Friday at Cafe Coda and Saturday in the Marshes

 

Thursday I worked on campus, and yesterday I worked from home; both days I went out on my breaks and smelled the wonderful blooming trees, mostly crabapples and lilacs, but there is a magnolia in our neighborhood with its own distinctive scent. Friday night I used the money they had paid me for the study on Wednesday (they paid in cash) for the cover charge to get into Cafe Coda to see Grupo Candela, a local salsa band. There was a short dance lesson beforehand, covering basic steps: salsa, merengue, bachata, and cha-cha. Then the group came on and played for a couple of hours. I loved the music, and also the decor at Cafe Coda. Here are some photos.

This morning we cleaned for about half an hour, then we were going to go to Black Earth to get me some new sandals, but it was overcast and I thought possibly an ideal day for birdwatching at Horicon Marsh. We started at the boardwalk, as usual, and we saw some lovely flowers there, some sort of currants and trilliums and yellow violets, among other things.

Some years the trilliums are more pink, but this year they are pure white. A google search seems to indicate this has to do with the age of the flowers; we saw them newly opened this year, but as they age, they become pinker. We also saw birds along the boardwalk, mostly barn swallows, tree swallows, and of course the ubiquitous red-winged blackbirds.

We are not allowed to go on the trail where we see the yellow-headed blackbirds until June, and then only through August. We continued along the drive and saw an egret and some baby geese.

We saw a pair of gadwalls, two red-headed ducks, and a lot of pelicans who were cooperatively fishing.

We stopped by the center with the pagoda-like part, where we have often seen a whooping crane hanging out. No sign of him today, but they told us his name is Grasshopper, because while he is living as a wild crane now, he was born and bred at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo. Apparently he has hooked up with a sandhill crane, so the ICF will probably seize any offspring they have, like they did years ago when this happened with another mixed pair who had a "whoophill" baby that survived to adulthood. I thought they didn't want to interfere in nature, except apparently sometimes they do.

As usual, we had lunch at the Subway in Mayville, then for the first time we went to their resale shop. No rosaries; I only saw one thing that intrigued me, but we didn't get it. It was a pot of four fake flowers, and it had a button on the side, so I pressed it. It played Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" as the flowers spun. It made me think of Travalon's mom, because she loved that song, so I almost got it for that reason. If it's still there the next time we go there, maybe I'll get it.

We went to Theresa Marsh, where we didn't see much but some coots.

There were some killdeer loudly crying as they flew around.

We heard a lot of thunder in the distance, and it started to sprinkle, so we decided to return to the car. On the way back to Mayville we hit some heavy rain, but it cleared up by the time we got back to the area where we often see the white-headed goose. Someone posted a photo of him this spring on the birdwatching page, asking, "What kind of goose is this??" so he is clearly still alive, but we didn't see him today. We did see more baby geese.

We did see several cormorants fly by and land in the water. They were pretty far from us, but Travalon did get photos.

We came back home and debated about going to a dance at Folklore Village, but we were both tired and rested a bit before heading to the health club to swim. Only... they close earlier than their posted hours on Saturday. What?? If there was ever a night you'd expect them to be open late, it would be Saturday. We got there four minutes before they closed, thinking we had a whole hour to swim and shower. I got very grumpy, not just about that but about how life in general is skewed toward the morning people, and how people used to complain about having a 9-5 job but I've NEVER had the luxury of starting as late as 9, so things are just getting worse and worse for us non-morning types. Recently I saw a social media video of a British guy saying he learned that kids in the US start school at 7:30 am when they don't start in the UK until 9 am. Why does this country think early mornings are so virtuous?? Witness the constant attempts to make Daylight Saving Time the yearlong reality as it creeps ever earlier in the spring and later in the fall. When I was young, it started in April and ended in October, but this year it started earlier than ever in March, and it's not going to end until late November. People wonder why we have so many issues in this country, and there may be a very simple answer: constant sleep deprivation! I remember in Ireland when we toured a farm, and they were horrified that farmers in the US wake up at like four - they said, "We get up at seven! Why would they need to get up that early?" A valid question indeed.

So I was grumpy, and I still needed active minutes, but the bass line in "Hurt You So" by Jonny L always makes everything right. I ran around the house for about a quarter hour, and now I feel so much happier. But will I be able to sleep after all that vigorous exercise? We'll see...

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