Sorry that it has been several days since I blogged. Thursday was Travalon's birthday, so we went out to a Thai restaurant for curry duck (and free fried bananas for dessert), and last night I talked to Tiffy. I did forget to mention one thing from our trip to Oconomowoc: a couple of teenage boys asked us as we walked down the street who would win the World Cup, and I said without missing a beat, "Belgium." (As you can see, my prognostication skills are quite weak, since Belgium is already eliminated.) They wanted to know why I said that, so I said, "They were number two seed going into the tournament." Is this true? Was I thinking of the Netherlands instead? I have no idea where this vague memory comes from. The one kid admitted that he didn't know anything about the World Cup, but he thought Portugal would win it all because they have Ronaldo. Okay, true, but Ronaldo has played in FIVE World Cups, which makes him old enough to be most of the other players' father. I think Portugal is still in it, so Rando Kid might be better at this than I am.
Speaking of the World Cup, this morning we watched the Netherlands beat Team USA, then we went to find the tundra swans. I kept hearing them, and seeing them in the distance or flying overhead while out walking on weekdays, so I knew they were around. We went to Jackson's Landing, where we had seen them last December, but all we saw were tons of these house sparrows, which are invasive. A pair was released in Central Park in the Nineteenth Century by some Shakespeare fan who wanted to release a pair of each kind of bird mentioned by the Bard, and now they have really taken over.
Then we went to Governor Nelson State Park, where we saw lots of coots and mallards, but no swans. A middle-aged couple walked by and asked if we saw anything interesting, since I was looking through the binoculars, and I said we were trying to find the tundra swans. The woman said there had been five over by Maple Bluff the other day, so we thought we should head that way. Here are some coots.
We went to the little pond in Waunakee where we often see a bird party this time of year, but the only thing we saw was some sort of dredging boat, so the birds have probably been scared off. As we were driving back toward our house, we saw about a dozen swans fly overhead! I suggested we swing by Mazanet Marina, but what we saw there were three sandhill cranes. Travalon took photos, but they weren't in focus. Travalon suggested we go to Governor's Island to find the swans, and when we turned onto Cinder Lane, we saw a bunch of wild turkeys, but the camera was in the backseat, so no photos. We did see four swans far out in Warner Bay, with what looks like goldeneye ducks around them.
We hiked around Governor's Island, and we heard swans! They sound like puppies yelping in the sky. Then we saw about a half dozen flying overhead. When we got back to Warner Bay, we saw these seven much closer to us, along with the four that were further away. This appears to be a family of two adults (white with black bills) and five teenagers (grayer with orange bills).
Travalon suggested going to Tenney Park and looking by the locks, and we did see some birds there. The photos of a coot and a female bufflehead hanging out together didn't really turn out, but this photo of a pair of mallards turned out really well.
By then we were very cold from so much outside time, so we went to Ancora, hoping to get a warm drink, but they had just closed. As we passed the Zippy Lube on Sherman, I saw people inside and remembered that it was reopening as a coffee shop, so we stopped. They had just opened on Travalon's birthday! They serve coffee, donuts, breakfast sandwiches, and fried chicken. We got mochas and very chocolate donuts that were so good.
In the evening we went to the East Side Club Christmas Party. On the way we stopped to see a house I see on my bus rides home. It's so lit up!
Here's the Christmas Tree at the East Side Club.
And this was the decorative bowl at our table.
At first Travalon and I were sitting alone at a big table, but soon an old neighbor of mine and her twin joined us, and I realized I know her twin because she's friends with some current neighbors of ours. Then two more women joined us. As always, our table was the last to go up for food, but this year they said get salad first and then everyone would get food after that. By the time our table went up, they were out of salad, so we got no salad but ended up being the first ones to get the rest of the turkey dinner. There was also pie, and Tom and Jerry drinks after dinner, and wine at the table. The Wauna Ukes played again this year, but they didn't invite me to join them, and I didn't bring my own ukulele because it seemed rude to invite myself to play with them when I haven't practiced with them. (They did invite me to practice with them after I played with them last year, but they practice at one on Fridays. I assume that is pm, while I am at work. I could make one am practice, but the next day would be rough!) One of the twins wanted to learn the ukulele, so she talked to them afterwards, and they said they had beginner lessons on Saturdays, but that doesn't help me, since I'm not a beginner. The other twin plays the guitar. There were some door prizes, then after those were given out, the guy distributing them came to our table (since he had gone to high school with the twins), and he gave a couple of us vodka socks. I am very excited - I desperately needed more socks! I will wear them tomorrow.
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