Dialogue with a Loon

 

This morning Travalon and I set out after he watched Wolverhampton lose to the Toffees. We drove to Rib Mountain and took a vigorous hike on the rocky trail on the top, then we took a short walk on the Bearskin Trail. We got to the church in Manitowish Waters not long before Mass started at 5:30, and afterwards they had set up rows of very aesthetically pleasing but slightly stale snacks as we left church. Travalon took popcorn, and I took a cup with fruit, cheese, and pretzels, but I was intrigued by the cups with what looked like it would top a Bloody Mary: pickle, sausage, cheese, and cherry tomatoes. It was that last part that made me go for the other kind of cup. 

We got to our cabin (Bear Spot), the same one we stayed in last year, and unpacked, then we went to Shillelagh Irish Pub. It had burned down a couple of years ago, the day after St. Patrick's Day, and last year it was an all outdoor affair with a food truck, but they have rebuilt. They still have the amazing Guinness and (don't read this part, Jilly Moose) mushroom soup, and Travalon also had a shepherd's pie while I had half of a fancy grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and grilled onions. (Guess what I'll be having for breakfast?) There was a stage that said live entertainment from 6-9, but nothing was going on until some school-aged girls were singing and dancing and playing with hula hoops. I thought how they will remember this night as magical, and I felt all warm and fuzzy about it until one of them ran past me and whacked me with her hula hoop. That's kids for you - they make you feel all fond of them until they do something totally stupid.

When we got back to the cabin, we walked down to the beach and sat on chaise lounges, gazing up at the stars. We saw some satellites and some meteorites and what seemed to be some northern lights activity, although it was hard to tell with the bright half moon. There was a band in the distance loudly playing all sorts of random things, from Earth, Wind and Fire to Journey, and a loon called from somewhere across the lake. The band played a Styx song, "Renegade," so we talked about Good Styx (Tommy Shaw songs) vs. Evil Styx (Dennis DeYoung songs.) I said Chicago had the same thing, although Peter Cetera isn't so much evil as insipid, and I started singing, "Ooh-ooh-ooh," the way Peter Cetera does in every song he writes. To our surprise, the loon called back, so we started singing things like "Indian Love Song," and for a little bit we had quite a dialogue going with the loon, but eventually it tired of responding to us. Maybe it was more of a "trialogue," but the loon responded more to my voice than Travalon's, probably because mine is so much higher pitched. It made me so happy - I come to the North Woods partly to see and hear loons. Maybe tomorrow we can take out one of the watercraft here, and if we're really lucky, we might see the loon swimming alongside us. Stay tuned!

Famous Hat

Travalon's Excellent Birthday

 

I forgot the best photo from yesterday: as Travalon and I walked back to the car after Mass, we passed this elaborately decorated house.

He also took some photos of the jeep parade from last night.

This morning Travalon and I had breakfast at Frank O'Dowd's, which is only open for complementary breakfast for guests. They had all the fixings for a traditional big Irish breakfast, including baked beans and scary-looking sausages, both of which we forewent. The doors in the inn each had a crest of some Irish county. Ours was Dublin, which in Ireland is actually called Baile Atha Cliath, which is pronounced "Bally Ah Cleeah" because of course it is.

The room next door had Cork, which is where a lot of my family are from.

Then we drove downtown and found parking right in front of a coffee shop, where we had more caffeine on top of the drip coffee with breakfast. The one thing Travalon had wanted to do for his birthday in Galena was go to the Grant Museum, so we did that. I took pictures of a couple of things I found interesting. First is a cup for men with handlebar mustaches.

Next is a flag that some local women made to be used in the Civil War, but it couldn't be used because the shade of blue was wrong and the arrangement of the stars was really wrong.

I should have taken a photo of a little clay cannon that a prisoner made - it was so cute! Travalon took some photos too. The first one is a mine shaft they discovered in the house.

