Monday, November 19, 2018

Ethnic Day in Milwaukee



After that stupid dream about an evil screen on my computer taking over came true, on Saturday I woke up from a dream where I was getting frustrated because my phone wouldn’t charge. Then Travalon’s phone wouldn’t charge in the car that day! Was I doomed to have prosaic dreams that come true? However, I am happy to report that on Sunday morning I woke up from a dream where a comedian from the 60’s named Papa Dalo (he was from the Solomon Islands) was making a career comeback, and so far that hasn’t come true. He had a little daughter or granddaughter who was five and could really sing.

Friday Travalon and I went to an art event. A local artist whose work I have purchased in the past invited us to a dinner he had on the top floor of a swanky hotel, with lots of other people, most of whom seemed to have a lot of money. It was a dress-up event, and most of the women wore little black dresses, but you know me – I wore hot pink. There was a silent auction of this artist’s original works, and he told a story about each painting because he is also a motivational speaker. He was also selling lots of prints and accessories, so we bought a print of a band made up of the Fisher Price dog, a Lincoln log, a Monkey in a Barrel monkey, and a green Lego. That is the kind of whimsy this artist engages in, like one of his paintings was a hippo swimming in a bowl of Fruit Loops, and another was mountain goats climbing on an ice cream cone. Maybe he inherited it, because he told us a story of how his parents came to deliver some serious news to him and his brothers, but they were dressed as a bee and a beekeeper. It was such a fun night, and the people at our table included the owner of Travalon’s favorite store, Little Luxuries.

Saturday Travalon and I went to see his mother, then we drove to Milwaukee and met up with Tiffy. We had lunch at Conejito’s, Travalon’s favorite restaurant in town, and then we went to a Celtic Christmas art fair and bought stuff. We stopped at a Hawaiian store and bought more stuff, then Tiffy and I went to a concert of Sephardic music at an Episcopal church while Travalon hung out on Brady Street. We met for dinner at County Clare, an Irish pub, so it was quite an ethnic day: Mexican, then Irish, then Hawaiian, then Spanish Jewish, then Irish again.

Yesterday our neighbors had a “fry party,” which they said was a common thing when they lived in Texas. They deep fried some turkeys, and we could all bring things and they deep fried them, like onion rings, French fries, and cheese curds. Travalon and I brought clam strips; we also brought Oreos for a joke, but by then everyone was full so we didn’t bother frying them. There were also healthier things to eat, like lots of fruits and vegetables. It was so much fun! In the evening Travalon and I went to see John Cleese, of Monty Python fame. He gave a very funny but actually inspiring talk about how we should always be striving to better ourselves, and the disastrous examples of people who don’t think they have faults. It was an early evening, so that was a relief. It was our fifth night out in a row!

Famous Hat


No comments: