Talking in Train and Heart Hoya

 

Today when Travalon was at work, the kids drew more flags. I like the weak attempt at a Mexican flag.

And here is the Bahamian flag that Travalon drew yesterday:

I worked from home and thought about going to a protest. I got an email from someone I don't know inviting me to join a pickup choir, rehearsing 3-4 at the Lutheran church right by our old church for a 4:30 protest at the Capitol. I could then have gone right from there to Adoration. It was tempting to slip out of work early, but I had a lot to do and couldn't bring myself to leave for the protest, as much as I'd love to sing in a choir again. I felt a little glum about it, but then on the way to Adoration I drove down Troy Drive, and a train was going over the bridge. I wouldn't have seen that if I'd gone to the protest. Is God speaking to me with trains? This is the second time I didn't go to a protest because I felt like something was telling me not to, and then a train assured me that I was right where I was meant to be.

I forgot to mention that my rick-rack cactus bloomed when we got back from vacation, as if it was very happy to see me again. I thought they bloomed in the autumn, but I'm not complaining. This is the one plant that ever "talked" to me, when it said it wanted to go home with me. And I can't find the blog post about when I got the little heart-shaped leaf that is actually from a hoya, but it was a number of years ago. It has survived longer than a lot of my plants, and today when I watered it, I noticed it has a shoot coming out of it, so maybe it will grow into a whole plant. A few years ago I had several hoya plants (not with the heart-shaped leaves) that were thriving, and one even bloomed, so I thought maybe I should give up on everything else and only grow hoyas... and right after that thought, they all got sick and died. I hope I can keep this little hoya alive, and maybe someday it will be a big hoya and bloom. Their flowers are amazing, so fragrant and dripping with nectar. This also gives me hope that my black ZZ plant will grow again, if I'm just patient. Of course, my purple oxalis died back, then it sent up one leaf, so I was hopeful it would come back, but the leaf died and I've seen no sign of life from it in a year. Maybe it's time to give up on that one.

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Feeling a Bit Yelled at

 

Today I worked on campus, and Hardingfele and I went to the nearby greenhouses over lunch. To my surprise, the leaves I had wanted to pick up last time when the students suddenly invaded were still lying there, alive, so I took some back to my office and stuck them in dirt. We'll see if they survive. I was working on a big project for my sorta-boss, and I had some questions for him, but from his response he seemed annoyed by my questions. That was the first time I felt kind of yelled at today. I did get the project mostly done.

Meanwhile, Travalon was drawing flags with the kids at work for the Winter Olympics. He drew the Croatian flag.

He said he also drew the Bahamian flag, but they said the Bahamas wouldn't have a team in the Winter Olympics, so gave the drawing to his coworker who is originally from the Bahamas. His coworker loved it and hung it on the fridge at work. He didn't take a photo of that, but maybe he can tomorrow. Here are the flags the kids drew.

After work I went to Moldy Jam for the first time in over a month, and it sounds like a lot of other people were also gone recently, because everyone was saying how large the group was but to me it was normal sized. For some reason we played a lot of minor-key and Irish stuff tonight, and some people were complaining about it, but I was loving it. A new couple came and said they wanted to do a song called "Groundhog" since it's Groundhog Day; the group didn't know it, but we had fun learning it. I noticed that early in the evening I was doing really well with learning tunes by ear, but as the evening wore on, I got worse at it. After we took a break (and I ate way too much cheese), some of the leaders called us back by launching into one of my favorite tunes, "Butterfly," a slip jig in E Dorian. Since I know the tune well, I played it with great enthusiasm until noticing people were signaling at me, so the tune had changed, but it was another slip jig in E Dorian so I hadn't noticed. Oops! That was the second time I felt a bit yelled at. It's probably a bigger deal in my mind than in theirs. Once when I sang with the OTHER choir, we were doing a Sweelinck piece I knew well, and I was singing very confidently but was apparently off the beat, because the choir director was signaling at me frantically, so I stopped, listened, and got back in. He probably doesn't even remember that, but it will be forever seared into my memory.

There was a post today about a new Irish session on the first Thursday, so I put a comment asking if it was an open jam. When I got home, I saw the local fiddler had answered "NO" in all caps, and he had sent me a private message that read like an email that I hadn't gotten with more details about how it was only for advanced players, etc. That was the third time I felt a bit yelled at today. There must be an email list I'm not on, because I only know when the Lakeside sessions are by checking the Lakeside website, or when the red-headed flute player mentions them. This session will be this week, in a location I've been dying of curiosity to see, but there's also a Scottish fiddling class at the same time. Maybe I should do that instead and go to the new Irish session next month. Decisions!

