Driftless Wisconsin Winter Fun

Driftless Wisconsin

After a momentary lapse in memory as to what season comes next, Mother Nature has finally given us winter. While sunny skies and 50 degree weather in December energized the spirit, it confused the brain, which expects to see snow outside the window this time of year....

Driftless Dark Skies: Five Worlds at Once

Driftless Wisconsin

As the New Year begins, we will be able to see all five classical planets at the same time. The last time we were able to see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all at once was eleven years ago when they were also visible in the sky before sunrise. For the...

Christmas Traditions in Driftless Wisconsin

Driftless Wisconsin, Driftless Wisconsin Events

My memories of Christmas begin with lutefisk and lefse, the Norwegian feast my mother made each year to celebrate my father’s Scandinavian heritage. The smell of lutefisk – a cod cured in lye – wafting through the house on Christmas Eve sent me in the opposite...

Driftless Dark Skies: Living in Space

Driftless Wisconsin

Wash: That sounds like something out of science fiction. Zoë: You live in a spaceship, dear. We have been living in space for over 15 years now. Since November 2000, over 220 people from 17 countries have continuously crewed the International Space Station. The ISS...

Learning to See

Driftless Wisconsin

“What do you see?” I remember that as the opening line of John Logan’s play Red performed at Forward Theater in Madison last year. It’s the question that the artist Mark Rothko asks of his new assistant Ken. Maybe to test him. Maybe to train him. It caught my...

Getting ready for winter and the holidays in Driftless Wisconsin

Driftless Wisconsin

“Hey John, how ya doing?” I asked a friend we met along the hiking trail out at the park. “I just bought my LP gas for 60 cents cheaper than last year,” he offered. In these parts, “how you doing?” means how are things stacking up for the winter. As in firewood, LP...