A baseball player in a blue and yellow uniform catches a fly ball while jumping against a wall, with enthusiastic fans cheering in the background.

We are believers!

Category: Tales from the front lines

  • It is snowing ‘here’

    and it is beautiful! The grounds of the Stately Manor this Saturday afternoon are a snow globe, lightly shaken. A Grandma Moses painting come to life. The falling snow blankets the blue spruce and dwarf white pine while, inside, the fireplace is a-glow with warmth. Expecting 4 to 7 inches here. Where is “here?” we…

  • Hunkering down at Stately Blaska Manor

    Riding out the storm! The indentured servants at Stately Blaska Manor are battening the hatches. Stockpiling provisions. Girding for the big one. The b&w rabbit-eared Philco advises that the Emerald City here in southern Wisconsin is under a winter storm watch. Bracing for 6 inches of snow and 50 mph winds starting Thursday 12-22-22, culminating…

  • Spread a little non-political Christmas cheer

    Beware of conservatives bearing gifts! Two Christmases ago, sent a gift subscription of National Review to a sibling of the Democrat(ic) persuasion. Thought he would enjoy good writing from a different perspective. Hasn’t spoken to the Head Groundskeeper for over a year. (!!!) Don’t make that mistake! The gnomes at Blaska’s Stately Manor — who…

  • Take a detour to rural Wisconsin farm art

    You are invited to pull over and ponder a while. A little bit northwest of Madison WI the countryside is dotted with transitory art carrying whimsical doses of environmental consciousness that goes down easy. This year’s Farm Art D’Tour  makes you think even as you smile. It’s a combination of 40 art works, attractions, local…

  • The little white church binds generations of family

    A sense of history and place. Much moved by the funeral ceremony for Queen Elizabeth II this morning. The Queen was piped into Westminster Abbey by a phalanx of bagpipers. Watching at home, we could say that, a few years back, the Blaskas set foot in that glorious church. The Church of England plays like…

  • Opening this sanctuary blogge even to progressives!

    and Mandela Barnes is tough on endorsements! Yikes! Forgot that September 14 was our 48th wedding anniversary! I blame sudden-onset senility compounded by the week your congenial host wore a coronavirus face mask in April 2020. To make up for it, presented the Lovely Lisa a patio end table on which to place her afternoon…