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Kaaona Necklace and Thrill Factory

 

Today after Mass Travalon and I recycled the plastic, again with some help from the guy who always used to do it, then when we got home my aunt texted me a photo of an envelope from a card I must have sent to my cousin back when I was in college. I drew this on the back:

She said, "A Famous Hat original. May be valuable." So I asked her if she wanted the crab necklace that used to belong to my grandma. I liked it because it came from Hawaii, but I realized it was for someone born under the sign of Cancer, which I was not but both my grandma and my aunt were. She said she might be interested, so I sent her a photo.

She said thanks, the photo was good enough, I didn't have to send it to her. Maybe I can wear it, because it only says it's for the zodiac sign on the back, and there probably aren't a lot of people around here that know what "Kaaona" means. Maybe I talked this up too much because I remembered the crab being cuter than it is, and I thought it was carved from a coconut, but it's just plastic. Wish my grandma had gotten one for me, but maybe I wasn't even born yet when she got this. It isn't the only jewelry she brought back from Hawaii; I had a seed lei of hers that I wore a ton until it broke, being cheaply made and like eighty years old, and I'm guessing the pin with the palm tree on it is from there too.

Then I had my Brazilian drumming lesson, and today we played with both the other instruments and the dancers. There are less dancers than I expected, but today I was in the very back row, so nobody in the audience would see me. Then people realized I had no idea what was going on, being a short person behind a lot of tall people, so they made me move up. I did improve a lot over the course of the lesson, and one of the teachers noted that we all improved a lot, but he also said we wouldn't have an hour to get better on stage. Will we be ready by the 21st for showtime?

Travalon and I went to Garver Mill after that for some tea, and outside of it was this... sculpture of a giant banana?

Then he took me to the Slow Irish Session. It really went well today, but we're a bunch of regulars so we know most of the tunes, and we all go slowly on the newer ones. I try to sit where I can't see the music projected, but today those spots were all taken so I was smack in front of the music and found it too tempting to look when it was a new tune - to be fair to myself, it's very hard to learn a tune by ear if nobody in the room knows it. We are getting pretty good, especially at playing together really well on the slow, soulful tunes. Travalon snuck in toward the end and I didn't even see him. He had gone to East Towne Mall to check out Thrill Factory, and he took some photos. Some of these are frankly rather terrifying. There's a miniature golf course, a bowling alley, and a tiki bar.

He spent time there playing Space Invaders, which my Gen X readers will remember. After all that, we went home and I skipped band practice. We have a gig in early March, but I know all the tunes. I'm happy with the schedule of Slow Irish session for my fiddle every other week, and band practice for my mandolin every other week. Tomorrow I have Moldy Jam, and a couple of people who were there tonight will be there tomorrow, and they both said bring both. Will let you know tomorrow what I decide to do.

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Milwaukee Public Museum

 

This morning Travalon and I hit the road, stopping at Lapham Peak to powder our noses. Was it ever crowded there! The whole world seemed to be there for cross-country skiing. Then we met Tiffy at the Park and Ride we usually meet at, and we drove downtown to the parking ramp for the Milwaukee Public Museum. We walked to a nearby "fast food" Mediterranean restaurant for lunch; my chicken shawarma "sandwich" was actually a wrap, which is a bummer because I love pita bread, but even with less bread I could only eat half of it. (Fortunately in this weather, I could leave the other half in the car and it would be fine.) Then we met my old college pal (who is Tiffy's old high school pal) and her friend at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Because our old pal is a member, she could get Tiffy in for free, and the other lady became a member right then, so she could get me in for free. Only poor Travalon had to pay for his entry, but it's not that expensive. He'd been wanting to go, since this is the last year they will be in their current location, and the new location is smaller and will not have room for the Streets of Old Milwaukee display.

We started with that display, which was still decorated for Christmas and still had Christmas carols playing in the background. Travalon took some photos. For some reason these loaded in the opposite order I requested, so this is a balalaika and a mandolin at the end of the exhibit.

I took this photo of the mandolin.

This is the Irish House, or Teach na Gaelge. I don't like the fake people - Uncanny Valley overload!

This is the Polish House.

I'm pretty sure this is the Croatian House. Note the tamburitzas, or small stringed instruments.

This is the Hungarian House.

We went to all the exhibits in the museum. Travalon took some photos from the Butterfly Room.

I loved the West African and Polynesian art, but I didn't take any photos of it, and neither did Travalon. He took photos of the animals - our old pal said, "It's good to see they found a use for the animals from the zoo once they die!" Here are some photos.

