This past weekend was FULL for myself, my husband, and my father who was visiting from out of town. His visits always prompt us to do things we’ve never done in Milwaukee (we have only been here a year and a half). We had an amazing dinner at Braise, pork fat budino… what!?! We went to the zoo, the elephants were my favorite. We went to the State Fair on a super busy day, so I was a little overwhelmed, but the trip did produce this great photo of cows, rotating while simultaneously diminishing in size.

I’m not surprised to say, however, the most fun, educational and inspiring outing we had was our trip to the SSFM. My father had just brought us a truck full of vegetables, so it wasn’t necessary to stock up on food. I did, however, spot some amazing looking door county peaches, and as market manager Adam Horwitz put it, all the ingredients for ratatouille had finally arrived (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, basil, etc…)! Another new arrival was the SSFM CD, featuring music from various entertainers who have performed at the market throughout the years, pretty good deal at only $10, I plan to pick up my copy tomorrow at the information booth!

Perhaps most interesting was the presence of the The Milwaukee Observatory pop-up museum.  This program is a collaboration between Discovery World, Bay View High and Bradley Tech High. What I walked upon was a very impressive installation, complete with well designed, engineered and built signage communicating a stunning amount of information about the Bay View neighborhood.

What was even MORE impressive were the high school students and recent graduates who are involved with the program. What bright young minds. They gave me a tour of the pop-up museum, feeding me facts about historically significant trees, homes, and artifacts from an excavation they had conducted (pictured below). I spoke with the Bay View High Principal, who was delighted to be a partnering school, and humbly passed my questions onto the students. Seeing the evidence of this multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary approach to education left me feeling optimistic about the future.  I encourage you all to seek out their next pop-up museum, and you must talk to the kids while you’re there.

Last but not least, you know what’s coming, it’s the DOG OF THE WEEK!

That’s Rocky on the right and Cooper on the left. What sweethearts! Both Golden Retrievers, both 9 years old. Their mom got them when they were one. You might see them at Colombia St. Mary’s where they both volunteer as therapy dogs.

Hope to see you tomorrow morning!