Musings

The stunning pastels of a Lake Geneva spring

Favorites

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A long time ago I decided my favorite bird was a particular variety of duck, the specific variety of which doesn’t matter to the story, which is good, because I … Read more

Salesmanship

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I once wrote a description about a house that angered the owner of the house, my client. He read my description and told me he was disappointed in me. Mr. … Read more

It’s Time

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I took a drive this morning. Down a road I know and around a corner onto a road that’s familiar but still unknown to me. As I drove from one … Read more

Sometimes

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Sometimes spring arrives in February. The ice breaks and the wind blows and the snow melts and the grass greens and the street sweepers sweep to rid the roadways of … Read more

Kid From The Bay

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When you’re a kid from the bay you ride your bike to Geneva Street but never across it. You visit Lake Geneva when you’re 45 and still think of it … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

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My deaf, blind dog woke me up early this morning. She wakes me up early every morning, though lately it’s not as early as it was this past summer when … Read more

Novembery

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I’m not like you. You’re dreaming of bright skies and blue waters. I’m driving through this mist and this gray with my windshield wipers on intermittently and I stop to … Read more

October

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On Sunday I boated and maybe you did, too. It was that sort of Sunday. If you could boat, you did boat. One last ride, we all said. The skies … Read more

Time Zones

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I’m in Spain right now, sitting in a home crammed perilously into the side of a very old cliff, perhaps 500′ or more above the Mediterranean Sea below. It’s quite … Read more

Cover

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On a Thursday it’s cloudy and it’s rainy and the men hurry to work with their shoulders hunched forward and their eyes towards the ground. The rain wets their hair … Read more

September

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There was a battle yesterday. While you were busy driving to work or to school or to coffee or to the store to have your fall pants hemmed the battle … Read more

Flagstone

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In the town where I’m from there are all varieties of stone, but only one variety that matters. You call it Flagstone and I call it Lannon Stone and in … Read more

Pool Time

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I’m sitting at a pool now trying to find the motivation to become a pool person. I can imagine being such a person. Me, sitting by this pool, reading a … Read more

Changes

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The way things are now is no longer the way things used to be. That’s what I told him when he asked. I leaned in and explained some more. Golden … Read more

April

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There’s an interesting breeze blowing in Lake Geneva today. It stormed the other day. And then it stormed again a day later. And then it stormed a bit more. Once … Read more

Aspen Lakefront Realty

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I suppose my lifelong love of Aspen started last March when I visited for Spring Break. In Aspen, we capitalize Spring Break, because it is nearly everything to us. And … Read more

This Winter

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I’m not sure if it’s this winter, or just winter in general, but it no longer bothers me. It’s different. It’s cold, but is it bitter? Bitterly cold, that’s what … Read more

Happy New Year

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From my family to yours, best wishes for a peaceful, healthy, prosperous new year. Any year that starts with my family healthy and ends with them healthy is a pretty … Read more

1991

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There aren’t very many things that I can do today that make me feel like I did when I was young. When I was young, I mowed lawns. Lots of … Read more

Happy Holidays

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I’d like to say Happy Hanukah and Merry Christmas and also Happy New Year, but how can that fit in the title spot? And if it did fit, how would … Read more

Demands

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Demands Summer asks too much of me. It doesn’t let me be. It tells me that five o’clock is the time to start something. To go into the water or … Read more

Pier Guy

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My wife tells me I should worry less. She tells me that it doesn’t matter what the forecast says. But next Thursday is a high of 26 and a low … Read more

Pastry

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There’s this thing about the dark of winter that makes me want to do a certain thing that I know to be detrimental to both my health and my rapidly … Read more

Christmas Vacation

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I never met John Hughes. He apparently owned a condominium in Williams Bay and was a frequent breakfast patron at Daddy Maxwell’s, which should put the two of us on … Read more

Knocking

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There’s a summer wind blowing through my October window again. It shouldn’t be, but it is. And it’s not really blowing. It’s knocking. It’s pulsing. And the curtain is dancing … Read more

Prolific

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On the edge of my property, well beyond where the grass turns to prairie and after the prairie turns to a forest, if you can call it that, I have … Read more

Where

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So where would you rather be, he said. If you didn’t have to be here, where would you live? If you had to choose a place, tell me where. There … Read more

Birds and Feathers

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I arrived at my office this morning and read a comment from some person I don’t know who suggested I’m a “chubby bitch” with size 44 pants, which is, in … Read more

