The Singular of Gnocchi... With Googly Eyes!

 

Today Travalon was home sick with the cold I must have passed on to him, and I worked from home, so we took several walks together. The weather was so warm that it felt like summer. After work I went on a long rosary walk, hoping to see the train, but no train was to be seen. Then Travalon and I went to Mariner's for dinner because we had a gift certificate that was expiring soon. We could see a beautiful sunset from there.

None of that is too exciting, but I do have an after photo of the rock from the other day:

It looks like it got into something: "No, Mom, I have no idea what happened to your brownies. Why do you ask?" It kind of looks like a little potato, or whatever the singular of gnocchi is - a gnocco?

While I was doing my rosary walk, Travalon went down to the dock and took more photos of Tux Duck:

In the distance he could see a swan.

We were planning to go out of town tonight to attend a funeral tomorrow, so possibly we will go tomorrow if Travalon feels better. Otherwise, if we stay in town, we might take more bird photos. Stay tuned....

Famous Hat

Artificial Blog Monsters

 

I wish everyone would send me drawings of the blog monster. I know I have like 3.5 regular readers, so please feel free to email (or mail) me a drawing. You've seen the variety of monsters on this blog, so you know there are no wrong answers. (That's not entirely true - if you use AI to create a blog monster, that's a wrong answer, although I have to admit I'd be curious to see what it came up with.) 

OK, so I was so curious that I went to Canva and tried it. It gave me two conventional cartoon monsters, a desk with a piece of paper that said "Blog Monster," and what looked like a pile of coins with letters cut out from a magazine like a ransom note that said "Blog Momste." Wish I'd saved that one. I think this is my favorite.

I mean, what is this? The bllog mojofzk mons4er? Here are other ones that are not conventional monsters:

Sorry about all the blank space - I don't really know how to use Canva yet, but it does look interesting.

Today I worked on campus, and I went to a research study where they asked a lot of scary questions like the ones they ask when you give blood, the "Have you ever had a brain covering transplant?" level of questions, but they also asked my ethnicity, and I realized I forgot to mark "Scottish." Is this a big deal? I'm more English and Irish than Scottish, but I've definitely got ancestors from there. This was on the far west side of campus, and I got to use my bus pass for the first time ever to get there, but I walked back along the Lakeshore Path and saw a loon and lots of coots. Then I had a very boring meeting in the afternoon; it was scheduled for two hours and fortunately didn't go that long, but the last twenty minutes we were sitting in silence as the moderator was reading questions people had sent in... not out loud. Painful!!

This evening I was telling Travalon that I'd heard a story that may or may not be true: that Miami was debating naming some of its streets after hip hop songs. Why would they do that? Wouldn't you name them after the artists, not the songs? Wouldn't you rather drive down Snoop Dogg Drive than Gin and Juice Drive? Or Tupak Street instead of Only God Can Judge Me Street? Wouldn't you rather live on Fifty Cent Court than In Da Club Court? Supposedly some alderwoman said she did NOT want to drive down "Back That Azz Up Avenue," and when I told Travalon this, he had never heard the song by Juvenile, so I had to play a bit of it for him. I don't think he enjoyed that too much.

On Tuesday Rich texted me to ask what my symptoms were, and I texted back, "Regular cold symptoms." He said, "Dear Siri, well I am sorry you're feeling bad. I hope you get back to full house soon!" which should be translated, "Via Siri (meaning talk to text), well I am sorry you're feeling bad. I hope you get back to full health soon." But of course I texted back, "Or a royal flush," and then just this evening, two full days later, he texted back two "laughing until crying" emojis. Did he have to look up poker terms before he got the joke? I mean, what was the delay? If he just didn't think it was a funny joke, that I'd understand. It's not nearly as funny as his average "Dear Siri" text.

I had a virtual credit card with $7.44 on it from one of those settlements, you know, they let your data get hacked or whatever, so we needed some new no-kill mousetraps anyway and so I ordered one on Amazon. However, there's no way to split a purchase on there, so I had to go through the arduous process of figuring out how to get to the customer service chat (it's like they don't want you to find it), and then the person was able to help me. That credit card was good until the end of the year, but then I realized I had two gift cards from donating blood that would expire in two weeks. Yesterday I'd had to go to the University Bookstore to get some textbooks for a faculty member, and I'd seen really cute stuffed animals there. I found them on Amazon, but hoo were they expensive! Even with the $25 gift card. Then I remembered my play money gift card from the health incentives program at work, so I used that for the remainder... and it returned my order and said there was a problem with the card. Also, I had missed where you can wait an extra day and get free shipping, since it defaults to two-day shipping for $6.99. I was annoyed, but I put the order through again, using the same card, and this time delaying shipping for a day... and it seems to have gone through. So whatever the snafu was with the original order, it worked out in my favor because now I don't have to pay almost seven dollars for shipping. Also tonight, we joined the music club where the slow Irish sessions are. I'll let you know if that's worth the price.

