Travalon's Haul

 

Today I worked from home, and Travalon and I debated taking another boat ride, but he had a dentist appointment so we'd be cutting it close to his time to leave for work, plus it was windy. We ended up walking on Governor's Island. Here are some photos.

Travalon continues to get things delivered that he ordered with his gift card. He got this poster yesterday.

And also these little Matchbox train engines from the Great Western Railroad in Britain.

Today he got another poster, but it wouldn't lie flat so I'll wait until he hangs it to take a photo. He also got a Chessie the Cat sign.

Today Travalon made a new friend at work.

It's a capybara! Oh, I forgot to mention that he brought home curder burgers from Culver's for lunch. I have one every year - just one, because they are a cholesterol bomb. We also had mint cookie custard. So then on my afternoon break I picked some crabapples from my favorite tree to have some plant matter, only this time I chewed on the magic berries first so the crabapples tasted sweet instead of tart. They were really good that way, but I love them tart too. I forgot to mention that yesterday Hardingfele and I also foraged, eating prickly pear fruit and crabapples on campus.

Here are screenshots of train graffiti from a video on social media of a train that went through town this morning:

It's been a while since the train has been through our neighborhood. Hopefully it comes back soon.

Famous Hat

Willy Street Fair 2026

 

Since we went to Mass last night, Travalon was able to watch the Wolverhampton game this morning, and they won! Sadly, there was a brand-new mural someone had pained with some of their star players on it, and a guy from the other team defaced it - it wasn't even 24 hours old!

Then we went to Willy Street in time to catch the parade. It was surprisingly cool today, and I was trying to think how to be extra in warm clothes, when it occurred to me that I have that silly thing that looks like a fuzzy, three-eyed blue monster that sits on my head, and I can make the ears move. Is it a hat? Is it a stuffed animal? Yes. 

We watched the parade, and I made the monster's ears move in time to the music. I could see that some of the Brazilian drummers saw me and laughed. Travalon made some videos, and I compiled them into a movie but am having some technical difficulties so watch for that hopefully tomorrow. Here are a couple of photos. Sorry, my monster hat is not in any of them.

After the parade we went to check out the fair and immediately ran into the Kiwi from the Shamrock Club and his delightful girlfriend. Then another person they knew saw us and told us it was his birthday, so I sang him Happy Birthday in Basque, which he loved - he said, "That's a great birthday gift!" Travalon and I found the booth with the amazing kebabs, then we continued on and came across a band playing Latin music, so we sat and listened. They also did reggae and other styles - very versatile. Travalon got more kebabs and baobab shakes, then the Kiwi and his girlfriend joined us, and we split into two conversations based on gender. Then they went to check out other bands, since there were at least three other stages at the Fair, while we heard the whole set by that band, called Los Bad Hombres. Then we explored the Fair to the end, getting pork dumplings and coconut shrimp and hibiscus juice, and Travalon bought a pair of sunglasses from the local radio station just like the pair I bought last year. Somehow I lost a $5 bill. We passed a place selling gummies, so I bought a package and took one, since that was 5 mg, but it didn't seem to do much at first. 

We went back to the main stage, where a funky jazz combo called Rare Element were playing, and we listened to them. At some point the Kiwi and his girlfriend came back, and some guy gave them free little books, but he was gone so I couldn't get one. There was one of a poem of Gerard Manley Hopkins, my favorite poet, so I would have liked that one. They chose Dante's Inferno. They wandered off to hear a band called Yolk, and then the third band on the main stage played, I think they were called Automatic Lover. They also played funky jazz and Latin music, and at one point the lead singer asked, "Are there any Capricorns in the house?" I hollered, but nobody else did, and I felt a bit like that time at World Youth Day in Paris when the Pope was giving a shout-out to each country in French, and when he said, "Etats-Unis," Ethel and I hollered, but nobody else did for miles around, and the people around us asked, "Only you two from the US?" 

I saw a little kid looking at me, so I made my hat's ears move, and he was transfixed. Then someone brought over a baby to watch my hat. I had to keep doing it for so long that my FitBit said I got my steps for the hour just squeezing the paws of my monster hat to make the ears keep moving. Then we saw the Daughter of Denni, so I showed her how my monster hat's ears move, and she was as delighted as the children and bought us a beer. Part of a beer on top of the gummy did finally make me feel stoned, and suddenly the bassline in the music sounded AMAZING. Wow! Oh, I forgot to mention that at the place where I bought the gummies, Travalon bought an adorable stuffed bong.

