Photos from Old Marsh Road in Horicon Marsh

 

Today I had to work on campus because we had an orientation for the new grad students. I told them three times that I couldn't answer tax questions, and what office to contact with those questions. Afterwards one of them said, "I have a question for you," so I said, "Sure, what it is?" and it was a tax question. Sigh...

After work I took a walk while waiting for Travalon to pick me up, and I saw these cool flowers at the Allen Centennial Gardens. My phone says they are silver cock's combs. They look more lavender to me...

When we got home, we tried to get the boat off the lift... and we did for the first time this summer!! For some reason nobody on our side of the condo pier has a boat except us, and there are all sorts of lotus pads in the way, so getting out was interesting. A neighbor laughed at us and took some photos, and she promised to share them, but she hasn't. I'm sure I was so photogenic as I was battling the lotuses. We did get out into the clear water, so we were able to put down the paddles and fire up the motor. Here is my favorite captain at the helm!

And here is the sunset we saw from the boat.

We went around the lotuses on the way back, so we only had to battle them a little. I did say to Travalon how frustrating it is that the new iPhones are too big for a regular sandwich bag, like our old ones could fit into to protect them from the water, and now I have to use the big freezer bag size. Then I said, "That's a real First World problem," and he said, "Why do these things always happen to moi?" which really made me laugh. Astute readers will realize that is a Miss Piggy quote, perfectly timed.

As promised, here are photos from our trip to Horicon Marsh on Friday. I don't know what this first duck is that we saw off of the boardwalk, but I have asked the Hive Mind and hope to have an answer soon.

On Old Marsh Road, we saw lots of egrets.

There were three geese on the road, and as we approached them, they got up and walked ahead of us as if they were our tour guides.

Eventually they got tired of us and flew away. They landed in the water near this young pelican.

There were some pretty flowers blooming. This is choke weed, a kind of wild morning glory.

My phone says this is spotted knapweed. I don't see the spots.

My phone calls this chicory. Like they put in coffee in New Orleans?

My phone says this is flowering toadflax, or what we called it when I was a kid, butter-and-eggs. It's a type of wild snapdragon.

We saw a pair of swans hanging out with geese and sandhill cranes.

Here are some of the many cranes. The one mid-picture with an orange beak and no red on its head is a juvenile that hatched this year.

Here they are with an egret.

Another view of the bird party. 

More egrets.

And lots of pelicans with cormorants and a mallard.

Here's a cormorant.

Here is the mother black-necked stilt with her baby in the nest.

See how many pelicans there were? And plenty of cormorants too. They always hang around together.

A swan swims in front of some cormorants. There were two swans, and they began trumpeting to each other, and then they flew away.

Another view of how many, many pelicans there were.

Another egret.

The sandhill cranes were all looking in the same direction, as if awaiting a signal...

... and then, as if they had received it, they flew away! But not all of them.

We saw plenty of pied-billed grebes too. 

And of course lots of gulls.

We saw a swan as we were heading back out of the marsh.

Then we saw his wife and six teenage cygnets.

This picture makes me laugh: they're all preening, even the goose!

And here you can see Dad (maybe Mom?) in the background.

An egret flew overhead.

As we were leaving, a lone goose was sitting on the road, and it got up and led us like a tour guide.

Unlike the others, it didn't fly off. When we were almost out of the marsh, it turned to the left and wandered into the grass.

We went to the section where the white-headed goose is known to hang out, but we didn't see any birds there. Travalon took this scenic photo of it from the hill above.

I hope that these photos were worth the wait.

Famous Hat

Second Slow Irish Jam (You Lead This One, Famous!)

