Author Meet and Greet -- Patricia Skalka

I like to discover new authors, especially local authors. Since the pandemic there have not been as many author visits to the area. When I saw that Lyons Fine Books in downtown Neenah was hosting a local author, I contemplated going. I didn't know the author, it was an informal event, and it was in Neenah. I know oh so far away. Since I had to go to the Neenah Library to get some books for the reading program and I had a gift card to Lyons, I decided to make a morning of it.

The author they were featuring was Patricia Skalka. She writes a mystery series set in Door County. Her latest book, Death Casts a Shadow, just came out in July. It is the 7th book in the series. The book sounded interesting enough that it sold me on going to check out the event.

Like I said the event was very informal. It was really just a book signing. I was all set to buy Death Casts a Shadow since it was the newest book. However when I got there, she had a few of her other books for sale and I decided to start with book 1, Death Stalks Door County.

Patricia signed my book and I let her know that I have not read any of her books and I was excited to start the series. She was very friendly and would probably have talked more if I had any real questions. Authors still intimidate me. 

I am glad I went and supported a local author and an indie bookstore. I will definitely keep an eye out for more author events at Lyons Fine Books as well Caramel Crisp in Oshkosh not to mention all the libraries in the area. I do like my author events. My wallet and the hubby may not but I sure do. Now if I just could get Brenda Novak to swing through Wisconsin on her book tour next year, life would be good.

7038. Go to a D1 Men’s College Basketball Game

 When we saw that the Badgers were going to play basketball at Miller Park (uh... excuse me American Family Field) and it was a day that worked with the hubby's schedule, we decided this was an unique event that we should attend. It was to be called the Brew City Battle. UW Women would play K-State and the men would play Stanford.

We bought tickets as soon as they went on sale. We went with the Terrace Level center court because we would see all the action and the price was right. About a two weeks ago, I got an email saying they are not using the Terrace Level and moved our seats to down to the Loge Level and moved us 3 sections over (423 to 226). Then I looked at the seating map and was no longer pleased by this. It may have only been 3 sections but with the way the seating bowl is we went from center court to behind the basket. After sending them an email, we moved to the Club Level and back to center court. 

There was hardly anyone at the women's game. The Badgers were able to keep up with K-State in the first half but were definitely outsized in the second half. A girl from Appleton played on K-State and had a little bit of playing. She did not score but I'm sure it was an experience to be able to play at AmFam Field.

The men's game was a better game. There were more people there. The play was better but the hoops were not very forgiving to either time. The Badgers won but it was a hard fought battle.

There was of course a lot of hoopla throughout both games. Bucky Badger kept us entertained at home plate.

Both games featured the famous racing sausages. Instead of running in foul territory, they ran from base line to base line and back again twice. One of the sausages  in the women's game, face planted. I'm sure that didn't feel too good.

Overall it was a neat experience. We were both disappointed by the lack of a crowd but it was a typical Kohl Center crowd (18,000). I was disappointed that the team store didn't have any Brew City Battle merchandise. A fun souvenir would have been a nice addition to the collection. If they play another Brew City Battle, we would go again. It was a fun atmosphere even if it was played in a baseball stadium. 

7467. Etch glass

 The Kaukauna Library does Make and Mingle once a month on Wednesdays. Last month we did paint pour pumpkins. This month it was going to be Etched Glass. I wasn't going to sign up because that sounded dangerous. However a few of my fellow girl scouts said it was pretty easy and I could handle it. So I signed up along with a few of the adult girl scouts.

It turns out it was not really difficult at all and very safe even with acid.

Materials

-- Armour Etch
-- Glassware -- we used pub glasses
-- Stencil -- We had several Wisconsin or alcohol themed choices to choose from. All done on a Cricut. 
-- Popsicle stick
-- Paint Brush
-- Tub of water

Steps

1. Pick out which stencil you wanted. I made both glasses the same.

2. Apply stencils to the glass using transfer paper. This is where the popsicle stick comes in handy so you could transfer the letters easier to the transfer paper and then the glass.

3. Apply the Armour Etch to the glass very liberally using the paint brush. The more you put on the better it turned out, especially if you have a large area to cover. I found if I saw the Armour Etch, I figured I had enough.

4. Wait 5-15 minutes to let the acid do it's thing.

5. Wash off the acid in a bucket of water. We did not do this part. The librarian did this since she does glass etching all time. Yea for keeping Amy burn free. 

6. Dry glass and remove stencil.

The whole project probably took 30 minutes. It was clean, simple fun. You just have to remember you are working with acid so be careful.   

I loved how my glasses turned out. I really hope they do this project again. It was fun and make great gifts. Hopefully they keep Make and Mingle going in 2023. Stay tuned for more fun projects hopefully.