Star Train, Tornado Church, and Too Much Music Making

 

Yesterday evening we went to the Sauk Dam and saw lots of pelicans.

Then we went to the Little Village Cafe in Baraboo for dinner and sat outside. I had fish tacos (but I could only eat one) and Travalon had mac and cheese with jerk chicken, and we split a white chocolate lime mousse for dessert. (I thought I didn't need dessert, but it turned out I hadn't eaten many calories, so at least that mousse kept My Fitness Pal from yelling at me.) The waitress was so nice - she gave us a bag of ice to put in the cooler with my leftover taco. We went to the spring in Rock Spring and filled our water bottles, and Travalon took photos of the nearby bluff.

We drove to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, where we had some time to check out the gift shop and explore the old railcars.

The museum is on the bank of the Baraboo River.

We saw a muskrat swimming in it, but when Travalon tried to make a video, it dove below the surface. Then we boarded the train. They let us go into the caboose and even sit in the cupola for a photo, but we had to sit in one of the passenger cars for the ride.

Sorry this photo is kind of dim, but in the one where the flash went off, I look like a demon spawn.

We took a brief train ride to a spot in the middle of nowhere (the stop was called Sauk Junction), where the guy from Space Place and some other astronomy buffs set up telescopes. It was quite cloudy, and Venus was mostly covered up. Every time she broke free, I ran over to the telescope and waited behind three other people, but the clouds would cover her again before I got there. Finally both Travalon and I got to look at her through the telescope. He also took some photos with his good camera.

We saw the International Space Station go by, and he took a photo of that too, but it just looks like a line. Fortunately there was a Porta-Potty right near the tracks, because after standing there for an hour peering at stars between the clouds, I really had to go. It was dark, but I could make out where things were. However, someone else used it after me and figured out how to turn on the light. Wish I'd known there was a light! 

Finally we heard the train horn, and Travalon made a video of it returning, which I might edit and put on YouTube at some point. I have made a movie of the train we saw on Friday. Enjoy!

After we got back to the museum, I had to powder my nose again and found a new friend on the outside of the women's bathroom door.

Here are some shots of the train we were on, after we got off of it.

And an old engine that is on display.

We got home at exactly midnight, and this morning I slept pretty late, but we did get to Mass only a few minutes late, during the Gloria. During the Mass I could hear the wind outside, and lots of thunder, so when people's weather alert alarms started going off, I wasn't surprised. I looked at my own phone, and there was no alert, but then it did go off to say there was a tornado warning. The priest seemed unfazed; he was in the middle of giving five little kids their First Communion, and we finished the Mass and then he told us we should all go to the Gathering Space, since it was the safest place in the building. I sat around talking to a woman I know from Nicaragua, Hardingfele's coworker, and a teacher who wanted to know all about DuoLingo because she has a lot of Spanish-language students. 

Travalon left to see his grade school buddy, so I drove myself to my Brazilian drum lesson. Was it ever a workout today! My drumming buddy asked me to record the lesson, since she always does so herself but her phone was dead. Then I grabbed a snack at the co-op (kefir and two falafel balls that turned out to be cold, ugh) before going to the first half of the Slow Irish session. There were a lot of people there, plus four audience members. I had to leave to get to band practice, since we have a gig in two weeks. Maybe that was too much playing, because my left wrist was starting to get sore. When I got home, Travalon asked me which music event I liked best, and I said they were kind of like food: Brazilian drumming is an exotic cuisine I haven't tried before but I kind of like it as I'm getting used to it; Irish tunes are like my favorite food I could eat every day; and band practice is like comfort food that isn't the best flavor but is easy to whip up when I'm hungry, because I've played the tunes for so long that I know them all. He said that was a good analogy. Also, after drumming, one teacher said, "I heard you're killing it at the choro sessions!" and during the Irish session, the red-headed flute player was impressed by how quickly I was learning tunes by ear. Music is the one thing I've got such a knack for that it often shocks people. Imagine how good I'd be if I actually practiced!

