I was able to pick up some vegetables for the week. The carrots are all knobby and odd sizes which makes them fun. I decided to offer one to Elwood as a treat. I think he was quite shocked about it though he didn’t refuse it and went off to enjoy it. After church I got some apples, too, which were from an orchard though how they arrived and what the distribution method was I did not learn. One of my lunch companions offered to go thrift store shopping with me later in the week. We will firm things up at the Wednesday night dinner. One of my Bible study companions came to chat after church. It was nice to recognize a few people.

Today I have spent a great deal of time in the kitchen and I have more time to spend there later. I’ve been cleaning up and cooking. Today I made a big batch of vegetable soup which will be handy for quick meals. I used sweet potatoes instead of the fingerlings and I’ve decided I like the fingerlings better, but the sweet potatoes will have to do for this batch. I also tried the beef bacon which is cut thick like Canadian bacon, I think. It may be already cooked because it didn’t feel raw. It is not at all fatty so did not make a mess in the microwave when I heated it up. I had an egg and bacon sandwich. ...