Art Walk / Gallery Walk, This Saturday Night

November 4, 2006, six to nine P.M. is the monthly Gallery Walk. Maps are available at most of the 25 locations. Come downtown and enjoy. Locations are primarily along North Main but also over the bridge on the south side. Last month's art displays were enjoyed by hundreds and hundreds! Yours truly entertained at one of the largest venues, the New Moon also had live music, at least one band entertained behind the Exclusive Company, and street musicians were at work too. The Gallery Walk, as always, is free. Enjoy.

While you are marking your calendar for the Art Walk note that the annual Holiday Parade is Saturday November 11 at 10a.m. Another great excuse to stay away from the Mall and the Big Box Stores!
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"THIS WALL WILL FALL. FOR IT CANNOT WITHSTAND FAITH; IT CANNOT WITHSTAND TRUTH. THE WALL CANNOT WITHSTAND FREEDOM." ---Ronald Reagan, 1987

"Let's build a fence." -George Bush 2006

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Halloween Hijinks...

The Freak Fest in our state capitol of Madison did not get out of hand as it had in past years. Here is a link to some 200-photos from Halloween in Madison.

Key West, Florida has a ten day fest which culminates on Halloween. You can take an online tour by clicking here: Key West Fantasy Fest 2006.

Alert readers will note that it is warmer in Key West than in Madison.

See you Saturday. Dress warm.

Peace.

Happy Halloween

The worms crawl in,
The worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle on your snout.

The rest of the lyrics can be found here.

There will be some scares between now and election day but only the weak and the timid will fall for the fear crap that will be spread by the Republicans.

The scary stuff can be found right here. If that doesn't scare you enough try this link.

Whatever you do don't go bobbing for apples at Dick Cheney's house. You might learn what water-boarding is.

You might try bobbing for french fries, but don't come to me about the way your nose looks in the mirror!

Peace.

Being Brought up Small Town Democrat in Wisconsin

Eisenhower was President. Radios took forever to warm up and the furnace alternately was fed wood and coal. Taking a walk through the railroad switch-yard meant carrying a bag (paper of course, plastic didn't exist) to pick up coal that had conveniently bounced out of the rail cars. Natural gas was coming but not yet to our neighborhood. Television was something the taverns and a few wealthier people had. Everyone subscribed to the daily newspaper and I was learning to read. I never heard a bad word uttered towards President Eisenhower (IKE), Ed Gein (rhymes with fiend) had been caught, and the Milwaukee Braves always won. Through the miracle electronics of the day the newspaper carried a photo of Hank Aaron and I learned that my baseball hero was black, in black and white of course.

Sunday after church the chicken or the beef roast in the oven was turned up and stomachs growled in anticipation. The radio was warmed up for the noon news and the reading of the obituaries. At 12:15 my dad shushed up everyone at the table and the meal was finished in silence while we listened to the radio. William T. Evjue's voice would boom out of Madison as if he had to yell to make it heard across the state. The chief honcho of the Capital Times would exclaim: "Hellooooooo Wisconsin!", and for fifteen minutes we learned what went on in the state capitol and the nation's capitol. We knew it was safe to carry on conversation after he ended with, most notably: "Let the people have the truth, and the freedom to discuss it, and all will go well."

My dad, who rarely spoke, would on occasion be moved enough to comment. He liked Social Security and appreciated that those pennies were taken out of his paycheck to pay for it. Born 1913 he would talk about how things were before 1940 and the stories he heard about the years before he was born. He would tell that around the turn of the century (circa 1900) life was different for older folks. It was hard with a farm and a large family to take care of a grandparent who had dementia and couldn't control their bowels. (The term Alzheimers and the product Adult Diapers didn't exist.)

The solution, difficult as it was, was to hitch up the horses and drive grandma or grandpa to the next county, drop them off at the long entrance to the Poor Farm, yell 'giddy-up' and get away as fast as possible.

Why the next county? The County Poor Farm would take people in, but would send a bill to the adult children, who were in no shape to pay for it. People, realizing that care would be the same in either county, chose to leave them where there was no chance they would be recognized.

I used to laugh at this story. I never believed it. Later in life during a genealogy search of a distant relative I found an actual case. A man from Auroraville (Waushara County) was 'dumped' at the old Winnebago Poor Farm north of Oshkosh. He died some years after 1900. His wife in Auroraville told the census taker in 1900 that she was a widow...an outright lie!

