Enjoyable Election Day

 

Travalon suggested the title for this blog post, because we voted for a couple of things today. He read an email from Literatus that you could get 10% off your order if you voted for one of four ciacconas, so we listened to all four on YouTube (links provided in the email) and both felt Choice C was the best because of its totally lit theorbo line. (You can sell me on anything with a great bass line, whether it's a song released today or a 16th century ciaccona.) We decided to head there, but first we went to the bonsai show at Olbrich, and they asked us to vote for our favorite. The one I chose was leading in the polls, as I saw on my way out, while only a couple of people had voted for Travalon's favorite. He took a photo of his favorite, but I didn't think to take one of mine.

Edit: I found a picture of my favorite on the bonsai society website. It did win!

Here are some more photos from Olbrich.

Then we drove to Watertown and got lunch for 10% off, and it turns out Ciaccona C was leading in the polls there too. This must mean I have very populist tastes. After lunch we walked over to the antiques shop in Watertown, but Travalon didn't see anything he wanted, and I only found one rosary that was not like anything I already own, and none of them seemed to be begging me to buy them. Sometimes with antique rosaries, I feel like the previous owners are calling to me to come find them, but that didn't happen today so I only got the one. I did like this fire hydrant right outside the antiques shop.

Then we went to Lake Mills and walked along the Glacial Drumlin Trail, where we saw lots of honeysuckle and red columbine, as well as views of Rock Lake.

This evening I had a gig at a wedding, which is the first time we have played for a paying gig since the pandemic started. We had a caller we had never worked with before, and she was excellent, especially with children. Everyone was having such a good time that it just filled me with joy to see them so happy. It was a fusion Jewish-Scottish wedding, so the groom wore a kilt, and we played some Irish and Scottish jigs, but we didn't know about the Jewish part so we didn't bring our klezmer music. We did play "Metsakukkia," our Finnish waltz, at the end, and some people thought it was from Fiddler on the Roof. One woman did some kind of gymnastics dancing during that. Hardingfele (who is Jewish by blood, if not in practice) said they had excellent latkes. (All the food was delicious, in my opinion.) Not only did they pay us, they also tipped us well! I love playing out so much. Being a musician is the essence of what I am. I just crunch numbers to pay the bills.

Famous Hat

Voting Day... and Night

Last night Travalon and I had a most romantic dinner at Liliana’s, a restaurant in Fitchburg that always has a themed menu on Tuesday nights to draw people in. Last night the theme was voting. (Did you vote? I hope so! I won’t comment on the results because half the people I know are elated and half are dejected.) For the first course, we had scallops prepared two different ways, one seared with bacon and one crudo with truffle and fleur de sel. For the main course we had two different steaks, a charred sirloin with piquillo pepper coulis and new potato smash vs. a chicken fried steak with pecan crusted green beans, garlic potato smash, and black pepper gravy. For dessert we had chocolate mousse with strawberries and a chocolate ganache cake with bourbon caramel. Then we got to vote on which choice we preferred for each course. Travalon and I agreed on the first course (the seared scallops with bacon) and the main course (the charred sirloin), but we split on the dessert: he liked the mousse and I preferred the cake. Today I see on Liliana’s MyFace page that the seared scallops, charred steak (by one vote) and the ganache cake won. There was also live music, a jazz trio taking requests so I asked for “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home to.” They were really good. It was such a wonderful night, and the two college-age bartenders were so friendly and attentive. They made a mean gin fizz. Sometimes you just have to go out on a Tuesday night and have a fancy dinner. Of course, most Tuesdays I have Irish class, but our teacher canceled it this week because that was the only time she would get to vote.

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[Your Candidate Here] for President!

In high school when they announced the winner of the class president election, a girl who sat next to me hollered, "Woo-hoo! I voted for him because he's got the coolest hair!" and I thought to myself, "And next year she'll be voting for President of the United States!?" But we live in a democracy, and you are entitled to your vote, no matter how shallow and ignorant you are. So exercise that right and vote next week!

Who should get your vote? There are many factors to weigh: boring considerations like "stands on the issues," cool hair of course, and that ineffable je ne sais quois which I like to call "Keepin' 'Em On Their Toes." The problem is that, in this election, the principle of KEOTT favors both candidates to some degree. For instance, the Diaper Argument (politicians should be changed regularly or they get full of you-know-what) would favor Obama, since he is from the party opposite of that which has held the presidency for the past eight years. On the other hand, Gridlock favors McCain; after all, both parties stink, but in different areas, so to keep either one from inflicting too much damage, make sure the Executive and Legislative branches are controlled by opposing parties. Currently the Democrats control Congress, and they might well gain even more control this election cycle, and wouldn't that be Congross? The American people tend to gravitate toward Gridlock; witness the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 and the Democratic sweep in 2002. My guess is that if Obama wins this election, you can look for an enormous House (and Senate) cleaning in 2010. This has history to recommend it - look how well the economy steamed along when Clinton and the Congressional Republicans were busy keeping each other from accomplishing too much!

While I will refrain from endorsing either candidate in this current election, my goldfish Arphaxad and Amminadab would like to remind you that this would be an ideal time to restore the ichthyocracy, so they would like you to vote for Cthulhu in 2008. Why choose a lesser evil?

Famous Hat