 

I know I promised photos from our trip to Horicon, and I finally went through them, and there are some good ones. But it got too late... again... so tomorrow. Tonight I will just blog about today. Travalon and I went to Mass at our usual church, and once again there were eight of us at brunch (not exactly the same eight people), so once again we were there for two hours. Finally we had to ask for the bill so that Travalon and I could go to Sauk for the rosary I'd put on layaway. The antiques shop had called while we were at Horicon Marsh to say that they had another Stanhope Rosary, and it's very similar to the one I already got there some years ago, plus it's missing one of the viewing windows, so I said I'd have to think about it. They still want a fortune for it, even though it's in rougher shape. I did get two other rosaries, and this blue ring (the one on the right):

Cali wanted to meet us at the Good Neighbor Fest in Middleton, and that was right on our way home from Sauk, so we stopped there. Travalon got some photos of old gas stations, and I got two pairs of earrings. I had to hurry home, because this evening there was another slow Irish session. 

I left a little early so I could get to the Slow Irish Session before it started so I could get a smoothie, but of course I got caught behind a long, slow train and got there just before it started. Last month our whole band had gone, but this time I was the only one representin' until Hardingfele showed up at least fifteen minutes into the session. Maybe that's why the leader kept saying, "Famous, this is one of your songs, so why don't you lead it?" instead of "Famous and Hardingfele." Our band had provided some more songs for the group to do, and today we did "Give Me Your Hand" and "Salmon Tails Up the River." I knew about a third of the songs we did, but the ones I didn't know were quite a challenge. I sat between a hammer dulcimer player who was a bit older than I am and who said she had learned all the songs by ear, and a much younger fiddler who also said she had learned all the songs by ear. Hardingfele "cheated" and used music, but I stubbornly tried to play the songs by ear, and it was very humbling! The funny thing is that I had asked Travalon, Rich, and the woman who sold me the earrings at the Good Neighbor Fest if I should bring the violin or the mandolin, and they all said the mandolin. I was kind of in a violin groove after our Ukrainian gig, but am I glad that I listened to everyone, because the mandolin is much quieter, so people couldn't hear me screwing up. Maybe once I know the tunes better, I'll bring the violin. The fiddler next to me says she has been coming for a year now, so that may be why she knows the tunes so much better. She agreed with me that the first time through is awful, then the second time you think you're getting it, and the third time you're so close... and then they only play through it three times. This time we had quite an audience, and they applauded every time we finished a tune, no matter how shaky it was. However, there were less players.

At the end of the session, I said to the fiddler next to me, "I never introduced myself. I'm Famous." She said, "I'm Famous too. So every time the leader looked over at us and said, 'Famous, this is your tune, so why don't you lead it?' I just about had a heart attack, but then I realized you must be Famous too." I also introduced myself to the hammer dulcimer player on the other side of me, and she lives in Florida but is visiting her sister up here. I also met a guy who has a big mandolin with five courses instead of four, which he says is called a cittern, and he asked if I was going to go to any of the other local Irish sessions. I said I didn't think I was ready, since the slow one was challenging enough, but he said they're very nice and won't care if you don't know what you're doing. Then Hardingfele said, "We should try the Fast Irish Session," so maybe we should look into that, but she could be in for a rude awakening if they don't let you use sheet music at the other sessions. Of course it's easy for her, reading the music. Let's see how easy it is for her when she's doing it the real Irish way...

Famous Hat

Niko's First Trip to Lambeau Field

 

Yesterday Travalon had the day off of work, so I took the day off too. We had a leisurely morning and then headed to Horicon Marsh, stopping for lunch at Higher Grounds in Beaver Dam. It's a coffee place, and the lavender latte is delicious, but so is their simple grilled cheese sandwich. Travalon took a ton of photos, but I am too tired to download them from his camera tonight, so look for those tomorrow. We saw lots of egrets, a number of swans, hundreds of pelicans, and even four whooping cranes in flight. We also saw some sort of sandhill crane convention, and a black-necked stilt with a baby. Photos soon!

In the evening we went to the Monona Terrace rooftop for the final Dane Dance of the year. There was a mambo orchestra visiting from Chicago, and they were wonderful. They did a lot of salsa songs that I knew. To our surprise, we ran into Cali, so that was fun. She even got us to dance a little, which was quite a feat after we had walked for six miles at Horicon Marsh. Here is a photo of the Capitol from the rooftop.

