New Cass Street Playground

 Tuesday, October 13, 2026

On this spectacular fall day I took my knitting to the reconstructed Cass Street Playground.  It is magnificent, colorful and inviting.

The children were out for recess and enjoying all of the equipment. (I'll edit this blog to include more pictures).

St. Rita Square was kept informed and involved in the progress of the playground.  I made a donation for a brick that would be included in the construction.  I walked the paved paths and found a half circle with bricks of donors. 

 Mine was at the very corner.

I met a few teachers supervising the playground and when I told one teacher about practice teaching at Cass St. School and my brick, she insisted on taking my picture with the brick.

No Austrian Club Meeting Today

 Sunday, October 11, 2026

I had a beautiful plum coffee cake for the Austrian Club meeting, but no one was there, except Adolf and Magdalena Menhardt, who were also confused that no one was there.  Adolf had  the September newsletter that gave the meeting for today, but my newsletter gave only the date of the Austrian American Day at Kegel's.  Both Peter and I failed to see that there was no meeting today.

To take advantage of the day, we headed for Bandaro Country Wood Grill to watch the Packers.  As we were getting our bearings, Peter noticed Silver Spring Dr.  Going to the Bavarian Baer Haus made more sense.

We watched the Packers beat the Bears 31 - 7 while having a beer and a pretzel with Peter's free coupon.  We also split a Reuben.

Now, what to do with my plum coffee cake?  I could take it to the Pot Luck that starts at 4:30 p.m.

That Pot Luck had a better selection of food than last time, and more people were participating.  There was not a crumb left of my plum coffee cake.

I watched the start of the Brewers/Dodgers game in the Club Room, but the commercials were driving my crazy.  I also had a knot in my shawl.  I went to my apartment and watched the Brewers beat the Dodgers 2 - 1 in a nailbiter last out, and could work on my shawl watching much of the game on mute.

In desperation, I cut my yarn and continued on the shawl.

Symphony Friday

Friday, October 10, 2026

The concert was again another winner.  The highlight was a violin concerto featuring a local artist, Julian Rhee. a graduate of Brookfield High School  

https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/arts/2026/10/08/brookfield-east-grad-featured-in-next-milwaukee-symphony-concerts/92127028007/

He played the very difficult Violin Concerto in D major, Opus 35, by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who was the subject of the preconcert talk about artists who were subjected to the Nazi regime in Austria. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Wolfgang_Korngold

Julian included a Bach encore.

Also on the program was Medea's Dance of Vengeance, by Samuel Barber and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances Opus 45.

Our bus was at a stop light on Wells and Water when a car ignored the stop light and turned left, lost control of his car, drove into some barricade and smashed his left front of the car.  It looked like a mess.  Abby Hauser alerted an approaching police squad car.  The driver got out of the car, apparently uninjured, but he was waving his fists for some reason.

Pediatrist/Hair/Pizza

Thursday, October 8, 2026

I had to reschedule my hair appointment, because my toenails needed attention.  My appointment was for 11:20 a.m. and I was finished before that time.

I should have taken the dominoes before going for my hair, since I was having a color and would not be finished in time to set up the game.  I called Michael Bruske while my hair was processing to get my bag from behind my bedroom door.  The wind was very strong and gave my hair another style

The game was in progress when I arrived and we eventually had six players.

Peter suggested Pizza Man which I thought was a great idea.  We had red wine and an appetizer before Pizza Man pizza: very thin, crisp crust, loaded with meat, and an attentive waiter.

I ordered suspenders for Peter when we got to my apartment.

Blessing Hello Dolly

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Pets were blessed after mass on Sunday on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the environment and animals.  I didn't think Dolly would have been too happy getting into the carrier and being amid all the other critters, so we did not go.

Cookie Anderson had a special prayer for pets that she wanted to share and asked if I'd like to participate in blessing Dolly.  

Dolly greeted Cookie and Sue Cottrell this afternoon when they came to offer a prayer for Dolly.  I said a special prayer, and then Cookie and Sue said another.

Hello Dolly participated by rubbing ankles and lingered about.  Hello Dolly is such a lovable kitty, I hope these prayers prolong her life with good health.

Father Gene's Help Center

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

I signed up to volunteer at Father Gene's Help Center; Dwight Morgan and Terri Miller were the only other people to answer the call from SRS.  Other Capri communities signed up for other shifts throughout the day.

Because we were so few, I rode with Dwight and Terri; Abby Hauser drove two other staff members from SRS.

Rosemary greeted us and gave us the background of Father Gene's, also a tour or the shopping area.  The shopping area resembles a department store with clothing for all ages arranged attractively.  Patrons were waiting to be checked into the database where they could select the number of items corresponding to their family size.  Patrons may come every three months.

We learned that 4000 clothing items are distributed each day; over 150,000 each year.  Clothing is donated not only from the Milwaukee area, but from other states, since Father Gene's has such a great reputation in its charitable work.  Clothing is also sent to other countries, such as Peru and Ukraine.

We worked at a table in a huge room where the sorting takes place before it is put in the showroom.  We prepared Halloween clothing, women's tops, pants, nightwear and women's coats.  We put the items on hangers; some we also separated by size.

Dwight and I are putting clothes on hangers.

Our St. Rita Square Group after our morning shift.

Father Gene's depends on volunteers to carry out its work, with a very small administrative staff.  People are encouraged to help as often or any length of time they desire.  There was an active crew of helpers today doing various jobs.  

I felt it was time well spent.

https://www.fathergeneshelp.org/

Morning Disaster

Monday, September 28, 2026

My knitting needles were delivered in an outrageously large box that I wanted to share with the breakfast group.  I placed the carton on my walker with my tray with cereal, milk, banana and cup on top.  As I left my apartment, the tray dropped off the walker, causing my beautiful, favorite bowl from Donald to break, plus a cup.  Jim and Eldeen Carpenter helped sweep up the mess, but I am heartbroken by the loss.

I'm starting to work on caps for the MARTA December luncheon and found a simple pattern with a decrease stitch I'm not familiar with.  I encountered a mistake when I selected the Toddler size instead of the Kid, I ripped when I found a dropped stitch that I could not pick up, and I was decreasing incorrectly.  I never did a SSK, and could not understand the pattern telling me that I decreased 8 stitches when I only did 4.  The cap did not look right, so I ripped again before the decrease.  Good old YouTube, which I should have consulted first, showed me exactly how to do this decrease.

As I was going to meet the Needlework Group, Shirley Bascom asked if I was going to play sheepshead with Bob Koebert at the Catholic Home.  I thought someone else might have liked to go, so I was not planning on going.  Since a fifth player was needed, I gladly agreed.

Chuck Boucher drove Shirley, Jack Champagne and me

We met Annie Hahn, who is recuperating after collapsing in her apartment.

Bob had a room reserved for us, the same as last week.

We played for and hour, and I'm sure we lifted Bob's spirits.