Niko's Nonstop Day, or Two Kinds of March Madness

 

This morning Travalon noted that there are two kinds of March Madness: basketball tournaments, and all the things happening in March that aren't basketball. Today was the second kind of madness. 

This morning I grabbed Niko and the mandolin and we headed off to Mass, then from there we went to the East Side Club for their St. Patrick's Day member social. Travalon and I had the chicken, since neither of us likes corned beef. (Do I have to turn in my Irish card? But we absolutely never encountered this food in Ireland. It seems like all we ate were salmon and every way you could prepare a potato imaginable.) Three people joined us at our table, two sisters who were retired teachers and one's husband, and they were a lot of fun to talk to. The couple were going to France soon, so we talked about travel, and trains, and teaching, since Travalon works with kids and I have taught catechism. We even knew a trombone player in common.

We also listened to some more traditional Irish music, and we saw a Shamrock Club buddy there, the same one we had seen yesterday afternoon while listening to traditional Irish music. Another person who was there was someone I worked with briefly at the Press, and the crazy thing is that I was just thinking of a conversation I'd had with him the other day, not when we worked together, but when we ran into each other sometime later at a Mallards game. I was surprised to realize that I know (and can play) most of the tunes the band played. That's what comes of going to Irish sessions every month.

The big excitement today was the 90th birthday party of one of my bandmates, who has retired from the band after having some hand issues that kept her from playing the violin. Her son had printed these adorable 3-D plastic mushroom lights and put them on all the tables.

When I commented on how cute they were, he said, "Please, take them home after the party. I don't want to bring them back to California!" Here is what they look like lit up.

However, I am sad to report that they don't glow under blacklight. I have been paid in many ways for gigs, but never before by plastic mushroom lights! I think my bandmates and I were the only ones that took any. We were supposed to play for half an hour, but our time got pushed back because a shuttle driver who also plays the accordion performed before us, and when our bass player and I played along on a couple of his songs because we figured out what key he was in, he must have said something to the birthday girl because after the party she emailed us and said he wanted to get together and play with all of us. So we were already pushed back on the entertainment schedule, and then we played for an hour instead of a half hour. Between that and having a piece of chocolate cake when I haven't had sugar during the week, I was so exhausted afterwards. They did have other yummy food there, but it didn't balance out the sugar crash for me. Ugh - maybe I will make giving up sugar permanent and not just one of my Lenten penances. So it was an exciting day for Niko and for the mandolin - they really got out and about today!

Check out how cool my necklace looks with the lights reflecting on it.

Maybe last year's St. Patrick's Day is hard to beat, when we took a boat ride on the green Chicago River, but we certainly got lots of traditional music in this weekend. And I wore my harp pin again.

Famous Hat