Today Travalon and I went to Mass and brunch with Rich and the two other (besides Travalon) Sagitarii for the first time in ages, and they were having very "guy" conversation about firearms and sports video games, so not the most exciting for me. It was a beautiful day, so Travalon and I went to the labyrinth at Olbrich Park. It is made of old Christmas trees and greens, and it smells wonderful. Too bad that the snow is so worn down that the footing is treacherous.
This was a mandala-like arrangement in the center of the labyrinth.
We bailed on the labyrinth and walked through the park, admiring how shards of ice had been pushed up like tiny mountains near the shore of Lake Monona.
We could see the Capitol dome and the Monona Terrace from there.
One thing we didn't see was a snowy owl. There are three in the area around Lake Monona, and other people have been posting photos of them on social media. It was even in the news! The only birds we saw were in the conservatory at Olbrich Gardens.
They were having their annual orchid display. Travalon and I took photos.
There were also some bananas, not ripe yet.
Because it was such a warm, sunny day for early February, we took a walk out in the gardens and went to the Thai Pavilion.
Here is the view from the top of the Rose Tower, so that I can truly say I have photographed this view in every season.
Since the labyrinth had been my idea, I asked Travalon what he would like to do next, and he said check out a general store on Willy Street called Hazel. He bought me this tiny, handmade monster there. It doesn't have a name yet.
I had missed Irish class for two weeks in a row, first because I didn't realize we were having it and didn't see the email (which was sent on the Saturday we were at Tiffy's house) until after it was over, and then of course last weekend I was so sick. Today I went, and we talked about vacations, so that was fun. The word for "snorkeling" in Irish is so weird (snorclail or something like that) that even our leader wasn't sure how to pronounce it. I also blew their minds by saying I lost a fight with a butterfly in Montgomery (I didn't know the word for moth), and they understood every word of the Irish but couldn't make sense of it until I explained how the luna moth was too strong for me to move her from the sidewalk to the grass. They did say I have the craziest stories, which is probably true. They haven't even heard the one about how I took a hostage in our church parking lot and forced him to help me teach catechism because he was parking illegally...
After Irish class, Travalon and I took a short walk around the neighborhood. Our neighbor still has Christmas decorations on his dock, which makes me happy.
When we came back into the house, I checked my FitBit, and I had exactly five miles. Now that I have finished the virtual Camino, I am walking the virtual Ring of Kerry. Travalon and I saw part of it during our honeymoon, and so far the street views are gorgeous. This is much shorter than the Camino, so in theory I could have my medal just in time for St. Patrick's Day - so fitting! It has ogham on it, and I am wondering if it is a secret message. Someone who did the Pyramids of Giza virtual walk said that the scarab on that medal comes off and is a decoder, so they decoded the hieroglyphics on the medal and found that they said: "Way to go!" I'm very excited to see if there is a secret message in the ogham on the Ring of Kerry medal.
No comments:
Post a Comment