I Graduated from Physical Therapy

 

Yesterday I didn't blog because there wasn't much to say. I brought a pot to work to transplant my black ZZ plant, since it has been struggling for a while, and when my green one was struggling, putting it in a bigger pot fixed the problem and now it is so happy. However, when I took the black ZZ plant out of its pot, it wasn't root-bound but in fact had hardly any roots. I put it in the bigger pot anyway, but it will probably die. What a bummer. Then at lunch I brought our mousetrap, which had gotten out of whack when Travalon released the mouse, to Hardingfele so she could fix it, but she couldn't fix it. However, you can get two for $10 so we might as well just get new ones. The day was topped off by a meeting where they explained why in the new system it would make sense for us financial people to create all expense reports instead of our current system where the traveler creates it and then we approve it, which should be about 100 times more work for us. I was exhausted by the time Travalon came to pick me up.

Today I was glad to work from home because I was really feeling under the weather in a vague sort of way, but nothing I could name. I had my physical therapy session (and wore a mask), and the physical therapist said I had made so much progress that I don't need a fourth session in two weeks. That should have made me happy, but I was really dragging. When I finally got around to checking my daily readiness on my FitBit, which is usually between 50-80, it was 11. The FitBit knew I was sick. I tried to work a bit but took a couple of hours off in the afternoon. I felt woozy and lightheaded, but I couldn't sleep so I watched the Super Bowl halftime show, which had offended all the worst people. It was six years ago when I was horrified by the racism people were spewing about the halftime show, but by now I'm so used to it that I'm like, whatever, haters gonna hate. And by now I know who the haters are in my old crowd, so it's no longer an unpleasant surprise. Another thing I noticed is that a lot of the ads were subtle or not so subtle digs at the current administration, with a lot of emphasis on equality for women and minorities, and peace and love abounding.

Today on social media people were chattering about how the Pope sent a letter to the US bishops that was a smackdown of our esteemed veep, who has been Catholic for like five minutes and so thinks he is more qualified to talk about matters of faith than the Pontiff. I can see that the Church in this country might split into two, one side faithful to Rome and the other wallowing in the Christofascism that this current administration is threatening to put in place. There seem to be a lot of high-profile converts, almost exclusively white men, who have brought their Evangelical outlook with them into the Church, but we the normal people in the pews don't want it. A lot of the clergy seem to have bought into it, and even bishops, but there are priests who are still faithful to traditional Catholic teaching, like the one at the church on the far east side where we have been going. The great thing about that church is that it isn't lily-white, and I have seen little girls there in princess dresses and a boy wearing a Darth Vader costume except for the mask. Everyone is welcome, just as they are - no gatekeeping there! In fact, they put the words to the prayers up on a screen so nobody has to feel like they aren't a "real" Catholic because they don't know the Confiteor by heart. This is the joyful, loving church I remember from my childhood. This is the Catholicism of St. Francis, my hero. If this country becomes like China, and there is a state-approved church, I'll be up against the wall for staying faithful to Rome. If it ever comes to that, I hope I have the nerve to shout, "Viva Christo Rey!" like Padre Pro as they shoot me.

Famous Hat

The Prairie Flowers

 

Today after Mass there was another meeting of the Care for Creation team. We started with a prayer taken from Laudato Si, and there was one line that was so beautiful, something about how we are connected to everything as we journey toward the eternal light. It reminded me of how in the In-Between Time I thought all humans were bad and destructive, so I didn't want to have any children. This shows that actually many of them aren't, and maybe my children would have been good people who cared for creation, if I taught them right. I was sort of useful, adding an idea for the Lenten calendar, and when they bemoaned that their old website had disappeared when their parish merged with another one, I said, "Could you find it on the Way-Back Machine?" Most of them had no idea what I meant, but one guy said, "Archive.org - that's a great idea!" So now we won't have to start from scratch with our new website. One guy had come up with a really great logo of Our Lady Queen of Apostles (the name of the new, merged parish) holding the Earth in her hands. Meanwhile, Travalon was antiquing, and he found some books of Beetle Bailey and magazines about the Beatles, and also this adorable Lewis and Clark bear:

We went straight to the East Side Club to see a band called the Prairie Flowers, three ladies who sang with gorgeous harmonies. Travalon made a video of them doing "California Dreamin'" that I will have to post to YouTube, if that is ethical, and then link it here. It's too large to just post to the blog. Here are a couple of photos of them.

At first only a few people were there, mostly friends of the band I suspect, but soon more people started to arrive. The band was playing for three hours, but at their second break we left because we needed to run to the greenhouse before it closed so I could get plant supplies (no plants), and then we took a walk on Governor's Island. It was a cold day, but sunny, and not too much wind.

At band practice tonight the guitarist seemed thrown off by me on "Pennsylvania Polka," where she plays straight chords and I play ornaments, but this time she started playing in the rhythm of my ornaments. Then I made the mistake of suggesting we try some slip jigs we used to play, because they are modal and awesome, but nobody seemed to remember them, and the bassist got annoyed to waste the time on them during our second-to-last practice before our gig in two weeks. (Sunday the 22nd at the Spring Green General Store, I believe 1-3.) Meanwhile, Travalon checked out a rocking Super Bowl Party at the Willows Bar. Look how many people were there!

