Dairyman's Daughter's Birthday Party and Croatian Picnic

 

Yesterday I worked from home and had a lot of trouble walking. It seems like I hurt my foot during our drumming performance, but it's getting worse, not better. Dr. Google seemed to think it's plantar fasciitis. The heat was a little less intense, but the air quality was still bad, so I limped around the house. When Travalon came home, we went to my building to take care of my plants (and some other plants), and then we went to Rich's house for a birthday party for the Dairyman's Daughter. Her birthday was actually the Friday before, but everyone is so busy that this is when it happened, and it had to happen at six because some people had to leave for a program at seven, and I left to talk to Tiffy at eight. The party mostly consisted of Night Prayer people like Jilly Moose, Luxuli, and Prairie Man, as well as Cecil Markovitch and Kayhu. We had Black Magic cake with cookies and cream ice cream, and I commented that it wasn't really allowed on the Mediterranean Diet. Cecil said no alcohol is allowed anymore, and I said, "The thing I read said a little red wine is allowed," but Kayhu said now they're saying ALL alcohol is bad for you in any amount. When I commented that these people in the Mediterranean area who are so healthy drink wine every day and smoke a hookah now and then, she said, "We all smoked seven hookahs yesterday."

This morning I slept really late and woke up with a sore throat and a voice so hoarse that Travalon had to keep asking me to repeat things. I wasn't sure I was up for the Croatian picnic in the Milwaukee area, and Tiffy had said their air quality was even worse, but I sucked it up and went. Travalon gets "over-Celtic'd" by all my activities, so it's only fair that I go to a Croatian event now and then. Tiffy met us there, since the air quality was actually okay today, and I did start to feel better after spending time outside. Maybe being in air conditioning for days was what made me feel lousy, not the smoke itself. Or did I catch a virus? But how, when I haven't seen people in days? We had some delicious food at the picnic and then watched some tamburitza performers and dancers, and Travalon was so, so happy. We had some traditional Croatian desserts and some popsicles (I don't think those are traditional), so I went well over my sugar limit for today and will regret it tomorrow when my knees are stiff. Everything was so tasty there, and there was plenty of shade. Tiffy and I enjoyed it too, but Travalon was just basking in his heritage. I wish there was a tamburitza group in Madison, not just for his sake, but because then I could join it and play that little instrument he gave me which I really think is a treble tamburitza.

Tonight Travalon went to hang out with high school buddies, and I was planning to go to the monthly Irish session at the Lakeside Coffee House, but riding back home in the car I started to feel stuffy and scratchy-throated again, so I stayed home. No point in making every Irish fiddler in town sick. Or was it the air conditioning in the car? I did take a walk in the neighborhood and saw a gorgeous sunset. This is from the nearby bridge that is now closed, and I couldn't believe how many people drove toward it and had to turn around and go back. Is there not a sign warning that the bridge is closed? Here are photos.

My black calla lily now has six blossoms! You can't see all of them in this photo, but I thought I'd give you another angle besides looking straight down at them.

Another guy on social media posted a video of a train here in town, so here are some screenshots of the graffiti on it:

I see the "amor" and "stank" ones a lot, almost as much as "puck," and maybe even more than my old favorite "4AL," which apparently stands for "for a laugh." Couldn't we all use a laugh right now?

Famous Hat

Pa Hat's Funeral

 

Yesterday Travalon and I went to the closer, earlier Mass so that we would be ready when Richard Bonomo came to our place a little after ten. We caravanned with Tiffy and my other college friend, who does not have a name on this blog. If anyone can think of one for her, let me know. We drove and drove, stopping for lunch at a family restaurant in Tomah, until we came to St. Michael's Catholic Church in Pine Island, Minnesota. While it is very close to the town where I grew up, I don't recall ever being there before. It has a very cute, old downtown. Even though we were coming from halfway across Wisconsin, we got there before anyone else. I was wearing a very Irish shawl, earrings, rings, and a necklace... and then all my brother's friends who showed up dressed all Scottish, either in kilts or with tartan shawls. Since I have a tartan shawl, I could have worn that, had I known. It was like a scene out of a sitcom. When I made a comment about it to some tartan-clad people, one guy said, "We're all Celts. We're just the ones who knew how to swim."

