Back home!!

I spent the last bunch of days moving my brother into his new house in Kewaunee.  Not a total move as he still has a business to run on Springfield ILL so the total 100% move is still a year+ away but this was more of a age of discovery in this 1930s house as there are always surprises . . . . such as . .. how does ANY heat get to the 2nd floor.

Luckily he is an a architect who works on historical homes so he can figure out things I can not imagine.  We turned on the furnace and NOPE - there are no air ducts reaching the 2nd floor.  hmmmmmm  You would think that in a 70 year old house someone would have noticed this.

The house is crazy big for $95K (the goign price for a large house in Kewaunee). The garage and studio is bigger then my house I think. Three bedrooms, huge yard.  Kewaunee is an inexpensive place to live.  The great thing is the previous owner seems to have been an electric geek as the entire house has brand new wiring, and the garage and studio is ripe with electric outlets (a crazy number).

The garbage situation is interesting. All recycling is free, but garbage costs $2 a bag. This seems to have an effect of a lot of recycling material and people throw out less real garbage.

Kewaunee has just had a large change in their city government.  For many years their government was run by a group that did not want new business and did not like the idea of tourism.  They were ousted by a more forward looking EIGHT aldermen (for a city of less then 3000??) and brand new Mayor who are focused on tourism and received a huge grant from the State just for tourism.

Another town that impressed me was Algoma who have many buildings built in the 1850s, have painted them up beautifully which has attracted business.  The murals in town are fabulous and add a lot of color.

 

Which always reminds me of my idea. Why not celebrate our history with old fashion murals. Think outside the box a little.

BUT - Ralls (brother) said to me he has never been happier and just being able to breath air in the summer is amazing.  June through September windows are closed 100% of the time in Springfield and Kewaunee seems to have it's own eco system with air temps two blocks from the lake much cooler then the rest of Wisconsin.

Ralls and Stacy at Cave Point County Park. 

Yesterday we took a short drive to Cave Point County Park home of this photo

And it was PACKED.  I have never seen so many people there but I'm always up in October . . .never summer . . .it was CRAZY!  And of course there were those crazy young people doing things they NEVER should do . . .and living.

  So anyway - We're back and trying to catch up on things before the next art fair in Paoli this Saturday.

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Trump - from a post by my long time friend and great writer - Liz Howard

I was telling the kids about the Second Amendment this morning, in our ongoing conversation about candidate Trump. After I explained the amendment and its history, I read to them what Trump said yesterday. Tati said: "oh no! It sounds like he wants to shoot her!" This was clear even to the 8 year old. The same eight year said further:

"But mom, he can change right? He doesn't have to always be bad does he?" )-: