St. Patrick's Day Party in Milwaukee

 

Yesterday I worked from home, then I met my Irish teacher Famie at the Green Owl, a vegetarian restaurant, for dinner. I had the most delicious butternut squash and sweet potato soup, plus a tofu wrap that I took half home, while she had the bowl I'd been pondering, with sesame peanut sauce. We talked a little to the lady next to us, who had ordered the same thing as I had. Then we walked to the Bur Oak to see Lilies of the Midwest and Slipjig. We were almost there when the arms came down across the railroad tracks, and we saw a train coming toward us. I made a video for Travalon.

The red-headed flute player was already waiting for us at the venue, and we sat at a table up at the front. The Lilies of the Midwest are a trad band playing jigs and reels, and they do some songs. Slipjig did songs too, and we happily sang along, then the flute player joined a session, but Famie and I were tired and went home. We all agreed this morning it was incredibly great craic. The craziest thing is that the woman who'd been sitting next to us at the restaurant was there too.

Today Travalon and I grabbed pizza in Lake Mills for lunch and stopped at the Pine Cone Restaurant to get pie for Pi Day, but when we saw the pistachio cheesecake, we got that instead. Then we went to what used to be the Irish Cultural Center in Milwaukee, which has been reopened as the St. Brigid Center. It's an old church, and on the main stage dance schools performed. We went upstairs and found a smaller hall with the flags of all the Celtic nations hanging from the ceiling.

We sat right near a stage that had been set up for two performers, and I turned to a young guy at another table and asked when the performers would start. He said he was the performer, and he'd be playing the tin whistle and the bagpipes. I said, "No, que hora?" and he replied in Spanish that it would be at 2:30, so in about six minutes. I apologized and said I couldn't remember how to say it in Irish, and then he spoke Irish to me! I was beginning to wonder if he could speak in every language known to mankind. Soon he got up and began playing with the bodhran player I thought he'd said was his student, but it was in Irish so I'm not 100% sure I got everything right. Here's a short video.

A couple a bit older than us, but not much, asked if they could sit with us, so we got to chatting with them. It turned out they were from Austin, Texas and hadn't known about the parade but happened upon it by chance because it went right below the window of their AirBnB downtown. They were visiting a church in Green Bay, which is what brought them to Wisconsin, and I said, "I know that church! St. Willibrord's! Vince Lombardi went there!" but they lost me when they said it wasn't a Catholic church. Why is a guy named O'Something going to a non-Catholic church? They knew about the post-parade party we were all at because someone at a coffee shop had handed them a brochure yesterday morning. Eventually they left, and a big group wanted our table, and the musicians finished playing, so Travalon and I went downstairs to what had been the main sanctuary of the church to watch Scottish dancers and then the same Irish dancing school that performed at the Madison Shamrock Club party last weekend. (This was the Milwaukee Shamrock Club party.) I wore my new Shamrock Club pullover to show we were from a sister club, but nobody commented on it. 

Of course they had a raffle, for 67 different gift baskets, but we had gotten $20 each in cash and Travalon had immediately spent most of his on Irish potato chips, so he could only afford one raffle ticket. I thought that was hilarious, since he could have used a credit card to buy the potato chips. I bought a number of raffle tickets and then put them on different baskets instead of putting them all in one to increase my odds, since one would have a Belleek castle tower I loved, and another would have a green hat I loved, so I couldn't decide. Of course this meant I won nothing. I also bought two 50/50 raffle tickets, and they weren't making any moves to announce the winner after the regular raffle, so Travalon and I left, since they had promised you didn't have to be present to win that raffle. (For the gift basket raffle, you did have to be present.) In that case, I wrote my name and phone number on the tickets, but I have yet to receive a call, so my (lack of) luck during raffles seems to be holding.

We headed home and stopped at Mo's Irish Pub in Wauwatosa to try to have dinner, but they had a long wait. As we were driving by Delafield, I mentioned that Killarney Blarney were playing at Revere's, so Travalon said we could check out how busy it was. We got a parking spot nearby and then were told it would be a ten-minute wait for a table, so we went to the bar, and I had a delicious infused drink that tasted like orange soda. Travalon got a mint martini that was also delicious. To our surprise, the moment we got our drinks, Travalon got a message that our table was ready, which was even more surprising because the bartenders had helped us out right away despite how busy the place was. The wonderful service continued during dinner, when Travalon had a shepherd's pie that was amazing, and I had salmon and mashed potatoes with seasonal vegetables, which really was what we ate almost every day in Ireland. My drink didn't kick in until we were well down the road, but it did hit with a bang, and I'm still feeling it now. Hopefully this blog post makes sense... 

Back home, I looked for a knee-length black skirt I used to have, to make a sort of outfit for the upcoming St. Andrews Society ceilidh, but I must have gotten rid of it, so I wore shorts instead.

Wouldn't this be a perfect outfit for playing miniature golf? Maybe even under blacklight?

Check it out - even the orange on the Shamrock Club design glows! And so do the beads a bit, and so does a T-shirt I remembered getting years ago and hadn't seen in forever.

It's from Rock Island State Park. Travalon and I went there back when we were doing that Wisconsin Taverns book tour. Also, yesterday I got a new DuoLingo sticker for finishing the March Challenge.

It's a good thing I got St. Patrick's Day celebrations in yesterday and today, because it sounds like the weather will be too bad tomorrow. They have already canceled the flag-raising at the Capitol and the parade, and I'm wondering if we will really have the Slow Irish Session followed by the Irish Songs singalong. I was looking forward to being excused from Mass, but now they say the bad weather won't start until later on Sunday. Our band practice was also canceled, but guess what? I wasn't planning to go anyway. Of course, if the weather is bad Sunday night into Monday, maybe I can work from home. There was an Irish band at the Harmony Bar tonight, the one we see monthly at Alt Brew, and Famie and the red-headed flute player were planning to go, but I didn't get back to town on time. That's okay, I've already had enough Hibernian celebration today.

Famous Hat