Mismatched Rosary

 

Last night Travalon got sick, so I don't think I actually had food poisoning but some nasty bug. But where would I have gotten it? If he had brought it home from working with kids, that wouldn't have been a surprise, but everyone I work with has to wear a mask, and then I was working from home since Wednesday. I slept through Travalon's bad night and popped out of bed, thinking I would head to work... and then it quickly became apparent that such a plan of action would be inadvisable. I did start to feel better as the day went on, and it was a beautiful, sunny day in the mid-20's F, so I took several walks. In the evening I did feel a lot better, and I prayed the rosary with the Ladies. I used a rosary I'd gotten in Delafield, the one without a cross on it, and luckily I led the first decade because that one was fine, but the next one was fourteen beads long, and then there was no third one... but I didn't realize this until we had started praying. Usually I know to check antique rosaries... I put a crucifix on it that I had gotten some time ago from the antiques shop in Sauk.

Here is a closeup of it.

The crucifix doesn't exactly match the rosary, since the beads are a pink lemonade color with silver wiring while the crucifix is golden with red enamel, but I wasn't sure what to do with it, and here was a rosary that needed a crucifix. I thought of putting a medal on it, but that just seems weird. Anyway, I can easily take the crucifix off and put it on another rosary if I find a better match for either of them. 

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The Lost Weekend

 

This was a lost weekend for me. Friday night while talking to Tiffy, I started to feel awful, and it was soon clear that I had food poisoning. That night I got no sleep, and I had to change my clothes three times because I kept barfing on myself, until finally I was in an old pair of pajamas that thankfully still fit. Yesterday I never changed out of the pajamas, and I never left the house. Travalon went to Governor Nelson State Park, and he took some photos of winter scenes.

Last night I slept ten hours, which felt great. Today I felt too lousy to go to Mass, so Travalon went without me, and then he went to the Badgers basketball game, which they won. I watched old episodes of Colbert and hurt every time I laughed, because my core muscles are so pathetic that they are still aching from all that vomiting. I did manage to walk around the neighborhood three times to get my five miles, which felt like a real accomplishment. Both Travalon and Rich said my coloring looks off today, although in Rich's case it was a FaceTime call, so it might have just been the lighting. Surprisingly, I haven't had a headache despite not having coffee for two days. Maybe I'm not actually a caffeine addict but simply a coffee lover. And I'm loving this lack of appetite! Who knows? Maybe tomorrow I will wake up ravenously hungry and craving coffee, and then I will know it's time to go to work.

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Dino Car

 

Yesterday was really pleasant for this time of year, almost up to freezing and sunny, but today was back to single digits again. Of course yesterday I couldn't take a walk for my morning break because I had training on disability awareness all morning, which was kind of interesting, but still. It was something I was told to do. Yesterday a package came for Travalon, and I figured it was his little Sinclair Dino Car, but I set it aside and forgot about it. This morning he said, "It says my package was delivered yesterday," and then I felt so stupid - I had forgotten to give it to him! It's very cute, anyway. Here are some photos.

We have finished watching the documentary about country music (although I'd like to rewatch the earlier episodes, since I was only half-watching), and Travalon is still listening to old country music. Today my coworker sent me a video of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" at 33 1/3 RPM. Sounds like a man, but still sounds good. She has a great voice at any speed!

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Country Music History

 

Today I was able to work from home because I had an appointment in the afternoon. It was a very cold day, but I bundled up and went for a walk at lunchtime. Because I was so bundled up, I had no peripheral vision, so when a creature started making angry sounds at me, I had to turn my head really far to see what it was. It was a squirrel that was angrily chittering at me for no obvious reason - I was walking at a brisk pace and was well past it. I was annoyed and wished the hawk we see from our window would have it for lunch, but then I felt a little bad - we're all just out here doing the best we can. The squirrel is struggling to survive in the bitter cold as much as the hawk is. But why it was being so mouthy to me is still a mystery.

Tiffy mentioned to Travalon, who loves Ken Burns documentaries, that the one on country music is really good, so Travalon has been watching it the last couple of days. (I always think of a scene on Family Guy where Peter sits in front of the TV, which is showing "Ken Burns' Street Signs, Part Four: Yield," and he says, "I don't know, maybe you had to watch the first three to get this one. I'm totally lost.") As Travalon has been watching this documentary, and I have been half-watching it, I realize that I prefer the really raw, old music, like the western music influenced by cowboys and Mexican music, and the southern music that sounds like it came right from Scotland and Ireland. Apparently there was an actual moment when they created something called "The Nashville Sound," and that's when country music began to suck. Another thing that struck me is that the older artists came from desperately poor backgrounds and were often intimately acquainted with death from a young age; for example, as a child, Johnny Cash watched his brother drown. Maybe that's why their music seems so much more immediate and plaintive. The modern music that comes from a similar background then wouldn't be modern country, created by spoiled, middle-class white people with little proximity to death, but hip hop, because those people have seen death up close. Maybe when your own hold on life seems more tenuous, you are a better artist. Of course, not all hip hop is good. A prime example of terrible hip hop is Post Malone, who is - of course - a spoiled, rich white boy whose father works in the music industry. Hey, maybe this is why all Baroque music is good, because back in those days a person saw tons of death by the time they were old enough to write music. They understood that life is ephemeral, and so they wrote music to outlast themselves.

