Today Anna Banana II couldn't get together until noon, which made Travalon very happy because then he could watch the Wolverhampton game. Unfortunately they lost 2-0 to Brighton. When Anna Banana II arrived, we drove to Horicon Marsh, stopping at Schultz's Cheese Haus for the best peanut butter cups ever and free cheese samples. Yum!
At the boardwalk we didn't see much except an abandoned nest that I assumed was a goose's, but some other people said they thought it was a swan's. There were three eggs. (Travalon took photos - I will post all the Horicon photos soon.) That couple said they had been to Horicon three times and seen a gallinule two of those times, yet I have been many times and have never seen a gallinule. Just to add to the frustration, we kept hearing one that sounded very close, but we would peer into the reeds and see nothing. I said I was glad Anna Banana II could witness this, so I would know it wasn't just my imagination that they were taunting me. Then we continued on the driving tour and saw egrets, a pair of swans fairly close to the road, and a lot of pelicans in the distance. Also, lots of little goslings.
Our next stop was the Subway in Mayville, where we had a very late lunch, and then I brought out dessert: cookies provided by a faculty member as part of the German scholarships presentation. She always gives me a little packet of them to thank me for my help.
Anna Banana II wanted the ladybug, and Travalon took the "thank you" cookie, so I took the beautiful flower, which had a solid ball of sugar in the middle. Between that and the peanut butter cup, I had plenty of sugar today!
We stopped briefly at the part where the white-headed goose used to hang out, but we had to watch the time to get to Mass by five. Anna Banana II has to go to Milwaukee tomorrow morning for a Mother's Day brunch with most of her family, so she was saying she'd have to go to a very early Mass, but we said, "There's a church right by the marsh that has Mass at five." It's Sacred Heart in Horicon (the town). Mass was fine, but there was a weird incident where the priest talked to a guy who had received communion but hadn't consumed the host, and the rest of us waited in the communion line, confused. The guy did consume the host, and the priest wanted to talk to him after Mass, but I saw him slip out right before it was over. That may be the oddest thing I've seen during a Mass since the time some people came into my old church and opened a black umbrella right in the middle of Mass. Of course, we didn't see it because they were in the back of church - only our priest saw it, and he talked about it at the end of the Mass, after the people had left. Just a reminder that there are some... interesting people out there.
On the way back we swung by Patrick Marsh, where we saw a lone pelican and a blue heron, then I asked Anna Banana II what she wanted to do during her trip to Madison, and she said go to Immaculate Heart in Monona because it's a Jubilee church and also has a shrine to the Green Scapular. We stopped by, but it was locked. Inside we could see a bunch of rosaries that looked like they were for sale. We saw a religious sister walking down the street, so we asked if she could open the church, but she said no. She did tell us what the Mass times are tomorrow. Of course, we don't need to go tomorrow, but maybe if we're in the area, I can find out what's going on with all those rosaries. There was one called a "lava rosary," and I can know no peace without finding out what that's all about. Since we were in Monona, we went to the Jamaican restaurant that catered our wedding, which was eleven years ago today. That seemed like a very fitting thing to do for our anniversary. I had oxtail stew, which is a very popular Jamaican dish I had never tried before. It was delicious. Here's to our next eleven years, and many years after!
Famous Hat
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