Jilly Moose's Birthday and Willy Street Fair

 

Yesterday was Jilly Moose's birthday, so in the morning Travalon and I met her for coffee at Crema Cafe, then the three of us drove to Holy Hill. Tiffy had said she might meet us, but she decided not to, which was a good thing because it was bananas there - they were having a craft fair, so we had to park very far away and, worse, downhill. We thought about checking out the craft fair, but you had to pay to get in, so we just went up to the shrine. Here are some photos Travalon took.

This is a little model of the first church on Holy Hill.

This is a model of the current church.

This cross is the first religious relic on Holy Hill. It was made out of wood by some German immigrants, and it has words in German carved on it.

It was a beautiful day, so we could easily see the skyscrapers of downtown Milwaukee from the upper lever of the shrine. Then we went to the gift shop, and of course I bought rosaries. 

From left to right: a little kid's rosary that I thought was adorable, a lavender rosary I thought was so pretty, a bright pink rosary that cost almost nothing and that I hoped would glow under blacklight (nope), and a Chotki, which is an Eastern Rite chaplet on which you pray the "Jesus Prayer" one hundred times. I'm not sure why I was inspired to buy one at Holy Hill when I didn't buy one at the actual Eastern Rite monastery we went to some years ago, but this one did come with instructions. I had no idea it was kind of like yoga, but it's sort of a breathing exercise, because you're supposed to breathe in during "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God," and then you're supposed to breathe out on "Have mercy on me, a sinner." It's really hard to do this one hundred times! I did it last night. 

Here is a close-up of the little kid's rosary so you can see the smiling hearts that are the Our Father beads. So cute!

On the way home from Holy Hill, we took a walk in Oconomowoc between two of the lakes, and we also checked out that weird thing in Ixonia that looks like a fierce robot. In the evening Jilly Moose had a bonfire at her house, and a lot of Night Prayer people showed up. The ones who couldn't joined us remotely for Night Prayer. That was a lot of fun.

Today right after Mass, Travalon and I went home and changed into tie-dye to go to the Willy Street Fair. The parade was supposed to start at eleven, and we got there at quarter after and there was no sign of it, so we assumed we had missed it. However, we immediately found the West African food cart that has baobab shakes, so we got real food there too, for lunch. Just after we finished, there was a commotion, and it was the parade! Here is a video of the start of it.

We also shopped, and I was shocked to find rosaries at the Willy Street Fair. Honestly, I think this vendor might have been the same as the shop at the mall that sells alpaca wool products. The rosary on the right has square beads!

Here are some more videos of the parade. Travalon took more, and I will try to assemble his into a short movie and post it soon.

After the festival, we took a hike on Governor's Island, and then after my Irish class, we took a short boat ride. I took some photos of the moonrise and Travalon in the boat, but this photo of the remnants of the sunset was the only one that really turned out. 

We found one perfectly ripe seed head in the lotus patch in the river, so I picked it, and we each ate a seed. The little baby plant was perfectly formed in my seed, so that made me sad briefly, but the stuff inside the seed was so tasty, and anyway we already have enough lotus plants all over. We did pass one lone lotus, and Travalon said it was a lonesome lotus. I said that sounded like a song, so I made one up:

            Lonesome lotus, all by itself.

            Lonesome lotus, out on the shelf.

            Lonesome lotus, can't pollinate,

            Lonesome lotus, but it wants to mate.

            Lonesome lotus will never have seeds,

            Lonesome lotus, but it has needs.

I feel like there was an equally bad song I came up with yesterday or earlier today, but my readers are spared because now I can't remember it at all.

Famous Hat