Yesterday I had a very relaxing morning sleeping in, walking with my neighbor, and talking to Tiffy. Then Travalon and I went to Africa Fest, where we were overjoyed to find the stand with baobab shakes. We sat under a tent and watched the various festivities, including the Parade of Nations with all the African countries' flags. A number of people made brief speeches, including our governor, and then he came around and greeted people. When he saw Travalon's Beach Boys shirt, he said, "I like your shirt!" As you may remember, to meet the governor of Iowa, you just cross the border, but apparently to meet the governor of our own state, you go to Africa Fest. And remember when railroad maintenance vehicles drove through the Fete de Marquette? A whole train drove through Africa Fest! The engineer waved merrily at all of us. The weather had been a bit drizzly all afternoon, but finally there was a cloudburst, and everyone rushed under the tent where we were. It was very crowded, and we had to leave for a party anyway, so we braved the rain and found it wasn't that bad. Then we went to the house with the fabulous porch, bringing Ghanaian pound cake as our offering for the hostess's potluck birthday party. A lot of the Night Prayer crowd were there, so there was no Night Prayer, and I got home way too late to blog.
Today Travalon and I barely made it to Mass, and I think one of the crew members from our Friday cruise was sitting right in front of us. Two pews ahead of us was an adorable baby, and she smiled at us through the whole Mass. Then we couldn't go to brunch with the usual crew because I was playing at a Ukrainian Fest. It was a fundraiser for Ukraine, and we had learned some Ukrainian folk songs, and also the Ukrainian National Anthem, but then they asked us not to play that because they would be singing it later. First we warmed up with some songs we knew better, and just now I saw on social media that someone had tagged Hardingfele (who then tagged me) with a video of the event. You can kind of see us, and you can hear us playing an Irish jig in the background, but there's a really great shot of Rich and Jilly Moose listening to us. We stayed to have some Ukrainian food and listen to Yid Vicious, a local klezmer band. We bought some stuff, including a cute horse, that I will try to post soon. Then Travalon and I went to Horicon Marsh, since I didn't have Irish class or band practice. We saw a number of egrets and a couple of blue herons and some swans. I will post photos tomorrow, since it has gotten late. I thought we might see more birds later in the day, and I heard some twittering in the cattails, but we didn't see as many as earlier in the season. There were lots of modest little flowers all over, and some smelled wonderful. Then we got home late, and I need to get to bed in a timely manner because this week I have to spend every day on campus, so that means I need to wake up early every day.
Famous Hat
