Delavan, Wisconsin used to be Circus City. Between 1847 and 1896, no fewer than 26 circuses used Delavan as their summer headquarters. P T Barnum began here.
I've got a great photo of Bao in the jaws of a pink lion drinking fountain at Delavan's Commemorative Park. (There was also a 12-foot statue of a rearing elephant, but it was too big to photograph) You'll see the photo when I figure out how to upload it. And I will figure it out. Tonight, tomorrow, whenever. Delavan's Main Street is paved with thousands of red bricks, laid by Italian immigrant workmen half a century ago.
We're back in Elkhorn with Bao's Aunty Charlotte and Uncle Bill for a couple of days of R&R in preparation for the long drive home. Except for the buffalo wings, we hadn't had a real meal since Boston. Charlotte suggested Sunday brunch at Fiddlesticks, a new venture run by a promising, young local, Chad Steen.
Chef Chad's Eggs Benedict turned out to be an intriguing variation on the classical dish, substituting succulent hunks of salmon for ham and an artichoke/potato pancake for the traditional English muffin, topped by an exquisitely poached egg (have you any idea how hard it is to poach eggs perfectly for a crowd?) and lashings of hollandaise sauce. It was divine.
On to Arts at the Lake, an annual, juried art show at Lake Geneva showcasing the best work of nearly 100 selected artists from all over the United States. There were paintings, sculpture, photography, glass, wood, fiber and jewelry. The quality of the works on display was extraordinarily high, and the prices were amazingly reasonable, half of what you'd expect to pay in the Big Smoke. All those bargains, and there I was with a car already stuffed to the gills, to muddle another metaphor.
I can't possibly buy another thing, I told Charlotte.
But I did. A happy wood sculpture of bright blue swimming crabs for my bathroom, and a ring and earrings made out of old forks and spoons.
Charlotte and Bill are going to help me repack the car. Dinner was prime rib at Moose Creek Inn.
Good art, good food, good wine, good friends. What more could anyone want?
At the end of the day, Bao was so tired that I had to carry him upstairs and put him to bed like a two-year-old.
And I wasn't far behind him.