Street Fest Seven: Pentecost Edition

 

This morning Anna Banana II and Jilly Moose met Travalon and me at the church in the gym for Pentecost. The sequence was so beautiful, with the choir singing the odd verses and all of us singing the even ones. I thought it was a very beautiful Mass, and the people around us seemed full of love, but Travalon didn't love how it was even longer than the usual Mass at that church, which is already well over an hour. Since the church is on Atwood Avenue, that was the start of Street Fest Seven: Pentecost Edition.

Our next stop was a bakery on Monona Drive, because Anna Banana II knows the owners. We had pastries and coffee, then Tiffy texted that she was in town, so we went to pick her up and had lunch at the Mediterranean Joint on Willy Street. We weren't sure what to do for the John Nolen segment of Street Fest, but we settled on taking a walk at Olin-Turville Park, and there is a stunning view of Lake Monona and the Monona Terrace from there. Check it out.

There were also interesting drawings on the path. I took a photo of the dragon, and thanks to Jilly Moose for the other two photos.

Travalon dropped us ladies off at First Congo for the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610, which were incredible. We cheered for five straight minutes afterwards. Meanwhile, he went to Leopold's and to the zoo. It was a beautiful day, but it wasn't too busy, and the red pandas and capybaras were out. Here are some photos.

Lions

Flamingos

Red panda

Aardvark

Tortoises

badger

Seal

Capybara

Then we all went to Rich's house for dinner. Travalon, Tiffy, and I stopped at the Mexican grocery store to buy the most random things we could find: mango and carrot juice, coconut bread, street corn-flavored Cheetos, and green salsa plantain chips. Anna Banana II's mom, Cecil Markovitch, Kathbert, OK Cap, Luxuli, Prairie Man, the Dairyman's Daughter, and another regular from Night Prayer were there too. Anna Banana II made pumpkin curry soup and pork roast, and Rich made ravioli, Kathbert and the Dairyman's Daughter both brought cornbread, and several people brought salads. Luxuli made brownies for dessert. Cecil said, "No wonder they call Pentecost a feast!" 

When I said my life has been like a child's fantasy story since the start of the Year of the Dragon, Rich said his life was like a cartoon character who lives in a high rise apartment and sleepwalks out of the window, but an i-beam swings in front of his window just in time for him to walk across it, and then another one swings right in front of him, and another, until he safely sleepwalks back into his apartment window and gets back into bed without even realizing what happened. Kathbert said that was a good summary of his life! Tiffy said her life story is that she lived in one town and worked at one company, but now she lives in another town and works for a different company... yet she hasn't moved or changed jobs. Travalon's life is the same fantasy story as mine, since he was with me on all our adventures, and Kathbert couldn't think of what story was like her life. I'll give her some time to ponder the question.

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