Snapshots from D-Day

There must come a moment when all past plans come to an end, and the end that was once in sight has settled, surrounds you, and you now have landed directly inside it. With our raccoon live trap now poised to catch the wily critter from under our back courtyard deck, a cast iron bathtub set and glued in place inside a fully gutted bathroom, kids in school, it's time to take an easy seat on Jan's new recumbent bicycle and watch the sunset at Tenney Park as

Jan's new Catrike three-wheel recumbent bike, poised for the flat trails of Madison,
and grocery basket firmly secured over the back wheel

Carly and Julia push their bikes (pic above) out onto the man made peninsula jutting into Lake Mendota.  That was the day's end; what came before was the intricate process of moving Abby into her dorm room at Tripp Hall, overlooking a further western shore of Lake Mendota.  Three floors up, and air conditionless, we found that the rigor of moving a new person into the rooms was sweaty work.

3rd floor Tripp Hall, overlooking the cafe courtyard

Multiple trips to Target later, for small corner chairs, sheets and even shampoo later, Abby finally had a five hour meeting to go to on campus for a leadership club which gave mom four more hours of dorm room dawdling.  The new college student was very thankful for all the help and we now have an eldest child living on her own... a few miles away from home anyway. Luckily, in Madison, you are never far from the offered relief of a watering hole, so we selected Pasqual's, the nearest one to Hilldale Target Store,

the very mecca of back to school to school in the city.

Carly starts full days of school at Edgewood and fifth grade volleyball begins today.  Julia is a quarter way through tennis season and guitar and debate club.  Abby is a "Class Act" participant and approximately twenty feet from the great city jogging trail, waiting to get her chance to volunteer at the Lake Mendota Sailing Club.  The moment could come when Abby sails past the Tenney Park peninsula as her sisters wave from bikes watching the sunset, dad behind taking in the pic.