Rain

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It rained again yesterday. It would have come as a surprise to me, but it rained a bit two days before that as well. And last weekend we had some … Read more

Benches

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I’ve spent much of the last twenty years working on a theory that suggests the only people who sit on park benches are old men. I was driving a month … Read more

April

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When I was in high school, a friend of mine had a girlfriend named April. She had curly hair and tanned skin and braces, I think. She went to another … Read more

Crypto

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We’re happy to announce that We Are Now Accepting Bitcoin For Payment, the sign read. We also accept Ethereum and Dogecoin and ADA and Shibu. In fact, we accept every … Read more

Herbs

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Herbs The gas station in our town is called Herb’s. I should say, it was called Herb’s. It might have been called something else even when I thought it was … Read more

The Cottage

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The first time I ever saw the cottage I don’t think I noticed it. I drove by it and kept driving, oblivious to the obsession that would soon find me. … Read more

Something Else

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There’s something wrong with you, she said. I know, I said.  The Johnson deal is in trouble.  Not because it should be, but because it just is. The deal is … Read more

The Rink

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In the winter the town would flood the gravel parking lot to give the locals a place to ice skate.  Sure the lake was full of ice, but this rink … Read more

Bridges

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I was down at that bridge again. It was dark and it was rainy and that’s why I was there. Young couples put on their prom best and stand on … Read more

Whataboutisms

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The frothy whip of the real estate market has improved the lives and wellbeing of many, and in that list of many I include my own life and the lives … Read more

Sand

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Thinking about buying a home in the islands? Just say no.

Real Estate Shorts

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Do you know what the word breathtaking means? It means to have your breath taken. Like if you get murdered, that’s a seriously breathtaking moment. Once I was installing siding … Read more

Virgil Abloh

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I never met Virgil Abloh. I didn’t own anything from Off-White, the company he founded in Milan almost ten years ago. I’ve never met his wife, or his children, or … Read more

Back To School

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I’ve been writing this blog with intent for twelve years. Twelve years ago, back to school meant something different to me. Twelve years ago when I dropped my son off … Read more

Just a Cottage

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It was once only a dream. It was once a fantasy. Some day, maybe, but unattainable. Years passed and it become possible. A stretch, but possible. After years more work … Read more

Off White

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Grass is green and the sky is off-white. This is what the children of summer will be tought. Even if we don’t teach them, they’ll learn. How could they ignore … Read more

Lake Geneva For Sale

RIP

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My favorite tree has died. There is nothing more that can be said.

Wind

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The wind kicked up again. It was calm two days ago, and calm the day before that. But then yesterday it picked up and today it’s stirring. The wind is … Read more

Lake Geneva Real Estate

Home

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There’s so much talk about taxes and sunshine, I wonder if anyone remembers the concept of home.

Thanksgiving

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What a curious thing it is, this year. I sit here at this desk worrying about which customer will buy and which customer will sell, worrying about the June water … Read more

Over

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What just happened? Is it still summer? I remember the summer days. I remember seeing them through my car window, and out of this office window. The gas station was … Read more

Endless Summer

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The license plate said that. ENDLESS SUMMER. If you capitalize it, then it seems like some sort of horror film. It screams at you and demands things of you. But … Read more

Youth

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What is it about youth that we so envy? Do we envy youth because of our own cherished memory of it? Is it that we can imagine a time in … Read more

Force

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Years ago, I wrote often about the need to carve out time and dedicate that time to the enjoyment of this place. It was the time of our lives, after … Read more

Lake Geneva Real Estate

If

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This morning, I decided to do the thing I’ve done for nearly all of the past 24 years worth of mornings. I woke up, cleaned up, dressed down, and drove … Read more

Pier Guys

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This morning things seem ideal. I woke up, which is a nice start to any day. My house was warm, my children healthy, and when I sat on the edge of

Sunday

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Just trying to break the habit that forces us to worry about the future more than we care about living in the present.

Battle Royale

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You think your life is difficult? Ha! Try fighting my battle, and then you’ll at least be happy that you’re not having to walk a day in my pollen covered shoes.

Just A Kid

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It’s raining again, and this time it’s getting to me. The sun shines, but then it doesn’t. Here, then gone. Like a rising fish in that corner pool, dark and … Read more

Memorial Day Weekend

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Well, here we are. On the cusp. Don’t forget, this isn’t it. This is the cusp. This isn’t summer. This is a dress rehearsal. This is the weekend where you … Read more

Lake Geneva For Sale

May Flowers

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In between the rain drops, the trees of May strut their stuff. Pay attention, because these flowers are fleeting.

