This morning as I was making coffee, I heard a cracking sound in the sink. I rushed over to find that my favorite glass had, of its own accord, slipped into the drain and cracked. I was so sad! This glass came from Brewery Creek in Mineral Point, also a bed and breakfast where Travalon and I once stayed, and he said, "A good reason to go back and buy another one." I looked them up online to see if they sold the glasses (they are so cute, with a cartoon dog saying: "Sit. Drink. Good human."), but to my horror, the brewery had changed hands. Travalon said they have a resale store in town that might have the old glasses, and so after I got my work done this morning, I took the afternoon off so we could head there.
The first thing we did was have a delicious (and far too caloric) lunch sitting outside at Gino's Italian Deli: lasagna with garlic bread, San Pellegrino, and half a cannoli. Then we walked around Tiedeman Pond because the lotuses are blooming now, and they smell as wonderful as they look. We drove to Mineral Point and went to the resale store; alas, we did not find a replacement glass, but I did find two pairs of earrings, two rosaries, and a stuffed dog, and Travalon got an Alpine beer can, a stuffed Bucky Badger, and a mini gas pump. We went to the charming downtown, but most shops were closed because Tuesday and/or COVID, but we did find an antiques store that said it was open by appointment. We called, and he quickly came and let us in. Travalon did find some cassette tapes and a model streetcar, so the guy didn't open his store for nothing, but he may have been somewhat disappointed that I didn't buy either the round back mandolin (I have two mandolins) or the Chinese temple decoration, since I was admiring both and they were both hundreds of dollars.
I was saying to Travalon that after the Mifflin Meteor of 2010, I kept wanting to head southwest of town, but that it seemed Mineral Point was what I was seeking. (I kept dreaming about staying at B&Bs in small towns.) However, the meteor actually fell in a town just west of Mineral Point called Livingston, so we drove there. We passed a tiny, unincorporated town called Mifflin, so I wondered if that was actually where the meteor fell, since that would make it eponymous. Otherwise, why wouldn't they have called it the Livingston Meteor? We continued on to Livingston, a small town that still has the bar called Alley Oop mentioned in a story about the meteor and, oddly, TWO Methodist churches, but no other churches that we saw. We stopped at a park and saw an ice cream truck was there, and it was selling REAL ice cream, not those silly weird ice cream treats, so we each had a small cone. All the other partakers looked like they weren't even born when the meteor fell. That made me feel so childlike that I played on some of the playground equipment, but we had to get going to make it back for my adoration hour.
A funny thing happened right toward the end of my adoration hour. As usual, when I got there the joint was packed and I could hardly find a seat, but soon I was the only one there. Then some guy came and sat RIGHT behind me, which really irked me - I mean, he could have sat in literally any pew in the place, so why choose to hang right over my shoulder?? I doubt if he was reading what I was writing in my prayer journal, but it kind of felt that way. So when Travalon returned from hanging out on State Street, we left promptly at seven, before Cecil Markovitch had arrived. (He tends to saunter in a few minutes after the hour.) I didn't bother saying anything to Mr. Nosy, like, "Are you free to stay?" since I honestly thought Cecil would be there shortly. Then Travalon and I had dinner at the Globe, we came home, I checked my email, and there was one from Cecil saying sorry that he never showed up, but he had a plumbing emergency. Oops! I hope Mr. Nosy in the chapel didn't have to be anywhere...
After Night Prayer, Travalon and I went to Governor Nelson State Park to try to see the meteor shower. A decade ago Rich and I had good luck, but tonight Travalon and I did not see a single shooting star. Maybe we didn't give it enough time, but we did wait until our eyes were acclimated to the dark, and then we saw the Milky Way and a satellite speeding overhead that suddenly turned red and vanished. I assume this is some sort of atmospheric phenomenon and not that something strange happened to the satellite. Or maybe it was the International Space Station - I have heard you can sometimes see it passing overhead.
Famous Hat
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