Yesterday I worked from home, then Travalon and I went to a Mallards game that started out badly. The pitching was so bad that they were walking guys left and right, and the score was 4-1. Then partway through the game the Mallards caught up with the Battle Creek Battle Jacks (what's a Battle Jack? it appears to be a dog), and then they went to eleven innings. The Battle Jacks got one more run, and then the Mallards had two outs and two men on base, and a guy hit the ball deep into left field. It looked like it was going to be a home run and the Mallards would win by two runs, but it was just short and one of their outfielders caught it, so they lost by one run. Nobody was happy about the extra innings, because there was a drone show afterwards, and it got so late that a lot of people left, but it was so worth it for those of us who stayed. Here are some photos. First, Maynard on the zipline into the stadium:
This is old-school Maynard.
These are the green apple and the strawberry in the children's Healthy Snacks race. Not show: the orange.
This one also takes some explaining. Because you can return a foul ball for a hotdog (who would take that deal??? a game ball for a lousy hotdog??), they call foul balls "wieners."
This is a cocktail, specifically a brandy old-fashioned sweet:
These next two celebrate the Night Mares, the women's softball team:
This morning we slept in, then we got some stuff done around the house and even outside of it, like I finally planted the blue hosta we got at the co-op some time ago. I had found a spade while cleaning a few months ago, and today I opened it and found a tiny paper spade with embedded wildflower seeds in it and a note saying it was from a building dedication in 2011. No idea if those seeds will still germinate, but I planted the little paper spade too. We also moved some of my houseplants outside. I did see a hummingbird this morning, but I didn't get time to set up the feeder. Tomorrow (hopefully).
We ate a small, healthy lunch at home and then headed to a farm way on the south side of Fitchburg for the Madison Irish Fest. This is a three-day festival, but we were busy last night, and tomorrow we might not have time to go. Possibly, since tomorrow is at Garver Mill so much closer. We got there in time to hear the Madison Pipes and Drums, and we found a table to sit at in the shade. A woman asked if she could sit with us, and we said sure and got to talking to her, and I even talked her into joining the Shamrock Club. Some Shamrock Club people were sitting at a nearby table, and then my Irish teacher and the red-headed flute player joined us after they were done with the dancing lesson being held upstairs. I should have done that too, since I could have used the exercise, but it was so pleasant sitting outside and listening to traditional Irish bands. The food there wasn't so healthy, like you could choose between fried chicken, fried fish, or fried fish tacos, unless you wanted reuben egg rolls, which no thanks. We also got Dubai chocolate cheesecake, which means it was drizzled with pistachio cream and had those crispy things on top that are in the famous Dubai chocolate bar, and it came with a chocolate-covered strawberry and two chocolate-covered pretzels. So much for my diet that I was going to start today. We also bought some stuff; Travalon found Taytos, which are Irish potato chips, and we bought this beautiful ring for me:

And I bought myself a couple of very silly things:
We did go up into the barn to listen to a later band, and people danced to their music, but it was too Mannheim Steamroller style for my taste, so we went back out and listened to another traditional group. This is what the barn looks like inside:
The sun looked very strange as we were leaving. I tried to take a picture with my phone, and it had set by the time we had gotten home and Travalon could get his good camera.
It was a very beautiful color, but it just looked so strange. You could look right at it and it didn't hurt your eyes. Then I saw on social media that there might be northern lights tonight, so I went out and saw nothing except the crescent moon was a beautiful orange color, just like it had been last night. I asked Travalon to take some photos with his good camera.
Is this because of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires? The phone didn't give my any air quality alerts today, but as we were driving home from the Irish Fest, after a day of hanging around outside, I licked my lips and noticed they tasted like ash. Yuck! What about our lungs? Yikes!