Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl

 

I don't have much to say about my life the last couple of days; yesterday I worked on campus, and today I worked from home, and I had quiet evenings both days. But today social media is abuzz with something that makes me very happy: Bad Bunny will be the Super Bowl halftime performer this coming year. Now I am not a particular fan of Bad Bunny - I think he performs reggaeton, which is not my jam; anyway, it's not classic salsa. But ever since people got all weird and racist about Jennifer Lopez and Shakira performing in, I think, 2019, I have just despised all these racist bigots who carp about the Super Bowl halftime show when it's not one of their ancient white male rock idols. Last year they were complaining nonstop about Kendrick Lamar, and how they hated his show. You know what? You don't have to watch it. You can just turn off the TV. There's this contingent of old white guys who only want old white guys performing in the Super Bowl halftime show because apparently they aren't aware that most people watching the Super Bowl aren't as old or as white as they are. It reminds me of when Travalon and I were in Door County and took a boat ride out to Pilot Island, and the captain said he was going to play classic rock because "everyone" likes it. Since the people who like classic rock are overwhelmingly white and male (and older), I don't know what he means by "everyone" unless he means "everyone who matters." When I used to read the magazine Rolling Stone back in college, I couldn't help noticing the critics thought music that appeals to white men is the best music, and anything that appeals to women or people of color just isn't as serious. Any woman can tell you how anything that appeals to women more than men is always denigrated in our culture. Romance novels? Not serious. Dance music? Not serious. Bright colors? Not serious. But if it's about war or anything that interests white men, then it's serious art. One of the funniest things I ever read was a man being interviewed about Kamala Harris and saying he didn't want her for president because he wanted someone who could represent "everyone," and people were piling on him: "Oh, so only white men can represent the rest of us?" This is the sound of all of us who are not white males laughing at your pathetic horror about Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl: HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA!!! And yes, he is a US citizen - he's from Puerto Rico. If you only want US citizens performing, then why weren't you bitching about the Rolling Stones performing? Hmm? I somehow think that's not actually what you're complaining about, you racist freaks. Sit down and SHUT UP!!

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Lasagna Party and ELO Tribute Band

 

This morning Travalon and I went to Mass and then got coffee on North Street, as has become our habit, and then since it was such a nice day, we took a long walk at Pheasant Branch. In the evening we went to Rich's house for his famous lasagna as a farewell dinner for Anna Banana II, who heads back to North Dakota tomorrow. Jilly Moose, OK Cap, Kathbert, Cecil Markovitch, the Single B-Boy, R Van the Terrible, some of the Night Prayer regulars, and the guy who makes amazing desserts and his son were also there, and Prairie Man came for dessert. People brought all sorts of salads, and I brought chocolate cherry wine from Door County that I had purchased at Schultz's Cheese Haus during our recent visit there on the way back from Horicon Marsh. We were planning to leave before dessert, but the baker's son brought us each a piece of the eclair pie (or whatever it was called) that he had made - so delicious!

Travalon and I had to leave the party early because we were going to a concert tonight. It was halfway between a tribute band and the remnants of the Electric Light Orchestra, and we desperately hoped there wouldn't be an opening act, but a guy came out with a guitar and sang songs about his failed relationships, which is my least favorite type of performer. However, he only sang about four songs, and then the band started immediately with my favorite song, "Evil Woman." Oddly, Travalon had gotten us very bad seats by the wall, where the sound wasn't so good, because he said it was almost sold out, but there were a lot of empty seats - did people buy tickets and then remember there was a Packer game tonight? The band also did another favorite of mine, "Last Train to London," during the first half, then they took a short break and we grabbed way better seats. So mysterious! It wasn't a huge crowd, but it was enthusiastic. During the second half they did "Shine a Little Love," another favorite of mine, but really I like most of their songs, except the ones where they try to do rockabilly. However, even those were better live. Travalon's favorite is "Strange Magic," and they did that one in the second half.

The concert got done at a merciful hour, and we listened to what was left of the Packers game in the car, but they were ahead by four with a minute and some change to go and couldn't stop Dallas, who scored and were ahead by three, and then somehow in just a few seconds the Pack got back down to make a field goal and tie it up. "Oh great," I groaned, "overtime!" They held Dallas to a field goal in overtime and then got down into the red zone but couldn't score, so they kicked a field goal to tie 40-40, the second highest tie in NFL history, or so the announcers said. So now it's late and I have to get up early for the first time in days tomorrow, so I'll wrap this post up now.

