Poke-Along Monroe

 

Last night Travalon and I had another idea for Get Kraken with Jerry: Jerry the Kraken could ask various animals how they thought Crystal Palace's season would go, and they wouldn't realize Crystal Palace is a soccer team and would answer like it's a movie theater, or a shopping mall, or a restaurant. Then finally Jerry would ask Rodrigo, who would say Wolverhampton would kick Crystal Palace's patootie. We thought this would be hilarious.

This morning we were going to take a boat ride, but I had gotten new license plates, so Travalon tried to help me put them on my car. The front one was no problem, but the back one turned into a real issue, and currently my license plate is duct-taped to my car. Since this isn't an ideal solution, Travalon agreed to drive me downtown to meet Tiffy, then she and I had lunch sitting outside at the Globe while he went to Sauk to go fishing. Eventually Tiffy and I moseyed down State Street to the Union, then after hanging out there awhile we thought we would walk down Monroe Street to an Indian restaurant for dinner, but just as we started out, we heard thunder and then saw lightning, so we went right back to the Union. There is a Sunset Lounge that didn't exist when we were students, so we went there to watch the storm over the lake. It was full of students studying, so we felt like we had to whisper, even if there was no indication that we had to be quiet. Meanwhile, Travalon had only gotten to fish for ten minutes before the storm hit where he was, so he went antiquing and then came and picked us up. We ate at the Indian restaurant, then I said maybe we should get going since we'd have to poke along Monroe. Tiffy seemed confused, so Travalon repeated that we'd have to poke along Monroe, and finally we said we'd have to make our poky way down Monroe Street, since "poke along Monroe" was not registering with her. It did make me realize that Poke-Along Monroe would be a great name for a cowboy-type character, and maybe Jerry could interview him. I immediately thought of the bull we had gotten at the Christmas market in Chicago last year, which might have had a name but we couldn't remember it. Tiffy hadn't been too impressed with our idea to have Jerry ask the other critters about Crystal Palace's season (I still think it's a funny idea), but maybe she will like the interview with Poke-Along Monroe, once we think of what that will be. She did say we sounded like we were saying Polk along Monroe, like they were two streets crossing, but I don't know of any Polk Street in Madison. He was a terrible president - he stole half of Mexico! She said her high school history teacher said Polk was the most effective president because he said he would do four things, and he did accomplish them. I said, "If three of them were 'stealing half of Mexico,' then he could be right."

Travalon dropped Tiffy and me off at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church for an early music concert, and the first thing was three madrigals by Monteverdi, so that really set the mood. There was a really great countertenor. I was spellbound, but as everyone was applauding, Tiffy pointed out that the next piece was by Haydn, so I hove a big sigh, and she laughed. I mean, it's the Wisconsin BAROQUE Ensemble! What the bleep is Haydn doing on the program? It wasn't the worst thing, but it sure wasn't Baroque. Then there was a very eerie piece by Buxtehude which I had heard before but hadn't realized was for his father's funeral, which may explain the eeriness. There were also two pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach's much older cousin Johann Michael Bach, and they were wonderful, a Telemann piece, and some stuff by composers who are not household names, and generally I can see why not. When I came home, I listened to the Buxtehude again because it's so haunting. In this spookiest of months, a spooky Baroque piece seems appropriate.

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