Rottenchester with Travalon

I am back now from Rottenchester, where I ventured with Travalon so he could meet Ma and Pa Hat. It seemed to go very well: my mother made us a lovely dinner on Saturday night and delicious blueberry pancakes on Sunday morning, and the two of them gave Travalon some wine for Christmas. What did I get? Smiley face potholders, Pigorian chant (that they had actually mailed to me), and a scented lantern. From my brother and nephews, chocolate. Hard to go wrong there. I wasn't sure what to get teenage boys, so I played it safe with gift certificates and cold, hard cash. Unfortunately I did not get to see my niece, who is about to give birth any moment, but it was really good to see the boys. I gave Ma and Pa Hat some New Glarus beer (cherry and raspberry) and my brother a book about Chuck Norris which my one nephew loved. Shopping for people you see once a year is quite a challenge! I think my brother liked the book too...  Travalon brought stollen and sparkling pear cider for my parents. Everyone seemed to get along very well, so it was a successful trip.

Yesterday Travalon and I went to Mass in Rottenchester, then we stopped in La Crosse to go to a tavern from Bottoms Up called The Casino, but it was closed, so we watched part of the Packer game at a nearby place called Cheap Shots. We felt like we were invading a private party, since everyone else there seemed to know each other, and they were all in their early 20's. Every time the game went to ads, they put on hip hop music, which I liked and Travalon didn't. He's a classic rock guy. Then we drove as far as the Dells, listening to the game in the car, and watched the final quarter at Damon's Sports Bar. Unfortunately the Vikings beat us with a field goal in the last few seconds of the game, but Travalon had to work really, really early this morning, so maybe it's just as well they didn't go into overtime.

Famous Hat

Ode to Pizza

Today Toque McToque received the following email at work:

We are not going to close,

but you should come and get

your slices, from the 10^th floor break room,

so both lunch times get a good choice.

Once you have your slices,

you  can go back to your desk.

A “BIG THANK YOU” to Scott for buying the pizzas.   

The person who sent this email has a habit of putting “WORDS” in all capitals and quotation marks as if she is being very sarcastic about her “EXCITEMENT” over “FREE” pizza, but what really got Toque and me about the email is how it looks like a poem. I was expecting a paean to pizza, but it is just some mundane instructions in how to acquire pizza written in lines for no apparent reason.  Shouldn’t an actual poem about pizza go more like this?

Oh perfect circle, bringing joy

Wherever your lovely scent wafts

Of vermilion tomato sauce,

Ivory-hued mozzarella cheese,

And mouthwatering crust,

Except to those

Who do not get to share in your bounty.

Then ah, what exquisite torture!

To smell, and not to taste.

Feel free to leave your own odes to pizza in the comments. Light Bright has already supplied one, and I have made a movie of our two poems:

Famous Hat, Pizza Poet

Planning Sydney's Circulation

Today when I wondered what to blog about, Light Bright asked if I had blogged any more about Sydney the Red Blood Cell. We decided she needed a boyfriend, but I thought he should be Barney the White Blood Cell and she thought Walter the White Blood Cell would be better. “Why don’t you ask your readers?” she suggested. So I ask you, gentle reader – which name is better? Or is there another one you would prefer? Please feel free to leave suggestions in the comments section. Light Bright said Sydney needed an enemy too, but she didn’t know if that would be a sickle cell or some kind of pathogen. She also said Sydney could have some kind of interaction with a drug and wouldn’t that make for an interesting story. I said Sydney could hang out with Nancy the Neuron every time she was in the brain neighborhood. So what would you like to see in a Sydney story? Let me know in the comments.

Famous Hat

Christmas Presents

Yesterday I went to Travalon's mother's house for Christmas, and all his brothers were there, plus their wives, their kids, and some family friends. His college-age nephew dressed up as Santa and did such a good job that he seems to have successfully fooled his little cousins. Guess what Santa gives out? Whoopie cushions, Groucho Marx glasses, and glow-in-the-dark swords. The boys LOVED it. We had a delicious lunch there, with half my cassata, and then Travalon and I drove back to my town for dinner with Richard Bonomo et al, including the other half of my cassata. I had to abandon Travalon for Date Night with Jesus, since it was Tuesday and Adoration doesn't stop for Christmas, but he had a good time talking with everyone else. He and Cecil Markovitch bonded over being half Croatian. I gave Travalon Maus Volumes 1 and 2 for Christmas, and here is what he gave me:

A friend of his in Iowa made this. The bird is an Africa grey parrot. There are also matching earrings... with matching beads, they don't have parrots on them. I am wearing the earrings and necklace today and have gotten lots of compliments on them, considering that hardly anyone is at work today. Yes, Travalon has very good taste.