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True North Festival: Livin' on Lizard Time

 

This morning Travalon was watching British soccer, and the condo board president needed me to sign off on the bylaw amendments that were recently passed, so I went to his house and then ran into my neighbor with the friendly little dog. We took a walk around the neighborhood, but I didn't get credit for a workout because we kept stopping. Then Travalon took me downtown and dropped me off at Grace Episcopal to see the local harpsichord player in a free concert of Baroque keyboard music. (He was apparently a replacement for someone who was originally supposed to perform, so I didn't have time to notify Tiffy.) We were meeting back at our old church after the concert, and I walked along looking at the vendors selling jewelry and art down State Street. Then I saw Blacklight Sputnik.

Isn't it adorable? I couldn't resist. When I met Travalon, he had a party hat and a little cupcake for me because it had been Bucky Badger's 85th birthday down on the Union Terrace.

Here it is on me.

Here it is on Blacklight Sputnik.

Travalon and I went for a walk on Governor's Island, then we relaxed at home for a bit before heading to the True North Festival. We missed the first act because I thought it was a singer-songwriter, but it was a jazz musician doing a New Orleans tribute. Oops! We got there in time to hear the second band, but they were kind of weird, almost rhythm and blues but not quite right. We split orders of Sichuan dumplings (now that the deal has been done) (that's a Steely Dan reference), lamb kebabs, a grilled cheese sandwich, an ice cream sandwich, and a frittatina full of cheese and peas, and to drink infused lemonade and an antioxidant drink that tasted like a piña colada. Splitting everything meant we got to try a lot more.

Mama Digdown's Brass Band played a very New Orleans-style set, and we enjoyed them a lot. Here's a brief sample:

They said they have a new album coming out in the next few months, "depending on if you're talking about human time, dog time, or lizard time." We thought that was so funny that Travalon said it had to be my blog post title. We stayed for the next band, an R&B outfit that must write their own music, since we didn't recognize any of the songs they did. They ranged in quality from "Will this song never end?" to "I'd really like to get this song on my phone!" They were certainly competent musicians. We had to check out the weird automated alien that seemed to belong to the first band we'd seen.

The main act was a guy named Pokey LaFarge, and we listened to a few songs but didn't really like them. We debated about taking a ride on the Ferris Wheel but decided to just go home, since by then it was getting quite late. We did see the balloon art stand, so we asked what they could make, and for $5 they made us a panda.

How cute is that?? Then when we came home, I checked out Blacklight Sputnik under the blacklight.

I had suspected that some elements of my Irish Fest Summer School T-shirt would glow under blacklight, and in fact it appears that the whole design glows!

That was an unexpected surprise! I also discovered that a tiny part of that rugged cord rosary I pray with outside glows (the pink part), but I didn't take a photo of that. Maybe sometime soon, so look for that.

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Horicon Boat Ride and Lion's Den Gorge

 

Yesterday morning Anna Banana II and Jilly Moose picked me up, then we drove to Columbus to pick up Anna Banana II's mom, and a train went by as we were getting coffee at the place next door. Anna Banana II and I split a chocolate and rhubarb croissant, which sounds weird but tastes delicious. We had lunch at the Subway in Horicon, and Anna Banana II's mom paid for all of us with a gift card she had - and she still had money left over! Then we took a boat ride in Horicon Marsh, where we saw a couple of great blue herons, several egrets, some cormorants, and a lot of gulls. The weather was perfect. There is a gift shop at the boat launch, and a little coffee shop. Jilly Moose bought a hoodie, but I was more concerned about this malevolent teapot giving me the stink eye.

After the boat ride, we went to the overlook where you can see almost all of the marsh and took a walk, then we went to the boardwalk and took that walk too. A lot of the birds have left for the season, but we did see another egret and a sandpiper. When we dropped Anna Banana II's mom off in Columbus, the Amtrak train arrived.

In the evening Travalon and I went to see Jon Batiste at the Orpheum. He was the leader of Colbert's house band until leaving to pursue a solo career (the rest of his band is still playing on Colbert's show), and apparently he has quite a following because the woman behind me in line for the bathroom said she had just seen him in Kansas City and was seeing him again, and he had played in Madison the night before, and some people came back for the second show. I can see why - he's a jazz guy, so no two shows will be the same, and he was very high energy and had us up and dancing and clapping and singing along. He did have an opening act (a woman with a guitar who sang songs about her failed lesbian relationships) so the show started later than we'd expected and then went very late. At the end he and his band processed through the audience, went into the side balconies, and ended up playing in the top balcony. I highly recommend seeing him live.

