Pa Hat's Funeral

 

Yesterday Travalon and I went to the closer, earlier Mass so that we would be ready when Richard Bonomo came to our place a little after ten. We caravanned with Tiffy and my other college friend, who does not have a name on this blog. If anyone can think of one for her, let me know. We drove and drove, stopping for lunch at a family restaurant in Tomah, until we came to St. Michael's Catholic Church in Pine Island, Minnesota. While it is very close to the town where I grew up, I don't recall ever being there before. It has a very cute, old downtown. Even though we were coming from halfway across Wisconsin, we got there before anyone else. I was wearing a very Irish shawl, earrings, rings, and a necklace... and then all my brother's friends who showed up dressed all Scottish, either in kilts or with tartan shawls. Since I have a tartan shawl, I could have worn that, had I known. It was like a scene out of a sitcom. When I made a comment about it to some tartan-clad people, one guy said, "We're all Celts. We're just the ones who knew how to swim."

The service was lovely, the Liturgy of the Word from a Catholic Mass, and then outside afterwards I was talking to a woman who said how she felt my father's presence in the church, and this bell tower rang:

She said, "Wow, did you hear that? It can't be a coincidence!" Then we all drove to a nearby park for a picnic dinner. There was a setup with photos of Pa Hat, and I loved this one of the two of us:

This must have been one spring in the Arboretum when I was in college. We look like partners in crime, both in red with beret-type hats and sunglasses. It may be my new favorite photos. Then again, there's this one, where you can tell I was a teenager in the 80's:

The hair! The earrings! The Billy Idol sneer! Ma Hat made this sweater, and it would probably still fit me, since it was so oversized. That was the style back then, and then you wore it over leggings.

Here is a more recent photo of the family:

I know that one's at a weird angle, but it's better than the straight-on photos:

Then we hit the road, and the ladies got way ahead of us, so we didn't coordinate our rest stops like we had on the way up. Poor Rich had to listen as Travalon and I sang to yacht rock. Just outside of Sparta, we saw what looked like a funnel cloud coming out of the sky, but it disappeared back into the sky as we got closer. We prayed a rosary anyway, just to be safe. 

This was on the way out, not the way back, but we stopped at a rest stop on the Mississippi and saw a long train going by. Travalon took some photos of the river and the bluffs.

On the way back to Wisconsin, we stopped at the Dino Stop in St. Charles, MN.

Travalon bought a hoodie. Here he is modeling it for you on our dock this morning.

My aunt and uncle from Colorado sent flowers.

And on each picnic table there were a couple of paper cups with annuals in them and a photo of Pa Hat on them.

Today I worked from home, frantically trying to get some mysterious credit card charges reconciled by the end of the day. In the evening I went to Moldy Jam, and there were a lot more people than usual. It was sort of the birthday of one member (his birthday is actually this coming weekend), so his wife made a lemon blueberry cake, and we sang him "Happy Birthday." Since there were so many people, I only had to call two tunes, so I called "Drowsy Maggie" and "Pig Ankle Rag," which is not Irish after I'd said I only call Irish tunes. But they swing it so hard that it's tons of fun, and I cannot get my band to swing it at all. There was another tune I'd had stuck in my head today, but I didn't know the name, and then someone called it!... but I still can't remember the name. At least I'm learning a lot more of these tunes, even if I can't remember what they're called.

Famous Hat

The Lobster Truck, a Gig, and a Yellow Warbler

 

Yesterday I worked from home, and the only noteworthy things were that Travalon and I walked at Jackson's Landing over the lunch hour, and in the afternoon a male rose-breasted grosbeak peered in the window at me for several minutes. I wanted to take a picture but was afraid he'd fly away if I got up to get Travalon's good camera, or even held up my cellphone. In the evening I talked to Tiffy.

Today I was supposed to audit our local's finances, but just before we were going to leave, the guy who looks like a leprechaun called me to say forget it, the audit's off because his car had died and they couldn't get the financial information to the Labor Temple. He asked if I was still going to organizing training from 12-2, and I said no, I have a gig at 2. Also, didn't we have all that organizing training last summer? What was the point of that if we just have to do it all again? So Travalon and I were heading up to Waunakee to find the lobster truck in front of a wine bar when the Leprechaun called me again to say the audit was back on. Since it was scheduled to start in two minutes, I said, "I can't get there!" He said they could wait until noon, and I said, "What about the organizing training?" and he said they could delay that, but I was like, "No, we're on our way to somewhere else now." At first I felt a bit guilty about blowing them off, but once we were sitting outside in the shade, eating lobster and drinking cherry vodka lemonade as yacht rock played, I had no regrets. That drink made me happy in a way that usually only infused drinks do, but I do remember being happy other times I have done day drinking, so maybe I'm just someone who can't drink alcohol in the evening. One drink at noon, and I'm super happy. Then we took a walk at Jackson's Landing, and we saw some blooming swamp irises. Here's a good one.