The service was lovely, the Liturgy of the Word from a Catholic Mass, and then outside afterwards I was talking to a woman who said how she felt my father's presence in the church, and this bell tower rang:

She said, "Wow, did you hear that? It can't be a coincidence!" Then we all drove to a nearby park for a picnic dinner. There was a setup with photos of Pa Hat, and I loved this one of the two of us:

This must have been one spring in the Arboretum when I was in college. We look like partners in crime, both in red with beret-type hats and sunglasses. It may be my new favorite photos. Then again, there's this one, where you can tell I was a teenager in the 80's:

The hair! The earrings! The Billy Idol sneer! Ma Hat made this sweater, and it would probably still fit me, since it was so oversized. That was the style back then, and then you wore it over leggings.

Here is a more recent photo of the family:

I know that one's at a weird angle, but it's better than the straight-on photos:

Then we hit the road, and the ladies got way ahead of us, so we didn't coordinate our rest stops like we had on the way up. Poor Rich had to listen as Travalon and I sang to yacht rock. Just outside of Sparta, we saw what looked like a funnel cloud coming out of the sky, but it disappeared back into the sky as we got closer. We prayed a rosary anyway, just to be safe. 

This was on the way out, not the way back, but we stopped at a rest stop on the Mississippi and saw a long train going by. Travalon took some photos of the river and the bluffs.

On the way back to Wisconsin, we stopped at the Dino Stop in St. Charles, MN.

Travalon bought a hoodie. Here he is modeling it for you on our dock this morning.

My aunt and uncle from Colorado sent flowers.

And on each picnic table there were a couple of paper cups with annuals in them and a photo of Pa Hat on them.

Today I worked from home, frantically trying to get some mysterious credit card charges reconciled by the end of the day. In the evening I went to Moldy Jam, and there were a lot more people than usual. It was sort of the birthday of one member (his birthday is actually this coming weekend), so his wife made a lemon blueberry cake, and we sang him "Happy Birthday." Since there were so many people, I only had to call two tunes, so I called "Drowsy Maggie" and "Pig Ankle Rag," which is not Irish after I'd said I only call Irish tunes. But they swing it so hard that it's tons of fun, and I cannot get my band to swing it at all. There was another tune I'd had stuck in my head today, but I didn't know the name, and then someone called it!... but I still can't remember the name. At least I'm learning a lot more of these tunes, even if I can't remember what they're called.

Famous Hat

Happy 80th Birthday (in Heaven), Pa Hat! And Farewell to Colbert

 

It's very late because we stayed up to watch the final episode of Colbert, but I did want to blog quickly tonight. Anna Banana II and I were going to go to the shrine in La Crosse to commemorate what would have been Pa Hat's 80th birthday today, since I know he has been to that shrine, but we were both tired and decided to go somewhere a little closer, Holy Hill. I lit a candle for Pa Hat and for Travalon's mom, then we went down to the St. Therese Chapel.

In the gift shop I bought a rosary (shocker!) and a T-shirt, using that $150 gift card I got through the wellness program at work. Then we drove back to her family cottage, and on the way we stopped at a rest stop with a "pet sauce walking area." Huh?

Then we took a walk from her cottage to the A-frame houses for old time's sake, and we passed this blooming tree.

It doesn't have a fragrance, but it's very beautiful, and my plant ID app says it's a "beauty tree."

Meanwhile, at work Travalon cannot escape Six Seven.

