The Last Photo from March's Milwaukee Experience: The Printed Fabric Leggings Look..

My first sighting of the trend. On the right person? Sure.    Today I returned from a week or so in the south, with many new photos and experiences.

Though I'm not That Into Vampire Stories.....

"The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova.
Years ago I read Bram Stoker's classic vampire novel, a plot which achieved an astonishing level of creepiness in a small package. "The Historian" has flashes of the effect, but also reminded me of -for example- "Nancy Drew's Great Vampire Adventure" as a sheltered, apparently motherless teenage girl, raised by her doting father and a dry, bloodless housekeeper (who I was sure, at first, was part of the vampire plot), eventually dashes from home in Holland to chase her missing father across Europe in the early 1960's, accompanied by a young Cambridge student.  The dad is searching for his missing mentor and perhaps, his long lost love, his wife, mother of the young girl. All are in danger of kidnap by a book collecting monster, the undead Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula. The vampire and his minions are all around: here, a librarian, there, passenger on a train. Incidentally, the father's means of support is as a privately funded foundation that enables him to function, somehow, as a sort of freelance independent diplomat in the time period of "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold", so I thought: ok, he's an agent for one side or the other. There are lots of scenic train rides through Europe, east and west, and there are time shifts and scenes that are dream like and magic. The book was damn near 700-pages long, could have used a severe edit, like so many modern books.

The Public Market...Scenes from a Saturday Afternoon

The Market is modern, enclosed and full of cheese, wine, candy, ice cream, bratwurst, a good looking fish restaurant as well as boutiques. The photos taken from an upper level where there are tables and chairs for people to bring their food and relax. A nice gathering place for weekend shopping and fun.

An Original, Complete with Ghost Sign...

Toward the southern end of the renovated factory district in Milwaukee, this building has not yet been touched by gentrification. Future site of condos, offices and shops or restaurants? Time will tell, but I hope they retain the ghost sign.

Back to Milwaukee

I still have a few photos of the city's renovated old industrial district; these are two pretty shots of the River Walk, looking north from the east bank (above) and looking south from the other side (below).
It's late afternoon on a pristine, clear early spring day with soft temperatures.

Tender Thoughts and Prayers for My Cousins in Kentucky...

Members of our extended family in Kentucky lately suffered a tragic, confusing and untimely loss of a vibrant, talented and lovely young woman we met while we visited last fall. I'm so sorry for her passing; but  glad we had the chance to know her and share the memory of her visit with my cousins.