Irish Language Weekend

This weekend I was very busy with the Irish Language Weekend. Rich and I grabbed a quick bite of dinner before my classes began Friday evening. I was in Level Two this year but had the same energetic teacher from Connemara as last year. Afterwards my regular Irish teacher convinced me to stay for the games in Irish, which were a lot of fun, but then I got home kind of late.

Saturday morning things started up at nine, and then we got a break for lunch so I went up to the Square with one of the other people from my weekly Irish class, the guy teaching the beginning level class, and his mother, who were both from Ireland. The first place we went, Cooper’s Tavern, had an hour wait, as we were told by the Irish maître d’, and he couldn’t even help out a couple of his paisanos. We went to Brocach, which the Irish people thought was great because the name apparently means “filthy” in Irish, so they were taking pictures of the sign. They did concede that the food was good and the interior was very authentic-looking for an Irish pub. We rushed back to class and continued until four, then I met Travalon at St. Patrick’s for evening Mass. A whole bunch of African people in brightly-colored clothes filled the basement, and I found out they were there for a memorial service. I hope people wear brightly-colored clothes to my funeral! Black is awfully depressing for those of us who believe there is something after this life. Travalon had a steak night with the guys that night, so I met OK Cap and Luxuli at Chez Nanou, a French bistro on Willy Street. Afterwards OK Cap and I rushed over to the Baroque concert we planned to attend, but the parking lot was full and we couldn’t find any parking within a mile radius, so we just headed home and prayed a rosary. Luxuli joined us over the phone. I completely forgot about the Irish music concert that was part of our Irish Language Weekend, since I'd been planning to skip it for the Baroque concert.

Sunday morning Irish class again began at nine. Our teacher was great: she had us fill out our evaluations forms, and THEN she gave us chocolate! No bribing from her! Class got done at 11:30, so I hurried home to catch the Packer game. It was beautiful the way they stopped the Rams. Since it was such a gorgeous day, Travalon and I took a boat ride (our last for the season?) back into the marsh, then we went to a park in Windsor and took a long walk on a boardwalk beside the Yahara River, where it is barely more than a babbling brook. It was very beautiful, and I told Rich that I’d love to go there some time with him and Kathbert. We still have about a mile more of trail to explore, since the sun was going down so we didn’t want to get stuck on the trail with no light. Then we watched – you guessed it – more episodes of Soap. We must be nearly done with Season One by now.

Famous Hat