Sun 23 Oct

Very nice trip to Port Washington/Madison this weekend. The hotel was very nice, we had two each $3 Autumn Martinis with amaretto, vodka and apple cider (quite small) with our Senior Menu dinner (which was actually just the right size for me to eat, be satisfied, and take no leftovers). The apple cinnamon stuffed French toast delivered to our room was very nice and elegantly presented, although there was only one chair in the room so Bob sat on the luggage rack with a pillow so we could eat at the desk. There was a late season Farmer's Market outside the hotel so we went out after breakfast and got some vegetables, frozen lamb shanks, and a few more apples. After checkout, we went to the Grafton Costco and spent quite a bit. I got a new winter jacket that I had thought about last year but waited too long and the stock was depleted. The checkout girl said she bought one last year and loves it. We would have loved to have purchased a one-of-a-kind floor model dual-oven stove but we would have had to have a way to transport it home ourselves and it wouldn't fit in the Prius C. We drove to Cedarburg after Costco, stocked up on danish for the week from the European Bakery and had a delicious bison burger adorned with a skewer of homemade fried cheese curds at the Stilt House. The waitress brought me three samples of good dark beers along with my pint of coffee stout on nitro. The Surly Black IPA was really excellent; I will look for it in Minneapolis. After lunch, we drove to Madison (with a small bag of chocolate cordials from the candy store for a decadent accompaniment). We visited briefly with Laura while Bob helped her to clean a major hair clog out of the bathtub drain. Stopped at TJ's for my pumpkin spice coffee fix, then went to Slumberland for her to get a nice heavy-duty frame for the soon-to-be-delivered mattress/box spring. We returned to the condo and assembled the frame. Laura got a finger or two in the wrong place and scraped off some skin with bleeding. We then went to the new location of Red Sushi and had an excellent supper. On the way back, Laura mentioned that she didn't yet have a mattress pad and a few other bedding-type items she still needs, so we attempted to find Target on the east side and eventually succeeded. She got a mattress pad, comforter, body pillow, bathroom rug, etc. and Bob got gummy bears for the drive home and a Starbucks coffee to keep himself awake. I'm afraid I dozed a good portion of the drive home. Today just walking to church and then choir at 4. Nothing much out of the ordinary this week until Thursday when we go to Mayville for a Central Waters beer dinner and overnight and a 3-course prix fixe dinner the following evening before coming home. Food: 8:50 am Gibassier, 101 g blackberries, coffee (TJ's pumpkin spice, yes!) 11:35 am Friendly Farms pumpkin Greek yogurt, slice pumpkin bread 12:15 pm 1 Choco-Nip 6:30 pm Butternut squash/apple soup, asparagus goat cheese risotto Exercise: 9:40-10:00 am Walk to church 11:05-11:25 am Walk home 12:45-2:15 pm Hike at Mead