Mallards and Forward FC

I hope that my readers had a good weekend. Travalon and I had a very sports-filled one. On Friday evening we got $5 tickets to the Mallards game, where they were once again playing the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, who had beaten them so decisively at the last game we had attended. This time the Mallards were up by two runs but blew it right at the end to lose by one. I ran into an old coworker there who, like me, escaped from the dysfunctional department I was working for when I started this blog. We also ran into OK Cap, who was there with her sister-in-law and nephew, just as they were leaving. We stuck it out to the bitter end, but the Mallards just couldn’t come back. Still, it was a beautiful evening and a very good time, except briefly when the guy next to me tried to grab my beer, claiming he was sure it was his beer. That was a little odd.

Saturday morning Travalon and I joined Rich, Lute Player (who needs a new name, because I believe she no longer plays the lute), and her husband for coffee before a free organ concert by my OTHER choir director. Travalon and I spent some time at my garden plot weeding, then in the evening we met some Slow Food people for a pop-up noodle restaurant in a coffee shop on Willy Street. We had to eat and run to get to something really fun – we went to our first Madison Forward FC game. This is the game we call “soccer” in this country, although it makes a lot more sense to call it “football” than the game we call that, because it’s played with an actual spheroid ball kicked by actual feet. The team is owned by the same guy who owns the Mallards, and it’s an even bigger party atmosphere. A bunch of people chanted and drummed Brazilian-sounding rhythms through the entire game, and just like on TV, the players really emoted when they got tripped by the opposing team. Orlando’s goalie in particular seemed to be angling for an Oscar. Our team had a couple of goals rescinded, but there was no announcer so we had no idea why. In the end we won 1-0. I would definitely go to another Forward game!

Yesterday we had brunch with the choir, then we went to Greek Fest because OK Cap and Jilly Moose had said they would be there. We did see Cecil Markovitch and Trinidad Cap and his mother, but the ladies did not arrive until we had to get going. We drove to Hillsboro on a very windy road with lots of interesting rock formations, then we had a beer at their brewery. Hillsboro is near Mauston, so we went there and took a walk on a path along the river, with a great view of their beautiful church, St. Patrick’s. Then we went to Devil’s Lake and swam, which was wonderful. It is such a beautiful spot. We took the ferry both ways, and on the way back we had ice cream. By then it was too late to go water my garden plot, but it rained overnight so everything should be in good shape. Here’s to plenty of kale and ground cherries in our future!

Famous Hat