I hate both the Eagles and the Chiefs, the latter mostly just because they have won so many times lately so I was slightly more in favor of what Travalon has been calling "The Filthy Birds." (As opposed to the Dirty Birds, aka the Atlanta Falcons.) I said I only cared about the halftime show by Kendrick Lamar, but Hardingfele looked at social media during a lull in our practice and said everyone was saying how boring the halftime show was. She showed me the score, and it was like 24-0 the Eagles, so we speculated that The Evil Orange Thing (who was supposedly at the game) had bet on the Eagles and let Mahomes the Chiefs quarterback know, so he was purposely losing in order not to piss off Dear Leader. The Chiefs did come back to life in the second half, but it was too late and they lost by a lot. Not sure how I feel about any of this. I also heard that Taylor Swift (who is dating one of the Chiefs' players) got booed by the crowd. I'd say I don't want to live here anymore, but in fact nothing in my immediate surroundings is as stupid and horrible as the stuff on the news. Let's hope Dear Leader never notices we even exist.

Here are a couple of photos Travalon took on Friday evening. This is an icon of John Coltrane at Cafe Coda. I may have posted a photo of this before.

This is the Weary Traveler across the street. They always light up their canopy different colors.

Sometimes it's lit up like a rainbow. I love that.

Famous Hat

Brazilian Band and Wild Game Feast

 

Yesterday I worked from home, and on my lunchtime walk I saw a dead deer by the side of the road. Otherwise it was an unremarkable day until the evening, when Travalon and I went to Cafe Coda to see a Brazilian band. There was also Brazilian food for sale, and we tried a chicken pie, palm heart pies, kale soup, guava cheesecakes, a coconut cake, and a sort of chocolate pudding - everything was very small and cheap, so it was easy to try the whole menu, and it was all delicious! The music was wonderful too.

Someone was playing a special drum that sounded a little like a yelping dog, but I could never figure out which drum it was. Someone else was playing a small instrument that looked like a ukulele, so when the band took a break, I asked him about it. He said it was actually tuned like a mandolin, so I said I could just pick it up and play it, and did his band need another player? He said what I should do is join this local Brazilian percussion group, so I sent them an email. As my regular readers know, my dream has always been to play in a salsa band, but why not a samba band? I love Brazilian music just about as much as Cuban music. They are very busy now because Carnaval season is upon us, but this spring they will hopefully get in touch with me. 

Today Travalon and I had a quiet day of hanging around the house. It felt good at first to be so lazy, but I needed more exercise than our one mellow walk around the neighborhood, so after a while I headed back out and ran into a neighbor with a very energetic little dog. She always lets the leash go so Lucy runs to me, and this time I grabbed the leash and ran with Lucy, who was loving it, although I think her owner was caught off-guard. It felt so good to run! I think Lucy also really enjoyed it, since her owner is over 80 and almost certainly never runs with her.

We were supposed to go to Milwaukee (technically West Allis) with Cecil Markovich for a wild game dinner to support the local tamburitza band, but the weather was iffy. We did ultimately decide to risk it, and it was snowing a bit as we left town, but nothing too wild. We made it there without any issues except that parking at the VFW Post was already full, so we had to park a ways down the street. The hall seemed very crowded, with long, narrow tables too close together, but we did find three seats by a friendly former Navy nurse. She was there alone and seemed glad for the company. The wild game feast was aptly named: there was venison, elk chili, pheasant gumbo, squirrel stew, rabbit, and goulash that didn't list what sort of game was in it, as well as salad, rolls, carrots, and something kind of like polenta that was supposed to be a traditional Croatian food. (It was really good with the chili.) The rabbit was mostly bones, but everything else was so tasty. I was so full after all that... and then they brought out the homemade desserts. I had the banana pudding and the thing that was a brownie on the bottom and cheesecake on the top, but I couldn't eat anything else. They did bring out leftover containers, so Travalon took a bunch of the game dishes, Cecil took a bunch of venison sausage, and I took some desserts I hadn't had room to try. 

We had thought the tamburitza group was going to entertain us during dinner, but they came out, played the US and Croatian national anthems, then played maybe three more songs and were done. To be fair, they were all kids. I think I could play a tamburitza, which is like a small mandolin. I'm beginning to wonder if that thing Travalon got me in an antiques shop years ago was a tamburitza rather than a bouzouki. People tell me it's too small to be a bouzouki, but tamburitzas are small.

