Here are a couple of pictures I didn't post yesterday. First, Niko and my Niko shirt at the concert last night.
Here are a couple of pictures I didn't post yesterday. First, Niko and my Niko shirt at the concert last night.
Last night there was a total lunar eclipse. It was very late at night, so we didn't stay up to see it, but Travalon's high school buddy sent him a couple of photos.
This morning I had a dream that Rodney the Poodle and Callie the Calico Cat were still alive. (A few nights ago, I had a dream about a beautiful old church in a mall parking lot.) Travalon had a very interesting dream himself:
Fox News commentator:Today was the most beautiful day yet this week. I took a long walk at lunch, and right after I got done with work at five, I heard a train horn in the distance, so I went and sat on a rock at the entrance to our driveway, where I could see the tracks. I had to wait a few minutes, but soon the sound of the approaching train seemed to surround me, and then I saw it. That made me very happy.
When Travalon got home from work, we went downtown to hear jazz at the Hamel Music Center. I'd only been in the big concert hall before, but this was in the smaller concert hall to the side. The first half of the concert was the guest artist Terell Stafford with some jazz faculty, and that was excellent. The second half he played with the UW Jazz Orchestra, and that was a lot of fun too. The bassist and pianist were so good, but I'm not sure if they were students because they looked older than all those brass players. They closed both halves with Latin numbers, and the pianist was going nuts on the guajeo, so I was in Heaven. Then the director said, "We'll take a short break... and see you again in April." Ha! He fooled us! We thought he was going to say there was a third section to the concert.
As we were driving home, we saw a train coming down the track in the distance. We got to the crossing just in time for me to shoot this video:
The weather was beautiful again today, and I walked with Hardingfele. (My colleague is back in the country, after her flight was canceled and she had to take an arduous three-stop flight back, but she worked from home today.) It's fun to have someone to commiserate (or, to use a technical term, bitch) with about politics, bandmates, and the stupid new systems they are always coming up with at work. She is a grant administrator, so she has to use the new system for that, while I was told that with the three grants I was doing a year I'd never learn the new system so pre-award was taken off my plate. (Can't say I'm sorry about that.) Also, we have no federal grants while she deals with plenty of them. I am frustrated that the "training" for the new financial system we will go to in July consists of videos and absolutely no hands-on training in a test environment. My current boss and I have already identified ways this new system is set up for failure, and who knows how many more will come to light once I can actually use it?
After work I had to miss a free lesson in Irish dancing at the Monona Terrace for our Union meeting, because we were going to have elections at this meeting... only we were one person short of quorum. D'oh! So it wouldn't have mattered if I had skipped the meeting - what difference does it make if you're one or two people short of quorum?
At least I was well-caffeinated today: I had my usual cup of coffee in the morning before heading to work, then late morning our chair made a strong cup of coffee for me, and then a grad student bought me a latte midafternoon. I was also well pizza'd because I had leftover pizza for lunch... and then I went to grab my falafel and hummus sandwich for dinner before the Union meeting, but there was leftover pizza in the fridge from the grad student recruitment lunch, so I had that instead. That's okay, the sandwich will be perfect for lunch tomorrow - no meat on Fridays in Lent!
The craziest thing is that this morning I felt extra witty chatting with my shuttle buddy, and then I thought, "If you only take my side of the conversation, it could almost be a standup comedy routine." So I tried it out on Travalon, and he laughed. Here it is, more or less (I'm not quoting myself exactly - my memory is no longer good enough for that):
I've been getting these emails lately saying, "Take this quiz to find out when you will die." Who wants to know that? Who would actually take that quiz? I just deleted it the first time, but they keep sending it! If they send it to me one more time, I can tell them exactly when they're going to die! It makes me long for the good, old days when annoying mail meant credit card offers that actually came in the snail mail. Did you used to get those? Most of them were boring, "Sign up now and get 3.5% introductory interest," but I remember I got one for baseball fans, where you could use your points for baseball-related stuff, and then I got one for extreme sports, where you could use your points to buy extreme sport equipment. Extreme sports? Have they seen me?? I'm terrified of heights! What if your parachute didn't open? You'd have all that time to think about it before hitting the ground! If they sent me that email quiz to find out when I was going to die, I'd be like, "Yeah, in 5.3 seconds!" I did think about hang-gliding once, but I talked to a hang-gliding instructor, and he said, "You never die the first time. There's what we call the Coffin Stage when you think you know what you're doing, and you forget a step. That's when it happens." Oh, and the weirdest credit card offer I got was for the Astro-Card, where you could get your sign of the zodiac on your credit card, and your monthly statement would come with a horoscope. So what mailing list was I on that they thought I was interested in baseball, extreme sports, and astrology? Does this person exist? I'd love to meet them. Maybe they sent them to me because of that time I went hang-gliding into Wrigley Stadium, hollering, "I'm a Capricorn!" Thank you so much, I'm here all week.
