Back to Brazilian Drum Lessons

 

Today Mass was not as exciting as last week, when two people appeared to faint and an ambulance came, but both people were fine and it just left without anyone inside. After Mass Travalon and I met Tiffy at the Venezuelan restaurant on the far East Side as has become our habit, and we saw a car in the parking lot with the Crane Foundation license plate. It was so pretty that I regretted not choosing that one over the Ice Age Trail one.

Then I had my first drum lesson in Session Two of Drum School. My buddy from the party came, and so did the older lady who makes desserts and most of the guys (maybe all of them?), plus some new people, but I didn't see the young dancer. She's probably still dancing, so I'll see her around. I was too slow and all the smaller drums were taken, so I had to take a big, heavy drum - ugh. But I kind of got into the groove banging on it. I am not expecting to become an expert Brazilian drummer and in fact don't even know exactly why I signed up for this again, but it is fun, even if it's hard. Plus the parties are fabulous.

After the drum lesson, Travalon and I went for a walk on Governor's Island, then we watched the end of the Packer game, where they looked really good against the Bengals. I don't know anything about the Bengals, so I can't say if they were worthy opponents. Travalon kindly drove me to band practice, and then he went to Butter Bird the new chicken restaurant, and of course Leopold's. I enjoyed practice a great deal today because our bassist (who seems mad that we are making her be a caller since all the other callers blacklisted us) made us play a bunch of reels at speeds I am used to, but I think the others are not so much since they don't go to the Moldy Jam jams. For me it's far easier to play melodies by ear than chords, but I decided to try to do the chords by ear tonight, and that was wonderful because I was really listening to everyone. If a tune was in, say, G major and had a simple 1-4-5 pattern, then I had no problems, but some of the more modal ones had chords I had to figure out because I didn't know the pattern like I do for major key tunes. I kind of know A Mixolydian has a G chord as well as an A major chord, but the Dorian tunes kind of throw me for a loop. This is probably something I could just look up to find the pattern, but I feel like I should just be able to pick the chords out by ear, like some guitarists do. Not our guitarist - she totally has to have them written out. The band is playing for a contra dance in December, and before that they're playing for a Ukrainian gig on a night when I'm going to hear War and Tower of Power. For whatever reason they said they can only have four people at that gig, and the bassist has no interest in going, so she left after working us hard on the reels, and I practiced a couple of Ukrainian tunes (since I love them) before Travalon came to pick me up. I'd forgotten my phone, but he said he'd be there at a quarter after eight, so just before that I walked out the door... and two seconds later I saw him driving down the street. What timing! The cutest thing about band practice was when the hostess's preschool son played the tambourine with us.

Remember when AI drew pictures of me? Here is a picture it drew of my uncle that I jam with.

Notice how AI only gave him one hat when it apparently decided I needed like eight.

Here is maybe a better photo of my Irish Fest Summer School T-shirt glowing under blacklight:

On second thought, maybe it's not better than my original photo. It glowed so much in real life, but in this photo it's just different shades of blue.

Travalon went fishing while I was at the drum lesson, and he caught a little bass.

While I was filling my day with musical pursuits, he was pursuing fish. And he got one!

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Corn Maze Success 2025

 

This morning Travalon and I picked up Tiffy from downtown and headed back to our part of town to avoid the Homecoming crowds. We had an early lunch at Zippy Lube and then drove to Lodi, where we took a walk on the Lodi Marsh segment of the Ice Age Trail before Travalon dropped us ladies off at the Treinen Corn Maze. This year the pattern is a badger, and at first we were struggling to find the secret punches and hoped we wouldn't fail completely like last year. However, there were more people in the maze this year, so we heard the telltale clank of the hole punchers falling against the metal post they are attached to, and people hollering, "Over here! I found it!" so that helped a lot. Finally we had seven of the eight punches we needed (and ten possible), so we went back to Section One of the map, since we hadn't found one there, and we searched and searched until finding one. Success!! For our trouble, we got stickers, certificates, and maze pens. Then Travalon picked us up, and we drove to the spot from which you can see Sunset Island before taking the Merrimac Ferry over to the north side of the lake. We went to Culver's for pumpkin shakes or mixers, then we went to Devil's Lake and got some Trail Magic buying discounted stickers and a patch before going to sit down by the lake. Back in town we tried to go to Lola's, but there was an hour wait so we went to Nar Turkish Restaurant for dinner. No Turkish ice cream - I had way too much in my pumpkin concrete mixer.