This is a painting of Lee surrendering at Appomattox.

This is a painting of Grant in the field.

We got a couple of things at the gift shop. Then we stopped by another shop, and I got a crystal while Travalon paid for a little bear with cash. After that we saw Grant's first house in Galena, which is now a bed and breakfast.

We went to find Lake Galena, but it's all private property around it - apparently they don't have the same law as in Wisconsin that every lake must have at least one area of public access. We drove down to it anyway. Here's a photo that Travalon took.

There were nearby waterfalls too, and those were also private access, but we drove back there anyway.

On a summer day that might have been a real risk, but it wasn't even 20 degrees F out, so I doubt anyone was patrolling. 

Our next stop was Scales Mound to see a really old Sinclair station, which wasn't open today.

As we drove toward Mineral Point, we could see what I'm sure were clouds in the distance that looked like mountains, but Travalon asked if it could be a fata morgana, and then I started to wonder myself. We didn't know where we could pull off to take a photo... and then there was a little turnoff for a historical marker. Travalon took photos with his good camera, which I will post soon. I took this with my phone.

We had lunch at the Red Rooster in Mineral Point again, only we didn't have the pasties because they're so filling; we had sandwiches so we'd have room for figgyhobbin, a Cornish dessert that is hard to explain but really delicious. Then we went to Crazy Frank's Flea Market, and I bought a bunch of stuff. Photos soon. 

When we got home, I hadn't gotten much exercise, so I put on the headphones and walked around the house, listening to music. Then Travalon drove me to band practice so he could go to Leopold's to get a book he'd been interested in. They gave him a free drink, a free shot, AND a free dessert for his birthday! Then he wasn't sure he should drive, so I suggested he come in and listen to us practice Christmas carols, but the others decided to call it a night, so I drove home even though I didn't have my license on me. It's okay, we didn't get pulled over, and my bandmates said the cops would understand. At least I am a licensed driver - I've heard wild stories about people who were too drunk to drive getting blind people or children to drive for them. Yikes! But I'm glad Travalon had so much fun for his birthday.

Famous Hat

Where's That Confounded Bridge?

 

(With apologies to Led Zeppelin for stealing that blog post title.)

Saturday Travalon and I set off on our trip Up North. We stopped in Stevens Point and explored Iverson Park, with all its fun bridges, some of which lead to an island. Photos soon - they are loading very slowly up here. In Stevens Point we met Travalon's old college buddy, the one who lives in Japan, for lunch. That was a lot of fun. We hiked on part of the Bear Skin Trail near the trailhead, but we didn't stop in Minocqua because there was Mass in Manitowish at 5:30. We made it in time, and I was so happy because the opening hymn was "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say," but we only sang one verse. Then we went to our cabin in Manitowish Waters and unpacked before going to Smokey's, a swanky joint where you need reservations unless you are willing to eat at the bar. We certainly were, and at the bar there was a duo singing and playing popular songs. We got to talking to the people next to us, who were from Janesville but spend a lot of time up here. The bartender was Polish and very friendly too. We got ice cream drinks, and Travalon's had Chambord, a raspberry liqueur. So good! It was called a North Woods Black Squirrel. Our ice cream drinks attracted a lot of attention, and I made him trade with me, because my Nutty Irish Monk made with Bailey's and Frangelico was too sweet for me - payback for all the times he ordered an IPA because it had the coolest name, but then he made me switch beers with him because he hated it... and I don't love IPAs myself.

Yesterday morning for some reason we woke up at 6:30 as if it were a work day, so we were able to get to Dixie's Coffee by 8 and beat the big rush that came in right after us. The place overlooks a lake, and we watched a kid catch a big northern on his first cast, text his dad, have his dad take a photo, and then release it. After that fortification with food and caffeine, we were ready for our first adventure. We had seen a bridge from the road and thought we knew what path we had to take to get to it.

