Failing at the Triduum So Far

 

Yesterday I didn't feel that well, so good thing I was already planning to work from home. Travalon and I walked around the house because it was raining so much. It cleared up in the evening, once I got off of work, so I took a long walk and saw a train. Was that God telling me it was okay to miss Holy Thursday Mass for a Shamrock Club event? I like to think so. I drove to the Elks Club for the monthly Irish session and met the other Shamrockers at a table overlooking Lake Monona, where we could see loons and red-breasted mergansers. Travalon arrived when he got done with work. There was a ceremony to give the Irish Person of the Year his plaque, since the planned ceremony got snowed out the weekend before St. Patrick's Day. My Irish teacher Famie was there, so I talked to her a lot. Bummer - she might not be able to go to the Irish Fest Summer School this year because it might be the week she will be in Denmark with her daughter. I'm not sure I'd want to go alone - it would be expensive to stay there by myself, and it would be ridiculous to commute from Madison every day. Plus it was great to have a built-in buddy, even if other people were friendly. I'll have to see what happens, or if I can talk someone else into going.

I took today off of work, planning to be in church all afternoon. In the morning Travalon and I went down to the dock and saw pelicans flying overhead.

We also saw blue-winged teals.

And either a scaup or ring-necked duck that was really crusing along.

We went to Cherokee Marsh to see if that's where the pelicans went. We saw a hooded merganser.

And by the island, lots of pelicans! This time of year we should call it Pelican Island.

Here you can see a Canada goose and sandhill crane also hanging out on Pelican Island.

After that we went to Governor Nelson State Park, and across the lake we could see a huge flock of pelicans.

Then Travalon went to work, and since it was raining out, the kids painted. This one looks a little like Niko.

Here are some others.

I did DuoLingo and reached another milestone.

I was planning to go to the service at one for Good Friday, but I didn't feel well. I took a nap and then woke up just after three, so I couldn't go to the one at three either. I went outside and prayed a Divine Mercy Chaplet, hoping to see a train to tell me it was all okay, but no train came... and then I got rained on. However, back in the house I heard a train that I wouldn't have heard if I'd been at the service. I did pray the Seven Sorrows of Mary chaplet and Stations of the Cross, and of course a rosary. Still, I'm not getting to all these Triduum services, which are not obligations but usually some of my favorite liturgies.

I forgot to mention that on Monday, as I was heading to the small Moldy Jam jam, a train crossed Winnebago Street just as I got there, so I got to see it up close. Was that a sign that I was supposed to go to that jam? Maybe sometime I'll try another "house" one. Next Monday is the big one at the music club.

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A Post of Birds and Hat

 

Today was cold, but Travalon saw birds. He saw a great blue heron at Yahara Heights County Park.

He also saw some pelicans there, but those photos aren't in focus. However, the photos of buffleheads at Mendota County Park are great.

He also saw a muskrat.

I worked on campus today and walked with Seabird at lunchtime, then Hardingfele came to campus, and she and I walked on my afternoon break. I managed to get the bank fees reversed on a "sunshine" account that is not state money, and I got a task done I'd been dreading, so that feels good... until they come back and tell me I did it wrong. It was so easy to do in the old system...

My hat and I have reached an understanding. It likes to flop over to the right, and I've decided I like it like that. Let me demonstrate.

For whatever reason, I prefer photos of myself where I'm not smiling, and nobody else does. But even I will concede that this is not a great photo. Here is a marginally better one I took in the bathroom mirror.

I do love the Ron Jon hoodie in their signature color, a sort of pastel teal. Is it light blue? Is it light green? Yes. I'm not sure what they call this color, maybe sea foam? I'd call it light teal. And since teal is my favorite color, this is my favorite pastel color.

Here is a photo from early last month, where the hat really looks like a circus tent, and I look like I'm a million years old.

I'm not sure why sometimes it stands up like a perky cone and other times it flops over. I should have asked the woman on Sunday who said she knit one just like it which is the proper way to wear it. Maybe I'll discover some third, equally ridiculous look for this hat. 