Travalon had bought tickets for the 50/50 raffle, so we felt like we had to stay until they drew the numbers. However, there was an interminable drawing for prizes on a gift table before that, which was only made longer because apparently people had left or were paying no attention, since they had to call most numbers five times and then give up and draw a new one. I was surprised, since the gift table drawings at the Shamrock Club parties are a huge deal, and everyone is eagerly waiting to see if their number is drawn so they can leap up and select whatever piece of Celtocrap most catches their fancy. A few people at this gathering would cry, "I won! I won!" and leap out of their seats, but there sure were a lot of tickets drawn that got no response from the crowd. Maybe the prizes weren't that appealing? But one kid (I think from the band) won a beautiful black T-shirt with a tawny design on it that matched the hoodie he was wearing perfectly, as I noticed when he pulled the T-shirt on over his hoodie, and some other people got gift baskets that looked appealing. Cecil said we should leave by 8:45 if they still hadn't gotten to the 50/50 drawing, but finally around 8:30 they announced the winner would receive around $650, which shocked me, since most 50/50 jackpots seem to be around $200. Anyway, that's good news for the tamburitza group, since that means they also got $650. Alas, we did not win, so Cecil was unable to claim his 30% cut for telling us about the dinner in the first place, a share he informed us of when we heard the jackpot total. So we left and headed out on our long walk back to the car, and as we got to it, the clock read 8:45, so I pointed out that we were leaving right when we said we would. Anyway, it was a fabulous evening, and I won't need to eat again for a week... and my diet app would agree with that, once I saw how many calories I consumed tonight.

Famous Hat 

Day of Freebies

 

This was a crazy day from start to finish. I woke up from a dream where Travalon and I had stumbled upon a business that would paint a portrait of a couple as royalty, and we were debating whether to get our portrait done as King Travalon and Queen Famous Hat. (But I woke up, so I'll never know if we went for it.) Then I had no idea how icy it was until braking and feeling the car slide. When I got to the parking lot and walked to the shuttle, the shuttle driver must have been laughing at me because I was walking so cautiously over the icy ground that it took me like five minutes to get to him. Then after he dropped me off, I went to cross the street, but the dip in the sidewalk was unsalted, so I hung onto a railing and then clung to a stop sign. A car stopped at the stop sign and waved to me to pass him, but I waved him through because it was going to take some time to get my footing. Once across the street, I was doing the careful penguin walk when an undergrad walked boldly past me... and immediately fell on her tush. I asked, "Are you okay??" and she was, just embarrassed.

Mid-morning I was trying to stay awake during a meeting about student payments. I arranged some of my creatures at work that are in primary colors and took a photo.

I asked questions in the chat, and other people asked really good questions, but the leader just kept saying, "We'll get to that later." Screw your Power Point, just let us ask relevant questions and answer them! So when it was done I went out into the hall and ran into a couple of grad students, and I said, "I'm so sleepy, but it's too icy to walk outside." They said they were running to the cantina, and did I want some coffee? Did I like it black? I said, "No, I do like some cream in it," and they said, "How about a latte with whole milk? That's what we always get." I blinked in surprise. "Yes! That's what I always order! And they ask if I want a flavor shot in it, but I say, 'Coffee is a flavor, or how could there be coffee-flavored ice cream?'" and they said, "Exactly!" Then they brought me a huge latte that I had with my lunch, and they didn't even want me to pay them for it, plus they said the ice had melted outside, so I took a long, satisfying walk.

In the late afternoon Hardingfele told me her coworker had three tickets to a touring Broadway show called Shucked that she was giving away, and would Travalon and I want to go? I said Travalon would probably not be interested, but I could ask; however, she had already asked her other coworker, the one I have mentioned on this blog before who goes to the church we now go to. Hardingfele said I should call her Crochet Girl. I took the shuttle to my car and then drove to my old church downtown, where the other two met me. The Globe and Himal Chuli were packed, so we went to Ian's Pizza, which worked out for me because I had gotten a coupon for a free slice of pizza when I donated blood last week. Then the three of us found our seats, and the woman sitting on the other side of me somehow became my new best friend - we were laughing about all the dirty lines in this play, and at intermission she said she could get us all free wine because she is a sponsor. Wow! What an unexpected turn this day took! Free coffee, free pizza, a free show, AND free wine! Life is good!

Famous Hat

Operation Mouse Release Is a Success!

 

It started when Travalon and I were sitting in the living room and we heard a sound in the kitchen. We looked at each other and wondered if something had fallen off of the shelf, but it was methodical, someone dragging something. Was there another person in the house? We went into the kitchen and saw nothing. 

"I think we have a mouse," I said.

Then I started to find things that made no sense, like an empty prescription bottle that had fallen on the floor and had a hole chewed in the cap.

"This has got to be a mouse," I said, although I had no idea why a mouse would chew something like that.

Hardingfele said she had a live trap, and it wasn't a moment too soon, because Travalon said he saw the mouse run under his chair. So Monday at work I got the live trap from her... and forgot to set it that night. I did mention the problem at our condo board meeting, since we are paying an exterminator to come by every month, and what are we paying for if we have mice? The others said they had mice too, and one told me his cat once got trapped in the wall trying to catch a mouse. They thought he was lost, so they went all over the neighborhood looking for him, until they heard him yowling in the wall, and they had to punch a hole in the wall to rescue him. That was years ago - they have a girl cat now, the one we have taken care of a couple of times while they were on vacation. I suppose living next to a marsh, we're at high risk, but we've lived here a decade and never had a problem until now. Plus we live on the second floor, but apparently mice can climb?

