Velkommen

Stoughton Wisconsin, the little town where we live, is steeped in Norwegian heritage.  Each May, there is an entire weekend dedicated to Syttende Mai, which means May seventeenth--- the day the constitution of Norway was signed.  In the weeks leading up to the Syttende Mai celebration, businesses around town displayed Velkommen banners, which is Norwegian for "welcome".  Velkommen til Stoughton, as they say with fine Norwegian accents.

I couldn't find a good image of the Velkommen banner on-line.  The best I could find is on the float below.  And, yes, a whole bunch of people around this town during Syttende Mai weekend dress similar to how the kids on the float are dressed.  These people are seriously into Syttende Mai. 

(On a side note, as I looked around at people at the Syttende Mai celebration, I couldn't help but ask myself:  could Scott and I look any less Norwegian?  There are a lot of pale people around here with blonde hair and blue eyes....just  not in our  house.)

But, I digress.  Back to the Velkommen banner.  See below.


flickr.com

I think it's nice that businesses around this little town display the Velkommen banners for Syttende Mai.  There was one business with a banner that caused me to raise an eyebrow though.  I couldn't get a picture of it because it was too windy and the banner kept moving, but I'm not sure how I feel about this particular Stoughton business displaying a Velkommen (welcome) banner:



legacy.com

It's a funeral home.

Spike

Back in 2004, I fostered a Doberman Pinscher named Spike.  He was a big, goofy boy (as many/most male Dobermans are).  The woman who adopted him e-mailed me today to let me know he passed.  I was saddened to learn the news, but glad that Spike and his adoptive Mommy had so many good years together.   She adored him and wrote to me that right up to the end he loved to ride in the car and see his friends at the vet (how many dogs consider people at the vet their friends??)

Spike was a character.  He loved to get his picture taken and would smile at the camera.  Here he is when I fostered him back in 2004.  Sweet boy.  RIP.

 

Sign Company

Scott and I saw this car in a restaurant parking lot a couple weeks ago.

Oh, there's a sign on the car.  What does it say?  It's so small, I'm not really sure.  Let me use my zoom lens.

I'm no marketing expert, but:

1.  If you are going to have a sign for a sign company, you might want to make the sign big enough for people to actually read it without having to "zoom in".

2.  Advertising with a nearly unreadable sign for a sign company on an old ass Cadillac might not really be drumming you up a bunch of business.  

Seriously.

La Crosse

The company I work for has services and a small administrative office in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  For those of you who don't know where La Crosse is located, it's on the far western border of the state.  The Mississippi river runs along La Crosse; on the other side of the Mississippi River is Minnesota.  So, La Crosse is as far west as you can get and still be in Wisconsin.

La Crosse is actually a pretty nice town and it's a beautiful drive between Madison and La Crosse if one takes state route 14. I think I have previously posted a picture or two of the stunning farmland along that route.  La Crosse is somewhat of a small town (not as small as Stoughton by any means).  In addition to having the beauty of the mighty Mississippi, it's also surrounded by bluffs.  I wish I had better pictures of the bluffs.  They are quite amazing in some spots.  This is the best picture I have of them right now, which is taken through the windshield of my car as I was sitting at a traffic light in town.

I have made several work trips to La Crosse recently due to some quality issues and blah, blah, blah work stuff.  During one of my recent trips, I took this shot in the downtown area.

Downtown La Crosse is nice.  It's a big college town (University of Wisconsin- La Crosse), so there are quite a few bars.  Someone recommended I go to a place called the Starlite Lounge, which is on the upper floor of a building, above this place--- Buzzard Billy's.

I loved the Starlite.  Totally retro.  This is the door leading up to the joint.

And once inside....

The bar area was small but, again, very extremely retro.  I love those bar stools.

I sat at the bar.  As I looked to my right, this is a view of the dining/lounge area.

And this is the view behind me.

I absolutely loved this place.  I could have moved in on the spot.

To make things even better, the bar tender mixed up a fine Cosmopolitan.

I went to the Starlite at the beginning of dinner hour.  I hadn't had any lunch, so I was hungry.  The bartender recommended these:  Buzzard Eggs.

Here is what's in a Buzzard Egg.  It's:

Pepper Jack cheese
wrapped in jalapenos
wrapped in chicken
wrapped in bacon
deep fried
served with ranch dressing

As obnoxious as that sounds, I'm here to tell you those bad boys were GOOD.  Seriously, I'll take an order of Buzzard Eggs and go ahead, while you are at it, and sign me up for by-pass surgery.

That's a little snippet of La Crosse.  I like the town a lot and look forward to Scott and I being able to maybe spend a weekend there at some point.  We might even do a camping trip over there.  It would be my first time camping, something I swore I would never do.  Yikes.  We'll see........

You know it's a good party when...

...someone breaks out the hats and wigs.

Thanks to our friends, Kori and James, for having us over for a fondue party.  It was super fun.  And, it was also my first introduction to this.

Lawd.  It's so good, it's dangerous.  Straight up or in coffee.  Mmmmm....