We found a place to park and headed off on the "path," but it involved a lot of bushwhacking, and Travalon quoted Zeppelin: "Where is that confounded bridge??" Then he said that should be my blog post title. Suddenly we saw a sign:

Yay! It really was the way to the bridge! I will have to post photographic evidence of this later, but the view from the bridge was gorgeous. We continued on to the other side of the bridge, and from there we found a path to the road so we wouldn't have to bushwhack back. We were going to brave walking along the road, but we didn't have to - there was a bike path! Such good luck!

Our next hike was at Trout Lake State Nature Trail, a hike of about a mile recommended in the "info" book in our cabin. It really was a wonderful hike in the woods, which were full of colorful mushrooms this time of year, and at one point it went along the crest of a hill from which you could see Trout Lake below. It was so beautiful! Then we went to Boulder Junction and shopped a little. I couldn't decide between a ring with a triangle "stone" in pink or blue, but they were cheap so I got one of each in different sizes so I could wear them on different fingers. Travalon bought a little red panda with a really long tail that he is calling Talia. Photos soon!

We came back to Manitowish Waters and went to Dixie's once again for lunch, sitting outside this time because it had warmed up. Then we went back to our resort and sat down by Rest Lake for a while. After that we tried to find Papoose Creek Pines State Natural Area but were by Papoose Lake, so we went to the Discovery Center with a wonderful observation deck overlooking a small lake, and then we went to a park across the street that overlooked Rest Lake, and we watched a catamaran with a colorful sail. When it reached the shore, the people on it cheered, and then they pulled it right up onto the shore. We had been planning to listen to live music at another park in town, but it was packed. Instead, we went north on Highway W and discovered a very cute bridge in a park in Winchester. We stopped at a recreation area called WinMan (Winchester Manitowish) for some (nonalcoholic) drinks, and we sat outside and enjoyed the ambiance. It was as joyful as that night after the Mallards game when the kids were dancing around and running the bases down on the field. The sun made a rainbow sunburst on the screen of my phone, and I tried to take a photo of it with Travalon's phone and his good camera, but they didn't seem to see what I saw. It makes me think of how, when I look in the mirror, I know I'm not gorgeous but I look cute, but in photos I usually look horrid... but once in a while one catches the cuteness I see, so I'm not totally nuts.

We came back and pondered using one of the watercraft at our resort (there were peddle boats, canoes, kayaks, and rowboats), but it was way too windy, with wind gusts almost 20 MPH. Instead, we decided to grab dinner at Ye Olde Shillelagh, but online it said it was temporarily closed. Oddly, it had recent posts on social media, like within the last couple of days, so we headed there to find out what was going on. Was it open? Was it closed? The answer is yes: it burned to the ground two days after St. Patrick's Day, but they had set up a tiki bar and a food cart (and port-a-potties), so we were able to sit listening to live music while enjoying (don't read this part, Jilly Moose) Guinness mushroom soup and cheese curds. Eventually we headed back to Smokey's for some healthier fare; I had a salad with all kinds of vegetables and grilled shrimp, and Travalon had the best steak he's ever had in his life. He gave me a few bites, and it really was amazing. The same Polish bartender was there, and he remembered us, and the same talented duo were singing and playing. The people next to us noticed my Split Rock Lighthouse State Park hoodie and said, "We were just there!" Greg the bartender asked if I wanted to try the chocolate espresso martini this time, since he remembered I had been curious about it the day before, so I caved and said yes. I was afraid the espresso would keep me up, but I slept like a baby and woke up at seven, so here I am blogging. Last night I started this post, but my phone's hot spot failed. I hope this time it works long enough for me to finish!

