Swans and More Model Trains

 

I took the day off of work in case I needed to recover from the Brazilian drum extravaganza on Saturday, and Travalon and I set off to see swans. It was very cold this morning, and I wore an outfit that a neighbor said frightened him. Maybe it is kind of weird.

We went to Cherokee Marsh, Tenney Park, and Governor Nelson State Park, and we did see swans at each place. We didn't have time to check out Picnic Point, another place we have seen them in the past, before Travalon had to leave for work. Here are some photos.

In these next few photos, you can see a male merganser with his bright red bill.

And here is the island that doesn't seem to have a name.

This is a family of two adult swans and two juveniles that are gray.

After Travalon left for work, I did a lot of cleaning and felt tired and out of breath... but my FitBit said I had only had two active minutes. What? So since it had warmed up to the high 20's F, I went outside and took a long walk going as fast as I could... and only got two more active minutes. Since I only got seven minutes yesterday, that is eleven for the week so far, and I'm supposed to get 150. Saturday I got 144, so if it were averaged into this week, I'd be fine, but how is my lived experience so different than what FitBit tells me? The walk is especially shocking - how could it be so little active time? It's based on heart rates, and there are some days I just can't get my heart rate up no matter what I do, and others where it's high without me doing anything, just from caffeine or dread or something. Hopefully I get enough this week...

Here are more photos from the model train expo. These are the ones Travalon took.

The next few photos are of a scene with a lot of detail, like the four Beatles walking in the crosswalk on the cover of Abbey Road.

For some reason Jesus was huge in this little world - like literally, he looks about seven feet tall.

And here is the A-Team! Remember them?

And an abominable snowman by the side of a house.

This looks like fields of radishes and cotton.

And here we have a group of hippies.

There were even a couple of trains you could ride, but we didn't. Here is one of them.

Check out the skating rink!

And the Mobile station!

And circus giraffes poking their heads out of a train car.

This is a photo I took and forgot to post yesterday, of a dinosaur snacking on a Prussian soldier.

This set had a whole backstory about how the Prussians were fighting someone else and blew a hole in the time-space continuum so dinosaurs came out and attacked them, and how the museum got some very "well-preserved" dinosaur skeletons during the skirmish, and even today German universities teach about this event as the Wurst Case Scenario.

Here is a video with a lot going on.

Travalon made a number of other videos too. Maybe tomorrow I will try to collect them all, make a big video, and throw it onto YouTube.

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Brazilian Drums and Model Trains

 

I did not blog Friday because first, there was nothing to blog about, and second, I was talking to Tiffy until very late so there was no time to blog about the nothing that happened to me while I was working from home.

Yesterday I did not blog because I got home very late. I had to get to the Majestic Theater by 1:30, where I was part of a chain of people unloading drums from the truck. Then we decorated, and then we rehearsed, and then we had some time before photos. My buddy and I took a walk around the Capitol Square and then went to Youngblood, where she knows the bartender. We had a rather deep and personal conversation over sour beer before our husbands joined us and we all ate dinner there. The group had our photo taken before I discovered that up in the Green Room they had green spray to color our hair and sparkles to put around our eyes. Travalon took a photo of the sparkles around my eyes, but it's terrible. I took one at home that was marginally better, but I had already rubbed some off so they weren't symmetrical. Also, lots of people were wearing Mardi Gras beads that they had brought from home, and I had tons at home, so I would have worn them if I'd known. Everyone said, "Next year, remember to bling out!" and one dancer said, "Tonight, we are all extra!" 

In the rehearsal I was suddenly moved from one end of the stage to the other, plus a woman came up to me and said, "I'll need your drum, belt, and sticks as soon as you're done." However, Travalon could only see the side of the stage I was moved to, so it all worked out. The first act was a bunch of people doing capoeira, then we students were on next. The teachers put us through our paces, and from Travalon's videos (which are too far away to bother posting here), at that point I was out of step with everyone else, but it wasn't entirely my fault, since the two people right ahead of me were stepping in opposite directions. Suddenly it struck me as hilarious, so I was trying not to laugh, and the audience must have thought I was having the time of my life because I was smiling so much. Then we performed our song, and in that video I was in step with everyone else. After we performed, we could change back into more comfortable clothes (it's amazing how many of us ordered jerseys that were way too large and then got white pants that were uncomfortably tight), and my buddy and I sat with our husbands, who were sitting together. We watched the more competent Handphibians perform, and then I really enjoyed Saideira Pagode, the band that plays the quieter, more tuneful samba. My buddy and her hubby left partway through that performance, but we stayed and watched the Otimo dancers and more Handphibians. Around midnight both Travalon and I were too exhausted to watch whatever the next two acts were going to be, so I went to the Green Room to get my stuff. I thought I'd lost my hoodie, but it was right there all along, just kind of moved over, and then there was food so I had an orange (that's fine) and some lavender fudge I definitely didn't need. If we'd stuck around and helped get the drums back to the Quadra, which is what they call the place where we practice, there was an afterparty there that was going to go all night and then end with brunch sometime this morning. I'd sort of thought of trying to do that, and I took tomorrow off of work in case I needed to recover, but since we became pumpkins at midnight, it was a moot point for us.

