Nonmusical Instruments

 

Today was another quiet day of working from home. It snowed again, but it's warmer now, so the snow is a mushy mess. I went out for a walk in my shoes and regretted not wearing my boots, but they are so hard to put on. I timed it once, and it took me four minutes to get them both on. Still, they really do keep my feet warm and dry, and at least they aren't hard to get off, just on.

When I went to Adoration, Rich popped into the chapel and gave me a little gift bag. Inside it were these.

The object on the left is something to use for navigating by the stars, and the thing on the right is a sundial. Aren't they beautiful? I haven't set them up yet. The instructions are in German first, and then English. They seem high-quality; I think they're made of brass. I love these kinds of instruments, although I am not adept at using, say, an astrolabe. I have just always loved the way they look, and old globes too.

Then when I got home, the mail had finally come and there was a letter from Greece to Travalon. He looked surprised, then he said, "Oh yeah! This is a birthday present for you, but it came really late." 

Personally, I find it hilarious that he got a fridge magnet with a quote from Colbert all the way from Greece. Are they huge Colbert fans over there? And how cool would it be if it were actually in Greek? True story: many years ago, when I was a starving college student, I took a class on Byzantine art that met in Greece (as well as Turkey and Italy), and I planned to steal a towel from a Greek hotel that had Greek writing on it. I mean, you always hear about people stealing towels from hotels, so it must be a thing. Of course every Greek hotel had towels with either no writing or the Latin alphabet to write the name of the hotel, so I didn't bother stealing any. I suppose that's why they did that.

And it looks like I never posted the photo of the Pantera socks Travalon gave me for Christmas.

I'm sorry to have kept my readers in such suspense. And if anyone doesn't know what Pantera is, it's Spanish for "Panther." Also, it's a heavy metal band I used to listen to a lot. You may remember the video Travalon took of pelicans, gulls, and cormorants on Pilot Island in Door County that I set to the Pantera song "Cowboys from Hell." It's one of my videos on YouTube that has actually gotten more than one hundred views. In my world, that's practically viral!

Famous Hat