China Lights and Organ Pipe Pizza

 

Sorry for the long silence. Friday I took about an hour off in the morning to get our boat out of the water for the season, which is always kind of a sad occasion, then in the evening I talked to Tiffy. Saturday Travalon and I met Jilly Moose for coffee, then we visited his mother and had lunch at the cafe overlooking the lake in the place where she lives. They have slowed her motorized wheelchair down to an excruciating pace, and every time she goes through a door, an alarm sounds and someone appears who says, "She's a wanderer. She can go as long as you stay with her." It all seems a little cruel, and I can see why she would want to make a break for it! Then we hiked on the Scuppernong segment of the Ice Age Trail. We went to Lapham Peak to see if we could go to the top of the peak; there was a festival going on near the main parking lot, but a ranger blocked the road up to the peak. They were having some sort of "Fright Hike" that evening.

Then we went to Hales Corner to go to China Lights, where the theme this year was Alice in Wonderland. We took photos, and I'll post some soon. Our favorite thing was the two big budgies that would repeat whatever you said. We got some hilarious video footage of that. Afterwards we went to Organ Pipe Pizza right nearby, because they have a theater organ from the 1920's that my uncle helped rebuild. They had an information sheet about the organ, but it didn't mention my uncle anywhere. The pizza is edible, but the real draw is the organ with all the great sound effects (like a row of ducks), and because it was so close to Halloween, the organist played scary songs like "Thriller" and also a medley of polkas, but he didn't play my aunt's request for "Elmer's Tune." I got some videos of that too.

Sunday one of the guys who regularly goes to brunch brought food for after Mass, and it was French silk pie, ice cream, donuts, kringle, and cookies, which wouldn't surprise you if you knew this guy. He loves food! Travalon and I took a hike on the path beside the Yahara, then we went to an All Saints' Day party... I guess, since nobody wore costumes. The hostess grilled burgers, and everyone else brought vegetables and salads. I brought a spaghetti squash I'd grown in my garden plot, and Richard Bonomo brought tomato sauce to put on it. We did have several desserts, including Rich's famous brownies and a pumpkin cake made by the guy who always makes fabulous desserts, even though he couldn't come himself, and Jilly Moose brought a bucket of Halloween candy. Then Travalon and I sort of half-watched that horrible Packers game. It was just as bad as I'd expected, since the Bills were 5-1 and were playing at home. A couple of drives looked really good, but mostly the offense couldn't get anything going, and where was the defense? It seemed like every time Buffalo got the ball, they scored. That game was the scariest thing about this Halloween season.

Today was actual Halloween, so I wore my devil horns to work, and people liked that. Some of the grad students dressed up - one was an ear of corn! I got a cupcake and some German treat that was a chocolate bonbon full of Nutella - so much sugar! Then on Night Prayer the leader wore a cheesehead, so I put on my Carmen Miranda hat, which inspired the Dairyman's Daughter to put on her turkey hat, Jilly Moose to put on her wolf ears, another guy to put on a bear hat, and Anna Banana II to put on her giraffe poncho. Rich did not get in on the fun. He said he has no silly hats. Guess I know what to get him for his next birthday...

Famous Hat

More Ice Age Trail Photos

 

I have some terrible news: my light-up unicorn horn doesn't light up anymore! Who could have foreseen that a four-year-old cheap plastic piece of crap would cease working?? This evening the secret club I'm in had a Zoom Halloween party, and I was going to make them all envious with my light-up unicorn horn (that, may I remind you, flashed in four distinct patterns), but I had to settle for the Carmen Miranda hat I have featured on this blog before. That I got for 50 cents at a garage sale, but it will never stop working because it never started working. It just exists.

As promised, here are some more photos from Sunday. First, some shots from the segment of the Ice Age Trail that goes along the canal in Portage.

These next photos are from the segment of the Ice Age Trail that goes through John Muir Nature Preserve, where there is a small lake called Ennis Lake and an oak savannah.

These look like conifers that are changing colors. Maybe they are tamaracks, since those lose their needles.

More oaks in the oak savannah.

When we came home, we went along the edge of the Wisconsin River. These photos are from the causeway that passes over Lake Wisconsin.

I love how exotic it looks, like a land of ocean, mountains, and islands. We didn't take the ferry because we were already on the south side of the lake, so it would have made no sense to cross over it and then just have to cross back over it again. Hopefully we get a chance to take it again soon.

Famous Hat

Photos from the Levee

 

A couple of funny things happened at Night Prayer tonight: first, only Richard Bonomo, the Dairyman's Daughter, and I were on before prayer started. Every time Rich talked, I heard an echo, so I thought something was wrong with my computer until the Dairyman's Daughter said, "I keep hearing an echo from Rich. Do you hear it, Famous?" I said, "I do," and Rich said, "Does it come and go, or do you hear it all the time all the time all the time all the time all the time all the time?" Then he froze. I couldn't help it, I laughed. Rich ended up having to use his iPad to come back in, then Jilly Moose and Anna Banana II joined us, and after prayer Jilly Moose was stating her prayer intentions when suddenly Zoom announced that the session was being recorded. We were all like, "Who's recording this?" and the Dairyman's Daughter said, "That would be Rex (her cat). He stepped on my computer keyboard." So that set us all off laughing again.

It's getting late, so tonight I'm just going to post some of the photos from Sunday. These are from the levee that goes alongside the Wisconsin River outside of Portage.

I like how the pine tree is so much taller than all the deciduous trees.

This wooly bear caterpillar has a lot of brown and a little black, so that means we will have a mild winter. We'll see... So far, I have found them to be accurate in their predictions.

Not sure what this random doggie bed was doing alongside the trail... A place to rest your pooch?

I will try to post more photos tomorrow. There are some really good ones! I'm just too tired to do it tonight.

Famous Hat

Colors on the Edge

 

This time of year I find myself using the word "vermilion," a word I really don't use much of the rest of the time. It describes so many of the maple trees around here, and I realize it's when you can't decide if something is red or orange. So many of the colors I love are on the edge like that:

If you can't decide if it's red or orange, it's vermilion.

If you can't decide if it's pink or orange, it's coral (or salmon).

If you can't decide if it's yellow or green, it's chartreuse.

If you can't decide if it's green or blue, it's teal.

If you can't decide if it's blue or purple, it's indigo.

If you can't decide if it's purple or pink, it's magenta.

But there is one missing: what do you call a color if you can't decide if it's yellow or orange? Marigold? 

As promised, here are some photos from the weekend. I haven't downloaded the photos from Travalon's good camera yet, so you still have those to look forward to. These first two are from Indian Lake, where I hiked on Friday afternoon.

Some photos of GLEAM. First is a field of lit-up morel mushrooms.

These are just lights in the trees.

This was a display of a star being torn apart by a black hole, and it made a clicking sound that creeped out the little kids around us.

In the lower right, you can see the thing that looks like a steel drum that controlled this art installation.

These are just bugs and butterflies.

This was a whole series of this wave shape in different color combinations.

This is a big flower with a lens that refracted the light.

This was Tiffy's favorite: orbs that glowed and emitted sounds when you touched them.

The stripes on the lefthand side of this could be changed with knobs. The cat never changed.

Some more shots of foliage on campus. This tree was crimson when Travalon took a picture of it, but last year it was vermilion, and look - now it's vermilion.

A couple of shots out the window of my building.

Today at work, Travalon helped the kids melt Skittles candies in water. Maybe it's science, but it looks like art.

I'll tell you what, this doesn't exactly make me want to run out and get some Skittles to eat. If they do that in water, imagine what they do in stomach acid. Would it dye your insides weird colors? No thanks!

Famous Hat