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Christmas Part Two

 

Today was my first day back on campus in ages, and of course it was snowing hard this morning. Travalon offered to drive me to work in his four-wheel drive vehicle, but that meant I couldn't just take the bus back to the north transfer point, because my car wasn't waiting there for me. No problem, I would take a bus to Richard Bonomo's house, since plenty go to the south side. I looked online and found the 44 dropped off right near his house, so after work I went to catch it, but it didn't come and it didn't come. Finally a 4 came by, and that goes to the south side so I just took it and walked from the transfer point. I wasn't sure if Rich would be home, so I had brought my diary Mariah to write in while I waited for Travalon to get done with work; but Rich was home and just making dinner, so he fed me a snack. Then Travalon arrived, and Rich made some hot chocolate for him too. (Yesterday in Delafield we bought what I thought was a large bonbon, but when I went to cut it in half, it was full of powder. Only then did I notice that it had directions in the front, and that it was a thing to make hot chocolate, so Travalon put it in his coffee. He said it was delicious.) When Travalon and I arrived at home, there were two packages waiting for him, and he joked that it was Christmas Part Two. The first package was a stuffed Arctic fox that Travalon ordered after we saw such cute ones at the Como Park Zoo.

The second one is a Sinclair sign with a little bird instead of the dinosaur.

He is expecting even more packages, so look for more photos of Sinclair stuff on here.

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No Pizzazzy Dazzle for the Packers

 

Yesterday Travalon and I drove to Racine, where we went downtown with Tiffy to a coffee place with really cool walls and ceiling up in the balcony.

Then we took a walk by the lake and admired the ice formations on this pier.

This may look like Siberia with a wolf, but it's just Racine with someone's pet husky.

In the evening Tiffy took me to dinner at the Hob Nob for my fiftieth birthday earlier this month. Travalon went too, because he has wanted to go to the Hob Nob longer than he has known me. Here are a couple of photos.

Travalon and I both had the duck, while Tiffy had the wiener schnitzel, and after dinner the three of us split two of their famous ice cream drinks, the banana one and the chocolate grasshopper. Tiffy noted that the big sign pointing the way to the Hob Nob didn't have its usual "pizzazzy dazzle," as in blinking lights around the edge, but little did we know we were about to be treated to a game with no pizzazzy dazzle.

We went back to Tiffy's house; the Packers playoff game against San Francisco was well underway, but she had taped it, and we knew there was a Packer touchdown in the first few minutes and then nothing else the rest of the quarter, so she fast-forwarded over the rest of it. Travalon's buddy texted something about Special Teams really messing up, and we saw where they had a field goal blocked, so I said I hoped that was all he was referring to, and she said she thought so. They did get a field goal, and so did San Francisco, so the score was low but definitely in the Packers' favor until they had a blocked punt that San Francisco ran in for a touchdown. Another Special Teams screwup! And then the offense stalled, and the defense couldn't stop San Francisco from marching down the field and getting a walk-off field goal. Man, we ALWAYS lose to the Forty-Niners in the playoffs! But this game particularly stunk.

There wasn't supposed to be snow in Racine, but as Travalon and I headed back to our hotel (where the pool was being repaired so we couldn't even use it), it was snowing very heavily on us. This morning the roads were still kind of iffy when we went to Mass, and they were advising against travel to Madison, so we hung out with Tiffy and got brunch at IHOP. Almost everything on the menu there is over a thousand calories, but I did find one healthy meal, grilled tilapia with broccoli. But then it came with a side of pancakes. I mean, what do you expect at IHOP?

Travalon went to the bookstore for about an hour while Tiffy and I chatted, then he and I headed home. We stopped for a walk in downtown Delafield, a very cute town, and they had these mystifying ice sculptures all over.

I believe those last two are a ship and an anchor. We also walked along Mill Run River.

We found an antiques shop there, and once again they had the blacklight glass display right next to the religious artifacts. Here you can see I bought what the owner said was a "Rhine glass," four rosaries, a St. Christopher necklace, and a really interesting medal. One rosary is missing a cross, but I have a cross.