And here is a pink cloud around sunset.

Today we had to get going as early as if it was a work day, and we still didn't quite get to Lambeau Field on time because of traffic. (I did see a whooping crane fly over us as we passed near Horicon Marsh.) We found parking for free in a nearby neighborhood, and as we were walking toward Lambeau, we could see kickoff on the jumbotron over the field, so Travalon said, "At least we didn't miss kickoff." We got to our seats (or actually other seats nobody was sitting in) midway through the first quarter, and as you can see, we had missed a Packer field goal.

Here we are!

I was wearing Niko, which you can't see in this photo, and nobody commented on him at all. However, a number of people said they loved our hats. I got mine some years ago at a shop on State Street, and Travalon ordered the same hat this past week, and it arrived in the mail yesterday. 

This was a preseason game, so there was a bit of experimentation going on. Lots of going for it on fourth down, and the Packers kicker tried to make a field goal from more than halfway across the field (57 yards).... and HE MADE IT!!! We all watched the ball float through the uprights in disbelief. The weather was lovely and cool for most of the game, but midway through the fourth quarter the sun came out, and it got a bit hotter. The Packers scored and were up again, but with just twenty-two seconds left, Seattle was in the red zone and looked poised to score. If we could hold them to a field goal, we'd win by one point, but if they got a touchdown, then it was game over. I prayed for an interception - and we got one!... but it was ruled an incomplete pass. Then the Seattle quarterback launched one into the end zone... and our guy got it!! Game over!!! I was so excited in those last few minutes, jumping around and waving my arms, that my FitBit said I was biking for nineteen minutes. Maybe it just calls exercise "biking" when it isn't quite sure what I'm doing, since that was what it called it when I put it on my right hand during a gig, and it registered a workout.

Afterwards we went to the Packers Pro Shop, which was an experience. Every square inch of floor was packed with people, and we had trouble finding the checkout line, but at least it moved quickly. We bought this Packers unicorn, which Travalon said we should name Davante, after my favorite former receiver, Davante Adams. 

I have read that the only NFL team that has to reveal its earnings is the Packers, because they are a nonprofit while the others are all for-profit teams. This means that when people try to figure out the NFL's revenues, they extrapolate from what the Packers earn. I think this must skew their data, because the Packers have an unusually loyal fanbase who buy Packer everything, and their games are always sold out. This is not at all true of other football teams. I remember growing up one state over, and now and then you'd see someone wearing a Vikings jacket, but it's not like here, where people have Packers pajamas and Packers car flags and Packers pillows and Packers jewelry and Packers unicorns and of course cheeseheads. Maybe it's that football-shaped G - it's just so aesthetically pleasing. Much more so than a disembodied Viking head.

On the way back the traffic was just as bad, so we took another route, Highway 55 which goes along Lake Winnebago. It was very scenic and went through little towns like Pipe and Stockbridge. When we got back to Sun Prairie, we went to dinner at a new African restaurant. We had jollof rice with chicken, and I had hibiscus and ginger juice. We also had "sweet" buns that weren't that sweet, so they were perfect, kind of like the fritters at the Dorf Haus. Just deep-fried balls of dough - yum! We'll definitely go there again.

Famous Hat 

Busting Unions and Destroying the Environment

 

Nothing too exciting has happened for the last couple of days. Yesterday I worked on campus and walked with my colleague, even though it was so hot. We stuck to the shade, and I took the bus back up the hill instead of walking up it. Today was even hotter; I worked from home and walked with my neighbor in the morning, but then we stayed inside the rest of the day. I was supposed to go on an architectural tour of State Street, but it was canceled due to the heat. Tomorrow is supposed to be just normal summer hot, so I'm looking forward to that.