Famous Hat
Today was very beautiful out, but I spent my lunch hour in the Lutheran church I used to sing in, attending an early music concert. I usually attend these alone, but today I saw a bandmate there, so I sat next to her, and then Kathbert came and sat on the other side of me. My OTHER former choir director played the organ during the all-choral concert, some Johann Christian Bach and some Schuetz and a couple of singalong JS Bach chorales, as well as a gorgeous piece by a guy I'd never heard of whose name escapes me. (I did save the program, so I can look him up, but it's at work and I'm at home.) Afterwards someone insisted on taking a photo of all us former and current choir members with our former director, but I have not seen it and am not sure if I ever will.
So I tried to take a slightly longer afternoon walk but didn't get a workout, and I tried to pray the rosary on the shuttle home but my shuttle buddy got on one decade in and we yakked the rest of the ride. When I got home, since it was very light now that we're on Central FAKE TIME, I prayed the rest of the rosary while walking outside, and that got me my workout. Then I prayed another rosary online with Anna Banana II. That's okay, I never got one in on Monday, so it all evens out. However, the walking cut into my attempt to catch up with recorded Colbert shows, so when Travalon came home, he left me to keep watching them and went down to the dock. He took some photos of the end of the sunset.
Today I worked from home, and it was still beautiful out though not as warm as the last two days, so at lunchtime I went outside for a walk. My goal: to walk as fast as I can for half an hour, because that's all the time I have. My neighbor's goal: waste as much time as possible, because she's retired, bored, and lonely and has nothing but time. She asked if she and her little dog could walk with me, and I said sure, but we had to keep stopping to talk to people. Somehow it counted as a workout, but it wasn't much for either steps or effort. The little dog jumped on my knees so hard that my left one kind of buckled backwards a tiny bit, and I was scared I'd be crippled for life, but can you believe it actually felt better going up the stairs than it has in months? Maybe she snapped something back into place. This evening I had to run around the house to get more steps and active time, but my FitBit said my workout was a "walk," and that it was "moderate," not "vigorous." Man, what would it take to impress this FitBit?
At Adoration I was thinking about these televangelist types who say God talks to them all the time, and it seems like they have a very different experience than I do. I talk at God all the time (I mean ALL the time), although I've gotten better about not giving Him a running commentary in my head nonstop. He has only talked directly to me a few times, but every time it was short and to the point, and also it was somehow TERRIFYING. The closest thing I can relate it to is if you had a beloved teacher when you were a little kid, one who thought you were particularly clever and funny, and then you did something bad. (But not that bad - I mean, you're a little kid in this scenario, right? How bad can it be?) Then she says to you, "I think that you should share the crayons with your friend, Famous," and you are DEVASTATED because you let down this perfect person who thought you were so wonderful. It's more like that than being scared of lightning or a plane crash or whatever. It's nothing like, "And then God told me that Dear Leader was chosen by Him to lead this country!" The God I'm familiar with doesn't seem like He'd be too impressed with Dear Leader, but of course He would love him.
Today Roy came home.
(Apologies to the writers of Bullwinkle for that alternate title.)
Today Travalon and I drove separately to my parking lot, then we left my car there and he drove me to work. He wasn't sure he could pick me up as usual, so this would allow me to take the shuttle home. It was a beautiful day, and I walked with Hardingfele at lunchtime. I did my first "training" for the new system we will be using at work, but it's more of an overview than actual hands-on training, so that was a disappointment. Otherwise, it was a productive day at work.
Travalon was able to pick me up from work, but the traffic was terrible because there was a fire downtown in a residence - apparently five people were displaced. Once we got home, we went down to the dock to enjoy the beautiful evening. Here are some photos. First, Tux Duck and his Lady Love are back.
The show last night was excellent. It started with the Madison Pipes and Drums playing a rousing set, then a band came on called Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band, which was not actually a big band since it consisted of the Rev. Peyton on guitar (and he was unreal, he was so good), his wife Washboard Breezy on the washboard, and Jacob the Snacob on drums. They had a banner of what looked like a classic T-Bird behind them, and when they were playing, the headlights lit up. They didn't even need a bass player because this guy was so good that he played the bass line with his thumb. He had at least eight guitars, and I'm pretty sure he played them all. It was hardcore blues.
