November may not have gone as I (and millions of other smart and sensible Americans) had desired, but April brings renewed hope. We stood up to the bully and won. Wisconsin cannot be bought.
I’m pretty proud of my adopted state. I’ve lived in both deep red and the bluest of blue states, but purple is new to me, so you never really know how things are going to shake out. Thankfully, Susan Crawford prevailed. Predictably, MAGA is suggesting the whole thing was rigged. Geez Louise, they are the sorriest bunch of poor sport losers I’ve ever seen. The integrity of elections is never questioned when they win and immediately questioned when they lose. Cry me a river.
There does seem to be a shift toward blue in America’s Dairyland. Let’s keep the momentum going!
When you’ve been married for awhile, it’s hard to surprise (or be surprised by) your partner. So, when I got home on Wednesday and discovered candles, jazz music, a chilled bottle of wine, and a delicious feast, to say I was caught off guard is an understatement. Ribeye steaks; shrimp cocktail; garlic bread; a fresh salad with pecans, Craisins, goat cheese fritters, and a creamy dijon vinaigrette. Even a slice of red velvet cake to share. I thought I’d wandered into the wrong house for a second.
It had been a particularly stressful commuting day. We awoke to heavy rain and thunderstorms that morning, so my drive into Madison demanded caution. Luckily, traffic on the Beltline was still flowing smoothly.
Coming home was another story. But this had nothing to do with the weather, as the sun was shining by then.
I drive to/from work on Highway 12, which narrows to two lanes once you get outside of Madison. It’s a bucolic drive (other than the landfill), and rarely busy, but could use a few passing lanes. If you get behind a slow driver, you’re stuck unless you can find a gap in oncoming traffic.
I hate this maneuver, by the way. Flooring it and zipping around a car into potential oncoming traffic is not my jam. I’ll go miles hoping the slowpoke will take the next exit before even thinking about trying to pass.
There are also frequent accidents along Highway 12, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them involve people trying to pass. When a cadre of emergency vehicles flew by with sirens blaring, I knew that was going to slow things down. What I did not expect was to find the highway completely closed in both directions a mile ahead. This forced me, and by now a long line of cars, to turn around and find an alternate route home. Because this had never happened before, I was afraid I’d have to backtrack all the way to the Beltline and hop on Interstate 90, which would have added a ton of time to my commute. Fortunately, Google Maps routed me onto a bumpy country road that runs parallel to Highway 12, and I was eventually able to reconnect once I’d gotten past the roadblock. Which was quite extensive, it turns out. I have no idea what happened and never saw the actual wreck, but I imagine it wasn’t pretty.
Suffice it to say, finding such a sweet surprise awaiting me when I got home was very welcome. And rare. I’ll put it this way: we have never had a candlelight dinner since moving into our house. I don’t think we ever had one in the Rapid City house either. We rarely even eat at the dining room table.
Tara did good!
I love reading, but I’m not good at it.
Let me rephrase: I’m not good at reading a lot of books quickly, like some of my friends. Prolific isn’t my middle name (it’s Thomas). I participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge every year, but my goals are very modest. I fell one short in 2024, and barely hit my goal the preceding few years.
But this year, I’m on an absolute tear. Pretty sure I’m going to crush my goal with months to spare.
There’s a simple reason for this: during the cold weather months, when it’s too cold to walk outside, I use the treadmill for an hour most weekday mornings. Up until January, I spent that time watching TV series on my tablet – favorite sitcoms from bygone eras. First Scrubs, then Cheers, followed by Newhart. But then I had an epiphany: I could read on my Kindle instead. An extra hour a day makes a huge difference, especially when I also read at lunchtime and before bed (though this often ends with my Kindle slipping from my grasp and bonking me in the face as I nod off).
My timing was damn near perfect, because not more than a week after switching up my routine, Newhart was yanked from streaming. I was midway through Season 4. That’s okay; I know how it ends.
(Brilliantly.)
This torrid (for me) pace won’t continue indefinitely. The weather is warming up, and once it does, I’ll be back to walking outside, which I miss. But come October or so, those temperatures are going to dip again, and I’ll find myself back on the treadmill. I figure I’ll easily reach 30 books in 2025, which will be way more than I’ve ever read in a year.
I could update my goal, but I’d rather have the satisfaction of obliterating my original reading forecast. Ego boosts are hard enough to come by these days.
Do you and your partner enjoy candlelight dinners? If you participate in the Goodreads challenge, what is your goal? How many books do you average per year?
Mark My Words 
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