The Peach Hour and the Enchanted Hill

 

Today I went to just the Mass I needed, up in our neighborhood. There was a visiting priest from Kenya talking about how his diocese has twenty-two churches and only two priests, and they haven't had rain for five years, and it really made me think about just how lucky we are here in Madison. Also, there were a lot of people of different colors at this Mass, so it made me feel like part of the universal Church, and not just a club of wealthy white people, like I sometimes feel at my own church. We avoided downtown partly because we weren't sure if people upset over the recent Supreme Court ruling would disrupt Mass, but apparently they didn't. They wouldn't have disrupted the Mass we were at because it would be un-PC to harass an African priest.

Then Travalon and I went for a hike in the shady part of Tiedeman's Pond, the shady part of Stricker Pond, and the shady part of Pheasant Branch. Here is a great blue heron at Tiedeman's Pond.

And a sandhill crane right nearby.

Here are a couple of killdeer at Stricker Pond.

And I love this view of the hill at Pheasant Branch, with the creek in front of it. It almost looks like a magical, enchanted mountain with a vast river in front of it.

As we sat admiring the view, a couple of people paddled by in a two-person kayak, and that made us really want to kayak there. Also, just as we got there, we saw a great blue heron flying away. Travalon kind of captured him in a photo, but the above photo is a better one of the hill. True story: once Richard Bonomo felt I was getting too soft while dating Travalon, so he dragged me up that hill as fast as I could go. Today Travalon and I felt no need to climb it.

Since Boethius is being cooperative, I'll post some more photos. These are from the Bat Cave in Gotham.

These are from our cruise last night. We saw this kingfisher hovering over the water and then diving.

And this is the crazy little island that I think was created by a guy in the 19th century who piled rocks on the ice every winter, so they would sink in the spring, until after a number of years he built an island. The story I heard is that everyone laughed at him until it worked, and then they promptly outlawed creating your own island.

Here is a view of the beach we often swim at in Governor Nelson State Park.

Here is a view of the Capitol.

And this is the Killer Building where I work, twice a week in the summer.

Here is Governor's Island, where we often hike.

And this is Maple Bluff, where some of the rich people live.

Another view of my Killer Building, with a sailboat in the foreground.

We think this is a loon, but it's hard to tell what it is. It isn't a mallard.

Another sailboat. The couple from Iowa sitting on the bow with us were disappointed there were so few boats out and about, but I chalk that up to the iffy weather.

Here is another view of the Capitol.

This is the Edgewater. The Boathouse restaurant is down on the lower right.

Here is the Union Terrace, packed even when the weather is iffy.

And here are the boats moored near the Union. Some of these belong to the sailing club, but I think a lot of them are private boats that just rent a spot.

We saw a great blue heron fly overhead.

This is the sunset. You can see why Tiffy called it the "peach hour."

This is the view as we headed back up the river to the dock. The peach hour has given way to more of a lavender hour.

This evening Travalon and I went to Mariner's for a drink, since it was such a beautiful evening. They told us we had to order at the bar, so he went inside to do so, and I sat at a table. There was a goose family picking at the grass, except for one, I assume the paterfamilias, who was giving me the side eye. He kept looking at me suspiciously, and then when Travalon returned with the drinks, I pointed the goose out and we laughed at him, so he seemed even more suspicious of us. Even as we left, he was still staring daggers at us. I think it's really annoying how people say we shouldn't anthropomorphize animals, because they aren't like us. Please! Anyone who spends any time around animals can see they have recognizable emotions like joy, sorrow... and suspicion. 

Speaking of other life forms, for the last few days I have been pondering something: space aliens are always depicted as these creepy, ugly things, but why? When I think of other life forms on our own planet, whether palm trees or tigers or flamingos, they are incredibly beautiful. Even fungi are often just adorable. So why should alien life forms be ugly? Granted, they are from other planets with different conditions, and I'll concede that turkey vultures and mosquitos are not the most beautiful things, but in general life is beautiful. Why wouldn't alien life be gorgeous too?

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