Homecoming was a disaster. The Badgers lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes 37-0. I really don't care anymore, because I never got over how they fired Coach Paul Chryst for losing two games in a row... and now they won't can this loser, who can't even score against a Big Ten opponent, never mind beat them. Chryst always had decent seasons and got the team into bowls. I'm so done with college football anyway, because I can't handle how the "Big Ten" now has eighteen teams, and how players can just enter the transfer portal anytime they feel like leaving, and now Name, Image, and Likeness has made it all about who will pay college players the most money. It's just not fun anymore. It's just as sleazy as professional football, which I only watch because the Packers are a socialist team, owned by The People. Everyone else sucks.

I forgot to mention that yesterday there was a headline along the lines of: "Norway fears retribution after [Dear Leader] fails to win the Nobel Prize." Can you see the irony inherent in that headline? How can you expect to win a PEACE prize if people fear you will seek revenge on them for not winning it?? Someone said, "Maybe his administration will give him a little Participation Trophy," which really made me laugh. It's not funny being controlled by a vengeful toddler, yet it kind of is somehow. All you can do is laugh to keep from despairing.

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Hilarious Light

 

Today I worked from home, and on my morning break Travalon and I went down to the dock, where I saw this circle in the water.

I assume it has something to do with a lotus leaf. I also got this sticker from DuoLingo.

My sort-of boss was driving me crazy because something happened with positions that were set up by HR, and he kept asking what I had done wrong, but all I do is approve the funding. If he really thinks I control the universe like that, why would I be working at this job and not hanging out in Tahiti? 

As usual, Travalon and I walked on Governor's Island on my break, then after work I went to our old church to meet Tiffy. Look how pretty the new steeple is!

We had dinner at the Globe, sitting outside, and then we drove to St. Andrews Episcopal for a Baroque music concert. We got there an hour early, since I wasn't sure how bad the traffic would be with the Homecoming parade tonight, so we went to Trader Joe's to see if they had ice cream treats. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) they only came in boxes of four, so we gave up and went back to the church. The concert was surprisingly (for this group) full of names we knew, like Purcell, Bach, Handel, Corelli, and Vivaldi. The Vivaldi sonata was hard to hear because they were setting off the Homecoming fireworks right during that piece, and they sounded like they were right above us, although as far as I know they were at the Union Terrace, which isn't that close, and not at Camp Randall.

I was telling Tiffy about ordering a personalized license plate, and how they give you three choices. My first one was based on my email address, and for the second one I put FAMHAT, but I should have put FMSHAT, but then she pointed out that no I shouldn't have, because that has the word "shat" in it, and that's the past tense of a bad word. I said someone we know once told me he had a friend who got PHA-Q2 as a license plate, and somehow the DMV didn't catch on until the third time it was stolen and he needed it replaced. For my third choice I tried some different things, like VIVLDI, but they were all taken. You only get six letters, and my email address has seven letters, so I gave up and put another variation of it for my third choice. I said it only just occurred to me that I could have tried CAPCRN, but that was probably taken too, and then it occurred to me that she could get one that said VIRGOY because she is a Virgo and a goy, but she said nobody would understand that. I think the Lotus Drink I'd had earlier in the day was still hopping me up on caffeine, because then I entertained myself (and possibly Tiffy) by trying to translate the Latin titles of the pieces the countertenor sang, like one was "Virgam Virtutis Tuae," and I guessed that meant "your virtuous stick," which honestly sounds kind of dirty. I said, "What about 'phos hilarion'? Is that Greek for 'hilarious light'?" but I looked it up and it means "joyful light." One of the lights just behind us was flickering on and off, and I said, "That is so unprofessional. You have one job, Light, and that's to be lit up. You're just a phos hilarion." She said, "I thought I was going blind until I saw you looking back at it too." Nope, you're not going blind - it was just being a hilarious light. 