I recently read that 90% of the global warming in this country is caused by the richest 10% of people. That makes sense - those rednecks who look down on environmentalists aren't actually causing the problems, the people jetting off to Davos to decide how to tell the rest of us how to live more "green" are. A lot of it is also investment in fossil fuels, which is generally done by rich people. Those rednecks aren't investing any money they might happen to have left after buying what they need to survive at the Walmart where they work part-time after it put everything else in town out of business. (I've seen this firsthand in rural Iowa, and it's harsh.) Just now I was looking at MyFace, and there was an ad about how to quit your union. Who do you suppose is sponsoring that? I'm going to guess rich people who want even more money by being able to pay their non-unionized workers even less in wages and benefits. These same people are behind a news channel that convinces the non-unionized, Walmart workers that the reason they're struggling is brown people, not rich people who are screwing them over. Because if the poor white people and the poor brown people ever got together and rose up against their oppressors, it would be Game Over for these evil rich people, and they know it, so they turn everyone else against each other. I wish all of us little people could see that we have more in common than we realize, and that it's time to ask for our fair share. People should be paid a living wage. After all, withholding the just wages from the laborer is one of the sins that cries to Heaven for vengeance. 

I used to be very hardcore about protecting the environment myself, biking or bussing everywhere. Now I'm older and a bit lazier, plus I live further from work, so I kind of need to drive a bit. Still, I am very aware of my actions on the environment and always try to choose the least harmful action. For this I can thank Ma Hat, who has always cared about nature and instilled a great love of it in me. She says she remembers fondly how, as a child, I would take walks with her in the rain and go around saving all the worms from drowning. I'm not quite as tenderhearted these days, but maybe almost. I generally relocate bugs that are in the house instead of killing them. And I hate turning on the air conditioning unless it's really necessary... like today. Hopefully tomorrow we can turn it back off.

Famous Hat

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

 

This morning I was a tiny bit late for work because last night I forgot to refill the hummingbird feeder, and this morning I heard a hummingbird buzzing outside our window, so I quickly made some nectar. Only my easygoing coworker was on campus today, and he didn't care. When I went for my morning walk, I saw that the little tree that seemed to be dying the day I had the mystical experience last month has come back to life, so either the drought is over or the landscapers are finally watering it. I was very happy to see that.

Today we had a meeting of the leaders of the salaried and hourly shared governance, to talk about ageism at the university. We all agreed it was a problem, and that we need hard data to show it's a problem (for example, they didn't ask people's age ranges in a recent climate survey), but we aren't sure how to get the data we need to prove our point, or how we should approach administration once we have the data we need. We did agree this needs to be pursued further. One guy said an administrator actually said they don't bother giving raises to longtime workers because they're less likely to leave. Ouch!

Today was supposed to be horribly hot, and I had to walk to Adoration, but it really wasn't that bad. I planned to stop at Paul's Bookstore to get The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, since after reading about it I realized it was a summary of The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Western people unfamiliar with Buddhism. I was going to go to the Globe for dinner, but instead I went to Fair Trade for a chicken pesto sandwich and began reading the book, not from the start, but from a chapter that intrigued me. It said straight out what I had inferred from the original, ancient book - that these spiritual exercises can be done with a Christ-centric instead of Buddha-centric outlook. After Adoration I went to the Globe and had some kind of dessert that was small but expensive, but it was so exquisite that it was worth every penny. It was some sort of soft cheese flavored with pistachio, rose, and maybe saffron, in sweet milk. I savored it while sitting outside and continuing to read this book. It really brought me a lot of comfort, because I was wondering what I could do for our nephew during his bardo, and it said the best thing is to pray for him, which of course I'm already doing. When Travalon came to pick me up, I told him about the book, and how the spiritual exercises it suggested for the dead, like picturing them being surrounded by love, I had already instinctively done. I have no idea if our nephew is in Heaven or Purgatory, or if he's preparing for another incarnation, but I like to think we've done our part to aid his transition.