So cute! Then on the way home we saw some train graffiti - thought I'd forgotten about that, didn't you?

We were enjoying the Willy Street Fair so much that I never got to the Slow Irish Session, and I would have had to miss the second half anyway to get to band practice. It was at our newest fiddler's house, and I stupidly didn't wear the blue monster hat, since she has a four-year-old, and also a four-month-old named after the Pope who was asleep the whole time we were there. We practiced some hard Cajun music that we had never played before, so I think the preschooler was annoyed. Cajun music does have a whiny quality even when played well, so you can imagine how weird it sounds when people are sight reading it. Travalon picked me up with a decaf iced pandan latte, what he always gets me when he goes to Leopold's. A wonderful ending to a wonderful day! 

Famous Hat

Travalon’s Adventure: S.S. Badger Ferry Crossing and Sleeping Bear Dunes

 

Happy September! Today not much happened for me, except that my THC stuffie arrived.

Also, the train went by in our neighborhood, apparently right after I left for Adoration, and it had some fabulous graffiti.

Now that I've posted the mandatory train graffiti, I'm turning things over to guest blogger Travalon:

On Friday my old college buddy who is visiting from Japan and I met up in Manitowoc and took the S.S. Badger for the first time across Lake Michigan to Ludington, MI. It was wonderful! So relaxing just sitting back and enjoying the cool breezes and just looking at the waves. We also enjoyed playing bingo, although we didn’t win at all. After docking on the other side of the big pond and a nice dinner and drink at a brewpub we had a long two hour drive mainly in the dark through a lot of woods and on backroads with no straight shot, but we made it to our destination safely. Saw the same bright moonrise Famous Hat did back home but didn’t get a picture. Our resort in Traverse City (home of the Pit Spitters baseball team that occasionally crushes our Mallards) was on a nice bay beach but the room was nothing special.

 
On Saturday we drove to Sleeping Bear Dunes Natl. Lakeshore and hiked on the Empire Bluff trail, which was recommended by a guide at the visitor’s center, the views of the lakeshore and bluff were beautiful but we weren’t right on the dunes. The next hike was the Cottonwood Trail located off of a scenic drive and that was way better, we went up and down huge sand dunes and had spectacular views of Lake Michigan and some pretty inland lakes in the park. It was tiring, and we got off the trail a bit trying to find our way back but we made it!

 
Our last stop in the park was at a historic lighthouse at Point Betsie. Unfortunately we missed the last tour before it closed.

 
Had a good nights sleep despite my cough after all that hiking and a nice Mexican dinner.

 
On Sunday we went to the north end of the park, our first stop was at the small historic village of Glen Haven, which looked like a maritime village in Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. We visited a former Coast Guard Rescue station and an interesting Maritime Museum. We then hiked the Pyramid Point Trail, which was a good uphill climb but the view at the end was spectacular ! it included the shorelines of Big and Little Manitou Islands. Our next adventure was a swim (I just waded) at Good Harbor Bay Beach. The water was crystal clear and the sand pristine. A few people were there too but it was quiet and peaceful. No trash anywhere, no loud music, could’ve stayed all day. I have to take Famous Hat there in the near future. Our last stop in the park was at a dune made for climbing. Surprisingly my buddy didn’t have the energy for it, but I decided to. Went up sideways and made it, but at the top of that steep dune was another dune- naw, too much! We went back to town and although my buddy struck out on his quest for a slice of homemade pie ( a rarity in Japan I guess) we had a nice seafood dinner although it was a bit overpriced.

On Monday we had to get up very early to drive two hours again to make the ferry on time, and it was dark and rainy, we also didn’t have coffee before leaving. We made it though. The crossing back to Wisconsin was very pleasant and although we still couldn’t win at bingo we won the trivia contest. My buddy couldn’t believe I knew the 1960 hit Runaway was sung by Del Shannon. I would’ve made Rockin’ John on WORT proud too. We visited Point Beach State Park back in Wisconsin and my buddy and I had pie at a cafe in Two Rivers. We parted ways and I stopped and walked at Kohler Andrea and Harrington Beach State Parks, the harbor in Port Washington and Virmond Park in Mequon. A full and wonderful weekend!

He also took a really cool 360 degree video that Blogspot is not letting me post. I'll figure out how to do something with it tomorrow - this is enough photos for today.

Famous Hat