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Peaceful Evening on the Dock

 

This morning I woke up all sniffly and sneezy, and Travalon said, "Maybe you shouldn't go into work." I did go into work, but at lunchtime I caught the shuttle home and was surprised to have four companions on it. Once at home, I logged back in and did more work, then at five I logged off and went outside for a walk to make up for the lack of one at lunchtime. In the distance I heard a train horn, so I went to the bridge from which you can see the train bridge, and down in the water below me I saw a pied-billed grebe swimming around. Two people were walking casually along the track, so I figured they knew something I didn't about the train not coming, but then we could all hear the telltale rumbling, and one said, "The train's coming! We have to get off the track!" They just stepped off and stood there as the train passed by incredibly close to them. I wouldn't want to be that close - trains are very loud, even when they aren't sounding their horns. 

After that I went down to the dock to see if Thirsty Thursday might be happening; nobody was there, but it was beautiful out, so I sat watching a pair of pied-billed grebes diving and a pair of mallards dabbling. I heard lots of red-winged blackbirds and saw lots of gulls and one tern hovering over the water and diving into it now and then. I watched them all until the sun set, and while it doesn't sound very exciting, it was a wonderful evening. 

Something weird has happened to the Previous Mistakes section in DuoLingo: it only has one mistake, over and over again. I took full advantage of this yesterday, because DuoLingo arbitrarily assigns me challenges, and this one was to have forty perfect lessons. That's easy to do when you can just correct the same mistake forty times! Then this morning it was still glitching like that, when I didn't need it to. I can see there are other mistakes in there, but every time I go to do them, it just gives the same one over and over. At least this glitch came in handy this time.

Some advisor to Dear Leader said recently that Antifa is an old problem and that they had Antifa in 1930's Germany. Isn't that admitting that Dear Leader's people are the Nazis? Because who else would Antifa have been fighting in 1930's Germany? But then they're always saying the quiet part out loud these days - it's rather frightening how they think there will never be consequences for their horrendous actions. Should this surprise anyone? If you are anti-Antifa, then by definition you are Profa, i.e., Fascist. It's amazing to me how they have made fighting fascism a dirty word.

Here is a photo of the mug we got at Voodoo Brewing on Saturday:

Part of the cost of this mug goes to the Ice Age Trail Alliance. Speaking of which, the Crane Foundation sent an email a few days ago that now you can get a Crane Foundation license plate, and I needed to renew my registration anyway, so I looked into getting a specialized license plate. But then the choice became difficult because they also have an Ice Age Trail one. I ended up ordering an Ice Age Trail one, and personalized to boot. They asked for three choices, so I'll let you know which one they give me when the license plate comes.

On a sadder note, our little balloon panda bear is getting small and wrinkly, just like an aging person.

Reminder: this is what he looked like when he was freshly made.

But he is still very cute. It's funny how his ears are huge and his limbs are teeny now.

Here is my Cubs Bear, celebrating the Cubs win:

What will happen in Game Five? Will the Brewers prevail at home? Will the Cubs do that thing they did in 2016 (when, as I may remind you, they won the World Series) where they fall behind and things look dire, but then they come to life and win the series? They were on fiah tonight, winning 6-0.

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Song Circle and Moon Cakes

 

Yesterday I worked on campus, but it was still an uneventful day. I walked with Seabird at lunch and was mad at a colleague because I'd asked a question and this person replied to my boss and like three other people... but not me. What the hey? Then I went to Adoration, led Night Prayer, and completely forgot to water my plants.