Famous Hat

Pelican Island

 

Today I woke up coughing, and Travalon said, "Do you really have to go in?" but I knew one coworker was working from home because of carpeting installation, another has a small child and all the uncertainty around that, and the third often calls in sick, and my boss is on vacation, so I figured I'd better be there... and there would be nobody around to cough on anyway. But of course they were ALL there (except my boss) because the carpet installation got delayed. I did walk with my colleague at lunch, and from now on I'm going to call her Petrel because that's what her name means. I didn't have time to ask Hardingfele, and since I still have this cold, she probably wouldn't have wanted to go anyway, although Petrel said I sounded a lot better than on Monday.

I finally got around to drawing my own blog monster:

Travalon and I both thought this could be Patches the Blog Monster, though I suppose an argument could be made for Tootles. Notice the Packer wheels. Meanwhile, at work today Travalon was watching a big tie-dyed peace bear smoosh a tiny Gumby. Or whatever that is under its paw.

When we got home, I saw a pink patch in the clouds.

And I found a rock with a big smile.

This is the "before" picture. I have teeny googly eyes to put on it, but we couldn't find any glue, so watch for an "after" picture soon.

We went down to the dock to see what was around. Of course Tux Duck was around. He is actually called a bibbed mallard, which is apparently a hybrid of a mallard and a domestic duck.

We also saw this mallard who lives in the neighborhood as well; his head seems more blue than green.

A couple more photos of Tux Duck.

Then we went to Cherokee Marsh, but at first we didn't see the pelicans. They weren't as close as on Sunday, but finally we did see them all hanging around the nameless island, so Travalon said we should call it Pelican Island.

Here are zoomed-in photos of them. You can see how much bigger than the geese they are.

In this photo, you can see some northern shovelers in the foreground.

Jilly Moose is already looking ahead to the next presidential election, and she made a poster for her moose Chambord. I had to figure out how to download it, and then find where it saved to, but I got it now.

I don't know how Chambord feels about either DEI hires or the DUI hires Dear Leader favors. I could go on and on about how the same people who never shut up about Hillary's emails now say the current group text fiasco is not a scandal, but they have no shame, so charges of hypocrisy don't even faze them. All I can say is that I'm very happy for the people I know who voted for Dear Leader that they were able to elect someone who agrees with their standards of morality, decency, and honor. Just know that if I leave the country, I'm not telling any of y'all where I'm going.

Famous Hat

Just What You've Been Waiting For - More Blog Monsters!

 

This morning the guy came to fix our internet, and he needed to find some cable panel that we couldn't find anywhere in our condo because it turned out to be somewhere outside. I had to leave for an appointment, but Travalon texted me that things were working again, so that was one-third of my problems from yesterday solved. I had to go see the doctor because I had an episode of I think it's called tachycardia (a racing heart) on Ash Wednesday, but I chalked it up to fasting until having another episode last Thursday. They did an EKG this morning that was perfectly normal, and they did some labs that were all normal except one low level that could be caused by a viral infection, and my glucose level was too high because they said it didn't matter that I hadn't fasted, but it obviously did. I wore a mask because of my cold, so then the nurse put on a mask too. I had thought of canceling, but it seemed important to go in despite my cold. It was good to find out nothing's wrong... except now they want me to make an appointment to get some device that I have to wear for a week. Ugh. 

I worked from home in the afternoon and felt okay until taking a short walk right after work, hoping to see the train. Immediately I started to feel woozy, so I went home and just missed the train, but I felt so lousy that I didn't even care. (And as I'm writing this, another train is going by outside right this moment.) I called in sick to adoration and spent a quiet evening at home, and someone else volunteered to lead Night Prayer. I joined but only "talked" by writing in the chat. Hopefully I feel better by tomorrow - I'm supposed to work on campus, and it's not clear anyone else will be there if I can't be.

