Horicon Marsh with Family and Twelfth Anniversary

 

Yesterday Travalon and I picked up my aunt and uncle visiting from Colorado, and the four of us went to Horicon Marsh. Here are some photos. First, an egret catching a fish.

A barn swallow fluffing up.

Several turtles.

Lots of trilliums, one with a visitor.

How about a muskrat?

A couple of shots of a pied-billed grebe.

We saw some ducks, like this gadwall.

And this red-headed duck.

Here are a couple of shots of the cormorant rookery.

And we did see pelicans, so that's two of the four Big White Birds.

Here, for contrast with the barn swallow, is the tree swallow.

We had lunch at the Mexican restaurant in Mayville. They have pretty flowers outside.

We saw a lot less train graffiti in Horicon this time.

Our lunch was so late that we barely ate dinner. I taught my uncle an Irish fiddling tune, then we jammed together, me on mandolin and him on flute, as Travalon and my aunt sang along. We did "Ripple" by the Grateful Dead (my request), "Can't You See" by the Marshall Tucker Band simply because it was the next song in the playlist, and "El Paso" at Travalon's request. I had a bite of a gummy, and then I was so happy. It was one my aunt had made herself. I'd had a commercial gummy earlier and felt no effects, so maybe it was the cumulative effect. We had some cheese curds (we'd stopped at Schultz's Cheese Haus earlier) and some peanut butter-filled pretzel bites, and back home Travalon and I each had a small cheese sandwich, but mostly we did music.

Today before Mass, Travalon gave me a couple of anniversary gifts:

They're Belleek - a dog curio box, and the cottage from The Quiet Man as an ornament. I added it to my little Belleek village. Travalon's present is still in the mail, because of course I only thought to order it a couple of days ago. 

I was so happy, because the opening hymn at Mass was the opening hymn we'd had at our wedding Mass. How appropriate for our twelfth anniversary! After Mass I bought a rose for my aunt for Mothers' Day, and in the parking lot of the grocery store where we drop off plastic for recycling, I found a spring of hydrangea.

Then we all went to Fitz's on the Lake, which was having an expensive brunch buffet, but we got there so late that they weren't replenishing everything, so we only got a few things. I did really enjoy the omelet station (the guy made me an omelet with broccoli, onions, and mushrooms) and the tres leches cake with a hint of almond. After lunch we took the Merrimac Ferry to the north side of Lake Wisconsin. Here are some photos.

We drove to Reedsburg to go to the Corner Pub, and we got there with five minutes before it was supposed to close... but it looked like it had been closed for hours. Nobody was even walking around inside. Their social media page said they'd be open and serving brunch, and there was no note on the door, so it's a mystery. We went to a dollar store and got big matching travel mugs, then we went to the nearby spring and filled up with fresh spring water. Then we went to Sauk and saw pelicans at the bridge, including one my aunt saw surfing on the waves from the dam.

These are some interesting formations across the river.

At some point my aunt had accidentally given me two edibles, so while they had not had any effect on me yesterday, today I felt quite stoned and was a bit concerned that my band mates would notice. I know at one point I laughed till I couldn't breathe over something Hardingfele said, and I was trying not to laugh when people would hit wrong notes or wrong chords. Sometimes that someone was me! Not my best practice ever. Meanwhile, Travalon took photos of the train called the Varsity that used to run from Milwaukee to Madison. Now it's a bar called the Local Motion.

I have posted about this bar before. Travalon also took some photos of train tracks, but those are maybe less interesting to look at. It's the beginning and the end (in Reedsburg) of the track that runs near our house, which I have posted many videos of trains on it. It starts in downtown Madison.

Famous Hat

Year of the Horse Rabbit

 

Today I worked from home, and when Travalon and I went for a walk at lunch, our Year of the Horse Rabbit had arrived! This all started when Travalon's mom died, and they asked what I wanted of hers. I said the stuffed green dragon on her dresser, but nobody could find it. (To be fair, they did give me a couple of rosaries and a beautiful Waterford crystal harp pin Travalon had brought back from Ireland for her years earlier.) I did a google search for a stuffed green dragon and couldn't find the one my MIL had, but I found a much cuter one, for the Year of the Dragon. This company called Plushie Dreadful makes all sorts of rabbits, often for disorders, and they are doing a series of Chinese Zodiac rabbits. Last year they did a snake rabbit, which is NOT CUTE, but I hadn't seen their horse rabbit, so I went to their website and it was sold out. We got put on a waiting list, and today she arrived!

Question: what would a horse rabbit look like?

Answer: cutest mule ever! With the character for "horse" on her chest! And earrings!! Squee! I named her Jenny because that is what a female mule is called, and anyway she looks like a Jenny. Here is a shot of her more from the side.

She has a little heart on her other hip, so maybe I should have taken her from that angle.

On my walks around the neighborhood, I saw beautiful, fragrant flowers.

The birch tree flowers are neither fragrant nor beautiful, but they're kind of cool-looking.

Ma Hat sent me a photo of the beautiful urn containing Pa Hat's ashes.

Yesterday I forgot to post this photo. There is a Jack in the Pulpit growing near my building on campus, and when I found it, there were two this year!

Travalon went to the wood duck ponds again today. He saw wood ducks (natch), a great blue heron, a green heron, mallards, and turtles. No sign of the blue-winged teals or the female hooded merganser, or the beavers that one rando told us lived in the ponds. That would be something to see!

My blogging may possibly be somewhat sporadic for the next few days. My aunt and uncle from Colorado are visiting, but tonight they're tired and we are going to see the comedian Charlie Behrens. I will try to blog about our adventures when I get a chance, but we do like to jam in the evenings. Stay tuned... (oops, no pun intended!)

Famous Hat