Wiener in the Window and Street Fest 8

 

Sorry that I didn't blog yesterday, but after Travalon and I got home, we fell down the rabbit hole of watching 80's videos. The title of this blog post may seem risqué, but I assure you that it's not. Yesterday I worked from home, then right after work Travalon and I headed to the Duck Pond, where there was a triple header with two Night Mares games and a Mallards game. The Night Mares are the new women's softball team, and they had lost their first game to the Minot Honey Bees while I was working. We got there in time to see the last couple of innings of their second game (they only have seven innings), and we never saw them score, but they were so far ahead that they won. I got a new Night Mares shirt.

And Travalon got a Maverick the Bat Dog shirt.

Here's a better view of my shirt, though it is a worse view of me.

The Mallards played the Rockford Rivets, and at one point they hit a foul ball that flew right into the window of the announcer's booth, and everyone cheered when the announcer caught it and held it up, so he took a bow. The Mallards call foul balls "wieners" because they will give you a free hot dog for any ball that you turn in, an offer that no sane person would take. Which would you rather have, a tube full of questionable animal parts, or a game ball? Interestingly, the Night Mares call their foul balls "cheese curds," so they must offer an order of cheese curds in exchange for a ball. That is a far more tempting offer, maybe because their balls are a lot bigger. Hm, this is still sounding dirty. I found it a little sad that the most enthusiastic cheers for the ladies came from their own dugout, perhaps because they have spent a lifetime of not being cheered as loudly as men are. They certainly deserve to be. And the Mallards deserve to be cheered, because they also won. Afterwards there were fireworks that were quieter than usual because it was Veteran Appreciation Night, and veterans often get PTSD from loud fireworks. I took some photos, but they aren't much to look at.

Today Jilly Moose came over, then she, Travalon, and I headed down to Atwood Fest. We got there as the Handphibians were leading a parade through the festival, playing Brazilian drums, and then the steel drums played. I wore my Panchromatic Steel T-shirt for the occasion, but I feel like I should have worn something a little more hippyish. It was almost a Willy Street Fair vibe. Check out this umbrella, which really sums it all up.

And here is Panchromatic Steel. Thanks to Jilly Moose for both of these photos.

We were standing in the shade, and I was dancing around when a woman said I should get out onto the "dance floor" in front of the band, which was right in the blazing sun. I said, "My people were island people, but the islands were England and Ireland, so I have to stay out of the sun," but she didn't laugh, she just walked away. After all that dancing I wanted a baobab shake, but the West African food stand didn't have them for some reason, so we had jollof rice and frozen hibiscus juice. Jilly Moose went to an Asian stand and came back with curry chicken and Thai iced tea, so Travalon got us some Thai iced teas, since we couldn't drink our frozen juices. We also checked out the vendors, and I got some glow-in-the-dark crystals and an orange Niko bracelet. Photos soon. Travalon got some Scotcharoo ice cream, and Jilly Moose got a kava drink that tasted like a virgin mojito.

We listened to a lounge jazz group called Moonglow for a bit.

Check out the guitar - it's shaped like a crescent moon! Thanks to Jilly Moose for this photo. Then we went to the second stop on Street Fest 8, a brief stop at Willy Street Co-op for cold water, and our third stop was to walk on the paths at Olin-Turville Park, which is on John Nolan Drive. Jilly Moose took a photo of the beautiful view of the Capitol Building and Monona Terrace.

Our next stop was the fun shop on Monona Drive we have gone to before. Check out this hibiscus bush outside of it - it has two different colors of blossoms on it!

Just Bach were having a concert rehearsal for a concert tomorrow in Wausau which was mostly Bach, but one piece by Buxtehude. It was free, and it was at a new music venue called Muso. Check out the light reflecting through the stained-glass windows.

I thought they were doing a dress rehearsal, but they never did the Buxtehude piece, and when I asked the bass, he said they know that one well so they didn't need to rehearse it. He and the alto have a five-month-old baby with the poetic name of Rosalind and the prettiest big brown eyes, and some friends of theirs brought her by halfway through. She was such a good baby! She didn't fuss or cry at all.

I thought after all that relaxing in the air conditioning, I'd be ready to head to the Union Terrace to hear Panchromatic Steel again, but I didn't want to park far away, walk more, and fight the crowds. We decided to get dinner at the Mediterranean Joint, so another Willy Street spot for Street Fest, and see how we felt afterwards. All three of us were exhausted (me most of all), so when we got back to our place, Jilly Moose and I prayed the rosary, then she headed home. We needed to be on Night Prayer anyway, because Anna Banana II was leading it, and today is her birthday. She and I put virtual flower garlands on our heads, and Jilly Moose had a background of the hibiscus flowers from earlier today, but when Rich used a background of a shot of the earth from space, all we could see were his glasses and his teeth. I tried to take a screen shot, but I have no idea where it got saved to. If I ever find it, I'll post it here.

Famous Hat