Two Little Handmade Rosaries

 

Today was one of those no-good, very bad, horrible days for both Travalon and me. While he was at work, a kid broke his phone and another one threw a metal object and hit him with it. I was supposed to be getting ready to take a week of vacation while Anna Banana II is in town, but there were all sorts of emergency travel requests for trips in two weeks overseas. Every time I looked up from one request, there was something else. And then my belt broke, which is terrible because the only pair of jeans and pair of shorts that fit me are too big, so I need the belt. Anna Banana II had a bad day too, but she caught the train and is now in Wisconsin. 

But I did find something wonderful today: these two little handmade rosaries!

I know, just what I need, right? More rosaries! But I can wear the bracelet one, and the one-decade one is a good size for praying while walking. So that made the day a bit better. That, and a fascinating discussion of the early church fathers and Biblical archaeology. I love that stuff!

Also, a very happy birthday to Cecil Markovitch. I hope his day was better than ours!

Famous Hat

Travalon's World Tour T-Shirts

 

Here are some photos of the baby cranes my neighbor took when she and I were out walking yesterday.

Speaking of birds, Tiffy sent me this photo of what looks like a goldfinch looking in her window.

Today we had an "emergency departmental meeting," which seems odd since we just had one last week, and we usually only have them once a month. However, this was good news - the university is letting us hire some more faculty, so the discussion was about how to focus the search.

Since Travalon and I have started doing ten minutes of cleaning (each) per day, he began cleaning out the closet in his man cave and was surprised to find shirts from his world travels that he had forgotten about. He said I should blog about that sometime, so today is that time. Behold Travalon's World Tour T-Shirts! Let's start in beautiful Brazil.

Then we can travel to the Soviet Socialist Republic.

How about a stop at the Galapagos Islands?

Here is one place I have also been to - Greece!

And I have also been to Scotland.

I hope you have enjoyed this world tour via T-shirt. If Travalon finds any more destinations, I'll be sure to post photos on this blog.

Famous Hat

Typical Tuesday

 

Today I worked from home and went to adoration, which isn't that exciting except that I had the secret code to open the back gate on our church's parking lot... but the person who told me forgot a crucial piece of information. So I frantically called Rich, who helped me. I did take a picture of Chelveston, whose name I had not settled on, but Travalon said, "What? I thought we decided that was his name!" So here is what he looks like in non-black light.

Pretty cute, huh? He's like that riddle: which is Chelveston, the chicken or the egg? Speaking of cute, the cranes have two colts (that has always struck me as weird - I want to call them chicks), and while I was out walking with my neighbor, she took a bunch of photos of them. She said she would send me the best one, but perhaps they were all bad, because she sent nary a one. She did send this photo of an iris.

And you know what else? It's always a good time for some DuoLingo bragging!

Speaking of which, it's getting late so I should get off the computer and do my DuoLingo for the evening. It got so late because I had to water the plants and do my ten minutes of cleaning, which is making a real difference. Good news! Both my purple oxalis and my polka-dot plant, which both seemed to be dead for quite a while but I still kept watering them, are coming back to life. No sign of life from my big ficus that seems to have died, but I watered it today just in case.

Famous Hat

Cacti and Pelicans and Jamming, Oh My!

 

Yesterday Travalon and I picked up my aunt and uncle, and we drove to Spring Green. My aunt is a geologist, so she really appreciated all the bluffs along Highway 60. We had lunch at the little general store, where we didn't have to deal with a crowd for Mother's Day. We sat on the back porch, enjoying the beautiful day, then we took a hike at the Nature Conservancy land full of prickly pear cacti. Travalon took some photos. In this first one, the cactus looks like a bowling pin.

This is blue-eyed grass.

There is a bluff behind the cacti with really cool rock formations.

Then we went to the dam in Sauk, where there were lots of pelicans.

They were letting water out of the dam. It was very impressive!