My dad would always say that he was proud that the country had developed that program called Social Security and for all the complaining the Republicans did, a lot of them were collecting those checks and getting by.

My dad was right. Old folks are taken care of a Hell of a lot better than they were a century ago. The Republicans fought Social Security tooth and nail in the mid-1930's. Dust off the microfilm of any newspaper to read about it.

The Republicans were wrong about it then and they are still complaining about it. Democrats know that Social Security is a resounding success and possibly one of the greatest things to happen to the common person in recorded history.

All those kids born after WWII (1945), the ones now called Aging Baby Boomers are beginning to stress the system and will put pressure on it into the 2040's. The Republicans who can't think beyond that have to be made aware that the birthrate did drop and the Social Security system will not be as stressed as the Boomers die.

It's 2006 and there is an election around the corner. Vote for liberals, whether they be Democrats or Greens.

Vote against the corporations by voting against Republicans and conservative Democrats.

William T Evjue is gone as is my dad along with tube radios and all those wonderful things of the 1950's and 1960's. The Capital Times, the only liberal daily newspaper in America, is strong and getting stronger. There is a link for it on the right side of this blog and you can acquaint or re-acquaint yourself with the legacy, tradition, and future of Wisconsin by going there every day.

Abortion, God, Guns, & Gays / Redneck Republicans & FEAR!

Defining a Redneck Republican would take far more time and energy than I wish to spend on such a mundane subject. Suffice it to say, Redneck Republicans (RNR's) are fun to pimp.

Question: Is it true that you are against abortion and favor lowering or eliminating welfare payments?
RNR replies: Aaaahh... That's not fair.

Republicans hate children. Get used to it. Corner them like greased pigs. They are.

Abortion is fine or it's not fine. I'll make my own decision about it but I'll be damned if I decide what my neighbor, the family across town, or the family in Armpit, Nebraska is going to do. That's their business. I'm going to assume that they and their MD's have some level of intelligence. In fact they might be a lot smarter than I am.

Maybe the RNR's are right. We could go back to the coathanger and suicide days with no government welfare.

On the subject of God...

RNR's will tell you that liberals are godless. A minute later they'll tell you that if we'd killed a few more Hmongs in 1968 there wouldn't be as many of them here. The next minute it's the FEAR thing. The lightning will strike you dead. The people on the left coast will be swallowed by craters caused by the great quake.

RNR's quote the Bible and often in the same sentence spew hate and fear. I don't buy it.

Introduce them to Rupert Murdoch, the Republican owner of FOX, most responsible for pushing the nasty edge of nasty on the tube. Thank the RNR's for supporting this trend.

On Guns...

The largest most well known gun bill in my lifetime has been the Brady Bill.

Mr Brady was a ________. (Republican)

The Brady bill was signed by a Republican President named _____. (Bush)

Don't like gun laws? Don't vote Republican.

Tell a Redneck Republican that Osama's under his bed.

On Gays...

It's fear. Redneck Republicans are terrified of Gays, terrified of feminism. They live in fear of anything outside their tunnel-vision of life.

Want to strike absolute fear in a Redneck Republican?

Enter the room at the start of the Packer game. Comment on how nicely the make-up has been applied to the sportscasters. Wonder aloud if the announcers trade make-up secrets.

That's all for today. If you have the cash, borrow a Redneck Republican's pickup truck and bring it back painted pink.

Peace.

Wisconsin State Representative Mark Pocan: Use Gard's Webpage to Tell The Truth About Sun Prairie's Favorite Son

Wisconsin State Representative Mark Pocan: Use Gard's Webpage to Tell The Truth About Sun Prairie's Favorite Son

John Gard's Canoe Trip

"IT'S MUCH HARDER TO BE A LIBERAL THAN A CONSERVATIVE. WHY? BECAUSE IT IS EASIER TO GIVE SOMEONE THE FINGER THAN A HELPING HAND." -Mike Royko

That's the banner on Wisconsin State Rep. Mark Pocan's blog.

I read Mike Royko in the Chicago newspapers for many years. He was often reprinted in Madison's Capital Times. I looked up to him as the working man's hero. He came across as an equal, a guy you might throw dice with at the corner tap. I never dreamed I'd meet him, and when I did he swore and screamed at me.

