Christmas in July at Lola's

 

We finally heard that we will be going back to campus for work on the 10th of August. Meanwhile, I worked from home today, and Travalon had a short day so he went to Columbus and Portage. Here are some photos of graffiti in Portage.

 He took some other photos too.

This engine looks like it's smiling.

Right after work we got a bit dressed up to go to Lola's for Christmas in July/World Music, but some neighbors reminded us that it was Thirsty Thursday down on the dock, so we went down there and chatted for a bit. Someone made chocolate chip caramel cookies, and someone else made peach mango salsa, and someone else brought this incredible hard white cheese with herbs on the outside. Then, as we were heading back to the car, I heard the train horn. Sure enough, it had passed by, and there was a video on social media. Here are some screen shots.

There were a number I had posted already, and I can't remember if this was one of them.

At Lola's we were seated immediately and our server was very attentive, so despite getting there later than originally planned, we weren't there very long. We got a new type of pizza that Travalon wanted to try, and he loved it. It has pepperoni and sausage on it. The DJ wasn't starting up until 7:00, and until then they were playing jazz and salsa, so I was happy. Once the DJ started, he played some really weird stuff that probably is world music, but it's not what I think of when promised "world music." Travalon thought the second song sounded like a sick cat. Also, the bundino was butterscotch, not chocolate with lavender whipped cream, so it wasn't that tempting to me. I had a couple bites of Travalon's and found it too sweet. Still, I love the vibe in that place, especially with all the Christmas lights up. The weirdest thing is that at the Mallards game I had an infused drink with 10 mg and didn't feel much, but tonight I had an infused drink with 5 mg and totally felt it. At least this means my fears of having built up a tolerance are unfounded, but I'm not sure what's going on - some brands lying about how potent they are? Now I'm just sleepy, so I should go to bed soon since tomorrow I have to get up for my annual eye exam that I remember to schedule about once every three years.

Famous Hat

Mid-Week Band Practice

 

Today I went to my office after work to check on the plants. Most of my plants seemed fine, except for the big ZZ plant, which still looks overwatered even though it's been two weeks. Will it ever recover? Then I went to band practice because we didn't have it on Sunday, since I couldn't go, our leader couldn't go, and Hardingfele said why bother. She didn't come tonight either. We are playing at that annual Ukrainian picnic, so we are practicing klezmer, which I love. I'm not excited about the gig because we are playing for free (they offered to pay us, but Hardingfele said no) for half an hour before the official start of the picnic, so for the benefit of people setting up. We're not actually part of the picnic entertainment this year. Bongo the Chocolate Lab was there tonight, and he was as excited to see me as he used to be when he was a puppy.

Travalon had to work all day, but he does have photos from yesterday. First, some photos from the place off Fair Oaks. We've posted some of these before, when they were in the rail yard.

This is an abandoned caboose he found at Jefferson Junction.

Here's the junction.

Another view of the caboose.

The depot itself doesn't seem to be completely abandoned, since there's a pretty shiny grill outside of it.

Sunset over the tracks.

Hey! You're supposed to stay 25 feet from the tracks! Can't this deer read??

I did borrow someone's photo of how weird the sun looked a couple of weeks ago during all the smoke.

Our former neighbor saw Big Boy out in Colorado today. She sent a bunch of disjointed videos that I might put together at some point, and a couple of photos.

Though to be honest, I think our video is better because Big Boy was really tooting her horn. Since there weren't intersections where our neighbor was watching (she saw it in two different spots), Big Boy wasn't blowing her horn. The unusual sound of the horn is half the fun of the train, besides its immense size. I'm so glad we got to see her in person (train?).

Famous Hat