Cacti and Pelicans and Jamming, Oh My!

 

Yesterday Travalon and I picked up my aunt and uncle, and we drove to Spring Green. My aunt is a geologist, so she really appreciated all the bluffs along Highway 60. We had lunch at the little general store, where we didn't have to deal with a crowd for Mother's Day. We sat on the back porch, enjoying the beautiful day, then we took a hike at the Nature Conservancy land full of prickly pear cacti. Travalon took some photos. In this first one, the cactus looks like a bowling pin.

This is blue-eyed grass.

There is a bluff behind the cacti with really cool rock formations.

Then we went to the dam in Sauk, where there were lots of pelicans.

They were letting water out of the dam. It was very impressive!

It suddenly got very overcast, so we got into the car. We got caught in a torrential rainstorm in Sauk and pulled over into a parking lot until it passed over us, then we headed back to Madison and could see it heading east before us. Alas, we did not see a rainbow. This isn't a very good photo, but it looked like a waterfall in the sky to the east.

We went back to my aunt and uncle's hotel room and talked awhile before getting dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant, then we jammed on their balcony again. I don't remember all the songs we did, but they were classic rock songs, and Travalon sang along. My aunt said she thought I had improved a lot, and I agree and think it was from the classic rock jam that used to happen at the East Side Club. She did make a video of us doing "Lucky Man," one of my go-to songs from the jam. We also did another one, "Norwegian Wood," and both "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart (which has a mandolin solo at the end) and the completely different tune "Maggie Mae" by the Beatles. It was so much fun that I hated to say goodbye, but we did have to work today, and they were leaving for Chicago in the morning.

The morning came way too early. I worked on campus, and my colleague was busy at lunch, plus it was drizzling, so I walked by myself under the overhang on the third floor. In the evening Travalon and I went swimming at the health club, and on the way we saw this lovely sunset.

Speaking of beauty in the sky, on Friday night as Travalon and I were coming home, I was sure I saw northern lights, but it was a bit cloudy, and I was too tired to check it out. The next day everyone had amazing photos on social media, so we should have checked it out. Saturday we stopped by Cherokee Marsh on our way home but didn't see much, just some shimmery lines in the sky. Sunday I saw nothing as I took a very late walk to get my steps for the day. This evening after swimming we saw the shimmery lines again. Would it look like a lot more if we went somewhere darker? Hard to say. Hardingfele said she went out Friday night and didn't see anything, yet people saw them in Arizona and Florida, as well as all over this state.

My brother gave Ma Hat this pretty glass flower for Mother's Day.

I forgot to even send a text. Too busy looking at cacti and pelicans and jamming to classic rock, I guess. So Ma Hat, if you're reading this, I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Famous Hat

The Pelican Menace

Happy Friday the 13th! Arphaxad is too busy picking at the algae on the side of her bowl to write more of her story today, so I will just have to think of something to say. Luckily, as always, Reality comes to the rescue, this time in the form of the state of Texas. True story: man drives Bugatti into swamp and blames it on - of course - a pelican. There is even awesome footage of the local tow truck driver hauling the Bugatti out of the bayou with a regular old tow truck, not a crane or anything, although I suppose by then it was a lot less valuable than good old Erin Caitlyn O'Honda, my 2000 Accord. I did not realize that the pelicans are so angry with us that they are now forcing people in $1.5 million dollar sports cars that are handmade in France or something to drive into bayous, though you have to admit that "Bugatti in the Bayou" would be an awfully catchy song title. So keep that in mind if you are in Texas, especially if you are driving a Bugatti by a bayou. I'd suggest that you have a bottle of wine on hand so that if you drive off the road you can have beaujolais in your Bugatti in the bayou. My question is this: if these people want to secede, should we really try to stop them?

Last night I skipped Lutheran choir practice again, this time to attend a flamenco show. The music is so beautiful, with the gypsy guitars and the Mideastern-sounding singing and the intricate rhythms. The dancing was lovely too, and I was surprised by how much it resembled Indian or Indonesian dancing with the graceful moves they made with their arms. The women wore those gorgeous dresses with long trains and lots of ruffles, and everyone tap danced. The coolest thing was the last number, showing how Cuban dance influenced flamenco, and they played a flamenco version of a song we'd heard at the concert the week before, a very famous Cuban folk song about "Esa Negra Linda" with the chorus that goes: "Ki kiri boom mandinga" or something like that. Then again, last week they performed a Bach minuet as a guanguanco.

The season is once again upon us when people send us random stuff in the mail. This year we got something that was actually quite pretty, a paper "snow globe" that is flat and then folds out into 3-D. You can put your company's name on it and send it out as a Christmas card to your clients. Of course, we don't exactly have "clients," but hey, whatever. It's very pretty to look at.

Famous Hat