Famous Hat

Exciting Christmas Morning

Morning! "Good" might be too strong a word for it, since I was at Fruit Soup until after 2:00 am and got maybe five hours of sleep. This time, Richard Bonomo put in an extra early wake-up call with my guardian angel, so I was up before 8:00. At least this way I was able to brew some coffee before heading to Mass... but Mass didn't actually happen. The priest was not feeling well, so he stopped the homily abruptly and began the rest of Mass, but then he fainted. This was old news to me, since I had seen this priest faint during Mass before, but of course some people were panicking. We have a doctor in our choir, so he went down to help the priest, who was conscious and probably just very embarrassed at that point. The congregation started praying the rosary for the priest, but our choir director wasn't going to let a little thing like this get in the way of his plans, so as soon as they finished the first set of mysteries (I assume they were going to do them all since they started with the Joyful Mysteries, and today being Tuesday, the Sorrowful Mysteries are standard), the choir launched into its offertory piece. The Mexican priest who also lives at the rectory didn't seem to understand that we needed a priest to finish Mass, so he came by and then left, and so the deacon distributed communion as the choir sang our communion piece. Now I have to drive to Travalon's house, but between the coffee and the shock of seeing the priest keel over, I am fairly awake.

Famous Hat

Last Weekend in Advent

Merry Christmas to my readers! Sorry for the delay in writing, but Thursday I was not at work because Light Bright couldn't get through the unplowed side streets to my house, so she went in without me. Friday I was very busy at work and had to get a ride with Light Bright because the buses weren't running, and then of course I rarely blog on the weekends, so this is the first chance I've gotten in days. I only have a few minutes before having to go sing with the OTHER choir; I already sang with my own choir for Vigil Mass.

So what have I been up to? Friday evening Travalon and I went to the restaurant Tiffy calls Barnacle Bob's, then we saw a music act at the casino called "Divas through the Decades" (but we missed their one 1940's number), and then we went to our favorite haunt, Le Tigre Lounge. Saturday I headed his way and we went to a very old tavern from Bottoms Up called Hanson's, which celebrated its sesquicentennial on the Nativity of Mary this past year. Then we went to an Italian restaurant and a martini bar called Splash, where I had a pumpkin pie martini. Yum! We watched an episode of The Flintstones before I hit the road. Yesterday Travalon came my way, and we watched part of the Packer game at a local sports bar, then we toured Capital Brewery and had dinner at The Fountain, which is mentioned in Bottoms Up but is not one of the seventy featured taverns. The bar and booths are from a much older tavern, I can't remember where it was located offhand but maybe Travalon can help us out with that. Then we had a tea party at Richard Bonomo's house with Luxuli and her husband; instead of crumpets, we had Christmas cookies. There were the cookies from my exchange at work, cookies that Rich's sister made, and today a box full of cookies from Anna Banana II arrived. This evening I made my famous cassata and will leave half for Rich's guests tomorrow and bring half to Travalon's family get-together. If, of course, I am awake enough to drive his way after all the insanity tonight.

Sorry this blog post's title is so boring. I couldn't think of anything and just went with Rich's suggestion.

Famous Hat

Airhead Rock Star

The other day I made a stupid mistake at work and said what an airhead I am, so Light Bright asked me to draw a picture of myself as an airhead. Here is what I came up with:

We laughed about my picture, and she said, "See? This is what you should always do when you have a bad thought about yourself - draw it!"

Today I got an email from someone, copied to my boss and two other people I work directly with, basically saying I was a rock star. That made me so happy! Light Bright said, "Draw a picture of that." So here it is:

The "magic pants" are because today I was in at a talk and spilled coffee on my pants but waited until the talk was over to clean them off... and then there was no sign of a stain! So I told Light Bright they must be Magic Pants. Light Bright also requested that I add earrings to this drawing, so I added shoelaces too, since I am wearing sneakers today. (It was a casual day with a cookie exchange and a holiday potluck.) Tomorrow should be even more relaxed after we get here, since there is a big storm coming, but we both have to be here because of candidates interviewing with our programs. So wish us a good ride in and another back home!

Famous Hat