In the evening Travalon, Anna Banana II, Richard Bonomo, Jilly Moose, and I gathered at one of Pa Hat's favorite restaurants, the Essen Haus. Just a few months ago their bathrooms were just the same as they had been when I was in college, but today they were all modernized and not institutional and grungy, so when Rich said the restaurant isn't going to close after all, I wasn't surprised. Who would update bathrooms they hadn't bothered to update in at least thirty years if they were just going to get torn down to build yet more high-rise apartments? So that is some good news, at least. The waitress told us she couldn't sell us a whole chocolate cake, but she did bring us five pieces, each with its own candle.

When I tipped the small polka band (two accordions, one drummer, and endless corny jokes), they asked if I had any requests. I told them the sad story of how Pa Hat would have been eighty today but he died a couple of weeks ago, and they played a rousing polka version of "Happy Birthday" to Pa Hat. I had a very German dinner of jaegerschnitzel, potato pancake with applesauce, and red cabbage; however, the cake was not German chocolate but just basic chocolate. The pieces were so huge that we joked about how of course they couldn't have sold me a whole cake, it would be seven feet long and cost $238. Anyway, it seemed like a fitting tribute. I asked everyone's favorite memory of Pa Hat, and they all remembered his speech at my wedding to Travalon. If only someone had made a video...

So farewell to Pa Hat and to Colbert, who is not dead but was the only thing keeping me sane in this crazy time, besides Irish fiddle tunes. I'll just have to learn to live without the two of them.

Famous Hat

Drumming Dress Rehearsal and Rich's Birthday Party

 

Today Travalon and I wouldn't have much time after Mass to do the plastic recycling, so we got to church in time to weigh and photograph it before Mass. He had to drop me off at the Brazilian drumming place for our dress rehearsal, which was a "gray" dress rehearsal, and apparently everyone in the world but my one drumming buddy and me knew this meant you could wear whatever the heck you wanted. The two of us were there in our jerseys and white jeans, as requested for the performance. My jersey is way too big - apparently I don't know what size I actually am - and the white jeans are still a bit tight, and my drumming buddy said she had the same issue. I thought we had to be there at noon sharp, ready to go, so I picked up my drum... and one of the teachers said, "You won't be on for half an hour." Then why the big rush? It was kind of cool to watch the really good drummers go through their numbers, and after we did ours, I watched a few more numbers before Travalon returned.

Our next stop was Richard Bonomo's house for his 70th birthday open house, organized by Kathbert, Luxuli, and another woman. I thought I wouldn't get a chance to see Tiffy today, but she came too, so the two of us took a walk in Rich's neighborhood to enjoy the balmy weather. I talked to my OTHER choir director quite a bit, and the son of the man who makes fabulous desserts. (For today, he made a pistachio cake, a carrot cake, and a pumpkin cookie cake.) There were a lot of leftovers from Thursday night, and Travalon and I brought plantain chips from the Mexican grocery store down the street, while other people brought stuff like quiche bites, pigs in a blanket, fudge, fruit, and chocolate hummus. Someone was playing Chopin on the player piano at a very unsteady rate, which was driving Tiffy crazy, so she headed home. Jilly Moose was there, and she sent me two photos. First, a snowman she made from a kit. The carrot nose is so large that I said it looked like Toucan Sam the Snowman.

Follow your nose - it always knows! And she also sent me a photo of an air plant terrarium she made at the Garden Expo, which she went to with OK Cap. 

The Garden Expo is something I definitely didn't have time to attend this weekend, and next weekend I won't have time for much of anything with our Brazilian drumming performance, and then the weekend of Bach Around the Clock I'll miss the festivities because of our gig in Spring Green from 1-3, which means I'll be busy from 12-4 since it's an hour drive there and back. Speaking of gigs, because we have one coming up, I forewent (I guess that's a word since spellcheck doesn't hate it) the Slow Irish Session today to go to band practice. First Travalon and I took a walk at Yahara Park, wondering if we'd see the swans I'd seen flying around on Friday, but they weren't there, and they weren't at Tenney Park either.

