Door Number Three

You’ve won yourself a trip to …… Milwaukee, Wisconsin!!! [to the tune of Back in the Saddle Again] it’s Back to the Great Lakes again, folks.

Second prize was two weeks in Philadelphia, PA. I don’t know, I kept this title to use somehow and it doesn’t work here because we got a good deal and it wasn’t a contest, OK it was a work interview. But the sun came up at 4:12 this morning and the dog was whining, not to go out but for me to lift her up to the bed so she could get her beauty sleep. She’s the most rested creature I know.

I cheated last night and had my husband grill pre-made beef/cheddar burgers (outsides rolled in black pepper)  on our stalwart Coleman folding propane grill. We made the first one for the soldier who was on the desk last night pulling a double shift. Then we made ours, all with chips and fresh cherries from the market.

My baby, my car for five years, is in the shop because it somehow “kissed” a concrete pole in our incredibly tight parking garage. Ouch, poor baby. I’ve had her for five years and plan to have her for five more. For a nine year-old, the insurance guy says except for the dent and scratch, she looks great. I’ve all the papers since the day she drove off the lot in San Antonio. Every oil change, tune-up, tire rotation. So now I have a Chevy for ten days. It fits my spot.

We are living in a small city on a big lake, just like where I grew up. But I was on Erie, not Michigan. Accents are similar (Buffalo-area accents are harder) but I know all the names and they’re German, Polish, Italian, less Russian, Greek.

I see the church spires, not anymore because now I see the Lake, and know it is a Roman Catholic city, which should move me but it does not. I only go to Mass in Florence, Italy at Santa Croce. Hearing the Mass in Latin and the homily in Italian is preferable to hear how much I have sinned (I haven’t but the priests have, in droves). I prefer to talk with my God alone, without intermediaries.

In Salt Lake City there is the great Temple, the Stone of Scone of the LDS Church. Then there are Ward churches every few blocks. Few people leave their Ward, so marry at the Temple and settle down on the block next to their parents and grandparents and have 8 kids to perpetuate the faith, and tithing of 10%.

It’s nice, architecturally, not to see Mormon Ward churches everywhere, and I look forward to exploring some of the Catholic art and churches here and in Chicago and Indianapolis.

Eating is what we do a lot of. Three times a day we refresh ourselves with food. I cook my husband a hearty breakfast and dinner. He’s on his own during the week for lunch, but on weekends that’s our treat, lunch out.

We’ve been getting to know some of the restaurants in the neighborhood, the northern communities and downtown. We haven’t gone the “sausages and beer” route but we’ve liked a lot of places (check out TripAdvisor.com where I’m a Top Contributor).

So while my husband is from Texas, I’m Back in the Great Lakes, Again. Yee ha. Dee

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