Yesterday morning I saw the mouse scurry across the kitchen floor. Last night I set the trap, and this morning the mouse was in it. Travalon took the trap to the woods and got the mouse out of it, and it sat there shocked for a moment in the cold, after our warm kitchen, and then it ran up a tree. I didn't even know they could do that! Operation Mouse Release was a success! However, Hardingfele says if you have one mouse, you have lots of mice, so I guess we'll just keep setting the trap until we don't catch any more mice. Hopefully they haven't made even more mice already...

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I'm a Published Writer!

 

I totally forgot the big news yesterday: I am a published writer! My Guideposts for February/March came a few days ago, and I hadn't had a chance to look at it. I had completely forgotten that my article (for which I have already been paid $50) was going to be in that issue until yesterday, when a package from Guideposts came in the mail, and I remembered that they were going to send me ten extra copies to give to family and friends. I picked up the single issue that had already come and turned to the back page, and there it was!! My article! And the photo of me even looked really good! So now I have been published somewhere besides the side of a bus, and I have been paid for my writing for real, not just the paltry money I get from having monetized this blog.

Not too much happened today; I worked from home and went to Adoration. But I did forget to mention that yesterday the condo board president and his wife had a big container of fortune cookies from Lunar New Year, so they gave me two as I was leaving the meeting, one for me and one for Travalon. Mine said that I should work in education, which struck me as funny because I am not an educator, but I do work at a university. Travalon's said that he would find something he had been looking for, and he lost something on our trip, so maybe...? Here's hoping!

Here is a photo of some rocks I have collected lately.

I cannot remember where I got the lovely, smooth rocks on the top row - I think maybe along a lakeshore. The striped rock on the bottom row is from right outside our building, where there are a lot of rocks, and I think maybe the smiley face rock was too. My whole life I have been one to pick up interesting rocks. Now it's a more expensive hobby when I buy crystals, but I still find free ones outside.

Famous Hat

Wacky Weed on My Lunchtime Walk

 

I have some amazing news for all my readers: Jerry the Kraken is back in stock on the Crystal Palace webpage! So if you want your own Jerry, this is the time to get one! He's 16 pounds plus 12 pounds shipping. (That's price, not weight.)

Today my colleague was working from home, so at lunch I walked with Hardingfele. We went into the Horticulture greenhouses on campus, and look what they're growing.

They're also growing this, which is definitely not marijuana, and I don't think it's a Jack in the Pulpit either, but that's what my phone says it is.

After work we had a condo board meeting, and the big news is that the only unit in the association with teenagers living in it has other teenagers sneaking into the windows, which freaks out the neighbors. I don't think this is so unusual for teenagers, and it's not against the bylaws, so there isn't much we can do anyway. Do people not remember being seventeen?

My uncle took this amazing photo on Saturday, out in Colorado. I love the sun dogs, the rainbows around the sun. It looks like they have marginally more snow than we do.

Here are some photos Travalon took yesterday of the geese at Cherokee Marsh.

And the Muskrat Lodges, Resorts and Conference Centers:

This is the young eagle fleeing the geese. It looks like they had given up the chase by then.

There were a few mallards too.

I think these red shrubs are dogwood.

This is the island we sometimes go past on our boat.

Today is the anniversary of the Day the Music Died, when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash in 1959. So take a moment to remember them.

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Sunday Afternoon Antiquing

 

This morning Travalon watched Crystal Palace, and they beat Manchester United 2-0! Wow! As you may remember, that is the same score the Wolves won by yesterday. Jerry and Roy Jr. rejoiced.

When we go to Mass at the church on the far east side, we like to sit on chairs in the back, and then they even bring you communion! Only today did it occur to me that these chairs are for the elderly, but there are always empty ones, so it's not like we're stealing a spot from someone who needs it more. Also, with my bad knees, I can't really kneel right now so maybe it's appropriate to sit there since I wouldn't be able to kneel in a pew anyway. Still, I feel too young to have to sit in the "handicapped seats." When I told Tiffy about this as we had brunch with her after Mass, she said, "The sad thing is, probably nobody would say anything to you, since you're not twenty-something and sitting in those seats. We are getting old." But mostly she and Travalon reminisced about former restaurants in the Milwaukee area.

After Tiffy headed home, Travalon and I went for a walk at Cherokee Marsh. We saw a sign that we had just missed an organized walk, where apparently they looked at "drays," or as Travalon calls them, "The Muskrat Lodge, Resort, and Conference Center." They did have snacks and drinks on a table.