The one lady and I were at one point sitting and waiting for the others when we saw a display of all sorts of fancy birds (macaws, ibises, lories, pheasants, etc.), and a chicken was in with them. I laughed about that, but she pointed out that the "chicken" had a long tail, so now we really wonder what it was. It wasn't even a brown chicken, like you might expect in the wild, but a pure white one with a big red comb and wattles. Oh yeah, I got a free patch which I forgot to take a photo of. I really need to find something to put all these patches on, because I also have a bunch from all those years of doing the Mammoth Hike Challenge.

Once we had seen everything in the museum, we went to a place called Wonita which has a great deal: for a set price, you can have as much sushi as you want, as many appetizers as you want, as much dessert as you want, and an entree. I had miso soup, a sushi roll, a taro bun, a green tea mochi, and some red bean ice cream that I shared with everyone else so I didn't eat all that much of it. The waitress even said that since we were all getting the "all you can eat" deal, we could share food, so Tiffy said next time we should plan it better so we could treat it like tapas. The catch is that you can't take anything home if you get the deal, so I had considered eating a la carte, because with this diet drug my appetite is not huge lately, but I did decide to go for the deal. They probably loved me - I wasn't eating a ton like everyone else. I saw two guys sitting at a table eating vast quantities of sushi. Did I even get my money's worth? Maybe if you added up everything I had, it would have been more than the price of the deal. Maybe. Anyway, we loved this place and would happily go back.

Jilly Moose sent this photo of Chambord, a moose we gave her.

A different sort of stuffed animal than the ones we saw at the museum today. Travalon and I did buy a tiny stuffed dinosaur for almost nothing, especially after the "member discount" I got for being a member's guest. There was a surprisingly expensive dragon that I loved, so I may have to go back for it next week.

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Neon Knee-High Argyle Socks

 

Today I worked from home; I thought my sorta-boss might make me go into the office today to make up for working from home on Monday, but he was off today, and my actual boss didn't care. She and I had a meeting late morning that really helped me with a couple of issues, and my morning pop-up meeting was very helpful too. I wanted to go to the protest downtown and could leave a little early, but my neighbor was already going in a full car, Hardingfele said it was too cold, and my Union buddy who looks like a leprechaun never responded to my text. I didn't want to go alone, so I just stayed at home and worked. Usually I take a walk at three, but I went a little later and thought, "Man, it's so cold, I could never make it through a whole protest! I can barely make it through this Divine Mercy Chaplet!" I headed toward the bridge where you can see sun art this time of year, when suddenly there was a sound like a helicopter was approaching, and I wondered if it had something to do with the protest, but it was in fact a cute little train with one engine and three cars. I never see trains midday anymore, and it seemed like a sign from God that I was in exactly the right place at the right time, so I was never meant to go to the protest. Then when I got home, there was a wonderful package in the mail:

When we went to the Burns dinner, I just loved the highland dancers' plaid kilts and knee-high argyle socks in matching colors. While I would never look that cute at my age in a kilt and socks, I still googled knee-high argyle socks, and the first one that came up was this pair in neon colors.

I thought, "Those ought to glow in blacklight!" and indeed they do!

Though oddly the yellow does not. Now I just need to find a neon kilt to match... If Travalon and I ever play blacklight miniature golf, I am all set!

Tonight we were going to go to the classical guitar showcase at Lakeside Cafe, but we just felt like staying in, since it's still in single digits outside. Also, Travalon did not want to hear the guy who comes to it and plays the lute. Then the Daughter of Denni texted that now there's a lute club in town, and they would have a concert in March. I asked if she had gone to the classical guitar showcase, since her brother-in-law is a flamenco guitarist who always plays there, and she said yes, so good thing Travalon didn't go - sounds like it was Lute Night tonight.

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Blood Donation and Bollywood Dancing

 

Today I worked on campus, and when I had mentioned signing up for the blood drive yesterday with my FART 5 peeps, one of them signed up for the same time so we could go over together. She did mention that she is a type they aren't really looking for, I think AB, whereas I am Type O so they are always pestering me to give. I sometimes feel like I'm being followed by a vampire toddler: "Give me your blood! Give me your blood! Give me your blood!" So today we went to the blood drive, and she got through the preliminary stuff quickly while I had the odd luck of being the person they used to train a new guy, so it took quite a while. On the other hand, I'm a very quick donor, like five minutes and I'm done, while she had said it takes her a while to fill the bag. I got a phlebotomist who asked my birthdate and then said, "Capricorn sisters!" so I made the mistake of thinking we were now friends and kept talking about random things. She must have gotten fed up, because she had some other phlebotomist finish taking care of me. Then I was sitting in the canteen, eating all sorts of snacks while waiting for my fifteen minutes to be up, when my FART 5 buddy finally got done. She said, "You didn't have to wait for me," and I said, "Well, they told me to wait fifteen minutes, so I'm still not supposed to leave." Apparently they didn't give her the same instructions, so she just had a couple of snacks (and took some to go), then we left. When I got back to the office, my coworker said once he and some other people were having a contest to see who could give the fastest, and you can speed it up by squeezing the ball more often than they tell you to, so I wonder if my speediness is just me squeezing the ball too quickly. My coworker said they tell you not to do that, because if you give blood too quickly, you'll get light-headed. However, I felt fine.

