Today was a good day, and I usually don’t have good days when M and the boys are out of town. This morning I woke a little after four, earlier than expected, as I didn’t fall asleep until ten. I decided to skip working out too early and took a decadent shower (showering without working feels decadent to me these days) before six. Toys, papers, and packaging from the new camera were strewn across the kitchen island, so I cranked a DBT/HS mix and cleaned. I started laundry, checked email (although I said I wasn’t going to get online more than thirty minutes today) and talked with M. I was part of a small crowd standing outside the library door as librarians opened the doors. Come to think of it, there are always people waiting outside the library doors a few minutes before opening; I think most of the waiters want first dibs on the good computers. Slumdog Millionaire stood on the “lucky day” shelf. I snagged that sucker and got on the road, leaving the radio off and soaking in the grey Milwaukee morning. I swung off the highway near downtown and found a parking spot across the park from St. John’s Cathedral. I snuck inside the deserted (except a troll-like old woman) church and sat in the back before I took any pictures. I thanked God for my family’s health and tried to figure out how Milwaukee’s flagship Catholic church got away with excluding kneelers. After a few minutes of quiet prayer I snapped some pics, although the cool crown of thorns/crucifix suspended in the sanctuary’s center turned out to be less photogenic than I expected. I guess you need to see the piece live.

I cut south to the highway and slid a little further south through one of Milwaukee’s old neighborhoods near the basilica. That neighborhood is beautiful, all tight rowhouses with tiny gangways between buildings and narrow, crowded streets. I parked in front of a cellphone store directly across from the majestic basilica entrance. Locked doors left me panicked for a moment until a Latino man let me in through one of the smaller adjacent doors. The basilica is huge, not quite St. Peter’s huge, but I was reminded of some of the Italian cathedrals, sure. Half a dozen side altars, stately confessionals, and one of those preaching platforms with a stairway wrapped around the base infuse the larger space with scale and a quiet grace. I prayed (the basilica has kneelers) and took some pics. A priest said hello while I had the camera in hand so I assume pics were ok. Two of the angels near the altar caught my eye. Their eyes were peaceful, like the Laverna ceramics. Each angel held a staff with electric lights, like those longer, fuller Christmas lights that you don’t see much anymore, except these bulbs were white. I find the basilica’s presence amazing. Here’s this stately, beautiful building right in the middle of a working class neighborhood founded by Poles and Germans who stuck around for a couple generations until they sold their houses to Latinos and moved to the suburbs. I love Milwaukee.

More later, phone keeps ringing.