No Kings and Mass in B Minor

 

Sorry for the long silence. Thursday I worked on campus, and Hardingfele and I walked inside because it was colder out than we'd expected, so we hadn't dressed for the weather. It's kind of annoying when your phone says it will be 60 F out and then it's barely 40... I felt fine at work, but then at home I felt too sick to blog and went to bed early. 

Friday I worked on campus and walked with Seabird, then after work I met Tiffy downtown, and she said she was in the mood for Italian. We decided to walk towards the Square, and then we saw Cento, which I had forgotten about, so we got dinner there. It was very swanky and full of beautiful people much younger than we are. We didn't have reservations, so we sat at the bar, next to a strange man in a fake leather jacket who seemed very annoyed by us. Fortunately the bartender who took care of us adored us for some reason. (I tipped him well!) Then we went back to her sister's apartment and talked for a long time.

Yesterday Travalon and I met Tiffy downtown for coffee, then we were walking towards the Square when we noticed Himal Chuli, which had closed abruptly, was open again as Himali Chulo.

They also had a light-up sign that said: "Welcoe to Himali Chulo," but that didn't show up in the photo. We got lunch there, and I'm happy to report that they have a very similar menu to Himal Chuli. It's the guy who owns the Globe, so they have dumplings from the Globe on the menu too. Then we went up to the Square; I was wearing my red tasseled hat, and I had brought Travalon's red tasseled hat, so he wore it for a couple of blocks, but then he put his "Hamm's Bear for President" baseball cap back on, even though it was cold and the other hat was a lot warmer. When we got up to the Square, we saw a lot of people with signs, and some had red tasseled hats (and acknowledged mine with knowing nods), but not as many people as we had expected. I knew my Union peeps were gathering at Brittingham Park and then marching to the Capitol, so I said, "They must not be here yet." Then we passed the chocolate shop, and despite the Lenten season, we went in and got some. When we came out, we heard the sounds of an enormous crowd, and we saw the big group marching around the Square. Travalon and I did not take any photos, but there were lots of great signs, like, "The only orange monarch I want is a butterfly!" and "Trump is a ra_ist" with a P and a C for the hangman choices. We ended up right by the Forward Marching Band, who played a short concert, and who should we run into but the Daughter and Widow of Denni! So that was a fun surprise. I never did find my Union peeps, but later we saw a bunch of people from the Lutheran church where I used to sing, all wearing red tasseled hat pins. I said, "I have the same pin!" even made by the same lady. They also had palm branches, which I thought was a nice touch. 

After we left the protest, the three of us got bubble tea, then Travalon went off to watch basketball at the Union, State Street Brats, and Baked Wings, while Tiffy and I went to her sister's apartment, then the Chinese restaurant we always go to for dinner (but I got something different this time, noodles instead of the salt and pepper shrimp), and then we walked all the way down State Street to get to the Hamel Music Center for Bach's Mass in B Minor. Famie my Irish teacher texted to ask if I wanted to go to a concert at the music club, so I told her about the Bach concert, and she was interested but decided to go to the other concert. Our concert was spectacular, and one of our faculty members was sitting right in front of us, but a different one than last year at the St. Matthew's Passion. Who knew so many of our Slavic faculty love Bach?

Meanwhile, Hardingfele went to the protest in Middleton. When I asked her how many people were there, she sent me this photo.

As well as this photo.

She did say a Trumper in a pickup truck was yelling at them and then took photos of license plates, as if everyone parked around there was a protester. We didn't see any counterprotesters up at the Square this time, though I have seen them in the past, weakly yelling at us that Trump is the best president of all time and the new King David. Maybe they drank so much of the Kool-Aide that they finally overdosed?

This morning I had forgotten that it was Palm Sunday, so we were a little later getting together with Tiffy than we'd originally planned, but not too much. Fortunately there was only the normal amount of plastic to recycle. We picked up Tiffy and went to La Brioche for brunch, having to wait outside for a while, and a woman asked me if I'd knitted my Circus Tent hat. I had to admit that no, I'd gotten it on eBay, so I told Travalon and Tiffy that I would have to call it the Big Top Chautauqua Poseur Hat from now on. It was a gorgeous day, so we took a walk on Picnic Point and saw lots of coots, buffleheads, and people walking dogs that wanted to say hi. Travalon took photos of the birds that I will post tomorrow. 

Our band leader is in Puerto Rico right now, so I wasn't sure if it was worth going to band practice, but then Hardingfele said she was going, so we both got dropped off by our husbands (because mine went to hang out with Cecil Markovitch and the Single B-Boy), and we spent more time talking than playing. We even had leftover cupcakes from our hostess's 88th birthday on Thursday. We did play some tunes that our leader won't play, klezmer tunes with F minor chords, and I can see why she won't play that chord. It's not that hard to make, per se, but in the one tune it jumps between that and G major, and those two chords are really hard to switch between quickly like that. Guess what I need to do? Practice! So I was in the right place tonight!

Famous Hat