I really enjoyed band practice today because we practiced the Ukrainian stuff, our one cumbia, an Irish air, and the Finnish waltz where I get to pretend to be a balalaika, and we ended with "Ashoken Farewell," appropriately enough. As far as I know, the only other player Mandy ever had was my grandma's great-uncle or whatever he was, and I have no idea what kind of music he played on her, but she sure gets a variety these days! Ukrainian klezmer, a Colombian dance, an Irish tune, and a Finnish tune all in one night! And I got to bounce around from chords to melody to harmony, sometimes in one tune. Nobody would ever call me a great mandolin player, but people have noted that I'm versatile. Then on the way home I was listening to my Jewbacca CD and started whistling along to a klezmer tune, and it made me remember that I used to whistle tunes a lot. This isn't my proudest moment, but in college I had a lousy part-time job calling people and asking them to do surveys, and this was in the days before Caller ID, so if they didn't answer but I got an answering machine, I'd leave them a short message of me whistling Vivaldi. I'm sure that was a real treat for them. I wonder what I'd think to come home and find a message of someone whistling the opening notes of "Spring" on my answering machine? Back then I would have thought it was a secret message from an unknown admirer, but now I'd just think, "Huh. Not a bad whistler. And with good taste in music."

Famous Hat

Happy Big Birthday, Rich and the Adoration Chapel!

 

Today I worked on campus, but it's always quieter on Thursdays because less people are around. It was beautiful out, and I thought about praying a rosary on my lunchtime walk, but I emailed Hardingfele to see if she wanted to walk, figuring she would blow me off. To my surprise, she did want to walk. Then my aunt in Colorado sent this gorgeous picture of a friend's garden.

This must be from the summer. I figured we could all use some flowers right about now. Travalon was excited to see open water around here.

After work I took the bus to our old church, where Richard Bonomo and Hockey Girl had organized a Latin Mass to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Adoration Chapel. About half the people were Anglos and half were Latinos. I ran into two regulars from Night Prayer on the way in, so the three of us sat together. Before Mass someone started a rosary, so I did get one in today. There was a quartet that sang, but it wasn't my OTHER choir director's quartet, which Kathbert is part of, and I don't know why. Were they unavailable? Had a better-paying gig? 

Today was also an auspicious day because Rich turned seventy. Wow, that sounds old, but I swear he looks almost exactly like he did in the documentary he appeared in during his late twenties. Of course, Mamastep told me I have looked the same to her in all the years I've known her, and I KNOW I've gained a crap-ton of weight during that time. 

Speaking of gaining weight, there was a reception after the Mass tonight, and at first I hung around outside the church hall, figuring there wasn't enough food for all the people gathered inside. Travalon came to pick me up, and then we checked it out. In fact, there was plenty of food, so I tried a little of everything: a skewer with cherry tomatoes (ew!) and mozzarella, a skewer with two meatballs on it, a skewer with a bacon-wrapped chestnut (okay, so I had two of those), a crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a chocolate-covered strawberry, a lemon bar, and a homemade chocolate truffle that was so good that I had to go back and make sure by having another one. After all that, I had no appetite for dinner. So that was quite a party for the birthdays of both Rich and the Adoration Chapel. I got a special invitation, being a regular adorer, and I saw some of my fellow adorers there, but it was really open to anyone.

The funniest moment of the night might have been when Rich made an announcement after Mass in Bonoman, as he often does, so I turned to the Latino couple behind me and asked, "¿Que dijó?" and they shrugged... and then it occurred to me that if they didn't know English, how would they have known what he said? Someone else said, "He said to keep your program," so I did, and it came in handy during Night Prayer when the host asked me to sing the closing hymn from the Mass. I said I didn't have the words in front of me, and he said, "You took the program home, didn't you?" Indeed I did!

