Chartreuse Evening

Last night after our marriage class, Travalon and I walked to the Monona Terrace. We had discussed going to various bars to have a quick drink, but Genna’s was packed with twentysomethings, and then we got sidetracked by the beautiful fountain on top of the Monona Terrace. I remembered that, years earlier, I wandered into a nearby hotel bar called Olive. It was a rainy afternoon, and I was dressed up for some reason, so I fit right into the swanky bar scene there. It was Happy Hour, and someone was playing soft jazz on a piano as people enjoyed hors d’oeuvres. I ordered an expensive chocolaty cocktail and worked on a novel I have yet to finish, and I had a wonderful time. Remembering that magical afternoon, I mentioned Olive to Travalon, and we decided to check it out. However, this time we were dressed very casually – I was in jeans and a chartreuse jacket – so we felt a little out of place among the business travelers enjoying a drink on a Tuesday evening. The piano is no longer there, and they have taken the chocolaty cocktail off the drink menu. Instead I ordered something called a Green Monk, which contains green chartreuse, and as many of my readers know, I am the only human they have ever met who can stand the stuff. Travalon was impressed with the way my drink matched my jacket. While the magic of that distant day had evaporated, I had an even better time with Travalon than by myself, and the bartender was very friendly to us. Maybe she was happy to see some ordinary people after all those dressed-up business travelers. She did ask, when I ordered my drink, if I had tried green chartreuse before, so all my friends can feel vindicated for thinking I am strange to like the stuff.

Famous Hat