Hometown Visit: Swimming Snafus

 

(Thanks to Travalon for help with this blog post title.)

Yesterday I worked from home and was somewhat productive, then right after work Travalon and I hit the road. We made a stop at a Mexican restaurant in Mauston that somehow took two hours, but my seafood enchiladas were so good. However, during the long wait I'd eaten so many chips and salsa that I could only eat half my real dinner, and it sat in the car for two more hours before we got to my hometown. Travalon found this surprising flag in the men's bathroom of the (important!) Mexican restaurant.

What?? Why is this in a MEXICAN restaurant? It says "I love Puerto Rico." Huh??

The moment we got to our hotel room, I stuck my seafood in the fridge, then we swam in the wonderful pool that was shockingly full of children at that late hour, and then I went right to bed without blogging.

Today I had my leftovers for breakfast, and they haven't killed me yet. Travalon found a nonprofit coffeehouse called St. James online, so we went there for coffee and got free treats because it was their 13th birthday. Better yet, they are associated with the Catholic church across the street, so the very friendly people gathered there were happy to tell us Mass times. Since the church is six minutes from our hotel, this is what we will be doing tomorrow morning.

Ma and Pa Hat are moving to another apartment, but I'm confused about a lot of things. I thought it was assisted living, but no, it's just another apartment. Ma Hat had sent a photo of a bunch of books the people helping her refused to pack, so we thought we'd spend the day packing them, but when we got to their place, she said the movers had already packed them. She said they came and did it yesterday, and she thought about calling us and telling us not to come, which means I could have been in the Atwood Fest parade with the Brazilian drumming group. Then Ma Hat remembered she had stuff in a basement storage unit, so Travalon and I emptied that and brought the contents upstairs. We are both getting older ourselves and have sore knees, so this was a less welcome job than packing books that don't involve stairs. We took a break to take a walk along the Zumbro River, and Travalon took some photos.

We saw people tubing on the river, which looked really fun, but we have no idea where you rent tubes in town. I told Travalon how, as a kid, I used to follow the creek in our backyard to the Zumbro River, and along the side someone had a compost heap, but I had no idea what a compost heap was, so I thought they had killed someone and buried them in their yard, and that's what the bad smell was. Guess I was kind of Gothic as a kid.

After that we went with Ma and Pa Hat to a Mideastern restaurant that had good reviews online, but a sign on the door said it was closed, so we had a very late lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant, and Ma and Pa Hat treated us. Here is the colorful board they had advertising their various menu items.

When we got back, I sat on this chair that used to belong to my great-grandmother.

It turns out both Travalon and I were staring at this box while waiting for further instructions from Ma Hat:

She said we could pack glasses and mugs that were still in the kitchen, so we wrapped them until running out of newspaper. There is a pool at Ma and Pa Hat's current apartment complex, and by then it was in the shade, so Travalon and I decided to run back to the hotel and get our swim stuff, since we hadn't thought to bring it with us. When we got back, Ma Hat said oops, she forgot to tell us that you have to pay extra to use the pool, and she and Pa Hat hadn't paid this year, so we couldn't get in. That seemed so strange to us - whoever heard of an apartment complex with a pool charging extra for access? - but we just shrugged and went to a nearby park with a beach on a pond. Only, when we got there, a guy kept reminding us that the place was getting locked up in half an hour, so if we didn't leave promptly, we'd be locked in. We swam a few minutes at the beach, then we went back to our wonderful hotel pool, which had less kids than last night despite the much earlier hour. When the kids all invaded the pool, we moved to the hot tub and watched the sunset from there. I have watched many sunsets in my life, but I believe this is the first one I've seen from a hot tub.

There is a 24-hour Mexican restaurant just down the street from our hotel, so we went there for a light dinner after showering. Looks like I'll be having half a bean burrito for breakfast after eating too much street corn. The young girl taking our order sometimes seemed confused, so then I would speak in Spanish and she would understand, like with the burrito she kept saying, "Bean or beef?" and I'd say, "Bean," but she didn't get it, so I said, "Frijoles." And Travalon wanted a half order of rice, but she kept saying, "One order of rice?" so I said, "La mitad." Anyway, we got what we had ordered. Travalon looked online to see if there was any information about having to pay extra for the pool at Ma and Pa Hat's complex, and he found a wondrous review of the place that said, among other things, "There are murders here! A grandpa had his eyeballs yanked right out of his head! And the laundry facilities are out-of-date!" That made me laugh so hard - talk about anticlimactic! Not that torture is funny, but following it with such a feeble complaint just made me lose it. Another great line: "People are always trying to burn the place down, either by burning their food or actually trying to burn it down." This person also said there are actual new-Nazis living there, which I believe, judging by some of the tattoos I saw on people there.