Famous Hat

Watchin' the Train A-Comin'

 

Yesterday I worked from home, and Travalon and I took a walk down to the dock before he went off to the wood duck ponds. There is construction going on along our road, and Thursday they apparently cut the cable so there was no internet access, but I was working on campus and didn't know until the neighbors texted me. (They also gave me a gift certificate to my favorite plant store because of my dad - isn't that so thoughtful?) I was afraid I'd lose access and wouldn't be able to work remotely, but yesterday everything was fine. More than fine, down at the ponds. Check out Travalon's photos. (The first one is Tux Duck, off our dock.) The male and female wood ducks, great blue heron, and green heron were all there - a real bird party!

Here is the island in Cherokee Marsh.

Then Travalon went to the new parking lot I will be using in the fall, which has an excellent view of the railyard. He saw a thing like that thing in Ixonia that looks like it has eyes and arms.

He also saw lots of beautiful train graffiti.

Train graffiti is becoming my favorite genre of art. Speaking of trains, I've been on a kick to see a train come from the south on the tracks near our house, while I'm standing at the crossing on Highway M. I've been doing a rosary walk down to the crossing and back, but no luck, and the same again yesterday evening. However, after Travalon had come home and started dinner, I heard the train whistle in the distance. I was writing to Mariah, who has been long-neglected (OK, maybe ten days instead of a week), and I could have finished before talking to Tiffy, but I said, "Let's go to the crossing!" Travalon left the fish and tater tots to cook, and we hopped in his car and looked down the track. Under the bridge, you can see the old Oscar Mayer factory smokestack like a lighthouse in the distance.

And here are the tracks going north, on the other side of Highway M:

And here is the crossing:

We waited five minutes and were about to leave so the food didn't burn when we heard the train horn again. Travalon zoomed in with his camera and said, "It's coming!"

We both made videos that need some editing, but I hope to make an excellent movie out of them sometime soon. I was so excited - my dream had come true! The train was moving a bit slowly, but we had to watch it pass us, so we were afraid the food would be burned, but when we got home, it was perfectly cooked. How amazing is that?

Today we had a slow morning, because I needed to finish writing to Mariah, and of course I needed to do DuoLingo. Then we went to the Mini Greek Fest at the local Orthodox Church, but they didn't have either the Greek iced coffee or "galactic burritos," the two things we really wanted. I had spanakopita and Travalon had souvlaki, and when we went to sit, we saw my bus buddy who is about four feet tall. She is as fond of Dear Leader as we are, so we had a great conversation. I was all decked out in Travalon's Greece shirt and my Nazar and Hamsa jewelry (with my cuddly Nazar, Niko), and a woman noticed and asked if I was Greek. I sheepishly said No, but she said, "Everyone's a little bit Greek today!" It occurs to me that there isn't a big stereotype of Greeks, so the fact that I was wearing nazars, rather than making me look like a cultural appropriator, showed I actually was aware of Greek culture, so there's that. Today is Cecil Markovitch's birthday, and I texted him to say Happy Birthday and I was surprised he wasn't there, but he somehow hadn't known about it. True story: as a teenager, I planned to run away to some random place, maybe Tennessee, and dye my hair red, change my name to Katie, and tell everyone my birthday was May 16th. This is probably because in Minnesota things bloom a little later, so that must be the date the crabapples bloom there. I can't remember anymore, since I've lived here so long, where they tend to bloom the week before. Anyway, I'm sure that's why I picked that date.

Then Travalon and I took a walk in Cherokee Marsh and saw wildflowers. A couple of Jacks in the Pulpit:

Shooting stars that are white, not magenta like the ones in Allen Centennial Gardens:

Wild geraniums:

And a May apple:

Quick fact: my favorite tune that my band plays is called Metsakukkia, which is Finnish for "Forest Flower." I love the song (a minor-key waltz) on its own merits, and I've made up a harmony and play tremolo on it like I'm a balalaika, but the name is great too. Nothing like a forest flower!

I'm blogging so early today because tonight Travalon and I will be out quite late. We're taking a train ride to go stargazing, and it's way out of town.

Famous Hat