Famous Hat

Houseboat on Old Man River

This morning Travalon and I set off, and we took a hike around Salmo Pond. I fired up the Merlin app, and it told me that a really cool birdsong that almost sounded like the background of a hip hop song was a Baltimore oriole. It had this jazzy syncopation and everything. Then we drove to Cuba City and stopped at the antiques shop we had been to before, where I found a crystal and a vintage hat, and Travalon got a clock with Tom from Tom and Jerry on it. We went to another one where I got a couple of Beanie Baby bears and Travalon got a plastic cat that says, "Hey man, what's up?" Then we drove to Hazel Green and stopped at another antiques shop, where Travalon got a book of movie posters from the 1920's, 30's, and 40's, but I didn't find anything I wanted.

In Galena we went to Frank O'Dowd's Irish Pub and sat in the beautiful snug.

I love the glasswork! We both had the pan-seared snapper, which comes with a tomato and crab relish, mashed potatoes, and seared spinach. It is truly one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten in my life. We stopped at an antiques shop just outside of Galena, where I got a couple of rosaries, a small ring holder, and a really cool necklace, all for hardly anything. 

We got to Sabula, Iowa, the small town on an island in the middle of the Mississippi where we have often come on Memorial Day Weekend, and we got situated on our houseboat, which is very nice except for the sliding door that doesn't open easily, and the fact that there is no way to lock it. Then we drove to Savannah, Illinois for Mass at 5:30 at St. John the Baptist Church.

Here I am wearing my new vintage hat and a necklace I got at the restaurant's gift shop, in front of a really pretty stained glass window.

We got some groceries and picked up dinner at Subway, since lunch had been our fancy meal, then we ate a picnic at Driscoll's Island, a tiny island just big enough for a picnic table and some people fishing. We have seen lots of birds from it before, and this time we saw an egret and some cormorants flying, but Travalon didn't have his camera ready. Then we took the groceries back to the houseboat and took a walk along a causeway, where we saw four pelicans. Travalon took photos with his good camera, but somehow I didn't bring the adaptor to put them onto my computer, even though I was sure I had, so those will have to wait until we get home. Weirder still, photos we took of each other on the boat haven't downloaded from the Cloud, but later photos did. This would be the perfect boat for me: Hattitude!

Midnight Splash, is that you? It has a different name, but it looks just the same.

Here is a photo of the glorious sunset over the marina.

None of our photos of us sitting on the boat have downloaded from the Cloud yet, but this one did, of the boats around us at twilight.

And here is a photo of Venus seemingly caught in a contrail.

There are a bunch of houseboats that the marina rents out on this pier, and the proprietress calls it "Boatel Row." We sat out on the bow of our boat and enjoyed the sunset, and watching a train go by. We talked a little to the women on the next boat, who are from Iowa City. They thought we had so far to come to get here, but it turns out they aren't much closer. I see a lot of Illinois license plates, so there are probably a lot of Chicagoans around too. Anyway, I can't get a video of Travalon ringing a big bell to work, and my other photos aren't downloading from the Cloud, so it must be time to call it a night.

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St. Patrick's Day Festivities

 

This morning was the start of the depravity known as Daylight Saving Time, and I figured we would never get up in time to get to our church downtown. Sure enough, we had to go to the later, nearby Mass at a church that is sort of ugly inside and has terrible music for the most part, not hymns but worship songs. Hymns are easy for everyone to sing, but worship songs take too much skill for the average member of the congregation - even I get lost with all those gratuitous time signature changes and random accidentals. However, the people who go to this church do seem to be more the "normal" Catholics I have been searching for. After Mass there were snacks, and we sat with another couple who also love animals. I can't tell you how sick I am of overly religious people who say animals are of no importance because they have no souls. (Neither of those things is true, either.) It's too bad a person has to choose between beautiful liturgy and decent people who are not hung up on if you receive in your hand and don't wear a chapel veil, etc., but I'll take the decent people all day long.