As we drove back to the hotel, I suddenly thought of that lame kids' joke: "Guess what? Chicken butt! Guess why? Chicken thigh!" So then I made up even stupider ones: "Guess how? Chicken cow! Guess when? Chicken hen! Guess who? Chicken coup!" So that's the terrible joke I came up with: "What do you call it when the chickens rebel against the farmer? A chicken coup!" Is that even funny? Not really. But I think it's hilarious how not funny it is.

I hear the Atwood Fest parade went fine without me, but they got rained on. So that's what I missed.

Famous Hat

Day at the Health Club

 

Today I took the day off of work, and Richard Bonomo came over to help Travalon and me move a free bookcase from a few blocks away. It began to rain really hard just before we started, but the rain was just a drizzle by the time we got to the place where the bookcase was, and it had ended by the time we got it home. It went very smoothly. 

After that, Travalon had to leave for work, so Rich and I went to the health club to work out. Since we didn't have a timeline, he made me do all sorts of stuff, and now I'm really sore. Then we had a late lunch outside at the Nau-Ti-Gal, facing the water, and then he looked at my computer. Boethius is very slow when he boots up, so Rich ran some sort of report, and it said that Boethius's hard drive is unusually slow. I feel like that's telling me something I already know, but Rich says it's useful information. He also got my really ancient computer running again.

Once Travalon came home from work, he and I went swimming at the health club. I thought they would be shocked to see me there again, but it seemed to be different people working at the front desk than earlier in the day. After we swam, we went to Camp Beef Butter BBQ, which is something a local restaurant does right near our house. They have a live band and a food truck. All the food was meat, and it's Friday, and I had leftover Mexican at home, but I did have some of Travalon's cornbread as we sat listening to a live band. Travalon liked it so much that he went back while I was leading Night Prayer. We will have to go back again sometime - maybe next Friday.

Famous Hat

Old Condo: Almost Ready

Friday night Travalon went to the Waunakee football game, and they won so they are going to State for the fifth time in seven years. Sounds like they have a dynasty going! I preferred the warmth of Richard Bonomo’s house, where he served salmon with almond slices to Kathbert and me. He also had amazing ratatouille that someone else had made. Once again we stayed way too late having nerdy conversation.

Saturday the Rosary Ladies got together for coffee and the rosary, but I forgot my key to the church library, so we had to pray in the church hall. That’s the second time I’d forgotten my keys in less than a week; the first time is what triggered Travalon’s little poem to me. It had been a beautiful morning, but by the time Travalon and I drove with Rodney to Horicon Marsh, the sun had gone behind the clouds and the wind was biting. We walked along the boardwalk and saw flocks of geese and herons flying overhead, plus lots of coots swimming around in the marsh. It was very loud with all the bird calls. When we returned home, Catzookz asked if we wanted to see Big Hero 6 with her, Twins Fan, and another friend of theirs. All I can say is, I LOVE this movie, especially the cuddly healthcare providing robot BayMax. We saw it in 3-D, which was really cool. There was also an adorable short beforehand about a puppy and his owner with no words in it at all.

Sunday Travalon and I took Rodney to the dog park to enjoy the beautiful day, then we got to work with Rich and tore all the carpeting out of my old condo. It is now ready to be deep cleaned, painted and recarpeted… and then I can put it on the market! Yay! Hopefully it sells quickly, even if this isn’t the best time of year to be selling property. It’s a pretty good deal, if you know anyone looking for a small condo. It has an outdoor pool and an underground parking space. I was very happy living there for almost eight years, but our new condo is way cooler. The plants really appreciate the solarium. We treated Rich to dinner at a Mexican restaurant to thank him for his help, then we went home and watched the Packers absolutely decimate the Bears. Travalon was even rooting for the Bears to get a touchdown, it was so ridiculous. Normally I would feel bad for the other team, but it’s the Bears. Tiffy and I were texting each other during the game, and I laughed so hard when she texted: “Los Osos pobres… que lastima.” For those of you unfamiliar with Spanish, that means: “Poor Bears – that hurts.” I texted, “Maith galore,” which is Irish for “Very good” and is pronounced Ma Galore. (Our teacher says it every time we manage to say something correctly in Irish.) Galore means the same thing in Irish that it does in English because in fact it is a direct borrowing from Irish. There’s your linguistics lesson for the day.

