Today after Mass at the church on the far east side, there was a meeting of the Care for Creation team, so I went to that. Just like last time, I had to wait a while before anyone showed up, but this time I stuck it out and people did show up. It was kind of an interesting meeting, and I was just so happy to meet actual Catholics who care about the environment. Afterwards, Travalon (who had gone antiquing during the meeting) and I went to Dairyland Restaurant for lunch, and my Spanish omelette was so tasty, but the side of fruit was old and odd-tasting, so I didn't eat more than a sample bite. Travalon really enjoyed his gyro omelette.
Then... the Packers playoff game. I kind of figured they would not beat the Eagles and would be One and Done, but for some reason the refs seemed to have it out for them, which was entirely unnecessary since they were going to lose anyway. It started with a fumbled punt return that you could CLEARLY see in the video replays was recovered by the Packers, but they gave it to the Eagles anyway, who quickly got a touchdown. They also kept calling penalties on the Packers that even the announcers were puzzled by, but they ignored a bunch of dirty tricks by the Eagles, like targeting and a face mask. When the Packers lose because they play badly, like last week against the Bears, I am bummed but not frustrated, but it's so different when you feel like every time they get some momentum, the refs shut them down. It's not every game that's like that, and in fact I remember one game where the refs seemed really biased toward the Packers and against the Lions years ago, so I felt icky when we won. But it's hard to get into the game when you feel like there are outside forces that would never let the Pack win. Still, the defense was playing so hard that I had to watch a little bit because for a short time it almost seemed like they had a chance.
I had to leave for band practice before the game was over, and Travalon drove me because he heard there would be some bad weather that never materialized. Of course the Packers lost. Hardingfele never came to practice, so I wished I'd brought my violin, since I played melody on the mandolin so the one fiddle wouldn't be alone. On one song I made up a harmony, as I often do, and this time the guitarist said, "Sing that harmony." I said, "There are no words," and she said, "Sing la la la - I'll do the same on the melody." So okay, that's what we did. I was joking that Hardingfele didn't come to practice because she - true story - had a mouse in her office, so she caught it in a live trap but felt it was too cold to release it outside so she LET IT GO IN HER BASEMENT AT HOME. Where she owns like FIVE CATS. Maybe she missed band practice because she had to clean up what was left of that mouse. Just sayin.'
If you think that is the craziest crazy I dealt with today, then let me tell you about a friend who called and asked if I wanted to go to the World Cup. Now I am not usually asked to do something a year and a half in advance, except maybe weddings, but even those aren't usually planned that far in advance. The World Cup will be held in 2026 in Mexico, Canada, and the US, and this friend said we should go to a game in the US. I said hopefully they would have one in Chicago, and she said she thought they would have one here in Madison. Why? You will never in a million years guess why she thinks that. It's because of the big bendy buses that the city recently acquired. OF COURSE!! Why else would the city have invested in mass transit but for a major soccer game? I managed to keep a straight face until the call was over, and then Travalon and I lost it. He said there would be Brazilians on the Bendy Bus, and I thought that would make a good blog post title.
Here is a video of me playing "Hot Cross Buns" on my toy clarinet that sounds like a demented harmonica.
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