Midsommar Fest

Friday night Travalon and I had baked haddock at Crandall’s again, then we carpooled with Richard Bonomo out to the American Players Theater to see Hamlet. Lightning kept flashing in the distance, but the rain didn’t hit us until we drove back into Dane County – then it hit us seemingly the moment we crossed the border. Saturday morning Travalon and I went out for coffee and then hit the Downtown Farmers’ Market. He bought veggies, and when I said how cool a shrimp plant was, he bought that for me too, for our 10-month anniversary. Ten wonderful months!

Saturday afternoon I rode with Hardingfele and her family to Elgin, IL for the Midsommar Festival in Vasa Park. Our band played Scandinavian music for an hour, then Hardingfele’s husband played ABBA songs on the guitar. Hardingfele’s daughter Rockstar Tailor (who probably doesn’t want to go by that name anymore) got an American flag painted on her face, so when there were no kids at the face painting booth, I asked if I could get my face painted. Instead, the lady painted a mandolin on my arm, as shown on my previous post. The crowd was small (probably because of the Blackhawks game) but enthusiastic. We played again for the bonfire and toast with aquavit. Skål! There was a beautiful full moon which was a supermoon, meaning it was closer to the earth than usual so it appeared larger. I rode home with my other bandmates, and we had some adventures driving into oncoming traffic (luckily none was coming at us) and turning the wrong direction down a road, plus there was road construction so we had to go more slowly than usual. I got home very late and overslept the next morning, so I had to go to evening Mass. Oh well, it was a lot of fun and we even got paid.

Famous Hat