Photos from Eau Claire

Here are some photos and videos from our trip to Eau Claire. First is a photo from our short jaunt to Waunakee on Saturday morning. This is the Waunakee Village Center Pond, which has aeration in it so that circles of it aren't frozen. You can see that in this photo, plus St. John the Baptist church in the background, where I often go to confession.

As we were driving into Black River Falls, there was a beautiful sunset. This picture doesn't really do it justice. We stopped there for delicious mochas.

This is the beautiful purple glow we saw in the sky. When we got around the hill, we discovered it was not a lingering effect from the sunset, or incredibly vivid northern lights, but just a very lit-up warehouse with purple windows.

Here are some of the beautiful lights on the Eau Claire Riverwalk.

And here are some videos of the lit-up railroad bridge and the funny arch lit up purple and orange. I am posting my video of that because the photo of it turned out strangely.

Here are some videos of things we encountered downtown. First are a couple of Christmas lanterns in a store. I know it's early for Christmas stuff, but with this weather it feels appropriate.

Here are a couple of videos of Travalon and me playing chimes downtown. They are both equally awful, so I am posting both. In the first one Travalon is hamming it up, and you can see the sculpture of the conductor, but I am yelling at Travalon to "play the ones on the side!" In the second one I am too business-minded about playing, and then I make a very strange face, and then Travalon does not stop the video after he thinks he has stopped recording. Enjoy!

The next morning, Richard Bonomo got his hot cocoa "extra large, extra strong, with maximum fat," just like he always requests it. This was back in Madison, but he was so proud of the job that they did at the Come Back Inn that he sent me a photo of it.

I forgot to take a picture of the nature area with the incredible bluffs, but here is a small bluff behind Books a Million! for your viewing pleasure.

And at last, here is the video of the performance of "The Mystical Rose." Doesn't the schola do a beautiful job? And isn't the composition gorgeous?

Here are the lyrics, by me:

The most beautiful flower in His garden
Is the rose He planted to be His own,
And the only blossom to reach perfection
Was she alone.
He tended her carefully with His own hands,
And when her petals had unfurled,
We saw she held within herself
The Creator of the world.
And so a flower became His throne,
And so a blossom contained the spheres,
For the Planter had sprung from the rose He had planted
To water us with His tears.

And here is a random bonus audio track: a little over a year ago, I took a Latin percussion class, and we made this recording. I am the one playing the claves. Bonus points if you realized I am not playing the right rhythm, since the claves are supposed to play 12 against the drums' 8, which was way beyond my capabilities so I just gave up and played a syncopated rhythm. Oh well, I suck. Maybe someday I will master the clave rhythm.

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