Travalon dropped me off a little early at my gig at a retirement community, so I sat outside in the shade, playing Irish fiddle tunes until some of my band mates arrived, including an emerita one who was wearing a T-shirt that said: "The Walleye Street Journal." The gig went okay, although I felt a bit like our leader was talking to the audience like they were the fourth graders she used to teach. Then I noticed that my FitBit was back down to 20%. What the hey? I had just charged it up all the way on Wednesday! Maybe letting the battery get so low that day has really ruined it.

Travalon and I went home, and I charged my FitBit as a yellow warbler peered in the window at us and sang.

I am not sure why birds are looking in our window two days in a row, but it's also been two days in a row that the coyotes are howling outside after dark. Last night they went really crazy when an emergency vehicle went by with its sirens blaring. Then Travalon and I went to my future parking lot to check out train graffiti and a mural.

Tiffy called to say she was in town, so Travalon dropped me off downtown and went to a World War II movie, while Tiffy and I waited in her sister's apartment for our other college friend. (She's actually Tiffy's high school friend.) I saw a swirly cloud from the apartment.

When our friend came, we went to the nearby Indian restaurant for dinner and joked about how we should all dress as pirates for my dad's funeral, since my brother said you can find him where the pirates are. I actually am not sure what I'm going to wear, so it's probably time to wrap this up and figure that out.

Famous Hat

Tulip Trees, Trains, and the Terrace

 

Today I worked on campus again, but it was much quieter because only my one coworker who is going to be a grandpa was there. At lunch I walked with Hardingfele to see the black locust and yellowwood trees (the second kind are similar to the first, but with even prettier, more fragrant flowers), and then as we were walking over to see if the tulip trees were in bloom, we saw my coworker out walking around too. If you are wondering about the tulip trees, here's your answer:

I also took this photo of my "summer rings" - my fingers get too swollen in the heat these days to wear my regular wedding band and engagement ring.

Meanwhile, Travalon was having a much better day than yesterday. He successfully got a haircut, and then he went to Portage to visit the Railyard, a bar with railyard decor. Here are some photos.

He also took some photos of train graffiti, an engine, and another piece of equipment.

Then he drove to Lake Columbia and took some photos.

After that he went to the Merrimac Ferry and took some photos there.

After work I met with some of my Union peeps on the Terrace, where we had some cider or IPA (I had cider) and some unhealthy snacks: French fries and tater tots. That got us talking about how years ago Congress renamed them Freedom Fries because the French wouldn't help us attack Iraq, which just goes to show this country has been nuts for years. A lot of the people there were so young that they barely remembered the September 11 terrorist attacks, or they didn't remember them at all. (It did happen within all their lifetimes.) Eventually they all left except for the guy who looks like a leprechaun (who, oddly enough, has been the only person to notice my new opal ring) and another guy who stuck around for a while after Travalon arrived. The two of us stayed even longer, enjoying the bluegrass band playing and the sailboats on the lake.

We saw the newest member of my band, who hasn't been playing with us lately because she just had a baby that she named after the Pope. Her older son, who will be four next month, asked me if I had heard the loud horn, so I told him it was telling the boats on the lake that they had one hour until sunset. I also told them all that if they hear it three times in the middle of the day, that means a storm is about to hit. One thing about the University is that it feels like it has always existed and will always exist, so I imagine this tiny boy growing up and someday telling another child about the horn. 

On the way back to the car, Travalon and I stopped at the ice cream shop on State Street because there had been such a long line for ice cream at the Union. Travalon was so happy because his favorite flavor, Scotcharoo, is back for the summer. I wasn't in the mood for something chocolate (I know, shocking, right?) and ended up getting kiwi Italian ice, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Then we came home too late for me to join Night Prayer, and we heard a train horn so we went to the crossing, but all we saw was the beautiful moon.

Of course, now the train is going by. I didn't hear the horn until it was at the crossing, so there was no time to go see it. It's coming from the north, which is usual for this time of night. Travalon had hoped to see it come from the south at night, so we could watch the light coming toward us, but so far we have had no luck with that. I'm surprised I didn't hear the horn at the two crossings before our close crossing, but Travalon is watching train videos, so maybe I just thought it was a horn in his video. That's okay, we'll see a train at the crossing some night.

Famous Hat