Anniversary Celebration Part Two

I love this time of year. Handy Woman brought in lilacs, which make the whole office smell wonderful, and another coworker brought in purple-tinged lilies of the valley. I had no idea such a thing even existed! Last night Travalon and I had leftover lasagna that Rich had made for our anniversary party, and for dessert we had the two slices of cake we had frozen from our wedding, since they hadn’t been thawed the evening before. Then we were going to watch the DVD of our wedding, but the only copy we had left was Blu Ray, and we don’t own a Blu Ray player. We thought all four copies were DVDs, and we gave one copy to Ma and Pa Hat, one to Travalon’s mother, and one to Rich. Luckily Rich said we could go to his house to watch his copy. It was so great to watch it and relive that wonderful day; I know it’s a cliché, but it really was the happiest day of my life. I got a little teary watching us exchange vows, and I loved hearing the music again, especially Kathbert and Miss Heartsong singing “Dulcis Christe.” And I loved seeing all the people, remembering how many of them had come to wish us well as we began our lives together. Fortunately it was a glorious day and not cold and drizzly like it has been this year.

Tonight is my last Irish class of the semester. What will I do all summer? Probably Mandarin, but I haven’t registered for it yet. It would be Monday evenings, and we don’t have Slow Food during the summer, so it should work out. I’m just not sure I want homework during the summer.

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First Anniversary of Being Mrs. Travalon

Wow! Has it been a year already? Where does the time go? Travalon and I had a most excellent anniversary weekend, starting with dinner at Liliana’s on Friday night – we both got the blackened catfish. They gave us free champagne for our anniversary. Then we went to Le Tigre Lounge for the first time in forever, and the bartender is now rocking a huge beard, but fortunately the ambiance has not changed a bit. We love that place!

Saturday we drove up to Door County with Rodney the Poodle, stopping at one of the bars from our book. (Yes, we are still making that pilgrimage – we are way more than halfway done.) We had a bite of lunch there and were amused by the antics of ten women out on a Women’s Weekend, drinking and blasting the jukebox. We hoped to get to the other tavern in the book located in Door County, but it is on Washington Island, and by the time we got to the ferry, the ticket salesman informed us we would be stuck there overnight if we took the one just coming in. Because it is not tourist season up there yet, the ferry doesn’t run very late. We took a hike all over Newport Beach State Park and then went to the condo in Sister Bay we were renting from Travalon’s buddy’s mother, which was very cute and had a nautical theme to the décor. We had heard fish boils don’t start until Memorial Day weekend, so we went to dinner at a restaurant which used to be a Catholic church (the church got bigger so they built another building just down the road), and I had “paella” which was really more like jambalaya, but delicious nonetheless. Travalon had duck with Door County cherry sauce.

Yesterday we went to Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant, but the goats weren’t on the roof because it was so cold. The food was still just as good, anyway - Swedish pancakes with lingonberries and Swedish meatballs! Then we went to Mass at the bigger church up the road, which wasn’t as pretty as the one that is now a restaurant. The priest asked if it was anyone’s anniversary that day, so I raised my hand, and when he asked which one and we said our first, he said, “It’s just downhill from here.” We drove through Peninsula State Park and got out briefly by the lighthouse, but it was cold and drizzly so we didn’t really hike. We stopped in Fish Creek and found out the restaurant renowned for their fish boils had had one the night before. C’est la vie – we’ll be back to Door County and hit one sometime. Next door there was a coffee house called Craic, which is Irish for “fun,” so we had to stop there. Then we went to the Shipwrecked brewpub and had their cherry beer. Their bartender was very personable. We tried to go to Whitefish Dunes State Park but missed the turnoff and ended up at Cave Point County Park, which was also quite stunning. Then we had to rush back to Madison for our anniversary party, hosted by Rich Bonomo and attended by friends who had helped with the wedding. I had ordered a small cake that was supposed to be decorated just like our wedding cake, but instead of being white with coral designs, it was sort of pale brown with orange designs. It even tasted different than the slice we had frozen from our actual wedding cake, which is really strange because it was the same bakery. Oh well, it was a cute idea that sort of didn’t work in execution, but the point is our friends got cake. Jilly Moose, OK Cap, Luxuli, Prairie Man, and Mr. N’Awlins were among the guests, as well as a couple who led one of our marriage preparation classes. They led a blessing for us. Even the Mothership (Rich’s mom) called and wished us a happy anniversary, and she said, “May you have sixty more years as good as this one!” Awww!

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My Photos of Hawaii: Part One

Yesterday Travalon and I went to swim, but my arms were so sore from weightlifting that I had to wade instead. Then today after work I went to the Arboretum because all the crab apples and lilacs are in bloom, and some of the magnolias were still blooming. It was like being in a scent cathedral, having all those wonderful fragrances overwhelm me. They were supposed to be blooming last year for our wedding photos, but because of the late spring, only the magnolias were in bloom at that time. We still got some good photos.

Speaking of photos, as promised here are some I took in Hawaii. Most of mine were the same as Travalon's (though not as numerous), but I did have a few shots he didn't get.

 This is a parade through Waikiki - it was part of a Japanese festival.

 Travalon took this photo of the sunset over Waikiki with my camera.

This isn't the best photo of me, but it may be the happiest! Oops - my flower is on the wrong side - I am NOT single.

 

 I just really liked this shot of Diamond Head with the trees in front of it.

This is a picture of the wedding cake. It is very small because there were so few guests.

Somehow Travalon didn't get a shot of this rainbow over our resort on Kauai.

Another tropical sunset, this one over Kauai.

This is a shot of the "backyard" of our resort, where the pools and fake waterfalls were.

