Sunday Afternoon Antiquing

 

This morning Travalon watched Crystal Palace, and they beat Manchester United 2-0! Wow! As you may remember, that is the same score the Wolves won by yesterday. Jerry and Roy Jr. rejoiced.

When we go to Mass at the church on the far east side, we like to sit on chairs in the back, and then they even bring you communion! Only today did it occur to me that these chairs are for the elderly, but there are always empty ones, so it's not like we're stealing a spot from someone who needs it more. Also, with my bad knees, I can't really kneel right now so maybe it's appropriate to sit there since I wouldn't be able to kneel in a pew anyway. Still, I feel too young to have to sit in the "handicapped seats." When I told Tiffy about this as we had brunch with her after Mass, she said, "The sad thing is, probably nobody would say anything to you, since you're not twenty-something and sitting in those seats. We are getting old." But mostly she and Travalon reminisced about former restaurants in the Milwaukee area.

After Tiffy headed home, Travalon and I went for a walk at Cherokee Marsh. We saw a sign that we had just missed an organized walk, where apparently they looked at "drays," or as Travalon calls them, "The Muskrat Lodge, Resort, and Conference Center." They did have snacks and drinks on a table.

We took a walk and saw lots of geese but no swans, although we did see a dramatic moment when a young bald eagle flew overhead, and the geese all started honking frantically, and then a half dozen or so actually chased the eagle away. We ran into the group returning, and they said to help ourselves to hot cocoa, and we also ran into a couple who told us there are swans in some area by Lone Rock and a snowy owl in New Glarus. We went to the table and indulged in some hot cocoa and peanut M&Ms, and we discussed going to see the eagle nest at Pheasant Branch, but we decided to go antiquing instead.

At the antique shop on Cottage Grove Road, Travalon said there is a whole section of stuffies. We got a couple of them: a different Irish bear than the one I have in three sizes, and a Holiday bear.

Travalon got a couple of signs, of the Hamms Bear and the Swedish Chef.

Then we went to the antiques shop near East Towne Mall, and Travalon got a Beetle Bailey comic book.

I found this unusual rosary that looked really old.

When we got home, I googled "rosary with Lorraine cross and rose quartz beads," and I found this exact rosary on Etsy being sold for ten times what I paid for it. Which makes sense, since a rosary made of brass and quartz seems like it should be worth way more than $15. Apparently it isn't antique, the woman just used antique molds to make the crucifix, medal, and centerpiece. It's a St. Joan of Arc rosary, but there was no explanation for the extra starting beads. I did find they work for kicking off a Divine Mery Chaplet, since you start with the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Apostles' Creed, and there are three beads. 

Does anybody really know what time it is? Yes, Chicago - it's time for some DuoLingo bragging!

When I told Tiffy that I'm doing the Math course, she wondered what I was learning, and I said, "Right now, negative numbers, fractions, and decimals." She asked if I hadn't learned all that in school, and I said, "I did, but I'm hoping eventually this will teach me calculus," since I took both choir and orchestra senior year of high school instead of calculus, and I didn't need any math at university for my majors. Though it would probably be more efficient to just buy a calculus textbook.

Tonight at band practice our sound didn't really coalesce. I don't know if it was missed chords on the guitar, strange harmonies on the violin, someone inserting an extra measure, or probably all of the above. I got there a little late, and I apparently missed a discussion about the unelected illegal alien taking over the treasury, so I can see how that would get people worked up. It is all very strange, and people are commenting that liberals aren't protesting much, but I think we're all sort of wondering if this country is even worth saving, considering that a majority of people voted for this. Also, I think we're wondering if these charter members of the Dunning-Kruger Club will just destroy themselves with their own idiocy, and then we can clean up the mess at that point. Hopefully it's not too big a mess...

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I've Looked at Numbers from Both Sides Now

 

Today was another uneventful day at "the office" (my porch), but in the evening I did talk to Light Bright. She was telling me how her son is really into playing the piano, and he makes up his own songs on it, which is amazing because he'll be six next month. She said even his piano teacher is blown away by how talented he is. He did kind of drive her crazy when he became fixated with the theme song from Pirates of the Caribbean and played it over and over and over. It is funny what things kids get fixated on. I clearly remember in first or second grade learning how to carry when doing addition and thinking it was so much fun that I couldn't stop doing it. I went home and created my own worksheet of addition problems that required me to carry a value over to the tens column. I tried to sell my brother on the wonder of carrying, but he was unimpressed. I couldn't tell you why I thought it was so great. Before that I hadn't been too interested in math, although I loved numbers. Every number had a color and a personality, like seven was purple and was a young female, while eight was yellow and was an adult male and in fact the mayor of Number Town. Then I got to school and found out numbers could do things, and I thought that was so exciting. Now I'm an adult and a professional bean counter, so I work with numbers all day long. Maybe Light Bright's son will never lose his excitement over the piano, but I have to admit that I really don't get too excited about numbers these days. Maybe I need to look at them again with childlike eyes and see them with colors and personalities. That ought to jazz up my job.

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Pie

I don't know who to give credit for this, but Hardingfele sent it to me to post on the blog, so I am.

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