Monday, June 5, 2017

Relaxing Summer Weekend


I hope my readers enjoyed the warm weather this weekend. Travalon and I had a very relaxed weekend. Saturday we slept late, had brunch at the Manna Café, and then went to the music store for a strap for my ukulele and cables to plug in my electric mandolin and Travalon’s bass. Back home we tried out the cables, and I figured out the bassline to Pink Floyd’s “Money,” but when Travalon found the tablature online, I had mixed up two notes. He had always wanted to learn that bassline, and now he can! Then we went for a hike in the south part of Cherokee Marsh, but we kept running into geese families, so we had to go other ways or wait until they passed. Trust me, you do not want to get too close to a goose with babies! I once saw a somewhat inebriated girl get attacked for doing just that. In the evening we went to the Overture Center to see Diana Krall, who is very funny besides being very talented. As my regular readers may remember, I once had a gig playing with a bassist who had played with her. That is one of my brushes with greatness, the other being when Pope John Paul II waved at me.

Sunday was another relaxed day. Rich helped us get our boat trailer attached to Travalon’s car, then we all headed to Olbrich Park and put the boat in the water. We had hoped Rich would come on the boat ride with us, but he is a busy man, so he said he would just return to help us get it out of the water. We went out on Lake Monona for about an hour and then went back into Starkweather Creek, where you can get an amazing view of the Thai Pavilion in Olbrich Gardens from the water. As we were trying to get the boat out of the water before Rich got there, we saw a guy who forgot to put his parking brake on or something, and he got out of his SUV to mess with the boat, and the SUV (which was running but had nobody in it) backed into the water and hit the boat. Whoa! Travalon and I may not be very elegant at getting our boat into and out of the water, but we haven’t made that mistake… yet. Rich, Travalon, and I had a drink at the East Side Club, then Travalon and I went to the café on the roof of the Monona Terrace, but once again it was closed with no indication on the website that it would be. We ended up having dinner at the Olive Bar in the Hilton, and we saw a retiree we know who got a job there as a valet. I guess some people can’t stop working, and in his case it isn’t because of money. He said it was a really fun job, he made a lot in tips, and he got to drive fancy cars. Doesn’t sound like a bad gig at all. 

Famous Hat

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