I was entertaining at a well known supper club on the southeast side of Madison in the early 1980's. Unknown to me Mike's brother was a Madison resident and ran General Beverage there. Brother brought Mike to the supper club and while I was on break Mike Royko told me what I could do with my 'noise'. It was not in polite language and was not done quietly. I smiled and retreated. I knew his reputation. Never held it against him.
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I have added a new link at right. Oshkosh Gas Prices. Use it as a loose guide. Prices not updated in 36hrs are dropped from the chart. As I write this the Renew station, far north on Jackson past hy41, is not listed. That's because no one posted it. Renew generally runs 5-cents cheaper than the others. Renew's last price: $219.9. The BP across the street usually matches them.

The Citgo Station at Jackson and Snell Rd. offers a 2-cent a gallon discount on Wednesdays for the over 55 crowd. I filled up at $222.9 there last Wednesday.
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While perusing Mark Pocan's blog I found an October 19 column on John Gard. It reminded me of a John Gard story I heard some years back. I searched for it on the web and ProQuest provided me with the answer. I didn't take the time to try to link it.

The article can be found in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of May 7, 1999. It appeared on Page 2, byline: Richard P. Jones.

This is the story as I heard it...

John Gard, hearing that there was a nude beach operating on state-owned DNR land decided to take his 7yr old son for a canoe ride. They rented a canoe south of Sauk City on the Wisconsin River and proceeded downriver.

Note that the beach is real and has been frequented by skinny-dippers for at least a century or four. It is located on the Dane County side of the river and has an island directly in front of it. Note that the main channel, the navigable part of the river, runs on the far side of the island and canoeists are putting themselves in danger of running aground if they choose to canoe directly past the beach. Most canoeists prefer to stay in the main channel with the island blocking the view.

John Gard, with full knowledge of the goings-on chose to take his young son directly past the skinny-dipping area. Later in the day Gard called a news conference to report his findings. He, of course, was living in Sun Prairie at the time. He complained about the beach.

Gard is damn lucky Social Services didn't yank his son away from him.

John Gard is an idiot.

He's a smart idiot though. He represents Peshtigo,WI where he supposedly lives, but he actually lives in Sun Prairie,Wi where his sons have gone to school for years! Even though he lives in Sun Prairie, 15-minutes from his seat at the Capitol, he gouges the taxpayers $88 per day since he is supposedly coming down from Peshtigo!

John Gard is another great Republican, just like Joe Paulus.

Civil Unions / Gay Marriage

Forget Civil Unions and Gay Marriage for a minute. A larger overall principle must be in place first...

Our country was derived from English and a smattering of Scots who decided in the latter 1700's that America should not resemble the daily life of a person in England.

England had a ruling class, i.e. Kings, Dukes, Lords, etc. Lords are by example Landowners. The Lords ruled the peons who worked the fields and tended to cattle. The peons were the bottom rung of society and produced the goods which were passed upwards to the titled ones.

A grand experiment in America was a thing called 'Government'. 'Government' was this Giant Wedge that was installed between the peons and the 'Powers that Be'.

In England the peons had no rights and existed at the whim of the Lords, etc. They were bought, traded, raped and cast aside without basic rights. The American idea of using this Giant Wedge called 'Government' attempted to give the peon a base platform of decent human rights while still allowing the Lords, Dukes, etc. (read Corporations), to make money.

To that end the founders of the United States of America put forth a number of glowing documents that in theory would make America utopia. It was no utopia then and still isn't. What it is is a work in progress. Lincoln freeing the slaves. Women getting to vote. Non-landowners getting the vote. Attainment of equality is a never ending task that every person should be vigilant about.

The ideal of a perfect family is horseapples. There have always been stepchildren and various combinations of family groups which don't resemble the 'ideal'.

This Giant Wedge we call Government was designed to enhance and protect the common peons, the working people, the 9/10's of our population against the whims of the monied rest.

The Corporations, i.e. the 'Powers that Be', want to keep the peons interested in Abortion, God, Guns, and Gays. Don't fall for their boloney.

Ordinary people want health insurance for everyone who lives under their roof. That includes stepchildren, grandchildren, a cousin's wayward child, Aunt Nellie whose husband left her, and adult gay liasons. People need health insurance regardless of their situation...period.

People also need to be able to visit loved ones in hospitals, assist in end of life decisions, and much more.

That Giant Wedge called Government should guarantee that one or two adults should be able to carry health insurance for all who live under their roof at no higher a cost than any other family group on the block.