We took a walk and saw lots of geese but no swans, although we did see a dramatic moment when a young bald eagle flew overhead, and the geese all started honking frantically, and then a half dozen or so actually chased the eagle away. We ran into the group returning, and they said to help ourselves to hot cocoa, and we also ran into a couple who told us there are swans in some area by Lone Rock and a snowy owl in New Glarus. We went to the table and indulged in some hot cocoa and peanut M&Ms, and we discussed going to see the eagle nest at Pheasant Branch, but we decided to go antiquing instead.

At the antique shop on Cottage Grove Road, Travalon said there is a whole section of stuffies. We got a couple of them: a different Irish bear than the one I have in three sizes, and a Holiday bear.

Travalon got a couple of signs, of the Hamms Bear and the Swedish Chef.

Then we went to the antiques shop near East Towne Mall, and Travalon got a Beetle Bailey comic book.

I found this unusual rosary that looked really old.

When we got home, I googled "rosary with Lorraine cross and rose quartz beads," and I found this exact rosary on Etsy being sold for ten times what I paid for it. Which makes sense, since a rosary made of brass and quartz seems like it should be worth way more than $15. Apparently it isn't antique, the woman just used antique molds to make the crucifix, medal, and centerpiece. It's a St. Joan of Arc rosary, but there was no explanation for the extra starting beads. I did find they work for kicking off a Divine Mery Chaplet, since you start with the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Apostles' Creed, and there are three beads. 

Does anybody really know what time it is? Yes, Chicago - it's time for some DuoLingo bragging!

When I told Tiffy that I'm doing the Math course, she wondered what I was learning, and I said, "Right now, negative numbers, fractions, and decimals." She asked if I hadn't learned all that in school, and I said, "I did, but I'm hoping eventually this will teach me calculus," since I took both choir and orchestra senior year of high school instead of calculus, and I didn't need any math at university for my majors. Though it would probably be more efficient to just buy a calculus textbook.

Tonight at band practice our sound didn't really coalesce. I don't know if it was missed chords on the guitar, strange harmonies on the violin, someone inserting an extra measure, or probably all of the above. I got there a little late, and I apparently missed a discussion about the unelected illegal alien taking over the treasury, so I can see how that would get people worked up. It is all very strange, and people are commenting that liberals aren't protesting much, but I think we're all sort of wondering if this country is even worth saving, considering that a majority of people voted for this. Also, I think we're wondering if these charter members of the Dunning-Kruger Club will just destroy themselves with their own idiocy, and then we can clean up the mess at that point. Hopefully it's not too big a mess...

Famous Hat

Teeny Erin Bear

 

Today I met Tiffy for an early lunch at the Globe, then we drove to First Unitarian for a free concert. We got there quite early, and just as we got out of the car, the Professor Formerly Known as Lute Player called my name, so we sat with her and her husband. The concert was the dedication of a new small portative organ with wooden pipes that had a lovely sound, and our local harpsichordist played a number of Baroque pieces on it before he was joined by a cello, a violin, a soprano, and a baritone for some Handel and Bach. I saw not one but two of the faculty from my department there, which surprised me since I have never seen them at any other early music concerts in town. An odd coincidence: they are both Capricorns, like me. Also both women. I didn't really get a chance to talk to either of them because they were in the middle of conversations with other people. One person I didn't see there is the director of the press where I used to work, who is a man and a Scorpio but is often at these concerts because his wife is a professor of early music. We also ran into one of the people who used to go to the Slow Food dinners, which ended with the pandemic, and the organizer is still terrified of COVID so we talked about resurrecting the group without her.

First Unitarian is very close to Picnic Point, so Tiffy and I took a long, brisk walk to the end of it, and then we warmed up with warm bubble tea and just chatted for a couple of hours. Then we went to Sushi Red for my birthday dinner, only one month late. We split duck dumplings and a lobster Thermidor for appetizers and then a rainbow roll and a dragon roll (both with forbidden rice, the black stuff) for our main course, and we both had a mango daiquiri. They gave me a free lychee sorbet with a candle in it for my birthday, even though I explained that it had been a month ago, since the waitress's first question was if we were celebrating anything today, and I was like, "Yes, well..." Tiffy had a flourless chocolate cake that I helped her finish. The restaurant had a wonderful ambiance, with mood lighting and trance music in the background. 

When I got home, Travalon told me about his day. He met an old high school buddy for lunch and hung out with him for a few hours, then he went antiquing and found a tiny Irish bear for me, and then he went to a high school basketball game. When I got home, he was watching the Wolverhampton game that he had recorded, and he had no idea how it would turn out, but they won 2-0! So it was a really good day for him too.

Here is the tiny Irish bear.

Isn't she cute? Erin Bear - that's the name on the package. Yes, she was still in her package and had been for almost thirty years. How pathetic - someone just bought this at a McDonald's in the late 90's and kept it to be a collector's item instead of snuggling her like she deserves, and in the end they sold it at an antique shop for $2. But now Erin Bear is with people who appreciate her!

