This morning Travalon and I met Tiffy, Rich, and Jilly Moose for coffee, sitting in the back garden at Fair Trade Coffeehouse. Then we went to Silk Road, the Afghani restaurant near Rich's house, for lunch. Everyone else got kebabs, but I got pumpkin-filled dumplings. Rich and Tiffy both wanted an early lunch, Rich because he was cooking for the birthday party that evening, and Tiffy because she had to go to her sister's lake house on Lake Kegonsa to drop off some paperwork. Jilly Moose had to work in the afternoon, so she also was in favor of an early lunch. Travalon and I had been planning to go swimming at Devil's Lake, but when Rich said he had to cook for R Van the Terrible's birthday party and I joked about not being invited, he said, "You were. I sent the email last night." Now if there's one thing everyone knows about me, it's that I rarely check my email on weekends (ask my bandmates - they hate it!), so I had no idea we were supposed to be spending the evening at Rich's house. So much for Devil's Lake.
I suggested some closer alternatives to Travalon, and he thought the splash pad in Middleton sounded like a good idea, so I got into my swimsuit, some old shorts, and the giant T-shirt I got at the Christian convention in downtown Minneapolis, and off we went to the splash pad. We played around in it for over twenty minutes, so that it counted for a workout, though of course not nearly as vigorous a workout as if we'd actually gone swimming. I was so soaked that we sat on a bench for another twenty minutes, yet even though it was so hot out, I didn't dry off completely. I had brought my beach towel and put it in the car, but even so the seat got very wet. I still needed steps, so after we came home and changed, we drove to Governor's Island for a walk, and the car seat was still damp. Then we drove to Rich's house for R Van's birthday party.
Kathbert, Cecil Markovitch, and a woman from a book study I'm in were there for dinner, then another birthday boy came a little later. He's the son of the man who makes fabulous desserts, and he did have a name on this blog at one time, but it's very long and I can't remember it. It was both his and R Van's actual birthday today. I said, "My birthday is on the 3rd too!" but nobody cared. We laughed a lot tonight, especially R Van and I - we were like middle-school kids, setting each other off. One of the funniest things was after Hockey Girl arrived in time for cake, and she asked R Van what her best birthday was. R Van said maybe not the best, but the most memorable was when she was driving around Europe with her late husband and her four kids, who were all very young at the time, and on her actual birthday they ended up in Vienna. She was dreaming of a fancy birthday dinner at a Viennese restaurant, but they ended up going to McDonald's. (Why? Kids.) Rich said, "What year was that?" and she said, "I don't know, about 1994?" and he said, "Odd, there was no McDonald's in Vienna when I lived there in 1972." We all thought that was hilarious, that he was shocked that a Mickey D's had appeared in the intervening two decades. Then I told a story about Tiffy quizzing me on Gen Z slang, and we had both been surprised how much I know. That inspired Hockey Girl to find a list of Gen Z slang, and R Van and I both knew what most of it meant. R Van I get, since she has tween grandkids, but why do I know this stuff? I don't even really know any actual Gen Z people. I must read stuff on the internet too much. Meanwhile, Travalon had gone off to the Chair of Doom to watch cartoons because he was at his social limit. It's so good that Rich's house has the Chair of Doom for introverts who have reached their limits.
The woman from my book study was also funny, but I'm not sure if it was intentional? Sometimes she can be loopy. For example, when we sang "Happy Birthday" to the two guests of honor, I added, "And many more!" as people often do, and she added, "On Channel 4!" Huh?
Does anyone need a rooster? R Van the Terrible's daughter accidentally got one in a box of chicks, and we can't have roosters in Madison city limits, so if you know anyone out in the country who would like a rooster, let me know. He's very handsome, and his name is Fred. No word on if he answers to it.
Famous Hat
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