You can see the former hotel's backside in this Wikipedia photo. (Building to left of rooftop temperature display.)
Thursday, May 31, 2012
May 31, 1991
I walk to work, not having any taxi service to deal with today. I surprise myself during the morning by making progress on the goals and objectives sections of the long-range plan, only to imagine how cruelly the board will dissect them.
While JoAnna and Eddie go to her softball game, Eddie and I go grocery shopping. My little guy's an angel. Once the groceries are put away, it's TV time.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
May 30, 1991
I drive Andy to daycare, then stop at McDonald's for coffee on my way to the RFP subcommittee meeting at Monona. On the way back to Middleton, I stop at the credit union and JoAnna's office to see if the checkbook's available. It's not; JoAnna's not around. I have lunch at home and play with Eddie for awhile before driving to the library. With all this taxi service to and from daycare, I never have the opportunity to walk. I spend the evening with the kids, accomplishing absolutely nothing outside of pruning the peonies. I'm asleep with Andy and Eddie next to me by the time JoAnna returns home.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
A Match Made, If Not in Heaven, Certainly in High School
From the extensive obituary of Jane Lou Carter Betts, obviously a very special person to many people.
On December 1, 1962, she married Rodney Edward Betts at the First United Methodist Church, Warren, Pa.
Park Hotel Courts and Park Grill in Falfurrias, Texas (Postcard Series)
Used to be somewhere along U.S. Highway 281 (north-south) or state highway 285 (east-west), I imagine.
Monday, May 28, 2012
May 28, 1991
I get the phone call I've been expecting. Just before 9, Sharon calls to report that the air-conditioning is not working. So much for an uninterrupted morning at home. What little time I have to myself I spend in the garden. I spend the afternoon the library looking through and organizing my desk. I leave at 4 to pick up Andy at daycare. It's a slow evening, although there are obviously still a few teachers giving homework assignments at this late date, one of them a detective synonym exercise. That had to come from a defective mind. JoAnna calls to inform me she's gone to volleyball.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
May 27, 1991
Can't believe we still had this carpeting in the family room
four years after we moved into the house!
When we leave Two Rivers, the fog has just rolled in and the temperature on the downtown bank display shows 55. It's an uneventful drive and a lazy kinda evening once we get home.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
May 26, 1991
The restaurant next to the motel has two waitresses on duty and a line of at least a dozen people waiting to be seated.
"This doesn't look good," I comment to JoAnna.
We find a great cafe in downtown Prairie du Chien, tour Villa Louis, then head for Two Rivers and two greatly missed (by this time) little guys. We are so glad to see them. Andy looks so grown up. He and (his cousin) Angela are having a great time together. JoAnna ends up playing cards for most of the rest of the day. I take Andy and Angela to the park. By 9 o'clock, I'm all tired out. I go to sleep while Andy and Angela are still watching TV.
Friday, May 25, 2012
May 25, 1991
Although we romped before going to sleep last night, JoAnna apparently isn't in the mood this morning.
"Bad breath," she confesses to me later when I ask why. "I don't feel romantic."
Of course, I could have been more insistent.
We shop along Galena's main street. We buy sweaters, books, old postcards, a tablecloth and napkins, baseball pictures for Andy. Exactly at now, we continue our weekend driving to Prairie du Chien via Cassville. We stop at a grocery store to get items for a picnic lunch and then continue on to Stonefield, an historical site maintained by the State, much less interesting than Old World Wisconsin. The tour of Nelson Dewey's home is probably the highlight. It's overcast all day, but we miss the rain that drenched Prairie du Chien, which is why our riverboat dinner cruise is cancelled. We eat at a restaurant where Mo used to waitress and then take a drive to Pikes Peak State Park in Iowa to take in an obscured view of the Mississippi River. Back at the motel, we fall asleep while watching TV, quickly returning to our old habits.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
May 24, 1991
The boys leave with Grandma and Ione at 9. Andy looks so grown up sitting in the back seat. I'd give anything, though, to read his mind. JoAnna and I leave at 11, stopping by the credit union first so we can leave town with a fat wallet. On Larry Martin's recommendation, we eat lunch at R.P.M.'s in Mount Horeb. Flavorful 50s-60s decor, great burgers, and an out-of-this-world chocolate malt. We spend a couple of hours doing a self-guided walking tour in Mineral Point, then continue driving the scenic back roads to Galena. We arrive at Belle Aire shortly after 4, which gives us plenty of time to romp and take a nap before going out to dinner at Kingston Inn. We are reliving our first honeymoon stop, folks, and I'm feeling as lusty as a newlywed. Our dinners are superb and during dinner we are serenaded with a song especially for us on the occasion of our 5th anniversary.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
May 23, 1991
Where are my keys? I search the house. I even call the motel in La Crosse where I stayed Tuesday night. In order for me to be able to get to my destination, JoAnna has to send me her car key by cab. It arrives shortly after 9, which still gives me plenty of time to reorganize my boxes, drop off a couple of hats at daycare, and set up the books for my presentation at Madison Public, which goes well and fills up my allotted 90 minutes. I take a stroll down State Street to run a few errands before returning to Middleton. I have three extra copies of my car, house, and library keys made. I buy JoAnna an anniversary card -- but no gift. No time right now, I say to myself, I can do it tomorrow morning. The afternoon at the library is spent playing catch-up, organizing my desk. JoAnna has an evening meeting, so I do laundry -- at least what Barb hasn't already done. She even mowed the lawn.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
May 22, 1991
I'm conscious one-half hour before my scheduled 6 a.m. wake-up call. I felt a need to program my mental alarm clock. Amazing what the mind can do upon request. I walk to a downtown restaurant called The Pancake House, buying a couple of newspapers out of vending machines along the way and inexplicably order a huge breakfast. I eat barely a third of the monstrous omelet and leave a plate of potatoes practically untouched.
