The Wisconsin Balloon Group's annual picnic was Saturday afternoon, and I was invited.

I crewed for one of five balloons launching from a driving range in Richfield that morning. I enjoyed it a lot because the weather was great, if cool, and colors are spectacular this time of year, even for crew members. I was very pleasantly surprised to see a familiar couple there for a ride.

Last week we got our balloon set up in Monches with passengers in basket ready to launch when we discovered an issue with the equipment. I felt sorry for the passengers because we scrubbed a flight they probably had been looking forward to for quite a while. Everything was perfect about the morning; fall colors, weather, good crew. Unfortunately, I knew, they probably wouldn't be going up until next year - long after these fall colors had faded from memory.

That's why I was so thrilled to see the couple again so soon. Not only did they get to still see the colors, the weather still great, but launching with four other balloons made it even more interesting. They also were closer to home in Richfield and saw many more familiar sights than they would have in Monches.

Many pilots brought their balloons to the picnic for a possible evening launch. Jim from Janesville was there with Yellow Fever, and we talked about my very first flight two years ago with him. He mentioned his difficulty finding good crew after a couple of them shipped off to Iraq. He also bemoaned losing his GM job at the end of this year.

After filling up on roast pork I was invited to take a ride on Free Spirit, Rod's balloon. It would be my first ride this year and third over all. I jumped at the chance. The colors would look great with my new camera.

The pre-launch was rather breezy and we bounced around even with several additional people holding the basket down. We took a bucket of golf balls with us for a ball drop contest and hoped no one on the ground would get hit with either the balls or the empty bucket. The ball drop was a Team Challenge to help raise funds to find a cure for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The winner of the contest would get a balloon ride. A fellow crew member has Crohn's disease and was terribly ill before a treatment was found for her. Doing much better now, she is now training to be a pilot herself and shared this ride with Rod and myself. 

It's a smaller world from a balloon. I didn't want to go to the picnic in Jackson if I had to drive, yet one of the first things I saw from the air was the Milwaukee skyline. A different perspective. Crossing Big Cedar Lake as if a pond. Hearing people yell but almost too small to see. We were the envy of the birds.

Of the five balloons to launch we were probably the last to land, in an alfalfa field. Still a little breezy, we had a good hit and rode the basket like a wild fair ride as it skipped across the field. Today our chase crew, and my camera, had a decent work out.

Yesterday was almost perfect; the weather sunny and calm, many things are in bloom, not too hot or cold and no bugs. This is a great time to welcome the birds that were away for so long. There's cute baby bunnies hopping around the yard lately, and there's just a couple huge bees busily polinating around the house.

Once again I was able to avoid yard work so Sir Fido had time to take me for a walk. Of the three rummage sales we encountered, two were closing for the day, and we fortunately didn't come home with any more junk. He loves the walks as much as I do; while he's eagerly checking out every scent like a curious child, I'm enjoying the people I meet and nature I encounter. 

The Waukesha Farmer's Market opened for the season yesterday with live music, give-aways, police and fire departments and lots of delicious food. Because I put so much thought into some hanging baskets attracting more bees, all I left with was a sturdy cloth shopping bag full of fliers, however. The market has come a long way. When I had produce myself to sell 25 or so years ago, we just went down to the river on Saturday and set up a table. There was little advertisement and few customers. Take a look now and you'll see all kinds of food, plants, handmade things... and lots of community support and advertising. Many downtown businesses have taken an interest in the market now because, thanks to the BID and stall charges, word is getting out, there is variety and freshness, and people are coming.

The Pewaukee River Run was finally held yesterday - the water too high in April when it was originally scheduled. It was fun seeing canoes and kayaks full of people wildly paddling toward Frame Park on the Fox. Hopefully no one piled their boat into a river obstruction, of which there are quite a few.

North picked a great day for it's prom. At the grand march we saw hundreds of teens in their finest, my son and his girlfriend among them. The gym was packed with enthusiastic parents, relatives and friends for the introductions and prom court selection. After the march a dozen or more limos were among vehicles used to transport the juniors and seniors to the PAC  Milw. for a night of music, food and fun.

The best part of the day for me was waking up at 4:50 in the morning because that meant HOT AIR BALLOON SEASON HAS STARTED! Two balloons launched from a field next to Boomer's Pub in Pewaukee and headed south-west with me driving one of the chase vehicles. They both landed in the area of Wern Valley Sportsmens Club, a beautiful area with lots of birds and farmland. The couple in our balloon were a pleasure to meet - very friendly and funny - and it was their wedding anniversary. The light wind was so perfect for their flight, taking them over Retzer Nature Center and much wildlife. What a great way to celebrate 22 years of marriage.

One of my favorite stores is one that everyone in Waukesha should be aware of. Plowshare Gifts, at the corner of Grand Ave. and Main in Downtown Waukesha, is a fair trade gift shop. Everything in the store is made by craftsmen in developing countries. People normally paid pennies for their labor are guaranteed a living wage and access to health care and education through the fair trade program.

The store, with a wide range of gifts, clothes, jewelry, coffee, musical instruments, etc. is the only one like it in Waukesha County. It's a neat educational experience to see and feel the crafts made around the world. It's truly amazing what some people can do with soapstone, or recycled plastic, steel and aluminum, or clay, brass, native woods... This week I bought two small, hinged, inlayed wooden boxes from India. Just to UPS a box across town would be a minimum of $4.00. I only paid three dollars for each box (there's two more left). For the price of one beer at Miller Park, I left with two beautiful, handcrafted items made by someone in India who I know was paid a living wage. I don't know how it's possible, it just is. 

The store is non-profit and volunteers help staff it, keeping prices low. There's so much to see and bargains to be had, but my favorite are the Tibetan singing bowls, something you won't find at Walmart.

