Irish Tunes at the Elks Club and Coots on the Golf Course

 

This morning I dreamed Travalon had a map of the United States with the main college team of each state represented, so Wisconsin was red with a badger, Minnesota was maroon with a gopher, Florida was green with an alligator, etc. But I was puzzled because Alabama had my Belleek castle tower.

"What's that for? I don't understand," I was saying to Travalon (since everyone knows Alabama is the Crimson Tide), but just then I woke up and saw it was two minutes until my alarm would go off, so I just got up.

It rained all day. I chatted with a colleague, but she couldn't walk at lunch, and Hardingfele was at some kind of all-day event, so I did a rosary walk in the rain. I debated going to get ice cream but decided against it. I did see some cool chalk art by my building: the British flag, the US flag, the Texas flag, and a very cheerful dinosaur/dragon thing.

I have a couple of cute little plants in my office that were pieces that fell off of plants in the greenhouses on campus. This jade plant is from the Horticulture greenhouses.

This little plant is from the Botany greenhouses.

Here is what my plant app says it is:

After work I went to the Elks Club, where I was soon joined by Celtic Lass. There weren't too many people there this time, and no other Shamrock Club members until Travalon joined us an hour later. There were plenty of musicians at the Irish Session, and I learned today that the fiddle tune that keeps getting stuck in my head is called "Gravel Walks," although I think someone did tell me that before. The flute player came over and chatted with us for a bit too. After Celtic Lass left, I glanced at the golf tournament on TV, which was being played in Hawaii, and was delighted by the adorable chicken-sized birds strolling around the golf course. An internet search leads me to believe that they are Hawaiian coots. I'm not sure how they are different than the coots we have around here, except that they look a bit larger, and they were all milling around in the grass while our coots are almost always in the water. Seeing them made me really want to go back to Hawaii. Is it any coincidence that "coot" almost sounds like "cute"?

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Meet and Greet with Gadan

 

Today I worked on campus and walked with Seabird at lunch. In the afternoon Hardingfele and I went to the campus ice cream shop to try the new flavor in honor of the new Humanities building, but it was closed, even though it was allegedly open until 7:30. Worse, when I got back, I had an email saying I had to complete my performance review by today, but I hadn't gotten it from my boss yet. Then I saw that she had submitted it, but she had also sent an instant message saying don't do it, she accidentally put the information for another employee into my review and the person who could help her fix it had left for the day. So then I was in a bit of a grumpy mood.

After work I drove to the neighborhood around the music club because the Shamrock Club was going to a meet and greet at Atwood Music Hall with the band Gadan. I passed the music club on the way and popped in to use the loo and have some snacks, and my timing was perfect because the singalong group was on break so nobody paid me any mind, since they were all milling about and not singing. The owner gave me a hug and said it was good to see me even if I was just there to powder my nose. Then a bunch of us from the Shamrock Club met in front of Atwood Music Hall. I was wearing my argyle beret, my Shamrock Club shirt, and the new shamrock fanny pack I got free on Amazon with gift cards.

It was so great to see my Shamrock Club peeps! And the band members were a lot of fun too.

You can see we got there before the big crowd, because the place was packed by showtime. The band consisted of a banjo player from Galway, another from California, and three Italian guys: a mandolin player who also played banjo, a fiddler, and a guitarist. They were also joined by the guitarist from Socks in the Frying Pan, an Irish band, who has just moved to Madison, and later they were joined by some young local fiddlers for a set of jigs and reels. Gadan plays both Irish and bluegrass music, and they were so good! And they understand me - just as I was thinking I'd have to sneak out to the loo, they took a break. What timing! I wanted to get a T-shirt and a CD, but there was a long line at the merch table, and it was late, so I headed back to my car.

When I passed the music club, I could see the lights were on inside, and the owner was sitting on a couch, looking at his phone. I tried the door but it was locked, and he looked up a bit, but not enough to see me. I decided to keep going... and just then a train came, so I went behind the music club and watched it. What a wonderful ending to a magical evening!

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Travalon's Haul

 

Today I worked from home, and Travalon and I debated taking another boat ride, but he had a dentist appointment so we'd be cutting it close to his time to leave for work, plus it was windy. We ended up walking on Governor's Island. Here are some photos.

Travalon continues to get things delivered that he ordered with his gift card. He got this poster yesterday.

And also these little Matchbox train engines from the Great Western Railroad in Britain.

Today he got another poster, but it wouldn't lie flat so I'll wait until he hangs it to take a photo. He also got a Chessie the Cat sign.

Today Travalon made a new friend at work.

It's a capybara! Oh, I forgot to mention that he brought home curder burgers from Culver's for lunch. I have one every year - just one, because they are a cholesterol bomb. We also had mint cookie custard. So then on my afternoon break I picked some crabapples from my favorite tree to have some plant matter, only this time I chewed on the magic berries first so the crabapples tasted sweet instead of tart. They were really good that way, but I love them tart too. I forgot to mention that yesterday Hardingfele and I also foraged, eating prickly pear fruit and crabapples on campus.

Here are screenshots of train graffiti from a video on social media of a train that went through town this morning:

It's been a while since the train has been through our neighborhood. Hopefully it comes back soon.

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Train Nerd!

 

The last few days, when I could sleep in a little longer, I woke up promptly at seven, but this morning I was deeply asleep when my alarm went off at that time. Usually I'm only in deep sleep between one and four in the morning, so it seemed odd that I had a short bout of it just before my usual wake-up time, but when I mentioned this to Hardingfele during our lunchtime walk, she thought I was nuts to wear a device that tracks my sleep. It was not a particularly noteworthy day at work, but the weather sure was beautiful. The shuttle driver today is one I've had before - she drives too fast and mutters under her breath about everyone else on the road. And she's only getting worse.

As promised, here is the photo of me from my department picnic on Saturday, demonstrating how I am a "train nerd."

I am also a train graffiti nerd. Here are screenshots from a very long train that went through town yesterday, from a video posted on social media. I may have posted some of these before, and I didn't include the "rail heads" car because I've already posted that like three times.

I don't know if there's any deeper meaning to this art, but I love the aesthetics. Give me this over the modern "art" in museums any day!

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