Then Travalon and I ran to the Capitol for a ceremony for St. Patrick's Day. The pipes and drums played, the Trinity Dancers dances, and then they unfurled the Irish flag as the Irish National Anthem played. We were invited to march in the parade as members of the Shamrock Club, but it was cold and Travalon is still a bit under the weather, so we found a restaurant on the Square where we could sit and face the windows, and we watched the parade from the warmth. I poked my head outside a couple of times to hear music, but I certainly don't need any candy or any more beads!

After my Irish class, Travalon and I met Jilly Moose at the Brink Lounge for the annual St. Patrick's Day Eve party. My Irish teacher and her husband arrived at the same moment, and I saw another classmate who was celebrating her birthday today, and my first Irish teacher, and Travalon saw the Daughter of Denni. We enjoyed some Irish music and some adult beverages, but for some reason the kitchen had stopped serving food even though the party was far from over, so I just had a bag of pretzels. Afterwards we went with Jilly Moose to Erin's Snug Irish Pub for some real food, then we rushed home for Night Prayer. The Dairyman's Daughter has an orange tabby and a brown tabby who regularly Zoom-bomb, and tonight the orange tabby had his eyes closed and was moving his mouth during the Canticle of Simeon, so that it looked like he was praying it too. I had a hard time not laughing about that! He looked so pious! Almost too pious, like the people who go to the liturgically beautiful churches. Maybe I'd rather go to church with the brown tabby - he's supposed to be much naughtier. My kind of Cat-holic!

Famous Hat

Eagle on Ice

 

Yesterday morning we had a condo board meeting, which is a strange time for such a thing, and one of the people at it was the type who complains about the colors of lights that other people have inside their units, but surprisingly it went pretty well. Then Travalon and I headed to Milwaukee, where we met Tiffy at the Park and Ride. I was trying to text her about how close we were, and my phone added a very passive-aggressive "okay" onto the end of one text and tried to change words in other texts, like it thought for some reason that instead of telling her we were "ten minutes away" it would make more sense to say we were "ten millennia away." We did get there, and then we went to a Greek restaurant where Giannis has been known to make an appearance, but alas, we didn't see him. It was down on Brady Street, and there were lots of twenty-somethings wearing green T-shirts and shamrock accoutrements, so we assumed there was some sort of (early) St. Patrick's Day pub crawl going on. We decided to get out of there and headed to the lakeshore, where huge waves were crashing against the shore. We saw goldeneyes and maybe some other kinds of ducks riding the waves. Here is a photo Travalon took.

After our long walk, we needed a bathroom, so we walked to the coffeehouse near the beach and had pistachio matcha lattes. I had the following micro-convo with our barista, who was wearing a necklace that looked like an M with a tail:

Me: "Does your name start with M, or are you a Scorpio?"

Barista: "My name starts with M."

Me: "I see. Your necklace kind of looks like a Scorpio symbol."

Barista: "I know, but I'm a Capricorn."

Me: "Me too!" and we smiled at each other.

It was crazy busy in there when we got there, but right after we ordered there was no line. We sat outside since it was so warm, and after finishing our lattes, Travalon dropped Tiffy and me off at an early music concert. Now people who go to early music concerts generally want to hear early music, and this concert featured female Baroque composers, but there was one modern composer who was "informed by the Baroque." I'm not sure what that meant, since her piece didn't sound Baroque, and I wouldn't even have called it "music." It was a bunch of discordant sounds with no rhythm or shape to them. After the concert, Travalon picked us back up, and we went to the Irish pub we had gone to for his birthday lunch. I got the same grilled cheese and tomato soup, since it had been so amazing the first time, and check it out! They drew a shamrock in my soup!

Travalon and I did get caught in a vicious thunderstorm on the way home, but we made it back alive.

Today Travalon went to visit his mother and brothers while I went to Mass and then brunch with the usual crowd. When Rich got his usual "extra large, extra strong, maximum fat" hot chocolate, the waitress told him that he could have free refills since he's such a regular, so I said, "You've leveled up!"