Equality for all races is a no-brainer. Equality for women is a no-brainer. One person, one vote is a no-brainer. Allowing judges to perform (non-religious) marriages is a no-brainer. Equality for same sex civil unions is a no-brainer. Any individual could disagree with any of these. The pragmatist fully realizes that he or she should be concerned what goes on under their own roof and what goes on at someone elses home (castle) is their own business.

I feel that born again right wing evangelicals should have been held under the water longer, quite a bit longer, but the pragmatist in me tells me I have no business telling them how to live. They have no business telling anyone else how to live.

Let us continue to use this Giant Wedge called Government to give all of us a decent base platform of basic human rights, regardless of our race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

VOTE 'NO' ON THE WISCONSIN MARRIAGE AMENDMENT.

Remember that Wisconsin already defines marriage as between a man and a woman. The marriage amendment is not needed and will be derogatory to many.

One example: Voting yes would negate all domestic abuse laws for live-in non-married couples. This is not a good idea.

Dubya Bush to Move to Paraguay?

Some days this is just too easy. Humor is fun but how does one write serious when the subject matter is so far-fetched and true that laughter holds up the simple act of typing? My ribs hurt.

Jenna Bush has been down in Paraguay meeting with the country's President and the U.S Ambassador to that country. She is there on behalf of UNICEF.

Would that be a cover story? George Bush hates the U.N. which sponsors UNICEF. Oh! Did I mention the Democrats might take Congress in the November elections and if they do, Impeachment Proceedings will probably begin against Bush?

News services are reporting that George Bush has bought almost 100,000 acres of land in Paraguay.

Did I mention possible impeachment proceedings if Democrats win in November?

The Red Cross has filed War Crimes Charges against George W. Bush. The only other time in the history of the Red Cross that these charges have been filed was in the year 1943. Those charges were made against Adolph Hitler.

Did I mention Paraguay has no Extradition Treaties?

George Dubya Bush's new farm in Paraguay will adjoin one owned by one of his close friends. That piece of land, much larger that Bush's, is owned by none other than Rev. Moon. It totals just under 1.5 million acres.

How'd Rev Moon get in here?

Violence and death has increased dramatically in Iraq in the last weeks.

Dubya himself is even making comparisons to Viet Nam.

We still have Redneck Republicans in Wisconsin saying: STAY THE CORPSE!

Some of this came from Wonkette.com. You can go directly to the article which has great links, by clicking here.

Here is another international story on the same subject.

This is far better than fiction. Watergate was never as fun as this. A lot of items are on the web regarding the above items. I picked Wonkette because of the number of good links there.

Have a great weekend and be ready for Iran to erupt.

Elect and re-elect liberals. It's time.

Tommy Thompson to go on Welfare

Poor Republican Tommy Thompson plans to ask the Oshkosh City Council for a handout in the near future. The amount, undetermined as yet, might be $14 million, $17 million, or as high as $25 million.

The last time in Oshkosh that Tommy Thompson and Welfare were brought up in the same sentence was in the latter half of the 1990's. Tommy, with a waiver from Washington, allowed counties to opt out of the General Relief program. Winnebago County took that option.

TAXPAYER MONEY I

General Relief was a long time Social Service program. It was a safety net when all else failed. If a person or family did not qualify for Old Age Assistance, Aid to Dependent Children, Social Security Disability, etc., General Relief provided a last ditch bare bones program to house and feed people in transition. General Relief was the only assistance program I know of to provide a payback option. When the person died, the county could attach their bank accounts and real estate to recover the funds.

Tommy Thompson tossed General Relief in the garbage without providing an alternative program! The safety net was broken!

TAXPAYER MONEY II

TIF: Tax Incremental Financing. Taxpayers give a wealthy person money up front to help finance large loans to get a project off the ground. If things go well the wealthy person eventually pays back the Taxpayers albeit a lower interest rate than the bank might charge.
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Neither of these programs absolutely guarantee that the County will get its money back.

BOTH OF THESE PROGRAMS ARE WELFARE!

One, welfare for the poor, the other, welfare for the rich.

Tommy Thompson cut off welfare for the poorest of the poor. Now he's coming to Oshkosh to ask for welfare for he and his friends.

Anyone want to join me at City Hall for this one?

ENDNOTE...

I tried to simplify as much as possible to get the general idea across. TIF's were a noble idea. They have outlived any and all usefulness at this point. Latest casualty: 100 block of North Main which was to have a mix of low, middle, and high rents, which has resulted in high rents only.

