Last night Jilly Moose, OK Cap, and I drove through the snow to the Tip Top Tavern, where they had the fish fry while I had a turkey sandwich, since it was a solemnity. Then we walked across the street to the North Street Cabaret to see a band playing Cuban music. The crowd was sadly small but very enthusiastic, and I danced most of the night. Travalon came after watching the St. Peter's Peacocks win, becoming the first 15 seed to get into the Elite Eight, and then he and I danced. The band played lots of great songs I hadn't heard before and a few I knew well, like "Las Caras Lindas," so I sang along enthusiastically. Their last song of the night was "El Cuarto de Tula," which is, as my regular readers may remember, my very favorite Cuban song of all. When we were in Cuba and they performed it at the show we attended, I wept tears of joy. I was pretty happy last night too, and by the end there were a lot more people in the crowd, so to finish the song, the singer gestured for us all to sing, "Apago la vela" at the tops of our lungs. The song is about a candle falling in Tula's bedroom and starting a fire, but I assume it's a metaphor...
This morning Travalon left to hang out with his buddy, so I cleaned for hours. It occurs to me that the reason I don't clean more isn't because I hate cleaning (I certainly didn't this morning) but just that I don't have the energy for it, plus it always makes my eyes get red and watery. Of course, if I cleaned more often, I wouldn't have to do marathon cleaning sessions that zap all my energy, and maybe there wouldn't be so much dust to trigger my eyes...
When Travalon came back, we went over to the canoe launch by the dog park to look at birds, and he took some pictures. This one really shows the rings on the bill of the ring-necked duck.
I like this sequence of the male bufflehead. He's just swimming along...
... and then he looks UP! Maybe this is a mating dance.
Travalon also took some photos from our dock. I like how the crane looks like it's in a hurry to get somewhere. Another section of the mud?
We went to Tenney Park by the locks too, but there were no birds there. For some reason I had a strong urge to go to the "treasure" store on Willy Street where I have found rosaries in the past, and I found this "coffin rosary." The proprietress said they would have draped it over a coffin and then hung it on a wall with a picture of the deceased. I wondered if that deceased person was calling me to come find the rosary so I would pray for them. This isn't the first time I've felt a strong urge to go somewhere and then found a rosary. Sometimes it's not even a place I would expect to find one, like the riverwalk in Sauk, but that day they were having some sort of garage sale along it, and I found a rosary made of jade. Anyway, here is the coffin rosary.
Then we went to the little record store on Atwood, Sugar Shack, that is closing soon. I said we had done half of Street Fest without even realizing it, and we talked about going to an antiques shop on Monona Drive, but I had to get to the plant store before they closed to get some plant food. I really think the reason my plants are all sickly right now is that I ran out of plant food and haven't fed them in a long time. I did look at plants but didn't find any until seeing colorful air plants. I got a yellow one and a lavender one.
Only when I got them home did I notice that the tags on them said "enhanced," so they probably won't be as bright in a few months. But my little red air plant hasn't faded too much, and it was lonely, so now it has some friends.
Be kind - I'm going through a lot right now:
I saw that joke on social media, so I texted it to a couple of friends who aren't on social media, but they didn't get it. I'm going through a lot. A parking lot! Apparently my joke delivery over text needs some work.
Famous Hat
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