Famous Hat

The Movin' Out Blues

Sorry for the lack of blogging yesterday, but I was at my old condo, trying really hard to get it emptied out. I did not succeed in that venture, and because people have expressed so much delight in my silly poems, I figured it was high time to get creative again while explaining why not. This is called “The Movin’ Out Blues.”

Got so much stuff left

In my old crib

Like a broken plant cart

And a Chinese bib.

I’m making three piles:

St. Vinny’s, trash, and keep,

But the first two are small,

And the last one is deep.

Can’t get rid of that sweater,

Ma Hat

Made that.

Can’t get rid of this screw,

Who knows

Where it goes?

And this key?

Well, you see,

It might open some door

That I need to

Get into,

Or maybe not anymore.

See this pile of discs?

They all have to stay,

Which one holds my novel?

Right now I can’t say.

This little stuffed frog

Was given to me

By a person who’s gone

To the Great Beyond,

So I’m sure you can see

Why it stays in my pond.

What can I get rid of?

What can I let go?

Moving out would be simple

If I just learned to say No!

Famous Hat

Getting the Jungle in Order

I apologize for my silence yesterday. I really wasn’t sulking over getting no comments on my previous blog post (but it’s not too late to comment, if you feel so inclined); I was just sick with a cold. In fact, that pretty much sums up my weekend: sick. I spent a lot of time sleeping and blowing my nose. Sunday Rich and Kathbert did come over and help me move some plants around, so now several of them are up in the loft, and there is a little more room in the Jungle. Of course, I forgot to ask Rich to bring over the Professor when he came, and he didn’t think of it either, so we still aren’t sure where that enormous plant is going to fit. Jolly Bob takes up a lot less room now that I have it propped up against the wall instead of sprawling all over. We moved the giant ponytail palm into the living room, but this morning I noticed it wasn’t getting any direct sunlight so my eternally patient husband Travalon moved it back for me. He really does have good humor about my dozens of plants! When you sit in his man cave, you get a great view of the Jungle, so that’s one good thing about them. We also moved Cashmere my bunny into the Jungle because it is getting too cold at night (already!) to leave her on the three-season porch. At first she seemed happy to be back with all her plant buddies, but now she realizes she has less room to run around, so she has been sitting in her cage, sulking. When I get some shelves to put the smaller plants on, we can move a larger scrap of carpeting into the Jungle so she has more room to play in, since she will not walk on the tile floor. At least not so far… Which is what I was counting on, because otherwise she could get at my poor, vulnerable, and in some cases quite toxic plants.

Famous Hat

Welcome to the Jungle

As my regular readers no doubt know, I had a setup at my old condo that we dubbed “Plant World,” made of a wooden entertainment system rack and fluorescent lights. This was because my old condo only had windows facing north, so there was no light in the place all winter. This past weekend the guys (Travalon, Rich, and Twins Fan) tried to move Plant World out of the old place, but it was too tall to fit in the U-Haul trailer, so they suggested we leave it by the garbage. Which is where I found it in the first place, years ago, plus after years of having plants on it, it had suffered some water damage. Our new condo has a solarium with floor-to-ceiling eastern exposure windows, so Kathbert pointed out Plant World would not really be necessary anymore. It’s the end of an era: no more Plant World. Instead, I have what Travalon and I have been referring to as “The Jungle,” the solarium full of plants. They are all over the floor right now, but this weekend Kathbert is going to help me find some shelves at Menards that will be perfect for putting plants on, thanks to the generosity of the people who gave Travalon and me a Menards gift card for a wedding present. Travalon said I should blog about this today and call the post “Welcome to the Jungle,” like the Guns ‘N’ Roses tune, so that is what I am doing.

Famous Hat

The Chair of Doom

Friday night the Rosary Ladies got together for pizza at Luigi’s, then we walked to Our Lady Queen of Peace while praying the rosary. We stopped at an ice cream shop, and I couldn’t decide whether or not to get any until Jilly Moose told me they had something called Snap-o-lantern, which is pumpkin with pieces of ginger snaps in it. Then I tried to get into line, but so many people kept coming into the shop that I finally gave up, and Luxuli said I wasn’t meant to get ice cream that night. She’s probably right – it’s not like I needed it.