The headliners were Gaelic Storm, led by frontman Pat Murphy, who is apparently actually from somewhere in Ireland. He is very entertaining, spending as much time telling stories as he did singing. A lot of the people around us knew all the songs and sang along, including a black guy in a very impressive kilt outfit, and to my surprise I knew quite a few of them myself and sang along. I'm not sure if they're Irish folk songs or Gaelic Storm originals, but I've heard them somewhere before. The guitarist, who was named Parker, would start playing some random song, like "Don't Fear the Reaper" by the Blue Oyster Cult, and Pat Murphy would sing, "I don't know the words to this song," or whatever. When Parker (who is much younger) asked Pat his age, Pat sang, "I write your paychecks." There was also a woman playing fiddle whose name I didn't catch, a drummer whose name I didn't catch, and a guy named Peter who played tin whistle, uilleann pipes, and other instruments. Some local Irish dancers joined them for one song, and then for their encore, the Big Damn Band, the Pipes and Drums, and the Irish dancers all took the stage with them. What an entertaining show!
Today was Daylight Saving Time, but since we go to such a late Mass, I woke up in plenty of time. Right after that we hurried to Rex's Innkeeper for the Shamrock Club's St. Patrick's Day dinner. Here we are!
A band called Slipjig played beforehand, and we talked to a number of people and tried something amazing: Jameson's Orange. So good you can drink it straight! The food at the dinner was okay, but the dessert was this Bailey's cheesecake with a dark chocolate crust and chocolate whipped cream on top. So delicious! Good thing it's Sunday, because it was very un-Lenten. I even had coffee with a shot of chocolate Bailey's. We had bought $20 worth of raffle tickets, and Travalon really wanted a map of Ireland from 1779, so he was watching everyone eagerly whose ticket got drawn to see if they took his map. Of course the first few people took the bottles of booze, and then after all that coffee and Jameson and water I had to run to the bathroom so I didn't see Travalon's number get drawn. He was so excited to get his map! I was bummed to miss his moment of joy, but I contend that the reason he won is because I went to the bathroom. It always works for the Mallards - the moment I pop in the loo, they have a fabulous play. Here is the map.
I know everyone was waiting with bated breath to find out whether I went to the International Festival or the Bach Around the Clock marathon today. Well, wonder no more - I am about to reveal the answer.
This morning Travalon was watching Crystal Palace with Jerry and Roy Jr., then he drove me to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church to attend... Bach Around the Clock. He thought about going to the men's Badger Basketball game, but the tickets were really expensive, and he figured it would be a boring game because they were playing Penn State, who are not good this year. Instead, he watched part of the game at the Laurel Tavern, and then he went to Leopold's.
I got to Bach Around the Clock just as the recorder ensemble was finishing up, which includes an old choir mate of mine. The next group included the lead singer from Yid Vicious and a guy I know from early music circles, and they did a really fun mashup of Bach's Invention in D Minor and a Macedonian folk song. My choir mate joined me, and the next group we saw was a community choir, so we talked about joining it. She's already in the St. Andrew's choir and the recorder group. I remember when I used to be in two choirs and three bands - where did I find the energy?? This choir practices on Monday nights, which is the same night as the Russian Folk Orchestra, which I keep saying I'm going to join but haven't yet. After that there was a bell choir playing Bach, and a cellist playing Bach, but the pianist that was next on the list apparently couldn't make it, because the MC led us in a rousing rendition of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," verses 1 and 3, with the implicit understanding that we are facing the evil forces in the hymn in Dear Leader, his overlord in the Kremlin, and the oligarchs destroying our democracy.
And then... my favorite part, a tribute to PDQ Bach. First some singers sang some of his pieces, which sound quite beautiful if you don't listen to the words, like that the hocket causes the singers to sing: "Hot!" "Dog!" "Hot!" "Dog!" Or if you disregard the fact that the bass just wandered off during one piece and started scatting like he was singing jazz, not a madrigal, which I assume is in the directions. After all, these are the "discoveries" of Peter Schickele, who was allegedly the Very Full Professor of Musical Pathology at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. (A real town of 247 people - I looked it up.) Then the husband of the Professor Formerly Known as Lute Player played two Musical Contraptions, one of them based on the simple melody that as kids we sang to the words, "On the Planet Mars/Where the Ladies Smoke Cigars," and the last part was a concerto for viola four hands. I made a brief video.