This morning Anna Banana II and Jilly Moose picked me up again, and we stopped for treats at Far Breton. I got a cheese croissant that was so amazing I wanted to eat the whole thing but only ate half. Then we drove way over to Grafton and had lunch at a place called the Flipside Grill, where they also sold cute crocheted Halloween creatures. I just loved this ghost wearing a crown. He's King Ghost, the Monarch with the most!

I texted this photo to Travalon and asked should I call him King Arthur or Charlemagne, and Travalon said King Arthur. Jilly Moose got this pumpkin latte:

We were suggesting names for him, and I said Larry the Latte, so she said she already has a stuffed moose named Latte. I said, "Obviously if you have a moose named Latte, then you should have a latte named Moose," but she decided to name him Cafe Olé which is the name of an imaginary drink that the Married B-Boy came up with years ago. 

Our next stop was the Lion's Den Gorge, where we took a long walk and admired the blue-green water from the path on the bluff. There were lots of asters in bloom, and we noticed this plant with two different color blooms on it.

I took a photo of Anna Banana II with the beautiful water behind her, but somehow I got my finger in the shot and completely ruined it, so sorry, you'll just have to imagine water like the Caribbean. There was a sign saying if we liked Lion's Den Gorge, we would love Cedar Gorge Clay Bluffs, so we asked Jilly Moose's GPS Rhoda (who has a posh British accent) to find it. It was very close by, but Rhoda said, "You have arrived," and all we saw were signs saying: "No public access." So we went back to the Lion's Den Gorge to scan the QR code on the sign we'd seen, and it just takes you to a place to donate money. It seems the second place is in the works and not ready for visitors yet.

We got back to Madison and headed to Middleton to go to the Craftsman Table again, and Rich, OK Cap, and Travalon met us there. This time we sat inside, and our bills got kind of messed up, but the food is so good. I had a sour beer that tasted just like apple cider.

Here are some more photos from Jilly Moose of our visit to GLEAM:

That's all for tonight. King Arthur's ghost is looking at me and reminding me that it's past my bedtime. As Travalon said, "A good night's sleep for all my people leads to a better tomorrow." In a British accent.

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GLEAM 2025

 

Yesterday I didn't blog because there was so little to say. I worked from home and walked on Governor's Island with Travalon at lunch, then I went to Adoration, came home, watered my plants, and led Night Prayer. So, a typical Tuesday.

Today I was on campus, and during our weekly admin meeting, my (former) boss slowly realized that while he is on vacation for the next two days, so am I, and my one coworker is out Friday to go camping, and my young coworker is off Friday for her birthday... and then the last coworker said she would be at an all-day conference tomorrow and Friday. That's right - nobody will be in the office on Friday. At least our student hourly will be there for most of the afternoon...

After work I met Jilly Moose and Anna Banana II at Himal Chuli for dinner, and instead of getting my usual (the law firm of Roti, Takari, and Dal), I got the sampler plate with a samosa, two momos (little dumplings), roti, and dal. Roti is flat, round bread like pita without the pocket, and dal is lentil soup, for anyone wondering, and a samosa is like a homemade Hot Pocket full of potato and peas. 

I drove us all over to Olbrich Gardens for GLEAM, the annual light sculpture show I have featured on this blog before, where we met Richard Bonomo. I didn't take photos of everything, but here are some photos, starting with waiting in line to get in:

Here are some photos from inside the conservatory. The lights were beautiful, but the music was creepy.

Then we went outside and explored a lot more installations. The "LOVE" display was colorful in real life, but it's just white in my photo.

This one was supposed to mimic northern lights.

Rich, Jilly Moose, and Anna Banana II on the bridge to the Thai Pavilion:

Black light art!

The Thai Pavilion at night.

In this interactive display, you would run around inside of the circle and the birds would light up as if they were chasing you. We enjoyed this one a lot.

We also loved the lotus lanterns that you could make glow different colors. I don't see any of the actual lanterns in these photos, but here we are bathed in different colors of light.

This was an interesting installation in which you would tap the ground with a silver wand, and these towers would make sound and light patterns.

Rich was really good at this - here's a video of him controlling the tower.