Famous Hat

This Is Not a Fire Drill

 

Today was starting off to be a busy day; I had just met with my boss, and I was supposed to meet with some grad students when someone else came in for me to check her documentation to work. Just then, the fire alarm went off, and someone came around to tell us it wasn't a fire drill, and that we had to get out now. The woman who had just arrived ran down the stairs with me; fortunately we were on the eighth floor and only had to get to the fourth floor to get outside. She had almost gone to meet someone else first, on the fourteenth floor - that would have been a lot of running down the stairs! We stood outside, and the grad students gathered around us, so I said why don't we just meet now? They were hoping I had some ideas for funding for the conference they are organizing, so I threw out a few ideas, and they said one was genius and they would go with that. I wish all meetings could be outside while standing around, instead of sitting around inside. Except maybe not in the winter...

Eventually they let us back inside, and I was able to check the woman's documentation. The rest of the day wasn't nearly so exciting. I walked with my colleague at lunch, and we had a staff congress meeting this afternoon, where I sat with my union peeps. The union has no power since Act Ten, so we are trying to change things via shared governance. We hung around afterwards talking, and sometimes it seems funny to me, like we're all middle-aged peons, but I feel like we're kids in a treehouse, plotting to take over the world. Or, in our case, make sure all the peons get paid a fair wage. It does feel like we've made some difference over the years. Tomorrow a bunch of us are meeting, including the chair of the committee I'm on, who really gets sh!+ done. He got on the case of the administration until they raised the minimum wage for the lowest paid workers and gave people who had to work the day after Thanksgiving free parking. We'll see what we can accomplish tomorrow regarding wage compression and inversion. 

Famous Hat

Party and Boat Ride on Friday

 

I forgot to mention the rest of my day on Friday. I went into the office because my colleague and I were going to an open house for a department on campus that we consult a lot. We had cake and sushi and other snacks, and we saw some people we know. A retired person came in, and she has lost a ton of weight since I went to her retirement party in December, so maybe that's what it would take for me to lose weight. I got an empanada from the food cart on Library Mall, just to have some actual lunch, and then my colleague and I took a free boat ride. Here we are.

Eventually I did go back to work until Travalon picked me up. That's where the story starts with my last blog post. Anyway, it was a perfect day for a boat ride. The day before had been too windy - our captain, who reminded me so much of Tiffy's dad, said they couldn't go out that day. He said he has renamed the buoy that they all call "David Buoy" - he now calls it "Buoyonce," because the kids studying limnology today probably have no idea who David Bowie is, but they have surely heard of Beyonce. 

Today Travalon and I were a bit slow to get going, so we went to the nearby church for Mass. We met up with the usual group for brunch, then we went to visit Travalon's mom. For some reason she always thinks that he works at a men's clothing store, so this time he just went with it and told her he works at the Boston Store, but that he used to work at Marshall Fields and make the Frango Mints. She asked if he got to eat the broken ones, and he said yes. Then he got even sillier and said he used to work at K-Mart and turn on the blue light for the Blue Light Specials, and she said, "You went to college to do that?" He was trying to talk a little Croatian to her, because he's been studying it on an apps called Drops. Have you heard of this? I hadn't either, so they must not publicize themselves well. Everyone has heard of DuoLingo (they even have a joke about it in the Barbie movie), Babbel, and Rosetta Stone. Those other two don't seem to have Irish, but Drops does. I've thought about checking it out, but Travalon says it's too basic for me. It just teaches you a few words. It wouldn't be worth it for me when I even know Irish grammar, to some extent.

Then we went to the Brookfield Square Mall, which is even more dead than East Towne Mall. We walked for twenty minutes, then we checked out a few shops and got bubble "tea," which were shakes made of gelato with tapioca pearls in them. I had mine made with green apple and coconut gelato, since you could get two flavors. I asked if those two would go together, and the girl working there said, "Coconut goes well with all the fruit flavors." It was very refreshing on this hot day! Then we hurried back to Madison for dinner at Rich's place. He made fresh brownies - yum! Gelato and brownies in one day? I will never lose weight!

Famous Hat