Famous Hat

In the Presence of Greatness

 

I forgot to mention yesterday that when I went to give blood, it was during class change time so it took forever for the elevator to come. Then I realized my phone wasn't in my coat pocket, and I needed it because my Quick Pass was on it, so I had to wait for the elevator again. I got up to my office, and my phone wasn't there!... because it was in the pocket of my jeans. Sigh. Then I just missed the bus and had to wait for the next one, yet somehow I was only three minutes late to give blood. They didn't even care, but of course my pulse was racing and my blood pressure was kind of high. Still, they took my blood.

Today I worked from home, and I was horrified by the paltry tip a faculty member left when he submitted an expense report for a business dinner. I asked him if everything was okay, and if he realized that we're allowed to leave 20% tips on business meals, but apparently he had no idea he'd been a cheapskate; he said he thought 15% was fine, and I said no, this was 12.5%. As a former waitress, I can only imagine how gutted the server must have felt. Was it bad of me to bring it up? I also wasted a lot of time trying to follow the instructions on a sandwich chain's website to create a tax-exempt account, just to realize I was following the directions correctly, but the link for loading the form is no longer on the website. 

Behold Travalon's big task at work today: holding this stuffy as a kid was swinging.

Ah! I cannot handle the cuteness!! My job does not involve nearly enough stuffies.

This evening Travalon and I went to the Lakeside Coffee House to see the Madison Classical Guitar Society. We used to go see them there quite a bit, but it has been awhile. Of course the brother-in-law of the Daughter of Denni was there, but he told us he had played before we got there. He played again, and a married couple played some bossa nova numbers, and there were other really good players too, but this guy named Peter really blew us away. You know how every now and then you know you are in the presence of greatness? I felt that tonight. Someone said he was hoping to get into the Master's program at the university, but I don't think he needs any more training. He's already amazing.

Famous Hat

Doubly Ironic Day

 

I forgot to mention that on Tuesday I felt a strong compulsion to wear the hoodie Travalon had brought me from Split Rock, and then the physical therapist said I was now his favorite patient because Split Rock is his favorite place, and he told me all kinds of cool stories about when he went to college in Duluth. Then he said I don't have to do my two easiest exercises anymore, but he replaced them with two really hard ones. He did say I got an A+ for my work, which is surprising because I was not that great about doing the exercises he had assigned the first time, but my knee has improved so I must be doing something right.

Today I worked on campus, and I took a long lunch to give blood. The phlebotomist told me to take it easy the rest of the day, and so did my FitBit, so I took the bus to the blood donation spot and back. In the afternoon I had a meeting, and the elevator that goes right there has been out of order for like nine months, so usually I just take the stairs. However, today I hunted down the other elevator in the building, since I was supposed to take it easy. It was a very productive meeting where at first people were just talking about how the ARTs are such a great idea, blah blah blah, and then it got tense when the committee chair got on their case for not having any shared governance representation, but by the end we were all happy because they agreed to a committee. The chair knows who he wants on it: me and two of my Union buddies. The person he definitely doesn't want is the guy who asks really strange questions all the time, who is going to be in an ART and would love to be on this committee, so no doubt he'll apply when the call goes out. There's a committee to choose members of all committees, so this guy won't be chosen. It made me feel like I was part of some back room dealings. There's something in me that loves politics, and also trying to make things better for everyone.

Two things about today were ironic: I didn't have time to take a walk at lunch because of the blood donation when the weather was so nice, and I was trying to take it easy but got 40 cardio load when my FitBit wanted me to only get 16-25, while on days that I'm trying to get exercise it says I only get like 30 cardio load. Maybe it's because I was on campus - I always get more vigorous time on those days.

Travalon has colored a picture for the Year of the Snake.

He says he will also soon provide a photo of his work in the Beatles coloring book, so watch for that.

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Happy Year of the Snake! (Post Is Unrelated)

 

Today was a comedy of errors. When I got to the parking lot where we catch the shuttle, I put my coffee mug on top of the car as I was getting other stuff out (computer and backpack), and it fell off. To my surprise, the lid popped off, and all my coffee spilled all over the ground. Sigh. Then I got to work and plugged in my computer, but it refused to boot up. My coworker had a question for me, and then we talked for half an hour before I checked on my computer, which was now on... and showing me the reminder that I was meeting my colleague for an open house at a campus conference center. It was already ten minutes past the time we were supposed to meet, so I grabbed my phone to text her... and saw she had been frantically texting me. I told her, "On my way!" and walked at top speed to a campus conference center... but not the right one. Finally I got there, we ate some yummy food (and I had coffee), and we took the tour. It started late, and one woman had a million questions, so then I was running late for our 10 am weekly staff meeting. I walked as fast as I could back to my building... and as I was approaching the conference room, the others all poured out of it. How come they have a short meeting when I'm not there, but never when I am there? Do I talk that much?

I was tired and sore, but my colleague wanted to walk at lunch too, so we did. I even took my afternoon break outside, since the weather was so mild for this time of year, but I walked very slowly. Now my FitBit, that has been yelling at me for getting about 30 cardio load a day when it wants me to get 50-70, is mad because I got 117 cardio load today (again, I have no idea what the units are), so it yelled at me several times to take it easy. You just cannot please that thing. I am really feeling it now, and I'm walking like a little old lady, very slowly with small steps. In my experience, when I overdo it, the next day is awful, but the day after that it's like nothing ever happened, and I'm back to normal. Of course, tomorrow I have to walk across campus to give blood, so not the best day to be limping around. 