There's always a pretty installation in the Sunken Garden pool.

This was another interactive one we loved. You could make rainbow shadows! Here I am dancing with Niko.

Anna Banana II is hanging ten.

Rich is making shadow puppets of Our Lady. 

And Jilly Moose is a moose!!

I have to say that going on a weekday in late September is way better than going in late October like Travalon and I usually do. There are less people, so you can easily find a parking spot, and also it isn't so crowded in the gardens. Plus the temperature is perfect. Other years I've been freezing at GLEAM.

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Annual Condo Association Meeting 2025

 

Today I worked on campus, and Hardingfele and I walked at lunch. We were in the Allen Centennial Gardens when we heard a train approaching, so we hurried to where you can see the track just in time to see the short train (five cars) go by. Then in the evening we had a surprisingly amiable condo association meeting; not too many people came, but a lot of people filled out proxy forms, so we were able to conduct business because we had a quorum. We passed a budget and changes to the bylaws, so we actually got a lot accomplished. We met at the Waunakee Community Center, which I had never been to before, but there's a lot going on there. Outside there was a yoga class, and the room across the hall had a bunch of adults singing to toddlers. One of my neighbors found the senior center newsletter, but she said I can't read it because I'm not old enough yet. Though I really don't need any more activity in my life, it is tempting to check out this oasis of fun sometime.

A couple of weeks ago Travalon and I were sitting in our living room when two or three mice chased each other out of the kitchen and into the hallway. We hadn't seen mice in ages, so we were a bit shocked. I set up two live traps with cashew butter, but we caught nothing that night. I said we needed peanut butter, and Travalon found some expired peanut butter in the cabinet, so I set the traps with that. The next day we had a mouse, and Travalon released it outside. There was nothing the next night, but the night after that there was a very cute, perky mouse in the trap, sticking its little pink nose out of the air holes on the top. It was a tawny color and white underneath. Travalon released it outside. Nothing the next night, but then the night after that we caught a mouse half the size of the first two, and it wasn't perky at all - it seemed petrified. Travalon didn't want to let it go in the usual spot, because the cranes were hanging out there, so he let it go near the tennis courts. I don't know if this was a different species of mouse or just a young one, but a few nights later we caught one more tiny one. Now we haven't caught any in a number of days, so maybe our mouse troubles are over... at least for now.

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Willy Street Fair 2025

 

Today Travalon and I got going in time to go to the earlier Mass closer to us so we could get to Willy Street in time for the annual parade. As always, it was a crazy affair with the Brazilian drumming group, the Bubblemobile, a bunch of post-menopausal women dancing around while dressed as the Statue of Liberty, people on stilts, people fiddling, children on unicycles, a Balkan dance band, political chants, the Forward Marching Band, and two different LGBTQ floats, one of which threw me a piece of candy. (This list is not all-inclusive.) Like, right to me - there were no children around me. It reminded me of when the guy on that Mardi Gras float in Mobile, Alabama threw Hannibal O'Leary the Lime Green Lion right to me. After the parade, we went to the stand with the baobab shakes and the rice jollof, but we should have looked around more, because now there's a stand with tastier jollof and cheaper baobab shakes, as well as the place with the incredible lamb kebabs, but after splitting two servings of jollof, we had no room for them. I bought a pair of sunglasses to support our local radio station, and Travalon bought a Meep Meepleton T-shirt, his favorite shop on Willy Street full of vintage toys. I saw a faculty member and some of my Union peeps. On the way to the festival, we got coffee at Mother Fool's, who were doing a brisk business, and as we were leaving the festival, we got Dubai chocolate.

We met Mamastep, Anna Banana II, Jilly Moose, and OK Cap to see the final Downton Abbey movie, which was enjoyable but won't be winning any Oscars except maybe for costumes - the period outfits were fantastic. When the movie got done, I'd be late getting to the Irish session anyway, and also our band leader said no going to it, we were having band practice, so I went with the others to It's Good for You Pizza, where we sat outside and had an early dinner. Travalon and I hurried home so I could grab the mandolin, but before we headed to the far side of town, I checked my email, and the hostess had said, "See you all next week." I texted Hardingfele, who told me our leader had called her, and she wasn't going, and another fiddler was sick, and our bass player was going to the Irish session, so band practice was canceled. I wondered if our leader had actually gone to the Irish session and found me missing, so we headed over there, and I joined them for the final half-hour of the session. Sure enough, our leader was there, along with her partner, who was playing the ukulele. (As you find at all the traditional Irish sessions.) Famie was there too, but not the red-headed flute player, and our bass player was there with her fiddle, so I sat next to her, where I wouldn't be tempted to look at the music being projected onto a screen, because it was at my back. Our band leader said afterwards that since the bass player and I are always going to these Irish sessions anyway, the band will now go to them twice a month - that is, to all of them. I suspect part of this is because Hardingfele said she refuses to go to band practice every week, so if half the band is missing, then why practice? So if you can't beat 'em, join 'em... at the Irish session. We do supposedly have a gig coming up, so at some point we'll have to practice for that. Stay tuned...