Today my "Irish Word of the Day" was "sneachta," which means snow, and the sentence was, "Ta se ag cur sneachta," which literally means "is it putting snow," but you'd translate it, "It is snowing." And it was snowing outside! (The verb coming first doesn't make it a question like it would in English - it always comes first in Irish. They would have a whole different form of the verb for a question.) The "ag" is basically "-ing" in English, in case you were curious about its function. It was snowing during my morning walk and during my lunchtime walk, but by my afternoon walk it had stopped.
This evening Jilly Moose and I went to a Bach Around the Clock concert at First Unitarian. The concert was in the Landmark Auditorium, which I thought was the big concert hall I'd been to many times, so Jilly Moose and I went in that end of the compound and were bewildered by the very un-Lenten spread of brownies in front of us. I knew they were having a birthday party for Bach, but I had been expecting champagne and a sheet cake. We sat down, and a guy got up and started talking about the documentary we were about to watch, and I realized we must have been in the wrong place. We snuck out, and a guy in the hallway said the concert was in the Frank Lloyd Wrong area of the compound, so we went to get our coats, and he said, "You're going the wrong way!" We had to tell him three times we were getting our coats, and then he followed us all the way to the Landmark Auditorium, as if he thought we wouldn't make it across the parking lot. Fortunately, a woman had been talking the whole time, so the music hadn't started yet. If you look at the windows, they look a little like a face.
I recently found out that I can get a free subscription to the New York Times through my job, and so I have been enjoying Wordle every day. People told me I'd be good at it, and Prairie Man said the best word to start with is "canoe" because it has so many vowels, and that has served me well. Maybe too well, because yesterday Wordle asked if I wanted to put it into "difficult mode." No, I do not want to put it into "difficult mode" - I enjoy the illusion of thinking I'm a super-genius because I can usually solve it in three guesses. Life is hard - why should Wordle be unnecessarily hard too?
Last night as one of my Lenten practices, I actually got to bed something like on time, and it's just not working for me. I didn't wake up until my alarm yanked me out of a dream, and my brain never really woke up. For example, I was meeting with a person who is one of those incredibly good people, so decent that they almost don't seem real, like he would never do anything the least bit morally problematic, which has nothing to do with the story but I'm just painting a picture for you. We were paying a bill, and I had to multiply the per capita cost by the number of people, but then I forgot it was for four months and had to redo the form to multiply by four. I wrote out the check... and then put it back in my secure file cabinet and locked it. He said, "Um... don't I need the check?" Why yes, yes you do! I was just keeping it safe for you, see. My chair gave me a strong cup of coffee, and it turns out the two of them know each other, so I didn't even have to introduce them. I'm still a little unclear on how they know each other, but the university is like a big small town - everyone knows each other somehow. I am not sure who the Village Idiot is, so hopefully that doesn't mean it's me...
I walked with Hardingfele at lunch; we don't walk together that often because she usually turns me down. Today she said, "Maybe," and then when I asked her closer to lunch, she said, "Sure." It was a bit cold out, but no wind and very sunny, but she wanted to go into the Horticulture greenhouses. She thought it was wonderful in there, but I was dying in what my coworker calls my "sleeping bag coat" because it goes all the way down to my feet. I also have Spyder gloves that I paid a fortune for a quarter of a century ago, and they are just now getting holes in them so I should probably replace them. Those are some high-quality gloves! Hopefully they still make them - I'd like another pair exactly the same.
I'll try to get to bed on time again today, but after that strong coffee, it may be a waste of time. We shall see.
Famous Hat
I am still obsessed with "Ai No Corrida," and I wonder how many other wonderful songs are out there that I have never heard. For example, why do you always hear Post Malone on the radio but you never hear Thundercat? I wouldn't have known about his song "Dragonball Durag" if Colbert hadn't had him on his show. How do I find these great songs that don't get as much exposure?
Today: no social media reels for me! I'm addicted to these short videos. I was also trying to fast all day, and right at the end the chair offered me some cookies, but I said, "It's Ash Wednesday!" Then I apologized for being rude, but she said I wasn't rude. Guess I have to try harder...
The weather was terrible today, and I meant to take a photo out my office window of the "winter wonderland," but of course I kept forgetting. I walked outside on my morning break, but under the roof to avoid the snow, and for some reason my heart rate really spiked. Is that a bad sign? Am I about to die? I was hoping to walk in the big conference room overlooking the lake during my lunch break, and the online calendar said it was free, but someone was in there anyway. This time I know I didn't get the day wrong - it was just someone doing a video call. So I went outside again, and again in the afternoon, and by then the ground was icy.