It suddenly got very overcast, so we got into the car. We got caught in a torrential rainstorm in Sauk and pulled over into a parking lot until it passed over us, then we headed back to Madison and could see it heading east before us. Alas, we did not see a rainbow. This isn't a very good photo, but it looked like a waterfall in the sky to the east.

We went back to my aunt and uncle's hotel room and talked awhile before getting dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant, then we jammed on their balcony again. I don't remember all the songs we did, but they were classic rock songs, and Travalon sang along. My aunt said she thought I had improved a lot, and I agree and think it was from the classic rock jam that used to happen at the East Side Club. She did make a video of us doing "Lucky Man," one of my go-to songs from the jam. We also did another one, "Norwegian Wood," and both "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart (which has a mandolin solo at the end) and the completely different tune "Maggie Mae" by the Beatles. It was so much fun that I hated to say goodbye, but we did have to work today, and they were leaving for Chicago in the morning.

The morning came way too early. I worked on campus, and my colleague was busy at lunch, plus it was drizzling, so I walked by myself under the overhang on the third floor. In the evening Travalon and I went swimming at the health club, and on the way we saw this lovely sunset.

Speaking of beauty in the sky, on Friday night as Travalon and I were coming home, I was sure I saw northern lights, but it was a bit cloudy, and I was too tired to check it out. The next day everyone had amazing photos on social media, so we should have checked it out. Saturday we stopped by Cherokee Marsh on our way home but didn't see much, just some shimmery lines in the sky. Sunday I saw nothing as I took a very late walk to get my steps for the day. This evening after swimming we saw the shimmery lines again. Would it look like a lot more if we went somewhere darker? Hard to say. Hardingfele said she went out Friday night and didn't see anything, yet people saw them in Arizona and Florida, as well as all over this state.

My brother gave Ma Hat this pretty glass flower for Mother's Day.

I forgot to even send a text. Too busy looking at cacti and pelicans and jamming to classic rock, I guess. So Ma Hat, if you're reading this, I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Famous Hat

Horicon Marsh and Hotel Jam

 

Today Travalon and I took my aunt and uncle from Colorado out to Horicon Marsh. Before we went there, they gave me a little chick made by Ma Hat out of the rest of the yarn that glows under blacklight. Check it out.

We were trying to decide on a good name for it. Claudia Von Cluckwallader? Claudia Von Hatchenberg? Chelveston? (But he was a white duck, not a yellowish chick.) We haven't settled on anything yet.

Here are some of the birds we saw today. We saw plenty of egrets.

And some blue-winged teals.

And lots of barn swallows.

And of course tons of red-winged blackbirds.

Here is another male blue-winged teal.

And another barn swallow.

In the woods we saw trilliums. Here you can see a fresh new flower that is pure white, an older one that is pale pink, and a very old one that is dark pink.

We also saw this cute little chipmunk.

There were lots of mayapples, but only a few were in bloom. Most had buds.

We did see a pair of swans.

We saw three pelicans, so it was a Three Big White Birds Day, because we never saw a whooping crane.

We saw a number of Canada goose families.

I think this is a robin sitting on its nest on the purple martins' house.

We saw this flicker on a fence.

And in the distance we saw what Travalon called a "cormorant convention."

You can see that the purple martins really are purple.

And here are some photos of us!

Look at the big beer my uncle got at lunch at the Mexican restaurant in Mayville!

We stopped by Patrick Marsh on our way back to Madison and saw a couple of great blue herons, but Travalon didn't take any photos. He also didn't get photos of the yellow warbler or the Baltimore oriole we saw at Horicon Marsh because they moved too fast. 

We went back to the hotel where my aunt and uncle are staying, and my uncle played the flute while I played the mandolin. I tried to teach him an Irish jig, "Swallowtail," then we tried to play some Renaissance pieces, but oddly we had the best luck with "The Ballad of Curtis Lowe" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, because I figured out the chords (there were only three), while my uncle jammed on a harmony on the flute, and Travalon sang. We didn't realize it, since we were out on the balcony and my aunt was in the room, but she made a recording of us. We didn't sound half bad! Maybe I'll post the video sometime.

Famous Hat