Saturday morning Travalon and I went to get coffee before he left to watch The Wizard of OZ on the big screen with Twins Fan, and the family of four cranes who live in our neighborhood were slowly walking across the road. Travalon honked at them to hurry up, but instead they stopped and looked up at the sky, as if they thought the sound was coming from above. We couldn’t help laughing at their confusion, wondering if they thought a giant goose was flying overhead. Then Rich, Kathbert, and I picked up a trailer from U-Haul and headed to my old condo, where Travalon soon joined us, and we began moving all the furniture out. Catzookz and Twins Fan came by with bottles of water, which we welcomed after all that physical exertion. They helped us for a couple of hours and then left to see a movie, and then Prairie Man helped us unload stuff at our new condo. We had dinner at the Nau-Ti-Gal – our treat, to thank them for their help.

Yesterday after Mass Travalon and I went to brunch with Rich, both B-Boys, and Mo-Girl, who told me their daughter named a blonde figurine in their nativity set after me. How flattering! She is two. I remember when Rockstar Tailor and some other kids who are now grown thought I was the coolest person ever, and now they don’t even want to be my friends on MyFace. Sigh… So it’s fun to have a new generation of Famous Hat fans.

In the afternoon Travalon and I took Rodney the Poodle for a long walk at Pheasant Branch, then we went to Capital Brewery to try some seasonal beer: I had pumpkin and Travalon had apple. In the evening we went to an Early Music Festival party. I thought all participants were invited, but it was quite a small crowd, and someone told me it was only board members and big donors. (Many years ago I made a sizeable contribution and am now a Big Donor who gets my name prominently featured in the programs.) The party was outdoors, at a park shelter, so we dressed casually, but other people were dressed for a real soiree. Afterwards we dropped in on Rich, and while we were talking, Rodney jumped up into the Chair of Doom, a popesan chair Travalon loves to sit in. Like Daddy, like Doggy. He curled up and fell asleep (Travalon always falls asleep in the Chair of Doom too), and he wasn’t too eager to leave. It is one comfortable chair – that’s why we named it the Chair of Doom, because once you sit down in it, it’s very hard to make yourself get back up out of it. We have a popesan chair at our condo, but it doesn’t seem to have the same hold on people. Rich’s is just special. I think Tiffy gave it to him.

Famous Hat

Saying Goodbye to Stuffies

Last night I went to my old condo again to sort things, but this time was different: it was stuffed animal sorting. If I thought sorting clothes was hard, this was a whole other level of emotional attachment. There were entirely too many of them, and they were just sitting there while some child somewhere might be cherishing them. So I went through them. Maria the Unicorn I got for Christmas just before turning nine? That’s a no-brainer, she had to stay. But Sara the Swan and Winnie the Whale don’t have the same emotional pull, even if they were beloved childhood toys that I spent many wonderful hours playing with. It’s time for them to move on to other children. And of course almost all my fuzzy germs got sent to St. Vinny’s, except for a complete set of the rhinovirus: normal, three tiny, and one giant. I even sent most of my ePlush animals away, except for the llama and the poodle, because they are just so cute. I still have the electronic avatars, after all. The one thing I really held onto was the small bears, because I have a good collection of those and they don’t take up much room. I’m trying not to think too hard about the toys I gave to St. Vinny’s, but after all, if they were just sitting at my old condo all this time, then I didn’t really need them. So now I only have one giant box of stuffed animals… well, it’s progress.

Famous Hat

More Laundry-Related Excitement

Today’s post is a follow-up to my post about moving my old washer-dryer combo from the old condo to the new one. Last night Richard Bonomo came over and exchanged the outlet so we can plug in the machines successfully. Both machines seem to be working properly; I just need to get a new dryer vent hose and a new agitator, since the old one always pops off and got a blade broken so it would tear my clothes to shreds. Soon we should be able to do laundry at home and not have to risk mysteriously losing it at the Laundromat.