Jilly Moose's nephews made her a clay moose head for her birthday.

This would have fit right in at the Willy Street Fair.

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Another Gen Z Wedding

 

Two things I forgot to mention about yesterday: during my morning break, Travalon and I went to the dock and saw the green heron fly to our neighbor's boat lift. It was posing so perfectly, and Travalon wondered if it would still be there if he ran home to grab his good camera. I said the odds were about 30%, but look - it was still there!

This photo just made me laugh.

The second thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that when we walked on Governor's Island, we saw the big party boat Midnight Splash. This is relevant because today we went for a walk on Governor's Island, and we could hear loud, thumping bass, so I said Midnight Splash must be out there. We didn't see it, but I thought maybe the music was coming closer, so we sat by the water for a bit. Finally we gave up and drove by where Midnight Splash is docked... and there it was, obviously not out for a cruise. I thought nobody ever used it, because it always seemed to be docked, but now that I've been walking on Governor's Island, I see it gets taken out on weekdays.

On the way home from the walk, I saw these wild sunflowers growing in a spot where I've never seen them before.

I also found this rock with an indentation in it that looks like a mushroom.

After our walk, we headed to a hunting lodge called Milford Hills for the wedding of the daughter of Travalon's high school buddy; it was a beautiful setting in the rolling hills with lots of forest around and an overlook with lots of bluejays around. We heard an unusual bird call, and while my bird call ID app acknowledged that it was a bird, it couldn't identify it.

The wedding itself was outside and took less than ten minutes because all it consisted of was the procession and then the vows. God was not mentioned at all. Like the daughter of his other high school buddy, this bride also had a Polaroid camera that we were supposed to use to take a photo of ourselves for a scrapbook.

I love how this photo looks like it's from the 80's. Another thing just like the other wedding: the bridal party came into the reception in pairs, like they walked down the aisle, and each pair did a silly thing, like pretending to pitch and hit a baseball with the bouquet or pretending to walk right into each other by accident. Is this a thing now? I don't remember that in weddings of my generation. While Travalon and I were dressed all tropical, since it's still warm out, everyone else wore autumn colors. The bridesmaids wore pumpkin-colored dresses, and the groomsmen wore pumpkin-colored ties. The mothers of the bride and the groom wore dresses in exactly the same shade of plum, and all the other guests wore muted, earthen tones. Was there something on the invitation that I didn't know about? It's still summer till tomorrow.

We were at Table 8, with the father, mother, and sister of the bride from earlier this summer. (She couldn't come because of another wedding.) The tables went up to the buffet in numerical order, and we were horrified to see people with plates piled high with more food than they could possibly eat and, sure enough, by the time it was our turn, some of the food was completely gone. I ended up eating mostly vegetarian ravioli, but to be fair, it was delicious. And there was even another table after us! Then Travalon and I watched as plates were cleared away, and people left tons of food on their plates. And yes, we were very much judging. Sometimes I just hate humanity. When you know there are a lot of people coming after you, how can you take way more food than you need?? What is wrong with people??

Dessert was a strange affair too: slices of apple that you could put toppings on like it was a sundae. Huh? We did split a serving, and it was okay, but I'd never serve such a thing myself. I did have a lot more fun once the dancing started, and we got glow sticks to wave around as we danced. For whatever reason it was only women dancing, and Travalon took the time to catch up with his buddies. The first few songs were Earth, Wind and Fire, so I was in heaven, waving my glow stick around under the colorful lights on the dance floor. I danced for almost an hour, but then the music was less my style, and we were getting tired, so we headed home just a little too late for Night Prayer. And was I ever grateful for those earplugs I got at the previous wedding! While I loved the DJ's choice in music, I didn't love his choice in volume.

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