Today I worked on campus and walked alone at lunch because Seabird was working from home and Hardingfele was busy. We had our department meeting, and that's about as exciting as it got. But after work I went to the Song Circle at the music club we belong to, and to my surprise I found parking very close. That never happens! It gets better, because as I was parking I heard a low rumble, and sure enough the train went by about thirty feet in front of me. The song circle had started at five, but that's when I get done with work, so I was pretty late. It looked like a lot of old hippies, but there was a woman around my age who had an open chair next to her, so I sat beside her. We sang from the Rise Up Singing songbook, which I know well from all my protesting. It has the words to folk songs, no notes, but it does have chords for the guitars (and whatever) to play along. Several people had kazoos (you don't need the chords for those), and one woman was playing a piano accordion. Not long after I got there, it was break time, so we had seven different kinds of cheese and also moon cakes for the Autumn Festival. If you have never had one, there is a weird, dried-out egg yolk in the center, but the cake itself and especially the lotus seed paste filling are delicious. I may have indulged in two pieces since a lot of people were not brave enough to try it. The cheeses were wonderful, including one with blood orange and one with sriracha sauce, but my favorite is still the Kerrygold Dubliner from Monday evening. Who brings all this cheese? It's one of the best parts of the music club - there are always snacks. 

When the break finished, it was my turn to choose a song. I had checked and was ready for them with the page number for "Hold On," the old spiritual. Later I saw the second edition (we were using both, the "classic" blue and the "sequel" red) has "Whistling Gypsy Rover," one version of a very popular Irish folk song about a gypsy who entrances a woman so she runs off with him. This version is tamer; her father comes looking for her, and it turns out the "gypsy" is a powerful lord, so then the father is okay with it. A lot of versions have her husband come looking for her, and the gypsy sometimes meets a violent end. The woman next to me said she is leading another singalong called "Folking Around" on Tuesday, but sadly I'm busy with Adoration then. Everyone seemed very welcoming, and they said they hoped I'd come back, even if I will always be late. It's like Moldy Jam in that they go around the circle so everyone gets to suggest a song, and I have to say that there were some I'd never heard before, but plenty of them were familiar. I said I'd have to bring my kazoo next time, but right now it's at home in my ukulele bag, and they said, "Bring the ukulele too!" Of course, I could have just taken one off the wall at the music club, but for my first time out, I preferred to just sing. Maybe I'll bring the ukulele next time... and of course, the kazoo too.

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Three Catholics at the Jam Session

 

Today I worked from home because I switched days on campus with a coworker. It wasn't a very exciting day, and Travalon didn't have time to walk on Governor's Island so we just walked around the neighborhood. It's finally getting cold at night, so I brought my houseplants in: Lazarus the Dracaena, the ponytail palm, and the purple tradescantia that had shed pieces that had rooted, so I had to dig up all those too. They were so happy that one even bloomed.

Not sure they'll be so happy now that I've dug them up and stuck them back in the pot... Speaking of plants growing in odd places, near the music club I found these marigolds growing out of a crack in the sidewalk.

I took this photo yesterday before the Slow Irish Session, but tonight I was back for the Moldy Jam jam. To my surprise, our bass player was there too, although maybe that's not so surprising since she seems to know people there. To my greater surprise, there was another bass player there that I know from the Care for Creation team at the church we go to now, and another guy was there (that I didn't recognize) who is on the team at the church closer to us. People say Madison is a big small town, and sometimes it sure feels that way, like sooner or later I will know everyone in town. I didn't know most of the tunes tonight, but there were a few I knew, and when it was my turn to request a song, I asked for "Swallowtail" the first go-around and "Butterfly" the second time. Not only is there a lepidopterist theme, but they're both jigs (though "Butterfly" is a slip jig) in E Dorian. I'm a simple creature.

