Yesterday I worked from home, and Travalon and I took a walk down to the dock before he went off to the wood duck ponds. There is construction going on along our road, and Thursday they apparently cut the cable so there was no internet access, but I was working on campus and didn't know until the neighbors texted me. (They also gave me a gift certificate to my favorite plant store because of my dad - isn't that so thoughtful?) I was afraid I'd lose access and wouldn't be able to work remotely, but yesterday everything was fine. More than fine, down at the ponds. Check out Travalon's photos. (The first one is Tux Duck, off our dock.) The male and female wood ducks, great blue heron, and green heron were all there - a real bird party!
Here is the island in Cherokee Marsh.
Then Travalon went to the new parking lot I will be using in the fall, which has an excellent view of the railyard. He saw a thing like that thing in Ixonia that looks like it has eyes and arms.
He also saw lots of beautiful train graffiti.
Train graffiti is becoming my favorite genre of art. Speaking of trains, I've been on a kick to see a train come from the south on the tracks near our house, while I'm standing at the crossing on Highway M. I've been doing a rosary walk down to the crossing and back, but no luck, and the same again yesterday evening. However, after Travalon had come home and started dinner, I heard the train whistle in the distance. I was writing to Mariah, who has been long-neglected (OK, maybe ten days instead of a week), and I could have finished before talking to Tiffy, but I said, "Let's go to the crossing!" Travalon left the fish and tater tots to cook, and we hopped in his car and looked down the track. Under the bridge, you can see the old Oscar Mayer factory smokestack like a lighthouse in the distance.
And here are the tracks going north, on the other side of Highway M:
And here is the crossing:
We waited five minutes and were about to leave so the food didn't burn when we heard the train horn again. Travalon zoomed in with his camera and said, "It's coming!"
We both made videos that need some editing, but I hope to make an excellent movie out of them sometime soon. I was so excited - my dream had come true! The train was moving a bit slowly, but we had to watch it pass us, so we were afraid the food would be burned, but when we got home, it was perfectly cooked. How amazing is that?
Today we had a slow morning, because I needed to finish writing to Mariah, and of course I needed to do DuoLingo. Then we went to the Mini Greek Fest at the local Orthodox Church, but they didn't have either the Greek iced coffee or "galactic burritos," the two things we really wanted. I had spanakopita and Travalon had souvlaki, and when we went to sit, we saw my bus buddy who is about four feet tall. She is as fond of Dear Leader as we are, so we had a great conversation. I was all decked out in Travalon's Greece shirt and my Nazar and Hamsa jewelry (with my cuddly Nazar, Niko), and a woman noticed and asked if I was Greek. I sheepishly said No, but she said, "Everyone's a little bit Greek today!" It occurs to me that there isn't a big stereotype of Greeks, so the fact that I was wearing nazars, rather than making me look like a cultural appropriator, showed I actually was aware of Greek culture, so there's that. Today is Cecil Markovitch's birthday, and I texted him to say Happy Birthday and I was surprised he wasn't there, but he somehow hadn't known about it. True story: as a teenager, I planned to run away to some random place, maybe Tennessee, and dye my hair red, change my name to Katie, and tell everyone my birthday was May 16th. This is probably because in Minnesota things bloom a little later, so that must be the date the crabapples bloom there. I can't remember anymore, since I've lived here so long, where they tend to bloom the week before. Anyway, I'm sure that's why I picked that date.
Then Travalon and I took a walk in Cherokee Marsh and saw wildflowers. A couple of Jacks in the Pulpit:
Shooting stars that are white, not magenta like the ones in Allen Centennial Gardens:
Quick fact: my favorite tune that my band plays is called Metsakukkia, which is Finnish for "Forest Flower." I love the song (a minor-key waltz) on its own merits, and I've made up a harmony and play tremolo on it like I'm a balalaika, but the name is great too. Nothing like a forest flower!
I'm blogging so early today because tonight Travalon and I will be out quite late. We're taking a train ride to go stargazing, and it's way out of town.
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