This morning I wore my Scottish outfit, and the plaid matches the bear Travalon gave me for Valentine's Day.

The craziest part is that Travalon didn't do that on purpose, he just wanted to get me a Scottish bear. I got my shawl at a random gas station in Kentucky on the second day of our road trip two months ago. It was an impulse purchase that I do not regret at all! Except maybe for the three cheap bracelets that came with it. 

We only had four bags of plastic to recycle today, so we had plenty of time to get to the Model Train Expo. And guess who we ran into there? Cecil Markovitch! I just loved seeing the magical little worlds people created, some with astonishing details, like the Beatles in a crosswalk just like on the cover of Abbey Road, or a tiny circus with horses and elephants and lots of people. Travalon took photos that he hasn't sent to me yet. I mostly took photos of the Lego train set.

 They had the cutest little trolley zipping around it.

And the teeniest little Lego train.

Here is a longer video that I am surprised Blogspot let me load. A lot going on here - check out the firetruck that becomes a police car!

Tonight my Irish music buddies, Famie and the red-headed flute player, were going to an Irish music concert, but I thought I'd better get to band practice, since we have a gig coming up. Good thing we're rehearsing too, because the accordion player noticed there was an F sharp in the key signature for one of our Ukrainian klezmer tunes, but we never even noticed because it's in A minor, so obviously there is no F sharp. Since she was playing the F sharp, the tune sounded terrible until we figured out what the issue was. We have one more practice before our gig, but our leader can't make it, so she was going to make us practice extra late tonight. Fortunately Travalon came to rescue me with an iced decaf pandan latte, which is the most delicious way for a damsel in distress to be rescued. He saves me from extended practice torture AND gives me stuffies that match my outfit? He really is the best husband ever!

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Night Prayer (Almost) Disaster

 

I don't have a lot to write about tonight. Hardingfele and I walked at lunch today, and we went back to the greenhouses because it's getting colder out again, and in the main greenhouse some people offered us some much-appreciated hot tea. We were planning to go to the Quebecois jam at Minocqua Brewery tonight, but she pooped out on me, which I expected, so I am just having a quiet evening at home. Sure, I could have gone by myself, but it had been a week and a half since I wrote to Mariah my diary, and I hadn't seen any of Colbert's show yet this week. Also, I discovered that the newspaper-like mailing we get every week with coupons for places I never go to has sudoku and a crossword puzzle - has this always been true? I've never looked at it that closely before, I've always just recycled it right away. 

The most interesting thing that happened to me today was at Night Prayer, when we couldn't find the Night Prayer PDF on ebreviary.com. Fortunately several people discovered you could get it on ibreviary.com. I thought for a moment we were going to have to give up Night Prayer after all these years, although if we got desperate, I could have just read the one in my Magnificat, although nobody else could see that. Strange that the website we have been using for six years suddenly decided to stop having Night Prayer as option. They still have other things, like Vespers for Sundays.

Meanwhile, at work Travalon decided if he can't beat the "Six Seven" craze, he can join it. He sent me this picture he drew.

Six is a snake, and seven is a dragon head. He didn't say if this was a big hit with the kids, but you'd think so. He says they play games on the playground they call "Six Seven." I thought this inane trend would die eventually, but it just keeps going. Now Travalon is at a movie, so I have the house to myself. There was something else going on tonight that I could have done instead of the Quebecois jam, but now I can't find it. Was it in my email? Was it on social media? Doesn't matter - at this hour, it's long over, and I enjoyed a mellow evening at home.

