Day of Shopping and Hanging Out at the Cottage

 

Today Anna Banana II invited Jilly Moose and me to hang out at her family cottage with her and her husband. We had lunch, and then we ladies took a walk around the neighborhood and went shopping in downtown Cambridge, where we explored all sorts of shops: clothing boutiques, antiques, crystals, chocolate, plants, and pottery. I bought an opal ring that looks like a lotus blossom.

Here it is on my hand.

This was in a crystal store with an "amethyst vortex."

We found the perfect pendant for Jilly Moose, and for only $5!

Back at the cottage, we prayed the Rosary together outside, gazing at Lake Ripley. It was so great to do it in person and not over Zoom for once! I used the new rosary I got yesterday at Holy Hill. Here it is with the new ring, so you can see how they're both opalescent, but they looked better in the sunlight than in this photo.

We saw this great blue heron land on the dock next door.

We saw this Sweet William in the neighborhood. It looked more spectacular in real life than in this photo.

Travalon went back to the wood duck ponds today and saw a blue heron himself, as well as a green heron and wood ducks and mallards.

Then he went to my future parking lot and took photos of train graffiti, which is currently my favorite form of art:

This graffiti is not that pretty, but I rarely see graffiti on these sausage cars (tankers):

Then he met us three ladies, plus OK Cap, at Nora's, a bar on Highway 12 with a good fish fry. He and Anna Banana II and I had the walleye, Jilly Moose had the cod, and OK Cap had the shrimp, and everyone thought it was delicious. On the way home I felt so happy; I took Stoughton Road instead of going on the interstate briefly, since my speedometer is acting weird at high speeds, and that way I saw the Airgas tower all lit up. I also saw the Big Bendy B Bus, and that made me happy too. Maybe it was all the chocolate I ate today giving me a little buzz or something.

I forgot to mention that during our Upper Dells boat ride, the woman sitting right behind me dropped her jacket in the water. I said, "I hope you had nothing in the pockets," and she said, "Just a tissue," so I said, "It is hard to lose a good tissue." We also saw trains on the bridge over the boat launch area, one when we were heading out and a second when we were coming back. Maybe they come really often there. The last two nights Travalon and I have been sitting on our porch when we hear a train horn, and it seems close so we hop in the car and run out to the crossing, but the train never comes. Of course, when we hear the horn but can't go see, like during the last episode of Colbert or during my Union meeting, then the train does pass by. It's so frustrating. But tomorrow we should see plenty of trains in Rochelle.

Famous Hat