Count me out for giving Republican Tommy a welfare check.

The November Surprise

I recently wrote about the October Surprise. Now comes the one for November.

Our White House con-man Dubya, (actually Karl Rove), has another dirty trick up his sleeve. The one person who had absolutely nothing to do with the bombing in New York City in 2001 will be sentenced just in time for the corrupt Bush Republicans to cash in for more votes.

That person's first name is Saddam. He comes not from Afghanistan (home of the terrorists), but from Iraq. He will no doubt be executed and Dubya will take credit for it.

You can read the story here.

I Think Dubya should also take credit for finding Osama, North Korea, and the useless upcoming invasion of Iran, and the useless invasion of Iraq.

It's time for change. Vote the stalemate Republicans OUT in November.

Pray for peace.

Cassandra Peterson: Unmasked

It took me a long time to find someone older than I to write about, actually three weeks older. Cassandra Peterson, Scandahuvian no doubt, graduated from High School in 1967 and looked like this.

There are many more right here.

The juicy stuff is here, the official website is here, and for even more you can go here.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, is humor, caricature, mystery, and so much more.

She says she is in the process of retiring but the name will live on in the form of a hand-picked young lady to take her place. I'm glad. I'd hate to see Elvira die, except maybe by Dracula biting her in the neck. That would be fun.

I had fun doing this. Hope you enjoyed it too.

QUESTION: Would it be politically incorrect to dress up on Halloween as Steve Irwin with the sting ray's snout through the heart?

Bait and Switch, The October Surprise

As Maxwell Smart might say to Agent 99: "Aha! That's the old bait and switch game."

Can you imagine a Bush as president during WWII.

• Hitler invades Poland
• Bush retaliates by attacking Japan

Or:

• Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese
• Bush sends troops to France in retaliation

Or farther into the world of fantasy...

• Some guys in Afghanistan bomb New York
• Bush invades Iraq

and for the sequel:

• North Korea dabbles in 'nookltr' bombs
• Bush attacks Iran

Could it get any better than that? Heck yes!

The Bush family spiritual advisor Rev. Sun Myung Moon has given lots of $$$ to the present and past leaders of North Korea. Moon, who is noted for his chairing and leading prayer breakfasts in the Bush White House, has violated sanctions that have been in place against North Korea since the 1950's. With Republican Bush in the White House it is likely that increased sanctions against North Korea will begin to starve the population, opening the door for Rev. Moon to deliver food, medicine, etc. into North Korea. That's what Moon has wanted all along. Get his foot in the door to do business there.

Now that I've pissed off the evangelical right wing Bush Republican lovers, who can't understand or explain away the Bush/Moon marriage of convenience here's more.

Yes. The election is the first Tuesday in November, and the October Surprise is right around the corner. It has nothing to do with North Korea. North Korea has a bomb. Our ChickenHawk president will ignore North Korea and attack a country that has no bomb: IRAN!!!

The attack will commence after October 21 and before the first Tuesday in November.

The large flotilla left the right coast of America days ago and is expected to arrive off the coast of Iran circa October 21. The attack on Iran will be done with missiles, not ground troops. We don't have any. The newly and hurriedly refurbished aircraft carrier Eisenhower is among the ships, submarines, etc.

Yes. The price at the pump will be going up after October 21. Bush will instill FEAR in every GOD-LUBBIN' 'MERICAN so they will vote to STAY THE CURSE. Then Bush will invite Rev. Moon to the White House again.

Now I've got to go look for that plastic and duct tape. (Please click on the links of the article to learn the origin of my thoughts and much more.)

Scarier Than Scary

Yesterday's column incited a number of comments of which none I dared print. At a very young age I learned the Mad Magazine axiom, All the News Fitted to Print, and nothing's changed. If you didn't get it go back and click on BOO!!.

Johnny Law has chosen to begin pulling in the reins yelling Whoa to the wild webbers on the Writers Wild West. Us cowboys always knew that's what www. stood for.

A virtual insult is worth about $3-million a word. In this case there were four of them: 'crook' 'con artist' and 'fraud'. Nineteen alphabet letters.

I knew this was coming a long time ago. I never thought about this aspect of blogging but always thought the obvious: Never write anything you would feel uncomfortable about your mother reading.

