Birthday Adventures

Happy Epiphany! I hope that my readers had a good first weekend of 2020. For New Year's Eve, Travalon and I went to his old high school buddy’s house, as usual, and we met up with a third couple at a supper club in Fond du Lac, as we always do. We went to the third couple’s house to play games, as usual, but the fourth couple who always joins us couldn’t make it this year so maybe that’s why things seemed a bit tamer. One thing that was kind of funny (warning: PG humor ahead!) was when Travalon talked about how people “tweet and twat” on Twitter, and I thought that was hilarious, so I wrote a tweet: “Last deep thought of 1999: Trump doesn’t tweet, he twats!” And then I couldn't figure out how to edit it! Sigh. Maybe people will think I was drunk, but that’s if anyone sees it – nobody really follows me on Twitter.

New Year’s Day Travalon and I managed to get to 11 am Mass and even find a parking spot in the tiny lot they have at St. Patrick’s. I went for a walk while Travalon watched a bowl game, then we went to my OTHER choir director’s annual New Year’s Day open house, with all the desserts he makes. He led a hymn sing in the middle of the party, and then things moved from the community room to his apartment. Travalon happily talked to Cecil Markovitch while I was completely enthralled by a woman’s story about visiting Antarctica. It all sounded very exciting, especially seeing an albatross with a fourteen-foot wingspan fly overhead. This was during the Rose Bowl, so we taped it and then went home and watched it. Sigh… how can you win a game if you turn the ball over FOUR TIMES? I’m amazed that they only lost by one point. I ran in place while watching it, so maybe that is why I couldn’t get to sleep until 3 am.

Thursday Tiffy didn’t have to work, but I had to do one task at work, so I went in for half a day. We tried a couple of places for lunch that were closed, so we ended up at Crema Café, then we took a walk at Olbrich, and then we had golden milk at the vegan café in Garver Mill, Surya. In the evening we met Travalon and Rich for dinner at the Tornado Grill, since Tiffy always wanted to try it so she had asked Rich eons ago if sometime we could do a steak night where women were allowed. We sat in a cozy back room, and the food was amazing. I had the smallest steak and still couldn’t finish it.

Friday was my actual birthday. Travalon had to get up for work, so I woke up a little, saw my cuddly cruise ship Shippy had fallen on the floor, and the next thing I knew it was an hour later so I must have just fallen back asleep without rescuing Shippy. I blogged of course, and then when Travalon got back from his morning run (the only thing he had to do that day), we met Tiffy for coffee downtown and then did some shopping on State Street. We drove out to Sauk but only saw one eagle flying away from us, so we went to the Mixing Bowl, where I got a free cookie. We drove to Spring Green so I could get free lunch, then we went to the crystal store, the tea store, and the soap store so I could get free stuff. Travalon got a bit sick of such girly pursuits, so he went out to the car and drove to meet us at the opal store, where I bought myself a pair of earrings. We drove back to Lake Wisconsin and checked out the Christmas lights on Paradise Island, then we went to Fitz’s so I could have my half-price dinner. Because Travalon is a prince among men, he then drove us to Deerfield to see an incredibly lit-up house that his high school buddy’s wife had told me about. Fortunately it was still lit up! We came back to town and went to Funk Factory, where I had a teal sour beer that tasted like coconut and pineapple. It was called a Blue Hawaiian. Tiffy showed us how her phone can make emojis that look like a particular person, so she made one for me, one for herself, one for Travalon, and one for Rich. Then we went through the Olin-Turville lights one last time before dropping Tiffy off, and then Travalon and I went to the East Side Club for Latin dancing. It started at 10 pm, so I promised we would only stay an hour. When we first got there, only a few other people were there, including a neighbor and her friend. The four of us danced happily for a while, then we got tired and sat watching other, better dancers. By the time we left, a lot more people were arriving, and they were dressed way sharper than we were, so it felt like exactly the right time to leave.

Saturday I met Tiffy and Rich and some other people for coffee, then Tiffy and I went up to the Capitol, but they had already taken down the State Christmas Tree. Why? Christmas ends today! We went to a plant store because I had a birthday coupon, but it is actually good until the beginning of March, and the only plants I wanted were ones I either already have or recently killed, so I decided it was a sign not to get yet another plant. We had lunch at the vegan café in Garver Mill, then we took a walk at Tenney Park, and then we went over to Rich’s house to help him prepare for my birthday party. We made eggnog, and then people started arriving, including Travalon, who had spent the day going to a Marquette basketball game and visiting his mother. It was a lot of fun to see how people who didn’t know each other got along, like Miss Heartsong and Handy Woman seemed to hit it off, and Light Bright and the former Lute Player both gamely sang from the Peter and Lou Berryman songbook that Cecil Markovitch gave me while Lute Player’s husband played the piano. My OTHER choir director brought a gingerbread house for us to make, but we were too busy all conversing to get around to putting it together. Somehow I ended up at the Kiddie Table with Tiffy, Travalon, OK Cap, and Cali. The Single B-Boy gave me a funny card, something like, “If you guess the number inside this card, you’ll win a million dollars. Hint: it’s between 3 and 5,” and then you open it up and it said something like, “It’s 4.5682435861247. Did you guess it?” Afterwards Kathbert and I stuck around to help Rich clean up, and we both felt oddly drugged. Could it have been Handy Woman’s delicious lavender bread? Or maybe just the combination of so many desserts? Rich also made black magic cake and chocolate mousse. I have to say, it will be tough to top that birthday party! The funniest part might have been that there were two people with the same birthday, and three sets of two people with the same name.

Yesterday I had to sing a two-line solo at Mass, which I had forgotten about. My new crystal is supposed to help with confidence in public speaking; I actually only got it because it’s so pretty, but maybe it did help me overcome my stage fright. Who knows? Then Travalon and I joined Kathbert at Rich’s house for leftovers of the eggplant and chicken parmesan Rich had made for dinner the night before, and of course leftover eggnog and desserts. I needed a nap after all that birthday fun, while Travalon watched the Vikings beat the Saints. (Boo!) We went for a walk in Bellville, and I felt way too sorry for a tundra swan that was all alone, and the Canadian geese wouldn’t let him hang out with them. He kept screeching plaintively for his own tribe, but they weren’t around. I wonder what happened there? Then we drove to New Glarus to check out their lovely Christmas lights, and we also saw some stunning houses with their lights still up, and the beautiful lights in downtown Verona, but for some reason the Epic campus was not decorated for Christmas. I wonder if they already took them down? It’s sad but true – we have come to the end of that magical time when Christmas lights are everywhere. I wish people would leave them up for the rest of this month – it would make the long, dark evenings so much better.

Famous Hat