Isthmus Conversation Circle (Featuring Bobby Dye Lan and the Hungarian Horse)

 

This morning on the way to Mass, I thought Travalon made a noise like a horse nickering. I didn't think much of it until he did it again, so I asked why he was doing it, and he said he wasn't. Then I realized it was something in the car shaking as we passed over the bumpy road. He said, "I'm like the Italian Stallion, only I'm the Hungarian Horse!"

Then at brunch a new guy joined us, and he and Travalon really hit it off. Meanwhile, Rich told the other bass and me that he had read a story where Pete Seeger and Bobby Dye Lan almost got in a fight backstage at a folk music festival, and the other bass said, "I have never heard of those people." I said, "You don't know Pete Seeger? He's a famous folk singer and peace activist." Rich said, "Bobby Dye Lan is famous too. You don't know him? His real name is Robert Zimmerman." I was like, "That's Bob Dylan," and he said, "What? Is that how you pronounce his name?" Maybe he was thinking of Bobby Darin...? Then the other bass and I couldn't stop laughing, and when Rich said something about how he used to think "Satisfaction" was them singing "I can't get no active traction," but who wrote that song? the other bass said, "The Rah Linga Stah Nessa." Poor Rich! How did he live to the advanced age of senior citizenship without knowing how to pronounce Bob Dylan's name? I assured Rich that I wasn't laughing at him but across from him.

Then Travalon and I went to Walgreen's, and I fell hard for this little fox. We named him Raymond because it sounds like the French word for fox, renard. The little pink giraffe is named Aoife, which is pronounced Eefah, and I got her at St. Vinny's for fifty cents.

After that we went for a hike on the boardwalk in DeForest, and Travalon took some photos with his cell phone, because we hadn't brought our good cameras.

There were only two of us at Irish class today besides the teacher, who wants to have a name for our group. The other lady suggested ciorcal chomhra, which is pronounced "kyorkle khow-rah," and means conversation circle. I said let's add the word for isthmus, since we are on an isthmus, and I learned the word in Ireland and it starts with a C, so adding to the alliteration. So I think our group is maybe going to be called Ciorcal Chomhra na Cuinge, or the Isthmus Conversation Circle. I was just happy that I could contribute something to the name.

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