When I got to my car, it was covered with ice. I drove to a gas station, but the cover to my gas tank was frozen shut. My windshield wipers were also frozen (I should have put them up), but fortunately the snow had stopped by then, so I didn't need them. No idea what I would have done if I had needed them! I met Travalon at the church on the far east side for Mass, and when I told him about my gas cover, he looked online and found the liquid on the squeegees at the gas stations can help melt the ice. After Mass we went to the gas station closer to our house, and by then the gas tank cover had thawed enough for me to open it without using the squeegee, but the windshield wipers never got free even by the time I got home. Hopefully a night in the garage will thaw them out...
Famous Hat
This morning Travalon and I went to get our taxes done, and I felt like maybe I left a bit abruptly when my FitBit said I had ten minutes left to get my steps for the hour. We get a little back from the feds (someday?) but owe a little to the state, so we had the deduction set to go on Thursday, since that is my payday. It was all futile, because I missed my move hours somehow between 11-12, after doing a chaplet that usually gets me enough steps and failing to make sure, and then weirdly I was paid today so no need for the delay. I mentioned it on the chat at work, and several other coworkers were surprised to see they had also been paid, but apparently our credit union now puts the money from your paycheck into your account two days ahead of time. So that's cool.
This evening, once I got back from adoration, Travalon and I went to Lola's for Mardi Gras. They had a special Mardi Gras menu of shrimp po' boys or gumbo, but they were out of the po' boys. I did get the gumbo, and Travalon got pelmenis, which were really delicious; he gave me a few, since my bowl of gumbo was very small, maybe because they were running out. Travalon had a tropical drink called an ornithology.
Today I worked on campus and took a quick walk before a lunchtime meeting. Here is another contribution to my "Faces of Campus" series:
Yesterday I went to get my hair cut, and since it's close to the Essen Haus and Come Back In, we thought we'd get lunch at one of those places. However, they were not open yet, so we went to the Cardinal Bar, a place I went dancing thirty years ago and never pictured having lunch. The empanadas were really good, especially the vegetarian one which was more like a samosa with Indian spices. I couldn't find Niko in my purse and felt a little panicked, but the logical part of my brain was like, "You left him at home," and indeed, he was safe in his Niko Nook. Then Travalon and I took a walk on a boardwalk they have made in our neighborhood for trucks to go into the marsh to work on the power lines. Nowhere does it say we can't walk on them too. It was colder than a few days ago, but still lovely and sunny out.
In the afternoon we met Rich, Kathbert, and Pete the Sailor Man at Mr. Why's grave to put flowers on it for the anniversary of his death, like we do every year. This time we actually remembered on the right date and not halfway through the month. Then Rich, Pete, Travalon, and I had some snacks and warm beverages at La Brioche. Travalon and I swung by Picnic Point to see if there were any birds around, but we mostly saw ice fishermen who are braver than I am - no way would I walk on that rotten ice! We did see a few geese. On the way home we stopped at Mendota County Park, and Travalon took a couple of photos.
In the evening we went to see a Beatles tribute band called Madison Mystery Tour do music from 1965-66, which is the era of two of their best albums, Rubber Soul and Revolver. I had taken an edible, but I didn't read the directions, which is that you are supposed to cut them in half. Why put the work on me? Why not just make them half as big? Anyway, that was way too much THC, and I felt like I heard every tiny error the musicians made, although I really enjoyed their version of "Tomorrow Never Knows." I felt dizzy and like I didn't know where I was in time and space. Everything was slowed down, and I was having trouble walking like a normal human being. Now I get why Travalon didn't enjoy it when he had a whole chocolate instead of half of one like the people selling it recommended. I was bummed that the band didn't do "Michelle" or "I'm Only Sleeping," but they did do "Girl," which is another one I really like, I suppose because it's minor key. It was still a great show.
The funny thing about being stoned is that you see connections where there probably aren't any, so maybe stoned people are the ones who create conspiracy theories - I came up with that theory while I was stoned. Can't remember any of the deep thoughts I had, but at one point I was trying to determine the numeric value of two words, and I got as far as figuring out that L was 3 and then realized I couldn't remember what the words were. So much for that theory!
Today I still felt, if not stoned, at least very groggy all through Mass. Immediately afterwards we drove to Milwaukee to visit the Schlitz Audubon Center, but first we had lunch at the Three Lions Pub, and I realized I was wearing a very Irish outfit (scarf and necklace with Celtic symbols) to an English pub. Oops! The center is in Bayside; my interest in going there was to see a display of astronomical photography done by amateurs, and some of them were amazing, of eclipses and nebulas and the aurora borealis. Travalon and I took some photos, but I'm not sure about the ethics of posting them here without permission. Instead, enjoy these photos I took last night of Venus and the crescent moon.
More random than a rabbit on a B-17!