It was a lot cooler today, so I was thawing out after a rosary walk when Travalon came home. We were driving along Highway M when we saw two big white birds, so we pulled over in a park, and Travalon took some photos. They were swans.

We went to the little pond in Waunakee where there are huge bird parties in December, but we just saw a pair of mallards. There is a path at the end of the road, so we followed it, but it just went back to this drainage thing.

There were also some beehives along the path. Who do they belong to?

A sign said the path was part of Dane County Parks, but what a strange park! Then we drove to Okee, where we saw an eagle sitting on the ice! Travalon took lots of photos of it, some better than others, but this one is perfect.

We also saw other eagles, both mature and immature, and lots of gulls flying around. We went to Fitz's and had this decadent adult shake with peanut butter and caramel, then we went to the mall and walked there. I never did get my five miles today (I'm at about four and a third), and at this late hour I'm not inclined to bother. Then Travalon left for Mass at St. Paul's. Here's the mosaic on the outside of the church.

I went to band practice and was relieved that my hand didn't hurt from playing, since it has been hurting all day from other stuff, like unlocking the front door. We have some gigs coming up, and I was afraid that if my hand hurt from playing, I would have to drop out of the band. Apparently the motion from picking the mandolin doesn't even bother me as much as typing this blog post, which I find slightly painful. It's been almost three months - I thought by now it would have gone away on its own. I did find a brace I had from a previous bout of hand issues, but of course it's for the left hand, so that's no help. I guess it's time to buy one.

Famous Hat

Some Zoo Photos

 

I am afraid that some of the best photos from yesterday at the Milwaukee Zoo are still on Travalon's phone, and I can't seem to airdrop them to Boethius. I do have a few that airdropped from his phone yesterday, and the ones from my phone that finally uploaded to the cloud and then downloaded to Boethius. Sigh - this really seems so much less efficient than when I used to just plug my little iPhone 6 into Boethius, and the photos would magically transfer to him. A couple of my best photos are still missing. Maybe someday I'll be able to post all the photos from the zoo... Meanwhile, here are a few, starting with a zebra that wants to go inside.

This is a weird-looking fish from the Amazon, and the odd reflection just makes it weirder.

Here are an adult whooping crane and its daughter, born June 1. She's the one with the orange patterns.

It's kind of hard to see the rhinoceros hornbill behind all this fencing, but it is an enormous bird that looks like it could kill you.

This tiny duck is a bufflehead. They always look cute on the lake, but up close you can see that they are actually totes adorbs.

This is a mandarin duck.

And these are ibises.

Maybe it was a mistake to try to airdrop so many photos. The one I really want is a crazy hornbill from Africa (the rhinoceros hornbills are Asian) that was knocking on the door to get inside. I guess it was too cold yesterday, although the day was fairly mild. Then it ran right under us and looked up at us, and Travalon got a fantastic photo of it. Maybe someday I can share it with you...

Wait, hold the presses - it worked. Maybe I need to send them one at a time. 

Once again, Blogspot uploaded these in the opposite order that I requested. Here are some poinsettias from the Country Christmas light extravaganza.

This is the giant cookie we had at the Irish pub.

This is a young camel. His name is Oliver and I can't remember how old he is.

This alpaca was looking at us with great suspicion.

I believe these two antelopes are kudus.

One hyena was pacing, but one was chillaxing.

The cheetahs were also feeling pretty mellow.

I'm not sure what this jaguar is looking at with such interest - it seems like the wall maybe?

There were three giraffes, but I liked this photo of one of them in contemplation best. The other two were playing around.

Here is the elephant by her pool. There are actually three African elephants, all female.

The springhaas is the cutest thing ever, a rodent that looks like a cross between a rabbit and a kangaroo, and it has huge eyes. But it's hard to photograph.

There may be more photos on a future post, because my cool one of two birds called hamarkops seems to be stuck in the cloud, and I may try to airdrop more off of Travalon's phone. Stay tuned.

Famous Hat