Meanwhile, at work Travalon got the kids to draw blog monsters. This is a fresh batch of kids, so they hadn't done this before, and they were all very small and had no idea what a "blog" is. I'm not sure they know what a monster is either, since this looks like a girl wearing a tiara. This can be Princess Blog Monster.

Travalon had no idea why this kid thought a blog monster would look like a cup of McDonald's hot chocolate. This can be Micky D Choco Blog Monster. The marshmallows are a nice touch.

I love how colorful some of these are. This one looks like a comet. I'll call it Halley's Blog Monster.

This one looks like a rainbow with eyes. It's Roy G. Bivp Blog Monster (the P is for pink).

Is this one supposed to be a robot or a little girl? I'm calling it Kawaii Blog Monster, since that's the Japanese word for "cute."

Here is Travalon's Irish blog monster. I'm dubbing this one Paddy O'Blog Monster.

He said this kid drew a blog monster and then scribbled over it, so he worked to salvage it.

I like how this blog monster looks like it's suspended in blue jello, like it's a salad at a Lutheran potluck or something. Maybe I'll call it Lutheran Potluck Blog Monster. Then again, it looks like it's dancing, so maybe I should call it Disco Blog Monster. I'll let my readers weigh in on this one.

My other two problems from yesterday were solved too, because my DNA data is deleted, and my timecard is fixed. Yay!

Famous Hat

Another Frustrating Monday

 

Today was a very quiet day, and I only saw a grad student and heard a second one. I asked Hardingfele if she wanted to walk with my colleague and me at lunch and at first she said, "No, it's gross," I assume meaning the weather, but then she said maybe, where were we meeting? She didn't show up, so my colleague and I walked without her, but when I asked if she wanted to walk on my afternoon break, she said, "Let's do it!" Then at the very end of the day, the chair stopped in with her husband. I had just brought the mail upstairs, including an incredibly heavy box for her, and it turns out they stopped by the mailroom looking for it, so I could have spared myself the pain. She did make me a cup of good coffee, but at that hour I wanted decaf, and it had that weird decaf taste. Not worth it. Travalon said I should have brought some stuffies from home to keep me company, and I said, "I got my posse here with me."

Travalon picked me up, and when we got home, we went down to the dock. We saw some cool stuff down there, like a pair of northern shovelers.

Tux Duck is so handsome!

I don't know what this gull is doing to these ducks, but it doesn't look good...

The buffleheads are so cute!

Could you pencil in some time on your schedule for DuoLingo bragging?

It was a frustrating day, despite being so quiet. There was a problem with my timecard, and my boss is on vacation, so I had to text him. (Which I hated doing.) He said he fixed it, but it still looked weird on my end. Then I read that we should all delete our data from one of those genetic websites because they just declared bankruptcy, so I have reluctantly done that. And Travalon had gotten a new modem, but when he hooked it up, our internet didn't work because he needed another router. He hooked up the old modem, but the internet still didn't work. Someone is supposed to come tomorrow morning to help with this. Maybe by tomorrow my timecard will be fixed, my DNA data will be deleted, and we'll have internet access. That is my hope, anyway.

Famous Hat

St. Matthew's Passion and the Stuffed Olive

 

Friday I was feeling under the weather, but it was a relaxed day of working at home, and then Saturday I had a very relaxed morning, so I was feeling much better when it was time to meet Tiffy downtown. It was a sunny day, but not that warm. After lunch at the Globe, we walked to the Hamel Music Center to buy tickets for the Bach St. Matthew's Passion, but apparently the venue doesn't open until an hour before the show starts. We were afraid of the tickets selling out, so we walked to the Union, and I bought them online. We passed Calvary Lutheran Hapel on the way.

The Red Gym is being renovated, and Tiffy noted that it looked like a Frank Lloyd Wright design, so I took a picture to prove it to you.

We hung out at the Union for a while, half watching a basketball tournament game on the giant TV in the Rathskeller and then moving to another area overlooking the lake. Eventually we made our way to her sister's apartment building, then as we were walking back down State Street to find some dinner, we ran into Travalon, his high school buddy, and his buddy's daughter, who were at the high school basketball tournament. They had already eaten, so they didn't join us. We thought of going to a new Japanese restaurant where the late, lamented Dubai used to be, but the music was so loud in there that we walked back out and went to our favorite Chinese restaurant on State Street. We got to the Hamel Music Center during the talk about the program beforehand, and to my surprise I saw two faculty members from my department, Kathbert, and the woman who used to run the book study I was going to on Thursday nights. The program was amazing, and all the focus on innocent Jesus being accused of crimes he didn't commit and then sentenced to death made me think of these Venezuelan refugees who were accused of being gang members because they had tattoos of their favorite soccer team or their grandmother's date of death or whatever and then being sent to a horrible prison in El Salvador. When people suffer like that, so does Jesus. He would have been closer to the prisoners in the slaves ships back in the day than to the people who enslaved them. Jesus is always with the downtrodden. 