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Ash Wednesday AND the Start of Ramadan

 

This morning Travalon said he'd like to go to 9 am Mass after dropping me off, so I hustled and got ready earlier than usual. We were in his car, listening to his playlist of songs about trains, when we got stuck behind a very long, slow train that took at least five minutes to go by. At least we had the right soundtrack for it, or is that irony? We would think the end was approaching, but then it would just be some low cars we couldn't see over whatever was in the way. Lots of excellent graffiti to admire on this train. It all worked out because I was only like five minutes late for work and he was about five minutes late getting to Mass.

Seabird sent me a message that they had donuts and cookies today in their big FART 5 office, but I was fasting for Ash Wednesday. It's also the start of Ramadan today, so the world's collective blood sugar was extra low today. Lots of grumpy people around the globe. She and I took a walk at lunch, but it was so windy that I thought my hat would blow off... and it's a beret! Those never blow off! I had two meetings and a lot of work, and I got my third email reminding me I hadn't done a survey about my job duties... but in the email there were only links to surveys for other job titles, not mine. I emailed back and said wait, what am I missing here? and a few minutes later an email went out to the whole group with a link for the survey for my job title included. This may explain why their response rate was so low.

After work I could have gone home for half an hour and then headed to Mass, but I decided to go right from the park and ride, which meant I got there with an hour fifteen to wait. I snuck into the chapel and prayed a rosary, then I went into the main sanctuary and quietly waited for Mass to begin. Getting into such a peaceful state of mind made Mass wonderful; it felt like it lasted one hundred years, but that is not a complaint. I don't know how to explain it. I did take a selfie of my ash cross.

Yes, that is in the church bathroom. It slays me how serious I always look in selfies, like I can't smile and take a photo of myself at the same time. Then I rushed home and... prayed another rosary with a couple of the Rosary Ladies, Anna Banana II and Luxuli. I suppose if you're going to pray two rosaries in one day, Ash Wednesday is the day to do it. Happy Lent, everyone! Here is my Lent Song again:

I wrote it in the Phrygian Mode, just to be extra-penitential. Enjoy!

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Happy Mardi Gras AND Year of the Fire Horse!

 

Today I worked from home, and just after Travalon walked out the door to go to work, he came back in with his new conductor bear.

His name is Lionel, like the trains. 

Tonight we wanted to go out for Mardi Gras/Lunar New Year, but the New Orleans jazz show at the North Street Cabaret was sold out, and the birthday party for the local fiddler was starting so early that we figured it would be over by the time we got there (since I had adoration and Travalon works late), and we forgot about the big Mardi Gras party they always have at the Essen Haus. We often go out for Chinese on Lunar New Year, but sorry, Mardi Gras overshadows Lunar New Year for me. We ended up going to the New Orleans style restaurant that used to be called Liliana's for a romantic dinner for two in mood lighting, with jazz playing in the background. I wore a bunch of beads and found even more beads there. Travalon had blackened catfish, but I got the four-course dinner and gave him one of my two oysters Rockefeller. Those are so good! He had never had them before, and I've only had them on the East Coast, never around here. My second course was gumbo, with okra in it, of course. Travalon had no interest in that. My third course was blackened chicken on a bed of cheddar grits, and I could only eat half of it, so I have lunch for Thursday since tomorrow is a fast day with no meat allowed. My final course was a praline cheesecake, but Travalon also ordered beignets, so we picked at the cheesecake and brought most of it home, and I did succumb to a beignet and thus got powdered sugar all over myself. Everything was so delicious! Oh, and I also had a lavender Moscow mule mocktail, so I had enough sugar to carry me through at least half of Lent. Tomorrow we fast!

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Viking Ships with Hands

 

Today I worked on campus, and Hardingfele and I walked in Allen Centennial Gardens during our lunch break. We thought it was funny that everything in the garden has long explanations except the most mysterious things: these two Viking ships with hands in them. 

Hardingfele thought the hands were configured in sign language, but neither of us knows sign language, so they just looked like weird contortions to us. I said it seemed like a real "if you know, you know" situation, becuase if they're going to explain rain gardens and cranberry bogs, why wouldn't they also explain what the hands are doing?

