July 21, 2017 – From the Far Side of '70

I’m way behind in answering comments… I’ll get t/o them as soon as I have a keyboard again. Thanks for your patience.

We have been getting a lot of little details ticked off our,lists, calling on bankers and businessmen but time back in Wisconsin needs it’s obligatory fun time as well and one of the stops along the way today was the local botanical gardens.

I never brought couples here, but this broad sloping grassy knoll has always been a favorite place for local brides to take photos. I just like the setting

We visited here mid afternoon and I would have loved to spend more time. The gardens are part of the AHS reciprocal program so there was no admission fee.

The Boerner gardens are located within a much larger park call Whitnal. As you can see there are a vaiety of activities possible and we have a lot of memories here from playing on the swing set in multiple generations to birding walks around the pond with the County Exec (sort of like the ‘mayor’ of the county) who was an avid birder and hosted free public walks with30-40 citizens weekly.

The Milwaukee County Park system has had a wonderful array of parks for the better part of a century. Like many other longterm assets the locals are having a difficult time maintaining what they have created.Slight decline takes nothing away from many pleasant opportunities for shaking hands with Momma Nature!

Upon reflection, it appears that I liked pink flowers on this particular day!!!! I have to admit that the midwestern profusion of color has hit me hard. Until you are away from a thing for a while you don’t apprecate a tHint for how much it really means to you; color is, I guess, a more important thing in my life than I gave it credit for being. We continue to ponder whether Texas is right for us full time, or whether we can afford the luxury of a split year (north & south). WE have always had a basic understanding that we’d probably end out days in the north; but how soon / or how quickly to consider that is a great mystery

I think this trip, being made without thoughts of health or wellness has allowed us both to think about how much we have always liked this area (aside from the cold). I make no apology for the reality that we are figuring things out as we go. Whether Texas is long- or short-term doesn’t really matter to us. We are having a good time with life and after a life of hard work there’s nothing wrong with some R&R!

I guess all of this comes out because we are staying with Kathryn & Michael so we get to,see the daily grind of the work-a-day life all over again. When we were RVing, and we returned to Milwaukee we stayed in our coach at the RV park. EVen our last trip back to WI we stayed in a hotel because with the wedding and all the arranging it would not have been convenient for us to have put our daughter out to house us. This time,without RV & without a hotel we’re right in the middle of life– as it were. And it’s a good reminder of what life once was for us too; me being self-employed and hustling to provide in a busy world; days aren’t long enough & a energy often runs shorter than the demands place on one’s body. Once again,I’m thankful for this time in life. I hope I never take retirement so much for granted that I forget what that was like!!!!!!

But…

Back to today’s ramble…

We haven’t made it to this garden in several years, so it was specially nice to see the number of new plantings, and varieties flourishing in place. These gardens are not large. I suspect that is in part because the county splits it’s horticultural $$$$$ among several venues. For one thing the county does a lot of boulevard planting each year. Also there are the Mitchell Park Domes — which I have written about and visited previously. These three stainless & glass climatic environments house three distinct plant environments and are world renown. In addition there are dozens and dozens of county parks. It’s a great place for plant lovers.

If you have some time around town there are several parkways you can take for a circuitous trip in and around the county. And of course there are lovely golf courses — not just for summer golf either as there are courses where you can play winter neon-ball golf with snow on the ground!