Because I am the Queen of Planning, I scheduled this blood donation on the day I was supposed to have a Bollywood dance lesson right after work. I asked four different people at the blood drive if this would be okay, and I got four different answers, ranging from "No way!" to "I don't see what the problem would be." The lessons at the Monona Terrace are free ones with tons of people, like the bachata lesson I went to last year, and although they make you get a ticket, I doubted anyone would notice if one person who signed up didn't show up. I did decide to brave the dance lesson, figuring I could always leave if it seemed too strenuous. Not a problem at all - nobody was watching me, we were all too busy watching the instructor, so if I wanted to do a move less energetically than everyone else, nobody cared. It was so much fun! It turns out the instructor gives regular lessons, and I am tempted, because if there's one thing I need in my life, it's yet another crazy hobby. She played this song that I loved so much that I had to ask her about it afterwards, and she let me take a photo of it on her phone.

"Mundian to Bach Ke" by Panjabi MC. Google it and listen to it right now. You're welcome.

I realize that I know a lot of people, because it was crazy enough that the Daughter of Denni and our faculty member's twin sister were on the same cancer journey until their paths diverged, but I remembered that I know someone else who lost her identical twin sister to cancer - my Shamrock Club buddy! I asked the faculty member if she would like to talk to her, and she said, "Yes, give her my email address," so I did. So crazy to think I know two people who have been in this situation - I can't imagine what it must be like to lose your twin, since I don't have one. I used to wish I had an identical twin sister, but when I would tell people that, they'd say, "Ugh, I can't imagine TWO of you!" And maybe we would have driven each other crazy. It's been a long time since I've thought about wanting to have a twin, so maybe I just feel more connected to other people now, and that was a need I thought a twin would fulfill. I do know some other sets of identical twins, but thankfully both twins are still living. 

So far I have not noticed any ill effects from Bollywood dancing after a blood donation. Let's hope it stays that way!

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Where Was My Brain Today?

 

Today I worked on campus, and my brain was mush. I locked my keys in my office, which I have never done before (though other coworkers and faculty and grad students do it all the time), so the coworker whose office is next to mine came to my rescue. Then, a little later, I walked into his office and we looked at each other, confused.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I thought I was going into my own office," I said, and he laughed and reminded me that he had done the same thing to me some years ago.

Seabird told me there were donuts, so I went up to the shared office where a bunch of FART 5 peeps are, but they were just lame donuts, not like Bismarcks or anything so not worth the calories. We all talked about all kinds of stuff, work and sailing and me trying to convince my one coworker to take my grandmother's Cancer pendant made of a coconut because it's super cool but I'm a Capricorn. Then our boss came in, so we all yakked some more. Finally I thought I'd better get down to my own office, but I ran into Famie in the hall because she works on that floor. While I was talking to her, I felt like I could smell my own body odor, and I thought, "Oh no! Did I forget to put on deodorant too?" And then when I got downstairs, I once again forgot my keys in my office, but at least this time I hadn't closed the door, so it didn't matter. 

At lunch Seabird and I braved the elements and went to the nearby greenhouses. I saw a jade plant had lost some leaves, and I was going to pick them up to grow one in my office, but just then a bunch of students came into that greenhouse and were doing some kind of Botany 101 treasure hunt. I did pick up a peperomia leaf in another greenhouse, but it might be too far gone to grow. I mean, there was a reason it fell off the plant in the first place - it's not in good shape. Still, I took it back to my office and stuck it in a pot with another succulent leaf, that one from a plant that a faculty member asked me to take care of over the summer. It isn't dead yet, but it's been months and there's no sign that it's growing. Kind of like my black ZZ plant that I injured by watering it with old coffee - it's not dead, the leaf stumps are still green and alive, but it's been almost a year with no new growth. Will it ever recover?

Speaking of plants, my aunt sent this cheery photo of geraniums she's growing inside.

I think she has them outside when it's warm, but right now nothing should be outside.

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