In the evening I went to the Moldy Jam jam, and this time I was sitting by another fiddler who is apparently a bit of a beginner, so she had an iPad with the music on it. I have to admit that I cheated and looked at the music for all the tunes I didn't know (or didn't know well), and it was kind of fun to sightread them. Might as well keep that muscle as strong as the one for learning by ear. I wore Mardi Gras beads, and the co-owner of the music club asked if it was Mardi Gras. When I said no, it's Mardi Gras Eve, he said, "It's New Year's Eve too," and he's right - it's Lunar New Year's Eve. Can you believe they fall on the same day this year? It's also the birthday of a local Irish fiddler tomorrow, and he noted the coincidence, and also that he will be 63 when he was born in '63. An auspicious birthday indeed!

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Drumming Dress Rehearsal and Rich's Birthday Party

 

Today Travalon and I wouldn't have much time after Mass to do the plastic recycling, so we got to church in time to weigh and photograph it before Mass. He had to drop me off at the Brazilian drumming place for our dress rehearsal, which was a "gray" dress rehearsal, and apparently everyone in the world but my one drumming buddy and me knew this meant you could wear whatever the heck you wanted. The two of us were there in our jerseys and white jeans, as requested for the performance. My jersey is way too big - apparently I don't know what size I actually am - and the white jeans are still a bit tight, and my drumming buddy said she had the same issue. I thought we had to be there at noon sharp, ready to go, so I picked up my drum... and one of the teachers said, "You won't be on for half an hour." Then why the big rush? It was kind of cool to watch the really good drummers go through their numbers, and after we did ours, I watched a few more numbers before Travalon returned.

Our next stop was Richard Bonomo's house for his 70th birthday open house, organized by Kathbert, Luxuli, and another woman. I thought I wouldn't get a chance to see Tiffy today, but she came too, so the two of us took a walk in Rich's neighborhood to enjoy the balmy weather. I talked to my OTHER choir director quite a bit, and the son of the man who makes fabulous desserts. (For today, he made a pistachio cake, a carrot cake, and a pumpkin cookie cake.) There were a lot of leftovers from Thursday night, and Travalon and I brought plantain chips from the Mexican grocery store down the street, while other people brought stuff like quiche bites, pigs in a blanket, fudge, fruit, and chocolate hummus. Someone was playing Chopin on the player piano at a very unsteady rate, which was driving Tiffy crazy, so she headed home. Jilly Moose was there, and she sent me two photos. First, a snowman she made from a kit. The carrot nose is so large that I said it looked like Toucan Sam the Snowman.

Follow your nose - it always knows! And she also sent me a photo of an air plant terrarium she made at the Garden Expo, which she went to with OK Cap. 

The Garden Expo is something I definitely didn't have time to attend this weekend, and next weekend I won't have time for much of anything with our Brazilian drumming performance, and then the weekend of Bach Around the Clock I'll miss the festivities because of our gig in Spring Green from 1-3, which means I'll be busy from 12-4 since it's an hour drive there and back. Speaking of gigs, because we have one coming up, I forewent (I guess that's a word since spellcheck doesn't hate it) the Slow Irish Session today to go to band practice. First Travalon and I took a walk at Yahara Park, wondering if we'd see the swans I'd seen flying around on Friday, but they weren't there, and they weren't at Tenney Park either.

I really enjoyed band practice today because we practiced the Ukrainian stuff, our one cumbia, an Irish air, and the Finnish waltz where I get to pretend to be a balalaika, and we ended with "Ashoken Farewell," appropriately enough. As far as I know, the only other player Mandy ever had was my grandma's great-uncle or whatever he was, and I have no idea what kind of music he played on her, but she sure gets a variety these days! Ukrainian klezmer, a Colombian dance, an Irish tune, and a Finnish tune all in one night! And I got to bounce around from chords to melody to harmony, sometimes in one tune. Nobody would ever call me a great mandolin player, but people have noted that I'm versatile. Then on the way home I was listening to my Jewbacca CD and started whistling along to a klezmer tune, and it made me remember that I used to whistle tunes a lot. This isn't my proudest moment, but in college I had a lousy part-time job calling people and asking them to do surveys, and this was in the days before Caller ID, so if they didn't answer but I got an answering machine, I'd leave them a short message of me whistling Vivaldi. I'm sure that was a real treat for them. I wonder what I'd think to come home and find a message of someone whistling the opening notes of "Spring" on my answering machine? Back then I would have thought it was a secret message from an unknown admirer, but now I'd just think, "Huh. Not a bad whistler. And with good taste in music."

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