The medal says: "Pontifical Association of the Holy Childhood" on one side, and then: "Holy Virgin Mary, pray for us and the poor pagan children" on the other side. The light blue rosary on the far right has a St. Benedict medal on it.

I bought these vaseline glasses at the antiques shop in Sauk a few weeks ago.

Here they are with the Rhine glass under blacklight. I couldn't decide which photo I liked better, so I'm posting them both.

I was really bummed that Buffalo was ahead with thirteen seconds left, but somehow Kansas City got into field goal range with no time outs left to send them into overtime, and then KC won the coin toss and scored a touchdown. I was pinning all my hopes on Buffalo once the Packers were out. Now the only team left to cheer for is Cincinnati - I'm sick of everyone else, although I will note with glee that Brady lost today. So it wasn't a total disappointment.

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Steak Night at Smokey's

 

There is a venerable supper club in town called Smokey's which is closing at the end of February, and so everyone in town (and quite a few people from out of town) are going to it one last time. I had only been there once, when Tiffy and I took Rich there for his fiftieth birthday, but Travalon has been a couple of times with the guys when they do their Guys' Steak Nights. Rich arranged a co-ed Steak Night for the Night Prayer regulars, and Travalon, Jilly Moose, the Dairyman's Daughter, the Single B-Boy, and of course Rich and I went tonight. Smokey's is a classic steakhouse where they put a glass full of raw vegetables on the table, which they call the "relish dish," and of course a basket of dinner rolls and garlic toast. Jilly Moose and I started off with the classic supper club drink of a brandy old-fashioned sweet, while Travalon had his favorite cocktail (Seven and Seven), and the Single B-Boy had a martini. Then we all got steaks; I got the smallest steak on the menu, which came with two scallops, and I had soup and broccoli for my sides. The men all got the New York strip steak. After such a classic dinner, Travalon and I thought we should really end it with the classic ice cream drink, the grasshopper. However, I had two bites and realized how completely full I was, so luckily everyone else at the table helped Travalon finish it, except for the Single B-Boy, who doesn't really like sweet stuff. That's got to be a good problem to have! It was a very large, very green ice cream drink.

As Travalon and I drove home, I noticed that the extremely decorated house in a neighborhood we pass still seemed to be decorated, so Travalon took a detour by it. They have toned it down a little.

For reference, here is the toned-up photo:

Further down the street we noticed a house with a lit-up palm tree in front of it, which I had not seen before. Makes sense, since it's not really a Christmas decoration, so maybe they put it up to have something tropical in the depths of winter. However, just as we noticed it, they turned it off, so no photo.

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Stuff from St. Paul

 

I forgot to mention that yesterday I logged into work and then checked my calendar to see if there were any meetings... and there were four!! My whole day was booked!! But then the one first thing in the morning was canceled, the second one did last the whole hour and a half, the third one was only fifteen minutes, and the fourth was scheduled for an hour but only lasted half an hour, so not so bad. 

Here are photos of our new acquisitions on this trip. This first photo is of the plate, the rock, and the cross I got at the antiques shop in Alma Center, and the second one is the plate and rock under blacklight.

At the Mall of America we got this toucan neon light. You can't see the colors that well, except in the reflection in the window.

At the Como Park Zoo, we got this cockatoo. It doesn't have a name yet. 

And at the Model Railroad Museum, I got this spike. My grandpa (who worked on the railroad) once gave me a spike, and I have no idea where it is now, but they were selling them for next to nothing at the museum, and I liked this one that was painted white. Usually they are just rusty metal.

Sorry, I don't have a photo of Travalon's button that he got at the other antiques shop in Alma Center.

Today I had no meetings at work, so that was wonderful. It was very cold out, but I did go out for three walks. However, I needed a lot more steps, so after work I walked around the house as fast as I could... and I actually went a mile in fifteen minutes! See below.

This was for twenty-five minutes, since I needed to go more than a mile, but you can see where I sped up for that last mile. And I did it! Usually the top bar on my walks is eight, but if I really speed up, it's ten. This is the first time I got it up to twelve! And my average calories per minute is usually seven, but today I skipped right over eight and went to nine. Yay me!

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Photos from the Twin Cities Model Train Museum

 

As promised, here are some photos from the Twin Cities Model Train Museum:

This is a little graveyard with a tiny funeral going on:

This looks just like the condos that keep popping up everywhere, only more colorful:

And this is a Stave Church just like the one we went to on Washington Island:

In this photo, you can see three trains going over bridges at the same time:

I made a couple of very short videos, just like nine seconds long, but Blogspot is not letting me post them. I will try using iMovie tomorrow and see if that works.

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