A couple years ago my son's class sold fair trade chocolate from the store to raise money to spend at the store for an item to donate to an auction for the school. The price of the candy bar was a bit more than a Hersheys, but the kids learned so much more about the world from selling it. It was the best fundraiser, one that helped everyone down the line -- from the cacao producers, to the craftspeople, Plowshare Gifts, all the way back to the school in profit from the auction.

If you can't find an inexpensive, useful or beautiful gift for the "hard to buy for" at Plowshare, let me know. My friend, Ken with Wind Dancer, is running ads for balloon flight gift certificates. The more often they go up the better my chance of helping out, and I love crewing! You can e-mail Ken if interested at wiwinddancer@cs.com.

 

 

 

Within the last week and a half I walked, drove, rode a bike and chased a hot air balloon to the University of Wisconsin Waukesha.

A week ago Saturday was the last time I crewed, possibly for the season. All three balloons that took off together from a park on County K in Pewaukee landed together on the north parking lot of the university. Distance of travel; about five miles. It was fun landing in my own neighborhood for once.

This last Friday I attended the free Fall Instrumental Concert featuring the UW-Waukesha Handbell Choir and the Symphonic Band. Really impressed by the music and little stories behind the music. This was the first year of playing for five of the six handbell choristers and they did a fantastic job. The Symphonic Band took on more than one challenging piece and played extremely well also.

Sunday the university offered free hot chocolate and fireworks after the parade. Friendly volunteers had tables set up to do craft activities with the many children there. It was the second day of the second annual Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for the UW-Waukesha Foundation, a group that supports and promotes students and programs at the university.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the current photo exhibit in the Fine Arts Center on the south end of the campus. The gallery, open just 10:30 to 1:30 M-F, is currently showing 20 or so large, beautifully mounted and arranged photos by Janica Yoder.

Today I enjoyed even more meeting photo artist Janica Yoder during a Visions and Expressions lecture at the university. We saw many slides of her work and she commented on every one. She told us what camera she used, where her models were from, what she was feeling, where she took the photos, how she created certain effects... I found several of the things she said very interesting. First, she loves to photograph at Paradise Springs, the same place I was taking pictures at Thursday. Also, she always uses film, not digital cameras and she exclusively uses natural light for all her photos. We all enjoyed learning how her photos were created as much as seeing the slides themselves. But one of the nicest things of the afternoon was viewing the exhibit once again after learning how the photos were done. Janica's talk gave a lot of substance to the exhibit and I appreciated even more.

I couldn't imagine better weather than we had here for the last day of summer Saturday. Golden delicious! The delicious weather brought out thousands of people to Retzer Nature Center's 21st Annual Apple Harvest Festival. I was real glad to see the people too, even though it made for more work for me in the food tent, because some things are just too good to not share.

I must've poured a hundred cups of cider, constantly moving to restock all beverages, and never got stung by a yellow jacket, (wish some of the young kids in attendance could say the same.) Besides a game of tag with the yellow jackets, the children's craft area, scarecrow display and musicians were very popular. The wagon ride had a long line as did the apple pie area.

I guess one could judge the success of the fest by how much was left at the end. I really don't know what all was left at the end because I wasn't there and didn't ask, but in my brief survey of the situation I noticed the apple pie slices were gone, the cider sold out and the 62 varieties of apples down to about 12. And I was thinking about purchasing 4 gallons of cider!

I would've loved to help clean up after the festival ended at 5:00, but I put in my three hours and hot air balloons were calling. Since this is my first year regularly hot air crewing, I'm not sure how long the season lasts, or if there even is a season. I was just happy to have the opportunity to help on the last day of summer.

Crewing went just as great as Apple Fest. A total of four balloons launched together in Monches and floated an hour toward north east to touch down in Hubertus. An ultralight fly-in was going on in the area and they seemed to have the time of their lives flitting around the four huge colorful balloons. The hilly wooded area around Holy Hill, where we were chasing, is starting to get really pretty with the new color in the trees. It was a joy to be there and it was nice to be needed. It was nice to be needed there. My family understands.

It turns out the couple who went up in our balloon were celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary that very day. A huge surprise. Scheduling around the weather and availability usually means flights don't necessarily go up when you'd like. Sometimes a year or two can go by if there's many weather cancellations. So we see a lot of first-time fliers but not a lot of birthdays or anniversaries unless by chance. This one was their anniversary. I don't know how they planned it that way.

Dear Dad,
Thanks for showing me your new home. I knew you'd made it when I saw a Halo Delivery truck in our shop the day after you died. It's got to be good to reunite with your family and friends.

I was in heaven in a hot air balloon Saturday and it reminded me so much of you; big, bright, colorful, warm and gentle, quiet and slow. I know you must have had something to do with it.

You always had a knack for running into people from your hometown, no matter where in the world you were, so it shouldn't surprise me that you'd run into angels from Janesville too.

Jim Bushelle, Teri and Nick of the Janesville Hot Air Balloon Company are truly angels. Not only did they take us under their wings and let us help, but they patiently answered every question and showed as much enthusiasm as we did if not more.

I'm grateful for our new friends in the hot air community, a real family adventure. I'm lucky to have spent more time with my son in the last two weekends than it seems I ever have before. I've slowly glided over my fair city in the early morning, north to south, and there is no money I'd trade the memories for.

These last two weekends of crewing for Jim and Teri were unique, just like each balloon, and if it wasn't heaven...

Miss you
Brien

P.S. if you might be interested in trying ballooning in the Waukesha area give Ken Walter a shout at WIWindDancer@cs.com. Ken's the helpful, friendly organizer of Skyfest for the past 12 years who knows everyone and their balloons.