My colleague told me two hilarious stories this morning. The first one is about her, and it's important to know that English is not her first language. Her sons were going to Boy Scout camp or something, so she had to get insect repellent. She went into the store with them and asked the guy working there where she could get "dick repellent," and then he and her sons laughed at her. Of course she meant "tick repellent."

The second story was a coworker of hers who went to a fertility doctor because she was having trouble getting pregnant, and he helped her. Later they were out somewhere and her husband spotted the doctor, and he loudly said, "Look, Honey! There's the doctor who got you pregnant!" Ha!

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Slipjig at the Malt House

 

Today I worked from home, and at first my work computer wouldn't start - it would just smile at me.

I thought, "Oh no, is this going to be a reprise of yesterday?" but by the end of the day all the knots from yesterday were untangled. After work I went to Adoration, then I met Travalon at the Malt House to hear a band called Slipjig. Daithi was in the band, as he seems to be in every band, like Currach (another Irish band that we go listen to at Alt Brew) and Yid Vicious, a klezmer band. However, at the break I was talking to the mandolin player who had been to my left at the Irish session on Sunday (the older one, not the critical young hot one), and Daithi came over and said he was substituting for someone else. He seemed to know who I was, except that he thought I was an Irish teacher, so I had to admit that no, I am merely a student of the language. I'm starting to feel like Daithi is our local equivalent of that horn player Travalon and I saw in New Orleans years ago, where we saw three different bands on three different nights, and he was in every single one.

My cuddly rosary is so red, I noticed for the first time today that it seems to glow in the sun. And that usually means a thing will glow under blacklight. I hadn't thought of it in all these years, because usually neon colors like pink and orange and lime green glow, but red can too. Check it out!

And this photo doesn't even do justice to how beautiful the red wool looks under the blacklight.

The Professor Formerly Known as Lute Player had sent me an article about how a town in Germany that shares my married name is not allowed to use their slogan "I Love Wank" by the Ski Federation because while the word in German just means a slope or a bend in a river, it means self-pleasuring in British English. She said this is an example of the Scunthorpe Problem, where innocuous words can be banned by computer programs, because the name of the town in England contains a vile word for female genitalia. Apparently some computer programs will replace offensive words with less offensive ones, so for example one program replaced the word "ass" with the word "butt." Not sure why that is an improvement, but it did result in this wondrous word for the killing of an important personage: buttbuttination. I love that it is completely pronounceable. 

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The Mondayest of Mondays

 

Travalon unexpectedly had the day off of work today because there was no school, so he met his brother for lunch, went antiquing, visited his parent's graves, had coffee at two different places, and just generally had a relaxing day off. I, however, was at work and had the Mondayest of Mondays. It started when my boss messaged that he wasn't feeling well so he was working from home, which he seems to do a lot on Mondays. (Of course, the couple of times I said I wasn't feeling well and was going to work from home, he insisted that I take a sick day instead because if I was too sick to come in, then I was too sick to work.) So fine... but then he kept sending me messages as I was trying to get other work done, about a situation that didn't directly involve him. It seems one of our visitors has a flight with a nearly 24-hour layover, and I didn't notice because I had to book ten other flights that week, but the guest said the flight was okay before I booked it. The person in charge of his visit just noticed, so I emailed the guest, who reiterated that he didn't care, but the person in charge cares. However, at this late date we could only get a first-class flight, which is not allowed. If the guest says he doesn't care, then why does everyone else? Maybe he wanted to spend a day in that city. At that point I was thinking maybe I wouldn't mind having a different boss, as I will in a few months.

The second thing was that I had approved an expense report that had special funding that has to be added by the approver (me), but the auditor said I never added it. I was puzzled because I knew I had done so. She sent the expense report back, and when I opened it up, there was the special funding. I said I could see it and that there must be a glitch in the system, but she just kept saying I had to add it and even sent me detailed instructions on how to do it, as if I hadn't done it hundreds of times before. I kept trying to explain that I knew how to do it, and there must be a glitch in the system because I could see it, but she just kept sending me more instructions on how to add it, as if she thought I just wasn't understanding. So that only added to my vicious mood.

The third thing was that back in December I had paid scholarships to several grad students, but one said he only got a fraction of the money. He had paid his fees already for the fall semester, and I said they shouldn't take his spring fees out of a fall scholarship, but the Bursar's office said the scholarship had to be processed by the last day of classes, and I was only told to submit it a few days after the end of classes. I had never heard this rule before, and when I walked with my colleague at lunch, she had never heard it either. Are they just making stuff up now?