This morning I got a call from the management company taking care of my old condo. There was a leak in my unit dripping down to the unit below. I was puzzled, since I hadn’t seen anything last night while sorting things there, but it turns out it was where the washer-dryer used to be, and I didn’t look back there. They told me the water hadn’t been totally turned off when we disconnected the units, and my rug was totally soaked. They used my shop vacuum to clean up the water and then turned my fan on to dry the carpeting, which is going to be replaced anyway, as soon as I get everything out of there. It’s just nonstop excitement with laundry-related events!

Famous Hat

Canoeing, Take Two

Canoeing, Take Two: I didn’t fall in the lake getting into the canoe, and we had it the right way around this time so my legs didn’t get all cramped. As Travalon noted, these are things you can only learn by doing. Yesterday evening was gorgeous, so we took the canoe out for over an hour, paddling down the Yahara River toward Lake Mendota. We noticed an inlet and decided to explore, but it was very weedy so Travalon thought we should head back. I had thought maybe it looped back around but did reluctantly agree to head back. Today I looked on Google Maps, and it didn’t loop around. In fact, it was the start of something called Six Mile Creek, so if we had continued paddling and the name is any indication, we would have been in for a really long trip. Good thing I listened to my husband!

In the process of moving, I discovered a piece of paper (bright red) that was kind of done up like a dollar bill. It was good for one dollar toward a purchase at the Froth House, a café on Allen Street, and it was dated 2010. Today after running errands on campus, I stopped there to see if they would still take it… and they did! With the $3 in my pocket, I had just enough cash for an iced latte and some tip money. This caffeine buzz should get me through another long evening of sorting stuff at my old condo. Then hopefully tonight Travalon and I will swim at the health club; this time we’ll try to get there before the pool is officially closed.

Famous Hat

Confessions of a Pack Rat

Moving is always a bit overwhelming. Every time I walk into my old condo, there seems to be so much to do, I don’t know where to start. The other evening I was there sorting through paperwork, and here is the proof I am a terrible pack rat: I found notes from a classmate of mine when we were in middle school! So of course I had to read them, and boy, were we shallow back then! I did save a couple with really interesting references to life in the 80’s and funny doodles on them, but why I had saved all of them for so long, I really can’t say. They were mostly my friend complaining about other girls in her class, her parents, the teachers… you know, the usual things middle school kids complain about. Plus how she wanted to go eat junk food; it seems like we all ate junk food in the 80’s but we were thin. Now I rarely eat junk food, and I am not thin. And it can’t be just an age thing either, because now there seem to be so many tubby kids. Back when my friend Jennifer (that was 50% of girls in the 80’s, and the other 50% were Heather) and I were writing notes to each other, there would be one tubby kid in the school, and he or she would be teased mercilessly. I wonder if tubby kids still are, now that they are in the majority? Maybe we walked more in the 80’s, because I remember walking all over town with Jennifer, and Heather too. If we wanted to get somewhere further away, like the swimming pool, and our parents couldn’t/wouldn’t take us, we would bike there. Boy, am I starting to feel middle-aged, discussing how things were “in my day.” So moving not only is a big pain, it also reminds you of how old you really are.

Famous Hat

Fireworks and Plant Moving

They say it takes two to tango, and Friday evening I witnessed this firsthand, going to a night of tango dancing with Handy Woman. I was not there to dance but to hear the live music, and watching the dancers, I realized there was no way I could fake my way through a tango. It looks too complex and beautiful. The music was lovely, just a guitar and flute. Handy Woman had said she and I could start playing tango music, her on the guitar and me on the violin, but after listening to this group (called Folia), she decided her guitar skills are not up to tango music. Truthfully, my violin skills may not be either…

Saturday I spent a good deal of the day sorting paperwork and clothing at my old condo. Travalon and I took down a number of bags of paper for recycling, and I filled two bags with clothes for giving away. Now I am down to a reasonable number of clothes, since I finally gave away everything that does not fit and threw away everything that is really too ratty to wear. Believe me, it was hard – I get emotionally attached to my favorite clothes! I don’t actually have that many left, so maybe this is a good excuse to go shopping, if I ever have a spare moment from readying the old condo for sale.

In the evening Jilly Moose, Richard Bonomo, Travalon, and I went to Luxuli and Prairie Man’s condo to watch Rhythm ‘n’ Booms, which this year was downtown. (Ironically for Travalon and me, we just moved within walking distance of the park where they always had it in the past.) We had a perfect view from their balcony, and the fireworks did not disappoint, with cool shapes like waterfalls, smiley faces, spirals, and stars. The music was a weird amalgamation of film scores and pop songs that mention the USA, but the fireworks did coordinate with it really well. Today at work we were all talking about how great the fireworks were, and all the cool places we got to watch them from. My dream is to watch them from a boat someday, but so far I haven’t managed that one yet.