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Return of the Pelicans

Today did not start off auspiciously. Travalon was going to drive me to work and then pick me up from Adoration, but we were halfway there when I realized I didn't have my work laptop with me. At least I didn't realize it after I'd gotten to work! We had to turn around, and then when I got in the house, I suddenly had to pee (shocker, right?), and I grabbed a Meyer lemon protein soda... only when I got to work, I'd grabbed a root beer one instead. (This is because last week I got a notice about a new protein soda that came in a sampler pack of three flavors, and I have a definite favorite. I ordered them because I don't seem to ever get enough protein with my new eating habits.) Also, my phone had promised me 60 F weather, just like last Thursday, and just like last Thursday I believed it, so I wore my light spring jacket and the hat I got in Puerto Rico. I've never posted a photo of it, so here goes:

This is not a particularly good photo of either me or the hat, but my second attempt was far worse, so this is what we're going with. When I went across the street to Hardingfele's building at lunchtime, it was very cold (felt like 41 F, per my phone), and so windy that I almost lost the hat. Hardingfele wanted to walk outside, but I talked her out of it, and as we walked by a window, we could see it pouring outside. 

"You were smart to insist we walk inside," she said. Fortunately the rain had let up by the time I headed back to my own building, since if there are tunnels between the two buildings, I have no knowledge of or access to them. The sun did come out later, so my afternoon walk was not unpleasant, and then I caught the bus downtown to get to Adoration.

Meanwhile, Travalon was out on our dock, and he saw pelicans!

Had I worked from home as usual, I could have seen them too, but I decided to work on campus because my coworker who is usually the only one around on Tuesdays is on vacation. Not that it really mattered, since this week is Spring Break and the place is a ghost town. Originally Hardingfele, her coworker that goes to my church, and I were going to play instruments for a singalong at some camp thing at the hospital, but then they canceled the singalong. The organizer said she hoped we would still stop by for treats and crafts, so I entertained that notion, but Hardingfele pointed out that the free campus bus barely runs during Spring Break so getting there would be a chore in bad weather. A grad student told me a few weeks ago about the "free food alert" on campus, so I signed up for it then, and this afternoon I got a free food alert about hot dogs, chips, and soda at the hospital, so that was the "treats." I was more curious about the "crafts," but do I really need to make a friendship bracelet or keychain? It would have been one thing to be there to perform, but to just wander over there without Hardingfele sounded like too much work, and since there's no "free craft alert" on campus, I have no idea what the projects actually were.

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Small Moldy Jam Jam

 

Today I worked from home, since it's Spring Break at our university and very quiet. The weather was gorgeous, so Travalon and I took a couple of walks, and he took photos of birds. I even wore shorts today! Just after he left for work, my Belleek Nenagh Castle ornament arrived. 

There is one more castle ornament I want to get, and I am going to get a $15 gift certificate for having given blood, so once that arrives, I can order it. That should do it for now for Belleek castles.

In the evening I did something new: I went to a small Moldy Jam. This is how they have done them for years, before the music club opened - they get together at people's houses and jam. This was in a cooperative housing apartment building, in the "music room," appropriately enough, and I finally bit the bullet and signed up for one because I knew the hostess and I knew the area, right near the music club. There was a parking lot behind the building, which I never knew was there. It's so close to the music club, it's tempting to park there when I'm going there. I suspected there might be a break with snacks and I shouldn't come empty-handed, so I brought the bag of Late July Street Corn-Flavored Corn Chips we had just bought yesterday. Also, I had asked the hostess if I should bring the fiddle or the mandolin, and she said the mandolin, which turned out to be a great option because then I could play either melody or chords, depending on how I felt about it. The woman next to me had an iPad, so I could cheat and look at the chords and the notes. We played and played, and then we took a break and I ate way too much, since I hadn't been hungry for dinner and there was such good stuff there. Cheese and crackers are my weakness, and I had some very un-Lenten Godiva peanut butter chocolate things. (I brought one home for Travalon to make it up to him for the chips, which were mostly devoured. We still have a few.) Then we played again, and when we left, there was quite a lightning show playing across the sky.

Here are some of the many photos Travalon has taken of birds lately. First, some ring-necked ducks near our dock.

Here is a male ring-necked duck with a female bufflehead.

And a male bufflehead flapping his wings.

A pair of mallards and a pair of northern shovelers.

I asked Travalon to take these photos of a cloud with a reddish tinge on the far lefthand side.

Here is a male northern shoveler:

We saw a whole flock of grackles fly into this tree.

Those photos were all from Wednesday evening, when we sat out on the dock because it was so pleasant out. These next photos are from yesterday at Picnic Point. We saw tons of coots.

The two at the bottom of the next photo seem to be having an argument:

We also saw buffleheads.

The male and the female bufflehead:

I'm not sure what the coot in the middle of this photo is doing:

If you look closely, you can see the male bufflehead's little pink feet trailing behind him in this next photo:

These photos are from today off our dock. Here is a male blue-winged teal.

And our old pal Tux Duck.

A male bufflehead launching into flight.

These next two photos are of a female common merganser.

So, as you can see, we still have lots of types of ducks around our dock. 

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