In the afternoon we had a FARTwide meeting, and unlike the FART 5 meetings, where we all talked, this was just us watching a slide show about how processes will change. I couldn't really follow the flow charts, and I could barely stay awake, but afterwards my colleague asked if I wasn't concerned by the change in process. I admitted that I hadn't really followed what they were saying. All I know is everything is going to change, including who approves what. Meanwhile, Hardingfele was texting me about a dying plant she found somewhere, and did I think it was dying? I said it's already dead, judging by the photo, but she said there are green leaves, and I said I couldn't see them, so she said make the photo bigger. Why do people ask your opinion just to disagree with you? I said in that case, try to save it.

Travalon had driven me to work, so he came to pick me up at the shuttle stop in the evening, but the shuttle driver took a really wacky way back, not the usual route. I was afraid Travalon would have to wait forever for me, but we were only a few minutes late getting in. Then we went swimming, and I thought it would be relaxing, but I was so annoyed by a woman who brought a boy into the locker room who looked way too old to be there - the sign says no boys over four. Then in the pool she was on her laptop computer and totally ignoring him, which she wouldn't do if he were really young enough to be allowed in the women's locker room. He was all over the pool, so we went in the hot tub... and he followed us in there! The icing on the cake was that the machine that wrings out swimsuits so they aren't soaking wet was out of order in the women's locker room. Maybe tomorrow I will love humanity, but I'm glad to be done dealing with humanity for today!

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Golden Eagle at Sauk

 

This morning before Mass, Travalon watched Crystal Palace, and they lost. Jerry the Kraken and Roy jr. commiserated.

At Mass at the far east side church, there was another baptism. That's three in the last month. It was also the pastor's birthday, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to him right before the closing hymn. As usual at that church, the offertory and communion praise songs were contemporary, but the opening and closing hymns were classic ones, in this case "Hyfrydol" and "Thaxted," or for those of you who don't think in Hymn Tune, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" (the processional hymn at our wedding) and "O God Beyond All Praising," or "Jupiter" from The Planets by Holst. I love being able to sing them with great gusto, because nobody can hear me over the amped-up praise band.

It was a beautiful day for late January, so Travalon and I took a long walk along the canal at Tenney Park. We saw a tux duck.

We also went under or over a lot of bridges.

There was a bird party at the small pond in Waunakee, but it was very exclusive - only Canada geese.

When we got home, I went for a rosary walk and saw a little clump of snow looking up at me.

Meanwhile, Travalon was watching the Commanders play the Eagles, but there was no good news there. He took me to the Slow Irish Session, where I joined my bandmates (except Hardingfele) and my Irish teacher - we actually spoke a little Irish to each other. I chickened out once again and brought the mandolin instead of the fiddle, since it makes less noise so mistakes are less obvious, but that worked out well because we sang a bit, and it's much easier to sing while playing the mandolin than the violin. I ended up sitting between two other mandolin players; the guy on my left was quite a bit older than I am, and he only played tunes he knew because he couldn't read the music projected up on the screen quickly enough to keep up, while the guy on my right was half my age and very good-looking, and he kept saying, "You better check your A string." "You better check your E string." Travalon was laughing on the ride home as I told him about it, how if I were young I would have been devastated that someone so hot was being so critical, but at my age I'm just like, "Yeah, whatever. I could have birthed him." I did note that while there was no sexual tension whatsoever (I wasn't asking myself if he were flirting with me by noting my out-of-tune strings), had our genders been reversed, would I have thought I had a chance? The other day I saw a video where a guy was crying because women kept telling him that at 45 he was too old, and this other guy stitched in his part of the video asking, "How old are these women?" Right? A woman in her 50's will rarely harass a guy in his twenties for daring to talk to her, but a man in his fifties might mistake a woman in her twenties talking to him for interest in him. Isn't that fascinating? Or maybe just sickening?

We passed this decorated bank on our way home.

It used to be called Monona State Bank. I have the vague impression that it changed its name rather than being bought out by another, bigger bank.

We had dinner at Zippy Lube, and the background music was all French pop music, except for one song that was Brazilian pop music. They gave us free donuts because they were closing soon, and the donuts must be getting old. They are the last thing I need after too much sushi and saki yesterday - I had no idea that saki had that many calories! Yikes!! Then we went home, and Travalon watched the Bills-Chiefs game, but that was disappointing too. Yes, it will be the Eagles and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. To quote Grumpy Cat, "I hope both teams lose."

As promised, here are the photos Travalon took yesterday at Sauk.

These next photos are the alleged golden eagle, and I think it's true because you can see that his legs are bare. Bald eagles have feathers on their legs right down to their feet. We thought we saw a golden eagle at the dam some years back, and there is a male golden eagle who is known to be in the area, so this has to be him.

There were also a lot of common mergansers.

Here are goldeneyes in the foreground and mallards in the background.

More mallards. We saw plenty of them in town today too.

So I did miss something exciting at Sauk yesterday, because while golden eagles are common in some other parts of the country, they are rare around here. Still, I think we did see him a few years back. I wonder how he gets along with the bald eagles? I assume they can tell he's different. Do they think that's cool, or do they shun him? I really don't know much about eagle society.

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