Yesterday Botanist 53 gave me her ponytail palm, which is nearly as old as I am, and nearly as tall. My other plants are at my old condo hanging out on the balcony or in Plant World, where they seem very happy, so we haven’t moved them yet. But I didn’t want the ponytail palm to be lonely in our new condo, so I decided to bring over one of my big plants from Rich’s house. After a lovely hike at Devil’s Lake with Rodney, Travalon and I went to Rich’s house and tried to take Jolly Bob out to the car, but it has become so enormous that we aren’t entirely sure how to move it. We ended up moving Dr. Cheung, which isn’t as large and unwieldy but is very heavy, so Travalon had to carry it for me. Jolly Bob actually has a wheeled pot, so in theory it should be easier to move, except of course up the stairs. In practice, because it is so sprawling, it is going to be quite a challenge to move. Maybe I will need to borrow the pickup from Community Car to move it...

Famous Hat 

Futbol Weekend

Cashmere the Rabbit is really feeling at home in the new condo now, because she is back to being her weird bunny self. We have a glass coffee table in the living room, and she likes to run laps around it and lick it. Maybe it tastes really good…? Rodney the Poodle did chase her for maybe a foot, so she got a little scared, but not enough to stay out on the screened-in porch. He soon lost interest, and anyway she has only herself to blame, since she was approaching him as he was trying to sleep.

Saturday I thought it would be a good idea to move my small washer/dryer combo from my old condo to the new one, not realizing how heavy it was. Travalon and Richard Bonomo ended up doing most of the heavy lifting, with quite a bit of help from Kathbert and some from me as well. Travalon, Kathbert, and I all ended up with very minor injuries, and the washer dumped water on the carpet in my old condo, but we did succeed in moving the unit… just to discover the outlet in the new condo is the wrong kind. Fortunately Rich is an electrical engineer, so he can help us with this issue. Whether the washer/dryer still works after that beating is another matter, but I’d be too embarrassed to sell it with my old condo, since I’d have to explain how partway through the spin cycle the agitator always comes off so you have to stop the washer and replace it, only you can’t just pick up the lid to stop it because of a previous repair Rich did. I may just buy a new set for my old condo, or sell it without them and let the buyer take care of it.

In the evening my band had a gig at Make Music Madison, only Hardingfele wasn’t there because she had an actual paying gig. They did let us busk, and we made $4, or $1 apiece. I just donated my buck to the next act, a group doing capoeira, which is a very cool Brazilian martial art with its own music. The music is simple and rhythmic, but I was still impressed how two of them would do the dance part and then trade with two musicians without missing a beat. There were five people in that group, and they made a whopping $17.50 in tips since they were so good. They were really fun to watch, doing cartwheels and kicking at each other – very athletic. I thought about doing capoeira ages ago but was discouraged to find out they practice three times a week, so that would have been the end of all my bands and choirs. Besides, I really am not coordinated enough, but imagine how fit I would have been! Travalon, Luxuli, Prairie Man, and OK Cap came to hear my band, and they stayed to watch the capoeira too. The act before us was also really good, a drum line from Chicago who did choreographed moves along with their drumming.

Yesterday was a really beautiful day in Madison, and also in Oconomowoc when we went to visit Travalon’s mom, so we were able to take her out for some fresh air. However, when Travalon and I went into Milwaukee, the temperature was much lower, but we still went canoeing and enjoyed it a great deal. By the time we went to the Three Lions Pub in Shorewood to try to watch the World Cup, the temperature had dropped to the mid 50’s, so we were too cold to watch the game outside and the pub was too full for us to get into it. We returned to Oconomowoc and ate at Burke’s Landing, a restaurant on the lake, and there it was in the mid 70’s and very pleasant. Then we came back to Madtown and watched the World Cup highlights on ESPN2. I was in love with this four-second snippet of a song they play whenever they return from ads, and today I found the whole song on YouTube, but it isn’t an actual Brazilian song, it’s by Pitbull. So sort of hiphop with a little Latin flavor courtesy of J-Lo. Kind of a letdown, but I do really like the song. It’s called “Ole Ola.” Travalon and I have been watching the highlights every evening, and sometimes we root for opposing teams, like I was rooting for Nigeria since I know many Nigerians while he was rooting for Bosnia since it’s near where his family came from. Today he is watching the Croatia game because that is exactly where his mother’s family came from. Hm, I wonder if Cecil Markovitch is going to watch it too? Something tells me he doesn’t care at all about “futbol.” (I feel weird to call it soccer when it is actually played with the feet and a ball, as opposed to what we call football, which is a throwing and catching game played with an egg-shaped missile.) 

