548. Have a sword fight

 Last year, Bergstrom-Mahler Glass Museum did a Renaissance Faire themed Art After Dark complete with sword fighting. I wanted to go so bad but life got in the way and I had no one to go with. This year they were doing it again and I was bound and determined to go. Danielle put it on her calendar and I was going to be in training. Work got all messed up and I had to take some PTO so I could go but it worked out. 

It used to be once a month but now it is once a quarter, Bergstrom-Mahler Glass Museum hosts Art After Dark, a themed experience to see the museum after hours. The event is usually the last Thursday of the month and is free to the public. Food and drink are usually available for purchase. It usually runs 5:30-8:30.  I have attended a couple events over the years.

All I could talk about was getting to sword fight. I was going to be seriously disappointed if I wasn't allowed to participate. We got to the museum in time for a sword fight demonstration. That was pretty neat. They were quite talented.

Then we headed towards the back of the lawn to where WHFA Appleton (Badgers Den Sword Academy) was going to let you practice your sword fighting skills. After signing my life away, I donned my helmet and grabbed a sword. 

At first they gave me a long sword and my trusty opponent had a shorter sword. I felt this was a disadvantage so they found me a shorter sword.

The goal was to "behead" your opponent by hitting them in the helmet. I was not very successful. I was beheaded more than I was able to get behead my opponent. 

I was expecting more of a pirate sword versus a Medieval type T Sword. I wanted to swashbuck my opponent. Oh well. It wasn't a real sword but more heavy of form type sword but it felt very well. 

Needless to say I was not a very good sword fighter. Good thing I didn't need to pass that test to get knighted. 

After my attempts at sword fighting, we wandered around, sampled mead and beer, browsed the shops, and eventually completed all my missions to become a knight.

It was a fun evening. Hopefully they continue to have this particular Art After Dark. I'm sure Danielle would tag along with me again.

Now that I found out I'm not very proficient at sword fighting, maybe I can find out if I can master joust.  

Book Talks 2024: Brenda Novak

 I was disappointed back in December 2022 when Brenda Novak announced her book stream tour would not be stopping in Wisconsin.. she would travel through WI but not stop. It didn't surprise me but it would have been nice. I wasn't driving 4-6 hours just to go see her. So when she announced that her book tour this year would take her to Kenosha, I mentioned this to the hubby. He rearranged his scheduled so he could take me.

I discovered Brenda Novak by accident at the start of the Pandemic when she invited Susan Mallery, another favorite author of mine, to be part of her virtual book launch. And I was hooked. I joined online book group. She writes women's fiction and along with some romance and suspense. She really likes conflict so some of her books are struggle because unless I am the mood for a thriller, I prefer light reads. Not all her books are overly suspenseful and are good reading. I am definitely a fluff kind of reader. Her Dundee, ID series is probably my favorite series and Summer on the Island is my favorite one this year. 

Blue House Books in Kenosha was hosting Brenda. It was right down town and the first tour stop to sell out.. The hubby and I had pizza from Cut Stone Pizza before hand. Like most Indie Bookstores, it is not a large bookstore. Even though we got there 10-15 before hand most of the seats were taken. I directed the hubby to a cozy arm chair in the corner while I snagged one of the few remaining seats up front.

Brenda talked about her new book, The Banned Books Club as well as how she got started in writing. She spoke for a good half hour along with reading part of her book. Then she opened the floor up for questions. After that she signed our books we pre-ordered, which was not a requirement. 

Meeting Brenda was pretty dang awesome. She and her daughter, Alexa both recognized me from my blog post I did earlier in the year about places to visit in Wisconsin for a different book she had coming out this year. They even looked to see if any of the recommendations I had in the blog were close. Sadly there were not.. in my original vision there might have been. Brenda was great. I usually hate meeting authors, so famous.. or infamous, that I don't know what to say but it was easy to talk to them. She was impressed I made the journey down. I said I bribed the hubby with pizza. 

It was a fun evening. Maybe one day she will get to my neck of the woods. The only problem is a lack of a good venue, even with the air stream. I would if the Plaza and Lyon's book would sponsor her and she could do it outside on the plaza in Neenah. That would be fun. Hmm. I might have to suggest that.

As much as I loved meeting Brenda Novak, I think R.L. Stine and Debbie Macomber still beat her out for my favorite author events. It will be really hard to beat both of them. 

St. Louis and the south always get big name authors. I will take what I can get around here especially now that the Fox Cities Book Festival is no more. I would suggest always taking the time to meet your favorite author when you get a chance even if it's a few hours away. 

Pizza Snob Adventures 2024 -- Cut Stone Pizza

 When Brenda Novak announced she would be stopping in Kenosha as part of her The Banned Books Club book tour, the hubby said we could go. Then came the problem of finding dinner before hand. Google maps to the rescue. I noticed there was a pizza place right next to the book store. I get to see Brenda Novak.. the hubby gets pizza out of it.

Cut Stone Pizza is located downtown Kenosha. The actual sit down restaurant is open 4:30-9 Wednesday-Saturday. They also have a fire engine pizza food truck which is around in summer. That has since gone on the bucket list.  

