All Saturned Out

 

Yesterday I worked on campus and walked with Hardingfele at lunch. Upon returning home, I went out on the dock to join some neighbors for Thirsty Thursday, which was a lot of fun. The friendly little dog Lucy was there and climbing all over me, just like when she was a puppy. She is a Havanese and very small.

Today I worked from home, and at lunch Travalon and I walked on Governor's Island. We didn't see any strange watercraft, but the other day on the way to work we did, one boat that looked like a grandstand and the boat used to install lifts, and my coworker said he went on a boat ride with a buddy in Bishop's Bay last weekend, and they saw an ice fishing shanty motoring along, and a raft with a tent on it. 

In the evening Travalon and I went to the Edgewater Oktoberfest, which was more lightly attended than last year. They still had kasespaetzle at that late hour, and the proprietor said, "I made twice as much as last year (because they ran out so early), and there are half as many people this year." We had the spaetzle, and Travalon had some chicken schnitzel, but we were unable to finish the spaetzle so we took it back to the car. (Guess we could have split one order.) The band was not an oompah band but some country band that played a couple of good songs (we think one was a Bob Wills song), but then they played some sappy waltzes, so we left.

Our next stop was the Monona Terrace for Moon Over Monona.  I was dressed all appropriately in my glow-in-the-dark T-shirt with stars in the pattern of a loon, my planetary Hawaiian shirt, my planetary socks, and my star earrings. (Sorry, didn't take a photo.) Last year we attended this free event and nobody had a telescope pointing at Saturn. This year, every line we waited in ended up at a telescope pointed at... Saturn. It's my favorite planet, partly because it rules Capricorn but mostly just because it has rings, but it started to feel like a joke by the fourth time we looked at it. People would say they thought the line was for Neptune, or the Andromeda Galaxy, or the Moon, but it was always just Saturn. Even the ones I didn't wait in were all pointed at Saturn. Finally we found one that was pointed at the bright, shiny moon. I was chatting with the couple behind us in line, and the woman said, "You have a lot of interest in astronomy! Or is it astrology?" I said, "Both, really," but I don't think she knew enough about either for me to bother asking her sign. I did tell them about the solar system along the bike path, starting with the Sun at the Monona Terrace, and the woman behind them in line chimed in to talk about it too. I will say that we saw several moons around Saturn tonight, so that was kind of cool. What a change from last year.

Famous Hat