Speaking of Irish, when I sent that photo of my Irish Fest Summer School T-shirt glowing under blacklight to my buddies, one said, "Tá se sin go h-awesome," which I found hilarious, and you would too, if you knew Irish. It basically means "That's awesome."

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Trail Magic and China Lights

 

Yesterday Travalon and I had a relaxed morning, and I finished the novena to St. Francis that I'd been doing (the final prayers). I put on my Tau cross rosary necklace, and we took our boat out for a long ride into the marsh and out into the lake far enough to see the Capitol building. Then we headed to Delafield to have lunch at a pizza place that gives Trail Magic for the Mammoth Hike Challenge, which in this case was a discount. We got our photos taken in the big yellow chairs, but I'm having trouble finding where exactly I'm supposed to post this photo.

We also went to Blue Collar Coffee and got Trail Magic (a discount) on drinks - I had a cranberry orange matcha latte, iced - so good! Then we went to Voodoo Brewing because they were having an event. We got our photo taken with the Mammoth!

I bought a commemorative shirt, and Travalon bought a hat, and we got a commemorative mug from Voodoo that has a clip for a handle, so you could put it on your belt buckle. You got one free pour with the purchase of the mug (sorry, no photo yet), so we had a very tasty sour beer. Delafield really wants you to shop there - check out this sign.

On the way to the Ice Age Trail segment we were going to hike on, we passed Merton Millpond and saw one egret kind of close and two on the far side of the pond, but while Travalon had his good camera with him, the photos didn't really turn out. Then we hiked on the Loew Lake Segment, along the Oconomowoc River. It was an unseasonably hot day, but that segment is very shady, so we were fine. Here is a photo of me along the path.

Then we went to a Franciscan Convent in the town of St. Francis, but it was not open. We had dinner at a place called Pho Ever - I had the seafood pho, and it tasted as wonderful as it smelled. In the evening we went to China Lights at the Boerner Botanical Gardens, as we do every year. This year's theme was Prehistoric Sea Creatures. Here are some photos. 

This little beaver popped up from the flower it was hiding in.

This room was full of fiberoptic jellyfish. It was so beautiful!

It makes me laugh how Travalon's perspective was so different, since he's so much taller.

The floor was a mirror so they seemed to be beneath our feet too.

My favorite thing about this was the toddler whose dad was holding her up to the jellyfish. I've never seen such a happy human in my entire life!

This butterfly pavilion was constantly changing colors.

Our Chinese Zodiac signs: I'm a Pig.

Travalon is a Snake.

They always have the huge dragon every year.

There are lots more photos, so I may do another post on a slow day.

Today after Mass Travalon and I went out to Cross Plains to have lunch at the coffee shop there (Trail Magic = discount), and we walked a bit on the trails outside the coffee shop. Here is Black Earth Creek.

Then we went on a hike with Rich and Kathbert at the Cross Plains State Park. Rich took this photo of Travalon and me in front of Blue Mound.

Then we took a hike on the trail in a direction we hadn't taken before, and we saw some cool rock formations.

That was more hiking than we meant to do today, after walking over six and a half miles yesterday, but now we are a quarter of the way done with the Mammoth Challenge just counting actual hiking. Of course, one fun thing about this challenge is that you can get bonus points for attending events and using Trail Magic, and if we add all those in, we're almost done. But we'll still probably try to get all the miles from hiking anyway because that's how we roll.

In the evening I went to the Slow Irish Session, and about half my bandmates were there, as well as Famie my Irish teacher. I completely forgot to tell her that my Irish Fest Summer School T-shirt has a pattern that glows under blacklight! Our bass player brought her fiddle, and she asked where my fiddle was. I should bring it to the session, since it needs some love too - Mandy shouldn't get all the love - but I was tired after hiking so much, and the mandolin is like an old friend. I should bring her to band practice and the fiddle to the Irish session. Tomorrow there is a Moldy Jam jam, and I'll bring the mandolin because she is quieter, so people can't hear as much when I make a mistake on these tunes I am just learning.

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