Ice Age Trail Junction Segment and Arboretum

Today I had to take my car down to the south side to get new tires before winter hits, so Travalon drove down too, and then we went to the Junction segment of the Ice Age Trail while my car was being taken care of. We thought this segment might be kind of boring, but as we walked along it, we came to a beautiful vista, and then we hiked down to what we had been seeing... and of course we had to hike back up the hill too. It's so amazing to see the world awash in gold and orange and red and rust, so Travalon took quite a few photos, and I have posted a lot of them.

We got lunch at Tuvalu Coffee House, which was one of the businesses they recommend we patronize in Verona for credit for going to three local businesses, and my band has played there in the past. (They also used to have Cajun jam sessions back in the day, and I went to at least one with Hardingfele.) We also hiked on some of the Verona segment of the Ice Age Trail, but that was along a busy road, and the wind had really picked up, so I was terrified of having my hat blow off my head and into the traffic. That was a lot of uphill too, and my phone said we went up the equivalent of sixteen flights of stairs today! 

After my car was done, we drove to the Arboretum, which for some reason I had never thought to visit in the fall. We always go in the spring, to see the blooming crabapple trees and the lilacs and magnolias. A lot of the leaves had already blown off the trees, but we did see a few really spectacular maples, and some wild turkeys.

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone.

And look at this! I don't know what it is (I forgot to use my plant identification app), but it's blooming in mid-October!

We walked over seven miles today, and now we are really tired. How would we ever survive the Camino?

Famous Hat

Jackson's Landing and Cherokee Marsh

 

Today we didn't do anything after work, because the temperature dropped and now it's raining. However, Travalon did go to Cherokee Marsh earlier in the day, when it was sunny and almost warm. As promised, here are photos of Jackson's Landing that he took with his phone, as well as photos of Cherokee Marsh.

This first photo is the boardwalk we always walk on at Jackson's Landing.

This is the very narrow creek leading from the canoe landing into the river. I'm not sure I'd want to take a canoe down this! Maybe a kayak...

And this is a little bridge leading from the loop we always take to some other paths into the marsh.

This is a little shelter and a birch tree.

These are the photos from Cherokee Marsh North Unit. This is a little further from our house, but not too far, so we go there quite often as well.

This is a conical mound on a peninsula of land in the marsh.

Here are some more rosaries and a chaplet I got in Minocqua. The lovely light blue rosary on the left has one "decade" with only four beads! I have another one with a "decade" that is five beads, but that's easy to pray with because I just do that decade twice. It will be more of a challenge to remember to do this one twice, plus two more Hail Marys. The middle chaplet is a Chaplet of the Precious Blood. It's kind of easy to pray because the instructions are right on the medal.

Here is a closeup of the Chaplet of the Precious Blood. Don't ask why I took this photo on Boethius's keyboard - I thought it would be a better background than it was. But maybe you can see more detail.

So this chaplet couldn't be easier to pray. You meditate on each of the seven sheddings of blood and pray thirty-three Our Fathers for the number of years Jesus was on earth, five after each meditation and then a Glory Be, and three closing Our Fathers. Online there seem to be all sorts of extra prayers people add, but no two are the same so I'm going to say the Our Fathers and Glory Bes are all you need. The seven meditations are: the Circumcision, the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the Piercing of Jesus's Side. The chaplet has little medals for each meditation, with a Roman numeral and a short description so you know what order to go in and what the meditation is. The big starting medal of the Sacred Heart says: "In honor of the 33 years and the 7 blood sheddings" on the front and then helpfully says: "Our Father at each bead. Glory Be etc. at end of each mystery." I've never seen a chaplet with the instructions right on it! One website has a picture of a chaplet that looks just like mine, which has little plastic heart-shaped red beads with crosses on them, except mine is missing one. I prayed this today, and it really hit me how Love Himself came down to earth and was killed in such a violent manner. Sometimes it does seem like those trying to spread love, peace, and mercy are violently destroyed, but Christ's resurrection is our reminder that evil does not have the last word. 

Interestingly, there is also something called the Rosary of the Holy Wounds, prayed on regular rosary beads, so I prayed that today too. It starts on the crucifix and three starting beads like this: 

O JESUS, Divine Redeemer, be merciful to us and to the whole world. Amen. 

STRONG God, holy God, immortal God, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen. 
GRACE and mercy, O my Jesus, during present dangers; cover us with Thy Precious Blood. Amen. 
ETERNAL Father, grant us mercy through the Blood of Jesus Christ, Thine only Son; grant us mercy, we beseech Thee. Amen, Amen, Amen. 

On the Our Father beads you pray: Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal the wounds of our souls. 

On the Hail Mary beads you pray:  My Jesus, pardon and mercy through the merits of Thy Holy Wounds. 

The Holy Wounds are the left and right hands, the left and right feet, and the side of Jesus. Richard Bonomo says he once saw a rosary with feet and hands on it, and I'll bet it was to pray this particular prayer. I'll keep an eye out for a rosary like that at the antiques stores - you never know what kinds of cool chaplets you might find at them!

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Indian Lake and Lodi Marsh

 

Good thing Travalon and I hiked at Devil's Lake last Wednesday instead of yesterday, because there was a murder there and they had to shut down the whole park! They still haven't found the guy! Now people die at Devil's Lake surprisingly often, I'd say at least three a year, and I was once there when someone drowned, but they didn't kick everyone out of the park. This is an unusual situation. 

On the bright side, no humans or animals were injured during that farm fire we saw in Janesville a couple of weeks ago, although the farm did sustain $420,000 in damages. I sure hope they have good insurance!

Today after work, Travalon and I took a walk at Jackson's Landing. Travalon took some photos, but he didn't send them to me until I had uploaded my last batch of photos, so that's something to look forward to for tomorrow. Here are some pictures from earlier in the week. First are a couple of Irish bears that we got at Marytown.

These are more rosaries that I got in Minocqua. The beautiful light blue one on the left has three little figures between each decade, one for each of the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries. (It must predate my favorite, the Luminous Mysteries.) The one on the right has clear beads with pink roses in them.

Here are some photos from our hike at Indian Lake on Monday night.

Yesterday Travalon, who is doing Door Dash during lunch, had a delivery down near campus, so he took a walk on the Lakeshore Path. This is the route I walked every day during lunch while working on campus, and you can see why I miss it.

Here are some photos from the Lodi Marsh segment of the Ice Age Trail. In the first couple of photos, you can see the marsh a little bit through the trees. The other photos are of the cool hills all around the trail.

These couple of shots are of the trees in our neighborhood. I took them on my walks today.

Finally, this is not the most in-focus shot, but I was pleasantly surprised to see this cheerful yellow flower blooming just outside our building so late in the season.

Tune in tomorrow for photos of Jackson's Landing!

Famous Hat