You order at the counter and then find a table. There is not much seating but we were able to snag a table. The menu consists of a handful of sandwiches, some appetizers, and pizza of course. There is pre-determined pizzas or you can build your own. I gave the hubby the option of meat or cheese. He went cheese. The person behind us laughed at that. I was like he's simple when it comes to pizza.

The pizza was very good. It was the perfect wood fire crust with just enough fire on it. It was not a huge pizza as wood fire pizza is but with the breadsticks it was perfect. The cheese breadsticks were fabulous too.

Next time maybe we will get meat... or ice cream for dessert. 

Cut Stone Pizza is definitely worth a dinner stop if you are in Kenosha for dinner. Even the bookstore recommended them. If we ever find ourselves in Kenosha for dinner again, this would definitely be one of our choices. Pizza Snob Approved. 

Book Talks 2024: Tammy Borden

 I kept seeing local bookstores and libraries hosting this author, Tammy Borden. I kept trying to get to see her because her book sounded interesting and something always interfered. Finally when Kimberly Library was hosting her, I made a point to go see her. 

Tammy Borden is the author of Waltraud: A True Story of Growing Up in Nazi Germany. The book is the story of her coming of age in and around Berlin during World War II. It is historical fiction as Ms. Borden had to make up dialogue and fill in gaps from her mom's stories but it is really her mom's biography without being a biography.

To hear Tammy Borden speak was a wonderful way to spend a Tuesday evening. To hear her speak of her mom's story, the research she did, and the family she was able to give some closure to was very inspiring. 

As she said this story told itself and she might not be able to write another book as easily since the story was already there. It was just putting down facts.

If you get a chance to hear Tammy Borden speak, do it. She is amazing story teller and captivates you from the beginning. Even if you can not, go read the book. The story is that good. It is on Amazon or if you are in the Fox Valley, your local bookstore or library should have a copy too. 

6008. Go to the Robert O Cook Arboretum in Janesville

 While planning for girls weekend, I realized that one of my reading challenges said to visit an arboretum. I was like there is one in Janesville. I told Stacy we need to add the Arboretum to our list of things to do.

Robert O Cook Arboretum is on the outskirts of Janesville and is owned in part by Janesville school district. It is open daily 5 am to 11 pm. It is 160 acres of wetlands, forests, and trails. 

We parked in the main parking lot and decided to hike the JSOL Paved Cabin Trail so we could see the historic cabin. It said it was only .29 miles. It should have been totally doable except it was hot and we had more hiking to do. 

We walked about half the trail and said the cabin was too far away. We headed back to the car to hike part of the Ice Age Trail. If we walked the outer loop (about 1 mile, we would have gotten to part of the ice age trail in the Arboretum. We did not. We wanted the tricky Devil's Staircase portion of it. 

The arboretum is actually a really nice place to visit. The trails are wide, dog friendly, and even great in winter. I would suggestion checking it out if you are ever down in the Janesville area and need some exercise. I did put see the cabin on the bucket list so maybe one day I will be back. 

5995. Cross the Zig Zag Bridge in Rotary Park in Janesville

Looking for things to do new Beloit, I discovered Janesville wasn't too far away and offered a few more adventures. One of them being Rotary Park Botanical Gardens. This sounded like a nice way to spend a Sunday Morning.

Rotary Park Botanical Gardens is open 9-5 and costs $9/adult to visit. Parking is free.

The Botanical Gardens had a lot more flowers than the Anderson Japanese Gardens which was great to see. They have several different gardens with easy walking paths.

The Zig Zag bridge is located by the pond. It is supposed to ward off evil spirits that can only travel in straight lines. It is a fun spot for pictures and enjoying the very murky pond. 

Another fun bridge for pictures is the arched bridge. It was really busy over there so we didn't get too many pictures of it. 

While you enjoy the gardens, you can find 29 different owls installations created by various artists. They were fun to spot. Some were more creative than others. 

And they had a giant chair to sit in. I love my giant chairs. This one was a bit difficult to get out of but it was still another giant chair.

The Rotary Gardens were also working on getting their displays set up for the Christmas light display. You could find lights on many of hte trees and pushes. The Christmas light display at the Rotary Gardens is supposed to be spectacular and is on my bucket list to enjoy one year.

The Rotary Botanical Gardens are great place to visit especially on a Sunday morning before it gets too busy. 

5992. See the Tiffany Bridge in Shopiere

 I will admit I have a lot of random places on my bucket list. Sure I want to see the big, splashy places but sometimes the random spots will amaze you or they are a piece of forgotten history. When I started planning girls weekend, I looked at everything in Rock County on my bucket list and added anything that was close to Beloit and Janesville on the list. One of them was the Tiffany Bridge.

The Tiffany Bridge was built in 1869 and may be the oldest stone bridge in Wisconsin. It is stone arch bridge that the railroad uses. It is located near Shopiere. It spans the the Turtle Creek.

Turtle Creek Parkway County Park is the perfect spot to view the bridge. The park is grassy spanse that is great for picnics as well. 

Even though we had much on the agenda, we took a quick detour and checked out the Tiffany Bridge. It is definitely worth checking out. I would have liked more to time to get closer and get more pictures but what we saw was definitely pretty neat.

If you find yourself in the Beloit area with time to kill, pick up some sandwiches and wine and have a picnic in front of the Tiffany Bridge. Maybe pose for some crazy pictures too.