Splash Pad and Zoo

 

Friday I worked half a day, then I met Tiffy downtown and we got lunch at the Globe restaurant, sitting outside. We walked down to the Union and got ice cream, we sat on the Terrace for a while, then we walked back up to her sister's place until getting some dinner at Himal Chuli. Then we drove to the outside theater and watched A Raisin in the Sun with the Dairyman's Daughter, Cecil Markovitch, and the Single B-Boy. It was about a black family in Chicago in the 1950's, and it was so good!

Yesterday was very hot. Travalon and I met Tiffy and Jilly Moose for coffee at Fair Trade, then he left to visit his mother and hang out with his buddy, while we three ladies went to a free organ concert at the Overture Center. We saw my neighbors that I really like at the concert, but we also saw not one but two people I couldn't stand from my job at the medical school, including the person who wanted me to move Japan. We went to Dubai (the restaurant, not the place) for lunch and sat inside because it was so hot. Jilly Moose had to go to work, and Tiffy and I weren't too motivated to do anything, but eventually we went for a walk at Pheasant Branch, since it's shady there. Then we went to nearby Lakeview Park (from which you cannot see the lake), where there was a Bolivian picnic going on, but it seemed more private than the Columbian picnic Travalon and I encountered some years ago, so we didn't crash it. Instead, we went to the splash pad and got a little bit wet. We watched the kids who hung out under a bucket that fills with water and then periodically dumped on them, which was never not funny. The kids were drenched, and they loved it!! We went back to Tiffy's sister's place and compared notes on music we listened to in the 80's and 90's, then we met Rich for dinner at Taste of Sichuan downtown. There was one open table, so we took it, but midway through dinner I noticed that it was Table #4. Since four is an unlucky number in Chinese (since it sounds a lot like the word for death), I figured that was why the table was open. I took a photo and sent it to my colleague, but then I texted her right away to ask if that was rude. She just thought it was funny - most Chinese people take it as seriously as we Anglos take the whole "unlucky number thirteen" thing, which is to say not at all. Then Tiffy headed home, since severe weather was expected, while Rich and I did Night Prayer from the Holy Redeemer library on his phone.

Travalon and I got to bed at a reasonable time last night, but we still slept until 9:30, which was a half hour into our usual Mass and too late to even go to the backup Mass near us. We went to the 10:30 Mass in Waunakee, and the priest told a great story: When he was a young priest, he was giving a homily when a guy just got up and walked out. It bothered him so much he could barely concentrate on the rest of the Mass, and afterwards he caught up to the man's wife and asked if he had offended him. She just laughed and said, "Oh Father, he sleepwalks!" After Mass we went to the ZuZu Cafe for lunch (where we ran into my former coworker named after a Norse god), then Rich and Kathbert joined us to visit the zoo. There is a new red panda, and he was very lively. We also enjoyed watching the zookeepers feed the seals and a sloth, and of course the flamingos are always beautiful, and the capybaras are adorable, among the highlights. We had to rush home so I could join Irish class, but Boethius was so slow that I was 15 minutes late getting into it, even though I had booted him up before we went to the zoo. Sigh... Then my band had practice outside, and it was so humid that my mandolin kept going sharp, and my fingers were so sticky that I could barely play. Meanwhile, Travalon was at Leopold's, where they now have ice cream drinks. I foresee a trip to Leopold's in the near future...

Famous Hat