Bad news - my Famous Hat has developed a hole. It is very small now, but the hat's days may be numbered. Will I have to change the name of this blog if it totally dies?

Famous Hat

Bathing by Ducklight

Moving is always an adventure. Last night Travalon and I grabbed some bedding and towels from my old condo and went to the new one, after treating Richard Bonomo to dinner for putting us up for almost a week. I was still living out of my two new purple suitcases (the smaller one a shower present from Jilly Moose and Luxuli, and the larger one a wedding present courtesy of some friends of Ma and Pa Hat), as if I were still on the honeymoon. Travalon had brought some stuff from his old condo and put it in the smaller second bedroom, which is his man cave. We almost felt like we were camping, because we only had the necessities. One thing we did do was take a romantic bath by ducklight: we fired up our hot tub with only the light-up rubber duckies from Kathbert to illuminate the room. We had to special order a California king bed because Travalon is so tall, and it will take about two weeks to arrive, so in the meantime we are sleeping on my futon.  During the night it got surprisingly cold, but we had thought to bring some blankets, so that wasn’t a problem. This morning we woke up at ten to six, which didn’t seem like enough time to get to UGGH Club, so we rolled over and went back to sleep until about seven. Then we said, “Happy anniversary!” because today is our one-month wedding anniversary. Can you believe it? How long do we qualify as newlyweds? At least a year, I’d think, but feel free to state your opinion on this important matter in the comments.

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Relaxing Weekend

Sorry for the silence yesterday, I was just very busy. I am feeling much better about life in general, and work in particular, after a refreshing weekend. On Saturday I got up early to work out with Luxuli and Hardingfele, then Hardingfele and I went to the first Farmers' Market of the year with her daughter Rockstar Tailor and Tailor’s BFF. In the afternoon Rich, Kathbert, and I helped Anna Banana II move a bunch of stuff out of storage, and then we had a nice relaxing dinner with Luxuli and her husband. (Except for Kathbert, who was at Roller Derby that night.) Sunday we had waffles for brunch, and then Anna Banana II and I went to the public garden to pray the rosary, and this time nobody made any strange comments about it. We tried to be very quiet about it, so maybe nobody noticed. Then she and I went to a cupcake place, and then we met Luxuli and Jilly Moose at a Mexican restaurant. So that improved my mood, and my boss has been great. That helps a ton too.

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The Honeymooners

This weekend Richard Bonomo, Kathbert, one of the B-Boys, and I helped Anna Banana II in what has become something of a yearly ritual with her: she moved into a new place. She thanked us with pizza and delicious homemade brownies. Then we were talking about how we should decorate the other B-Boy's car because he was returning later that very evening from Hawaii with his new bride, Mo-Girl. It turns out that both his car and Mo-Girl's car were at the B-Folks' house, so we went with Plan B: we decorated the front door of their new apartment so that all their new neighbors (including a woman who goes by - I kid you not - Flame) would know that they had just returned from their tropical honeymoon.

Figure 1: B-Boy and Mo-Girl's Front Door

(photo credit: Kathbert's cell phone)

Figure 2: Close-up of Sign

(photo credit: Kathbert's cell phone

sign design: Famous Hat)

Then on their dining room table we left a bottle of white wine called "Honeymoon," a yellow calla lily, and a loaf of bread. (This was taken on Rich's cell phone, which does not take such good photos as Kathbert's does - hers is practically as good as a real camera!) The sign says: "A bottle of wine, a loaf of bread, a plant, and thou... Welcome home!"

Figure 3: B-Boy and Mo-Girl's Dining Room Table

And in an attempt to find the cold-blooded killer of the Number Four, I am providing the police photograph negatives of "A Clear Case of Tetracide." Please help us bring this number killer to justice!

Figure 4: A Clear Case of Tetracide (Police Negatives)

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