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.

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Day of Annoyances for Both of Us

 

Today was not a great day for either Travalon or me. My iPhone had updated overnight, so a bunch of my apps were grayed out, including DuoLingo and FitBit. This meant I couldn't do my morning Portuguese lessons, and more importantly, it meant I didn't notice that my FitBit battery was dangerously low until I got to work. Oddly, the grayed-out apps came to life at work when I pressed them, while at home nothing I did worked. I called Travalon to ask if he could bring my FitBit charger to work, and he sent me a photo that I said was the right thing, but when he arrived, it was my old FitBit charger. He wanted to get a haircut today, but they told him there was a wait, so he went to four different stores looking for a charger for me. However, my FitBit must be out of date, because nobody had one in stock. That wasted all his free time before work, and then at work the kids were running amok. Worst of all, he had a long meeting after work, so he missed our ukulele strum tonight, when the songs were all about trains. We've been listening to train songs in the car.

My FitBit charge was getting lower and lower, but I had high hopes going to my blood donation appointment. However, nobody there had a FitBit; they either had a cheap knockoff or an Apple watch, which is more expensive. When I got there, there was one beach towel left, and I felt bad to take it, but they said I was the last appointment this afternoon (which seems odd, since it was only 2:30), and there were no walk-ins after me. The beach towel is beautiful.

Since I was the last donation today, they told me to take as many snacks as I wanted. They did say a ukulele strum sounded like the perfect evening after donating blood, since it's so relaxing. I also got a lot of work done today and am feeling slightly more caught up. Then in the evening I went to the ukulele strum, and while the people seemed less friendly today, the songs were excellent. Lots of Johnny Cash, and almost everything was a 1-4-5 song. There were just enough weird chords to make it interesting. Afterwards Travalon and I had dinner on the Lone Girl's roof, and we were the last ones up there. When we got home, I began searching for the FitBit charger, and then Travalon found it on the floor by the couch - how on earth did it get there? The last place I'd seen it was either the table by my easy chair in the living room or the table on the porch. Anyway, St. Anthony and Travalon came through for me.

Meanwhile, my phone was running a bit low on charge too, but DuoLingo was sending me a very threatening message.

I charged the phone during Night Prayer and then did half an hour of DuoLingo, so the owl should be happy. In the meantime, my FitBit got charged up to 100%, so all my little first world problems were solved. Oh yeah, during the ukulele strum a guy was giving out cans of coffee-flavored beer, so I took one and liked it but didn't finish it. Travalon had the rest of that, and then we also got a small glass of the house raspberry sour and split that. It was very pleasant up on the roof, since things had cooled down. It was very hot today at lunchtime when Seabird, Hardingfelde, and I took a walk to check out the blooming black locusts. We kept running from shade patch to shade patch. Hopefully tomorrow is slightly less hot and also less annoying for both Travalon and me.

I forgot to post this yesterday: we saw lupine in bloom yesterday when we walked at Jackson's Landing.

It felt like a little piece of the Necedah Wildlife Preserve right here in Madison.

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Jamming at the Choro Session

 

Today I was back at work, but from home. (It was bad enough when that alarm went off at 8:00. Don't know how I'll survive tomorrow's alarm at 7:00.) Mostly I waded through emails, and the colleague who was covering for me called me on her day off to say she couldn't tell me what she had done while I was gone because the information wasn't in front of her. Um... thanks? Travalon and I walked at Jackson's Landing over my lunch break, but otherwise there wasn't much to blog about.

However, this evening at choro was really fun. I got there a bit early, and three young people were playing "Hungarian Dance #5" by Brahms on a cello, violin, and accordion. It turns out the cellist is a student at the university, and the other two were musicians on a cruise ship - but in different bands - who decided after that gig to drive across the country together. They have to get to the west coast by Friday for a gig. Wow, were they good! Then they left to find some dinner, and only the leader of the choro session came, not the guy from the Handphibians who has always been there, and not a really good guitarist who has always been there. At least the music club owner played the cello, and the cellist played the bass. Then another mandolin player who had been there last time arrived, so it felt like a critical mass... and then the two cruise ship musicians returned and joined us, and that was amazing. We didn't have the music for "Tico Tico," the most well-known choro tune, but one guy had a chord sheet, and some of the others knew it, so they all jammed on it. Eventually I joined in too, playing whatever notes I could identify or at least something in the right key. That was so much fun! The two guys said they found out about the music club when one of them needed a repair to his instrument, and when they asked the instrument repair shop people about the music scene in Madtown, they got referred to the music club, so they came to check it out. It's intimidating to play with musicians who are so much better than I am, but it's fun too.

As promised, here are some more photos from yesterday. First, some plants at Necedah: field wormwood, shamrocks (yes, they are invasive, and they were all over), and columbine.

This fungus growing on a dead tree was so interesting-looking.

More scenes from Necedah. I'm not sure what the yellow flower is; my phone said it had some long scientific name like lithospermum but didn't give a common name. And it said the photo I posted yesterday that I thought was a catbird was a northern mockingbird. Maybe it was mocking the song of a rose-breasted grosbeak, because that is what Merlin thought it heard, but all we saw was that bird.

And more photos from Horicon: a swallow, a May apple blossom, a muskrat lodge, and a red-headed duck.

More shots of the cormorant with the fish in its beak:

And another shot of the mama mallard with babies.

I did forget that as we were driving back toward downtown Necedah from the preserve, we saw a train. Travalon noted that it was the tenth one we'd seen that weekend. Then tonight, as I was walking back to my car from the choro session, I saw a Wisconsin and Southern engine with three cars crossing Winnebago. What a cute little train!

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