Warren Zevon's Lawyers, Guns, and Money keeps running through my mind. Fifty three million bloggers. Lawyers may stop chasing ambulances, start reading blogs, and who knows where that might lead? Insert a Wisconsin-ism here Gary. Two guys standing out in the cold drizzle. One remarks "If this keeps up it might rain." Whoa! It isn't rain. It's drool on the computer keyboard coming from the mouth of an attorney with $$$-signs in his eyes.

The Media Law Resource Center keeps an updated list of Libel and Related Lawsuits Against Bloggers. There's a lot of room for expansion in the legal trade considering the total number of blogs.

Getting closer to home the State Bar of Wisconsin tells us about the Shifting Legal Landscape of Blogging. Scroll down to the section on Defamation Standards. That's the meat of the article. From the conclusion section of the article, written by Atty. Jennifer L. Peterson, she advises that: ...bloggers should "speak" as though they are potentially liable for false and defamatory speech in their postings... and I most certainly agree with her.

I can sense the urgency that might coincide with reading the last paragraph but what's there to erase? The internet is funny that way. You click delete, come back tomorrow, and it's still there (cached)!

Peace.

Scarier than Halloween

Be afraid.

Be very afraid!

BOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOT in the Northwestern!

DESTINATION VENEZUELA

Hizzonerdamare Bill Castle and County Exec. Mark Harris will be leaving next week for sunny Venezuela. Taking a cue from former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin visiting Fidel Castro in Cuba some years ago, Mr. Castle and Mr. Harris will be meeting with none other than Hugo Chavez. They hope that Mr. Chavez can help Oshkosh and Winnebago County worm their way out of the current budget crisis. Preliminary communications indicate that they will get a warm welcome in Curacas.

To put it bluntly they are going to ask Chavez for some cheap gasoline. Horse-trading will be the order of the day. In return for cheap gas there will be a number of trade-offs. 9th Street will be renamed Hugo Chavez Pkwy. along with a number of other name changes, parks, public buildings, schools and the like. A 'sister-city' 'sister county' will be arranged too. The nice thing is that gasoline throughout the county will be selling for about 30-cents a gallon with snowplows running 24/7. Business will take off here and my favorite: Due to the cheap gas direct flights will depart Wittman Field daily for Curacas bringing folks by the thousands from Milwaukee, Chicago, and the Twin Cities.

G.O.P. MIDWEST CONVENTION

A meeting of the minds is scheduled between the Red Neck Republicans and the Log Cabin Republicans. They will be making a sincere attempt to iron out their differences. The convention will be held in Minnesota since Wisconsin still hasn't passed a concealed carry law. Ripon is disappointed.

STOCK MARKET

The DOW reached 11,700 this week. The last time it was this high William Jefferson Clinton was President. Remind a Republican how good their party is at running the economy.

SOCIAL SECURITY

January 1, 2007 will mark the beginning of a new era. Workers will have no deductions for S.S. until their income hits $90,000. At that point deductions kick in. (What the Hell. It's worth a try.)

POPULATION

Sometime this month the U.S. population will reach 300 million. We are spending 8 billion a month in Iraq. Let's see...
$8,000,000,000 divided by 300,ooo,ooo people. You do the math.

GASOLINE

Gas will go up the first Wednesday in November. Whoa! It will start to go up the week before but not enough to scare the Republicans into not staying the curse.

Peace.

Oshkosh, Gallery Walk, Art Walk

Art Walk, Gallery Walk, whatever you want to call it is this Saturday 6-9pm, the October 2006 edition. The first Saturday of every month, certainly an out of mall experience. If you have questions for politicians keep your eyes peeled. You will get the chance to ask them in person. This is a low key event that gives everyone a chance to see artwork, visit friends and neighbors, and enjoy a crisp fall night.

The Oshkosh Public Library will be open for the Art Walk. Not the regular entrance but the Washington Street entrance by the lions. A photograph collection: "Barns of Winnebago County" is the feature under the dome. Michael Cooney is the photographer.

Twenty some galleries will be open Saturday night and maps will be available at most of them. If you don't see one please ask.

Fall is a favorite time of year for me. The cooler air, the crunch of leaves underfoot, and early darkness. It's a bit mysterious, has a foreboding aura.

I have two favorite books to mention:

• "The October Country" -Ray Bradbury
• "Something Wicked This Way Comes" -Ray Bradbury

They are bone-chilling for fall reading. You'll get up and double check to see if your doors and windows are locked. The second one is takes it's title from the Shakespeare lines:

By the Pricking of the Thumbs, Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Peace.