 OK, I love tropical sunsets. This one is over our resort in Kauai.

Our resort on Kauai was great, but they apparently had no budget for third-floor elevator buttons.

Here is a shot of the fake waterfall spilling into one of the pools at the resort.

 I thought this sign at the Kauai Coffee Plantation was hilarious.

 Coffee flowers at the Kauai Coffee Plantation, i.e., future beans!

This shot shows you how rugged and remote Polihale Beach is.

These next shots are from our helicopter ride over Kauai.

 
These last shots are mostly of the vista coming into Allerton Gardens, which was breathtaking with the turquoise water, magenta bougainvillea, and graceful green coconut palms.

You can barely tell, but this is Travalon and I standing in front of the roots of a giant fig tree. These trees were used in the filming of the movie Jurassic Park.

I still have another post's worth of photos from my camera, so stay tuned!

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UGGH Club Together Again

Last night I worked out with Richard Bonomo, Luxuli, and Prairie Man, aka the UGGH Club. It had been a long time since I worked out with all three of them, but I am getting back into the swing of things – last week I went to the club three times! Tonight I plan to swim with Travalon, who does not care for weight training but does love swimming in our club’s therapeutic pool, since it is nice and warm. That ought to help my aching muscles. Last night we did not do Strength Training without Mercy, but we did extra stuff, like throw around a medicine ball until Luxuli got hit in the chin with it. The health club can be a very dangerous place! I didn’t sustain any injuries myself but am quite sore today after our workout, although not as sore as last week, when my abs hurt so badly I couldn’t cough. Maybe I am slowly getting back into shape…

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Happy Cinco de Mayo

This afternoon my coworkers and I had a wonderful break from the usual office routine. The campus has a free ice cream day every May, and last year it was while I was in Ireland, but this year it was scheduled for Cinco de Mayo, so I was able to join the others. They walked down to it last year, but today it is cold and rainy, so one coworker drove and somehow found a nearby space to park. We got our ice cream and then headed to a brief concert of yoik music, which is traditional Saami song. A yoik song, instead of telling a story, describes a person or thing. The Saami people are indigenous to northern Finland. Since we publish a journal about Arctic anthropology, it was actually pretty relevant for us, plus we enjoyed the music. A couple of coworkers went to talk to the African Studies department, because we will be publishing some journals for them, and one of them got a free thumb piano from them, so we were all trying to play it. Definitely not the usual boring Tuesday afternoon!

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Down to Dayton

What a beautiful weekend. Friday evening I went for a long walk with Rodney, then Travalon, OK Cap, and I went to a new place in Waunakee called Mr. Brews for microbrews and fancy burgers. (Yes, we ate red meat on a Friday, but it is the Easter season!) I had a “coffee cream ale” called Batsh!+ Crazy, and you could really taste the coffee. OK Cap had a raspberry ale, and Travalon had a brown ale. We all tried each other’s brews, and they were all very good.

Saturday morning Travalon and I met Richard Bonomo and OK Cap for coffee, then Travalon and I went to a book signing with free samples of pie, because it was the Norske Nook cookbook. If you want to bake those famous Norske Nook pies at home (like lingonberry sour cream), then get yourself a copy of this book. It is beautifully photographed. Then we went to a record store, and there was a piece of metal sticking out of one of the record bins, so I scratched my arm. To my surprise, they had a first aid kit and supplied me with Bacitracin and a bandage. Rich, Rodney, Travalon, and I headed off to Devil’s Lake and joined just about everyone in the state there, since it was such a beautiful day. We walked the “low path,” since Rodney probably couldn’t climb the bluffs. After we dropped Rich off, we drove down to Paoli for the Hop Garden’s grand opening. I have mentioned this tiny brew pub before – they have some potent brews, and the owner grows his own hops. The owner lives in Dayton, a tiny town I had not heard of before, so Travalon thought we should make a road trip there. Once we got back, Rich and I went to the health club to work out (so that was three times for me this past week), while Travalon watched the fight. He couldn’t get into the place that was showing it, but you could see it through the windows, so a whole bunch of people gathered in front of the windows to watch it for free. Since it was a beautiful evening, Travalon didn’t mind standing outside.

Yesterday Travalon, Rodney, and I drove down to Dayton (Wisconsin), which is basically a bunch of houses on the Sugar River – we couldn’t even find a bar or church, but it is bigger than Martinsville. It has a number of streets, including ones named Madison and Milwaukee. Then we went to Belleville and walked by the lake, and then we came back to town and started from Tenney Park to follow the bike path that goes across the isthmus, to Yahara Park on Lake Monona. We passed Mickey’s Tavern, and in the parking lot I saw one of the most offensive bumper stickers ever: it used various religious symbols to spell out the word “Idiots,” much like those “Coexist” bumper stickers you see everywhere. The only bright side is at least they insulted everyone (including Satanists!) equally and didn’t just reserve their scorn for Christians. One woman walking with a little girl and a long-haired dachshund told us, "Your dog should be illegal, he's so cute! He looks like a little lamb from the back!" In the evening Travalon and I met Jilly Moose, OK Cap, Luxuli, and Prairie Man at Nonno’s Italian Restaurant, which used to be a Mexican restaurant and still has the same owners – they just decided to become Italian for some reason. I had squid ink pasta with seafood – yum! That is one of my favorite dishes ever. So it was a wonderful weekend with plenty of outdoor time. I love May!

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Friday Fun Images

Today I received two great images via email, one from my OTHER choir director and the other from Pa Hat. The first one has to do with tempo in music. Check it out:

The one from my dad could be said to be about logic or maybe theology. I figure Richard Bonomo will especially appreciate it, since he knows Latin well enough to have taught it in the past.

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