Major Storm

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I’m not sure why you’re spending the time to read this. It’s coming. Can’t you see?  It’s not far away now. Last night, it wasn’t even close. No one cared … Read more

Cool White

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( A rerun from 2017)   The problem with this tradition is that it’s based, at least somewhat, on emotion. On feelings.  Which is why I told my daughter on … Read more

In Between

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I’m sitting here again. Like Groundhog Day, without the square. Just me and this computer, this desk. This street. A few snow flurries outside, just a dusting I’m guessing. It’s … Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

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There’s nothing more to write. It’s just Thanksgiving. We should be thankful. I am thankful.  We should also be aware that on our list of things that matter, real estate … Read more

Cold And Frosty

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What a mundane life it would be if we missed mornings like these. Mornings like this. The cold morning where you’re not really cold. The foggy morning where nothing is … Read more

Decisions

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On a day last week, in the afternoon of that day, there was a choice to be made. The sky opened after a period of rain and a period of … Read more

Wish

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I used to wish for things. Lots of things. In the third grade, I wished that a girl I liked wouldn’t move away. She did. Later, I wished that the … Read more

Seasons

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In the northern reaches of this state, where monuments to large men and larger fish draw worshippers and summer starts and ends in the span of barely more than a … Read more

One Last Summer

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Somewhere, sometime, there was a decision made. It was a decision based on indecision, really. This would be it. A lifetime here, in this place, but the times had changed. … Read more

Glenwood Springs Fontana

Gone

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This week wasn’t like the other weeks. It wasn’t like the one before it, or the two before that one. It’s been a week unlike any since this week last … Read more

Not The Same

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I don’t really know exactly how Hamburger Helper works. I assume it’s just a powder mix, with some starch to bind and some salt to flavor. Maybe a dash of … Read more

Today

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It’s another nice day here. The sky is calm and the birds are chirping.  Some water from the sky would be nice, but that’s an opinion only shared by the … Read more

Scarred

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It’s still not clear to me whether or not the air conditioning worked. I remember a serviceman arriving in his rusted Suburban, the smell of his cigarettes, the sound of … Read more

The stunning pastels of a Lake Geneva spring

Municipal Musings

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Last weekend, it was hot. You know that. I know that. It was super hot. Smoking hot. Summer hot. If you were here, then you were less hot than the … Read more

Lilacs

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There was an old Lilac outside my childhood bedroom window. It wasn’t a great bush, or tree. Whichever it was, it wasn’t the finest specimen. It was just a bush … Read more

Forty

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This weekend, I’ll turn 40. It’s no big deal, really. No feat, nothing particularly impressive about passively allowing time to be measured. I’m probably an old 40, if there’s such … Read more

Along The Way

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I love my kids. I really do. Of the few things in this life of which I’m certain, that condition is firmly assured. But I can’t stand driving anywhere with … Read more

Walk This Way

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Somehow,  someway, someone once decided that walking was a nice thing to do.  Let’s go for a walk, someone once said. Others joined in. Those weary of walking likely declined, … Read more

Selling Season!

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It’s here. The time of year Any Lake, Wisconsin has been waiting for. This is their time. It’s all Any Lake, all the time. At least it is for now. … Read more

Winter

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I entered February with a heavy heart. Things were happening that were beyond my control. These things were beyond your control.   They weren’t even things, really. It was just … Read more

Glenwood Springs Fontana

2018 State Of The Market

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(Lake Geneva lovers to the left of the podium, smiling and clapping, standing. Michigan lovers to the right of my podium, scowling, sitting, glaring. Me, walking, shaking, waving. My hair … Read more

Happy New Year

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If you’re reading this, we made it. You made it. I made it. We’re the lucky ones. It’s freezing cold today at the lake, temperatures below zero today just like … Read more

Merry Christmas

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While watching a movie, I think it’s common to live vicariously through the lead character.  This probably isn’t true for some movies, as there’s no dedicated star to wish to … Read more

Gifts

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A man in a sweater.  He’s sitting on the couch. The sweater isn’t very nice, implying it’s not his dinner-sweater. It’s his Christmas morning sweater. He fumbles with batteries. The … Read more

Fire

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The living room was too hot.  The outside temperature barely registered 19 degrees, and the windows were open with the thermostat set at 68, but the living room was hot. … Read more

Preparations

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I have so many hoses. They’re the best hoses. Except the ones that have been cut by lawn mower blades. And the ones that had their metal bits crushed to … Read more