Dentists Gone Wild

 

Yesterday Travalon and I had a relaxed morning, then he headed off to help a friend move before going to visit his brother in Pewaukee and hanging around the area, and I took a rosary walk in our neighborhood before heading out to meet Tiffy downtown. It was kind of crazy on State Street because they were having an old car show, so we walked to the far side of the Square and had brunch at the Marigold Cafe, sitting outside in the shade. We decided to leave downtown completely, so we went to the North Side Lounge just as they were opening up and had lavender French sodas while sitting outside, although I spilled half of mine. (Didn't need the calories anyway.) Tiffy said she had just seen the dentist, who had done those once every five years x-rays, and they said her jaw was deformed on the left side. She was concerned, thinking it had to do with aging, but they looked at her x-rays from five years ago and it was the same, and it was the same ten years ago, so when they suggested procedures to fix this, she said no thanks, I just have a weird jaw. It might have been from a very old injury; her sister said she got hit in the head by a swing when she was little. I said it feels like dentists are just making stuff up now, because my new dentist said my gums are too top-heavy and I need a $700 surgery that wouldn't be covered by insurance so they don't recede so fast, and I was like no, thanks, I'm good. 

We wanted to take a walk at Cherokee Marsh, but the road to the part I always go to had a police blockade because of some golf tournament, so we went to the part by the School Road boat launch and walked on trails there. We found a bench overlooking the whole marsh and sat there awhile talking, then we went to the Kwik Trip near my house and bought some cold beverages to drink on our dock. We went to Sultan for dinner, and while we were eating, we saw a hot pink Tesla cybertruck drive by. Now I have seen a number of these abominations, but only in boring silver-gray, never hot pink. I didn't get a photo. I did, however, get a photo of the sign outside of the restaurant.

After that we went to the roof of her sister's building and sat outside talking. It was a gorgeous night, and I took some photos to prove it.

Travalon sent me some photos of the wildlife he saw from his brother's house.

He also made a video of a very fast train in Pewaukee, but it will take some editing that I don't know how to do yet before I can post it. 

Today at Mass it was Pentecost, and I wondered if they would play a rock version of the sequence or just skip it, but it was worse than that - they broke my heart by doing the sequence to the tune of "Ode to Joy," not one I like at all. I just gritted my teeth and reminded myself that the words were still just as moving. After that we met Tiffy for brunch at the Honduran bakery in Monona, and then we went to Olbrich and walked around the conservatory. Why is only one banana in this bunch ripe??

Here are some other flowers.

We had to leave so I could get to my Brazilian drumming lesson, so Tiffy went for a stroll in the outside gardens by herself. I started my lesson on the small drum I had loved so much last week, but today they made us keep switching so that we played three different kinds of drums. Then Travalon and I went for a walk on Governor's Island, and when we got home I took a rosary nap on our porch. (That's when I mean to pray a rosary but mostly just sleep.) Tonight at band practice we were working on our Ukrainian music, and the guitarist said I shouldn't play the backbeat because it was confusing her, but everyone else said, "No! Play the backbeat!" I am not an expert in every kind of music, but this klezmer-type music seems to come instinctively to me. I think I've listened to enough of it to know what the accordion does, what the tuba does, what the clarinet does, etc., and I'm not supposed to be doing the same thing as the guitar anyway - she lays down the basic beat, and I ornament it. I was exhausted after all that drumming, but we kept playing later and later, just one more song, no now we have to do this song... I thought it would never end. All this for an unpaid gig, and we had a lead on a paid gig, but the guitarist never checked her email to see if they got back to her. So who knows what's up with that?

I have an important announcement:

This is actually from yesterday, not today. Wow, almost a decade of obeying that annoying green owl! Am I a sucker, or what?

Famous Hat