Today's workshop goes extremely well, due in large part to the small size of the group. I start of confidently, perhaps a little too much so, which means I probably came across a little too dry and humorless. I received very positive responses -- and at least six handshakes -- at the end of the day. Kathleen and I take the same route back to Madison. I sometimes find it difficult to keep up end of the conversation going and was content to stare out the window and admire the springing-into-green Wisconsin landscape. At the library, I simply unload the boxes of books and leave the reorganizing of them until tomorrow. A big Bombay martini is my reward for a very productive and gratifying day.
Monday, May 21, 2012
May 21, 1991
My only full day at the library this week. With tomorrow's full-day workshop staring me in the face and the need to do some fine-tuning based on yesterday's helpful evaluations, I don't have time for regular chores outside of looking through my mail. Kathleen picks me up at 5:30, one-half hour past our agreed-upon time, but in the short time that I've known her, punctuality does not appear to be one of her strong suits. During the drive along U.S. 14 to La Crosse, I learn the reason for the John Nichols connection. Outside of a slight, and it's a very slight, physical resemblance, they are both Irish and from New York City, Kathleen from Manhattan's Upper West Side, John from the Bronx. Once in La Crosse, we drop off my boxes at the public library. Then I check into my motel room, which is located just a few blocks from the library. I walk to a nearby Country Kitchen for supper and watch baseball on TV before going to sleep around 11.
Capital Auto Court in Helena Montana (Postcard Series)
Located on the northwest corner of Montana Ave. and 11th, The service station of the Capital Auto Court opened in November of 1937. The adjacent motel opened in spring of 1938. There was also a coffee shop.
Every cabin had a decorative cowboy silhouette above the door. The name changed to Capitol Motel in the 1950s. The motel operated until at least 1971. It and the service station have been demolished.
I'm pretty sure I stayed here for a night in late August 1974. But I could be wrong.
This block is now home to a Walgreen's, with plenteous parking.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
May 20, 1991
I get up at 5:30. OK, it's closer to quarter of by the time I'm actually out of bed. I treat myself to breakfast at the Original Pancake House and then wait for Kathleen's appearance at the parking lot next to the UW Student Union. She's late so I go ahead and transfer the boxes to the room on my own. She seems rather harried when she first appears. Darlene introduces to a roomful of workshop participants -- 50, count 'em, 50 -- after making a pitch for continuing education certification, the master's degree program, and whatever else she can squeeze in. Then I do my thing. I feel very much at ease throughout the morning portion of the program. During the lunch break, I walk up State Street with a much more noticeable bounce in my step I feel as though I've done the best presentation possible. I walk to the credit union to cash my mileage check for the May 2nd Merrill workshop, then pick up a sandwich and a bottle of tomato juice at Botticelli's before a visit to JoAnna's office. Sally's there and offers the use of my wife's desk to eat lunch, which I gladly accept. Barry and JoAnna return shortly after my arrival.
The afternoon session is not as satisfying. Perhaps unloading the boxes and displaying the books face out on the table would have promoted a less jerky presentation. The evaluations, though, are very positive: 20 excellent, 17 good, 3 average, 1 fair, and 0 poor. I even consider incorporating a specific suggestion into Wednesday's La Crosse presentation.
I pick up Andy at daycare, drive to the library to drop off the seven boxes of books, and check on the progress of the parking lot project (na-da), and leave Andy alone long enough to make him think I've abandoned him again. I catch up with him in the lobby and quickly comfort him. He must have sprinted all the way from the children's area to the exit.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
May 19, 1991
Sunday morning routine. Newspapers and coffee. JoAnna and Andy go shopping, Eddie and I stay home. More than two hours later, JoAnna and Andy return and Mom has a look of consternation on her face. Later in the afternoon, we plant the rest of the flowers left over from last weekend. JoAnna also reveals a secret. She announces that her mom will be visiting us on Thursday evening.
"What about your dad?" I ask.
"He's on call next weekend."
"How long is your Mom staying?"
"She going back Friday."
"Friday?! Why so soon?"
"She's taking the kids with her. The boys are going to spend the weekend in Two Rivers."
"And what are we going to do?"
JoAnna smiles conspiratorially.
"Oh, by the way, Sharon confirmed you have next Friday off."
Turns out she plan our anniversary weekend after all, a return engagement to Galena, but the details aren't forthcoming. She wants the specific itinerary to remain a surprise.
I spend most of the rest of the evening -- nearly three hours -- boxing books for tomorrow's long-awaited, occasionally nervously awaited, workshop.
Friday, May 18, 2012
May 18, 1991
Thursday, May 17, 2012
May 17, 1991
The final day to fret over next week's reference workshops. Soon I'll be able to focus on regular library projects: the long-range plan revisions, the weeding guidelines for Alice. There's more, but why waste ink on it now.
JoAnna and I attend the Special Edition banquet on the Concourse, an occasion to roast Ody Fish. JoAnna is so much in her element at these functions. I struggle to make the simplest connection with people I don't know. I need to loosen up, feel less self-conscious. Part of the problem is my inability to follow the conversation of the group I'm mingling with. With my height, I pick up a lot of surrounding noise.
Back home (by 10:30) we have some outrageously good sex.