The musicians in this performance were extraordinary. Every member of the choir had at least a little solo, and we were amazed to see two oboe players playing these odd, curved instruments with a bell like a trumpet at the end. There was no explanation in the program of what they were, but they sounded good. The performance was so long that we didn't get out until after 11, and then we had to walk back down State Street, and then I had to drive home, so you can see why I didn't blog yesterday.

It may be Daylight Saving Time now, but it's also Central DuoLingo Bragging Time:

Today the bishop was at Mass, so it ran really long when I wasn't feeling that well. Also, Tiffy wondered if we didn't want to go to brunch, since she hadn't heard from us. We went back downtown to join her for brunch at the Stuffed Olive, where our poor waitress had had to work until 3 am and then get up and work the brunch shift. Yikes! I like these neon designs in the bar.

Travalon and I split an alcoholic Shamrock Shaken. Isn't it beautiful?

It was tasty too. Unlike yesterday, today was very rainy, so we waited a bit to see if the rain would subside, but it didn't. Eventually we braved the rain, and we passed an arcade bar that Travalon had a free play card for, so he played for a few minutes while Tiffy and I talked on the top floor of her sister's apartment building. When Travalon returned, Tiffy and I asked him pretty much in unison, "How did you do?" and he said, "There were a lot of dead frogs," since he was playing Frogger. Then she headed home, and we stopped by Cherokee Marsh because my old coworker who lives up there said there were pelicans there. There were indeed dozens of them, but Travalon didn't have his good camera, and anyway it was too wet to get out and take a photo. 

In the evening I went to the Slow Irish Session. There had been a lot of back and forth about this with my band, because our leader wanted us to get together with the Ukrainian accordionist, but Hardingfele is the only one who could communicate with him, since Russian is her first language, and she couldn't get a hold of him. Our leader wanted me to forego the Irish session to go to band practice with the accordionist, but since there was no accordionist, the whole band came to the Irish session. It was like I was with all my buddies, because my Irish teacher who plays the concertina and the woman with the very Irish name and the curly red hair who plays the flute and tin whistle were there too. We were just missing my Shamrock Club buddy, but I don't know if she even plays an instrument. You know me, I can't let a session go by without requesting "Drowsy Maggie," and I did really well on all the other tunes too, except a wonderful tune called "King of the Fairies" that I couldn't seem to master. Maybe next time...

Famous Hat

Conversing with Animals

 

Today was another lovely day, although quite windy. I worked from home, and on my morning break I went down to the dock and saw Tux Duck, a male northern shoveler, and some buffleheads. Later in the day they weren't around, but that might have been partly because there was a boat anchored just off our dock with two guys fishing. I also saw the cranes quite a bit, and during one of my walks, two other people were walking closer to one of the cranes, so it bugled at them. The man (isn't it always the man?) tried to do an imitation back at it, very loudly, and the crane was getting more and more agitated, but the guy JUST WOULDN'T STOP. I had to go back to work, so I didn't see how that whole thing ended, but it struck me as rude, not to mention risky. Cranes are just updated dinosaurs, and I wouldn't want to tangle with one myself. When I was young, I would make animal noises back at the animals, and when they responded, I imagined we were having a conversation, but as an adult I realize they are probably just getting angry, and this man was fully grown and really should have known better. Now when I converse with animals, I speak to them calmly in English and try to understand what they are telling me without condescending to them by pretending to speak their language, and that seems to work. I generally have good relationships with animals, including the cranes in our neighborhood. They all know who I am, and they have never hassled me, although they allegedly have harassed some of our neighbors. Who knows? Maybe they were yelling at them in Crane Language.

For some reason I never posted this video from October, when we went to GLEAM at Olbrich Gardens.

Not sure why I didn't post it. Isn't it beautiful? Even the music in the background is very soothing.

It was a very quiet day at work. Next week is spring break, and I think everyone had already checked out. 

Famous Hat