Famous Hat

Bob Marley Birthday Party

 

Today I worked from home and went to the dentist. I saw a different hygienist this time, one who was all old-skool and used the scraper instead of the sonic thing. I actually preferred that, because there was a little pain, but it was the kind I could wrap my head around, instead of the five kinds of pain the sonic thing gives me, each unique and excruciating. The only thing that makes me not sure about this hygienist, who is older than I am, is that she had FAUX News on in the background. Come on, either watch fiction or news, not fiction pretending to be news. They were talking about some schools with bad scores were letting their kids walk out early to protest ICE. Yeah, and so what? I'm sure a lot of schools with high test scores did too, and it's not like you could blame the test scores on the walkouts since they predated them.

The kids Travalon works with made Olympic medals, like this one:

In the evening we went to a Bob Marley birthday party fundraiser for a food pantry at the Crystal Corner. They even had a cake for Bob Marley.

It was Black Forest flavored. Travalon said I could post this photo of him.

Here is a better photo of him.

He is enjoying a Commuter Kolsch. I had an infused drink. We were right by a very cute window.

At first, a DJ was playing reggae, and it was loud, so I wore earplugs. Then a live band played a short set. They were really good!

I thought, "Are they already taking a break?" and then I realized they were packing up their instruments. There was a raffle, then we had cake, and the DJ started up again and kept getting louder and louder. We headed home, and I finished the Spanish course.

Pretty optimistic of DuoLingo to think I could get a job in Spanish. Garbage collector, maybe. "¿Es su basura? Damela, por favor. Gracias!" Maybe if we move to Puerto Rico, I can get paid to collect the trash.

Famous Hat

Thirsty Thursday

 

Today Seabird worked on campus, which isn't usual for a Thursday, so I went up and talked to her in the morning, and then at lunch we walked all around in our building since it was so cold out. The students are back, so it's harder to walk around in our building, but not impossible. I had two meetings this afternoon (yawn!), then after work I drove to the Nitty Gritty in Sun Prairie to join Mamastep and her eclectic group of friends for her birthday party. We were supposed to wear crowns or tiaras, and Mamastep had an impressive headdress with ram's horns and flowers, but I was the only other person who wore something, the rather underwhelming tiara from my wedding. Somehow I remembered it being more crownlike, but it's really just a fancy headband. I also wore the red plaid scarf or shawl type thing I got at a random gas station in Kentucky and never blogged about before, over my green sweater. This seems like it might be a good outfit for the Burns dinner. Travalon joined the party over an hour late due to his work schedule, but he was not even the last person to arrive. I really enjoy seeing Mamastep's friends - they are a great group of people. 

Then Seabird texted me that the university will be closed tomorrow due to the extreme cold. I am not clear on if this means I don't have to work, since I was going to work from home anyway. I was supposed to have a dentist appointment tomorrow at 11:30, but then they changed it to noon, and so I rescheduled because I have a meeting at one. Just as glad not to have to leave the house tomorrow, but I'm not sure if my meeting (which is an online one) is still happening.

I drank a lot of water at the birthday party (a LOT of water), but no alcohol. Still, while driving home, I somehow took a wrong turn at the roundabout on Highway 19 and started heading toward Waunakee. Travalon had been following me the whole way, but I noted that he did not copy my mistake. I should have just taken River Road, and then I wouldn't have looked so stupid. Can't blame it on my excessive water intake.

I got a new sticker from DuoLingo, and the owl appears to be stoned:

I texted it to Travalon, who responded with an owl that appears to be drunk:

I am doing Spanish, and one of the exercises will have English words on the left and Spanish words on the right, and I'm supposed to match them. But then I thought DuoLingo was making things up, because one of the (allegedly) English words was "bezorging," and I have spoken this language for over half a century but don't know that word, so I had to figure it out by the process of elimination. I thought, "Go home, DuoLingo, you're drunk!" Now it's making up English words? But in fact it's a real word... in Dutch. It means delivery. So why does DuoLingo think a Dutch word is an English one? Is it losing its mind? Is it just trying to see if I'm paying attention? Is it going to try to teach me Dutch by slipping words in now and then? What's even happening?? At least in my department I can find someone to help me translate any Dutch words I come across.

Famous Hat