Nigeria Musings

Regarding something I mentioned on yesterday’s blog post, all the online stories relating to the mother of our diocesan priest being kidnapped have been taken down. What does this mean? Did they find out something wild like that she “kidnapped” herself? Are they afraid her safety would be compromised if there are all sorts of stories on the internet about her? I can’t imagine our parish priest thought the story was anything but genuine when he announced it at Mass, during the Prayers of the People. So I don’t know what to tell you, my readers, about this, but you can certainly continue to pray for all innocent victims of kidnapping in Nigeria, like those two hundred girls who still haven’t been found, last I heard. I have always wanted to visit Nigeria for some reason, and at brunch on Sunday we were joined by a graduate student from that country who told us Lagos is relatively safe. Boko Haram is way up in the north part of the country, nowhere near the coast. I was once invited to join an order of contemplative nuns who live, if I am remembering this correctly, in the eastern part of the country. I keep meeting people from Nigeria, which probably has a lot to do with my interest in visiting there. Maybe I will be like Tiffy, who says she will visit risky places like Egypt after she turns fifty. Of course, fifty is a lot closer for us now than when she said that, so who knows if she still feels that way? Maybe I will visit Nigeria when I am eighty. And hey, maybe by then it will be totally safe.

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The International Festival

I hope my readers had a wonderful weekend. I sure did. Friday evening Travalon went out for drinks with some coworkers after work, then he and I had fish at the Nau-Ti-Gal. Saturday was a really fun day. It was the free International Festival at the Overture Center, so Travalon, Tiffy, Richard Bonomo, and I met there to get some international food (not free) and watch some performances. We saw a flamenco dance troupe, then the guys left and Tiffy and I watched Light Bright’s band before checking out a Brazilian drum line. They had some dancers come out to do the samba, and they were dressed like pictures you see of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, with lots of feathers on their heads and hardly anything on their bodies. They were wearing tiny, sparkly bikinis and high heels, and the women behind us clucked in disapproval. I bought a rainbow-colored top which I am wearing today, and we caught one song by local Klezmer band Yid Vicious before we had to meet the Rosary Ladies at Bunky’s, where we talked about the fashions we used to wear in the 80’s. After dinner we headed to Olbrich Garden for the annual wine and chocolate tasting fundraiser. This year there were a lot of wineries and not that much chocolate, but there was one chocolatier with really spicy chocolate that was so good. In the conservatory, a DJ played Steely Dan while disco lights swirled around. Luxuli had to head off to another fundraiser, and the rest of us were thinking of calling it an early night as well, but we ended up staying until the bitter end.

Yesterday at Mass we learned something shocking: the mother of a priest in our diocese was recently kidnapped at gunpoint! She lives in Nigeria, but not the part Boko Haram is active in, so they think it is just a money thing and not a religious one. Anyway, prayers for her safety would be much appreciated. After brunch, Travalon, Rich, and I went to Home Depot to get a new toilet and new carpeting for my old condo. They will come to my condo tomorrow to get measurements, and then they should install the carpeting later this week. How exciting it will be to finally get the condo on the market! Then Travalon and I went to the model train show at the Expo Center, which is always very cool. Some of the layouts were so elaborate, with moving parts and punny names for the little businesses along the tracks. It was a sunny day, but very cold, so we decided to drive out to Martinsville and have a drink at the Keg, which is a very sunny bar. Travalon gave up seven and sevens for Lent, but since Sundays don’t count during Lent, he got his drink. We ended the evening at Rich’s house with steaks for dinner. Now it’s back to Lenten penance…  

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Urban Bush Women

Last night Travalon and I went to see Urban Bush Women, a dance troupe from New York City that advertises its emphasis on African roots. Travalon was not super excited, but he was willing to give it a chance, at least until intermission. The dance troupe itself consisted of mostly black ladies, but there were two white ones, and one black man. The first half was jazzy, and the costumes were sparkly, and we both enjoyed it. When intermission arrived, I asked Travalon if he would like to stay or go, and he said he would be willing to stay. Then, of course, it got avant garde in the second half, and among the strange things the dancers did were put their hands down the front of their pants and give the audience the finger. I would just consider it tasteless, but there were a number of school-age kids in the audience, so then it really bothered me. Shouldn’t they have noted somewhere that it was an adult-themed show? There was a meet-and-greet afterwards, but we didn’t stay for that. I have to say, I was expecting a bit more African influence and a little less weirdness, but the dancers were really good, and a couple of them were phenomenal singers too. Why waste all that talent on silly provocative nonsense?

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Irish Rant

Last night I was talking to Richard Bonomo and Kathbert, and they were curious about Irish, so I showed them a chart of irregular verbs. It’s always fun to show people these words with a million letters in them and then tell them how it’s actually pronounced. For example, the future tense of “to get” is gheobhaidh, which is pronounced “yoey,” and the negative future (yes, they have different forms for negative and interrogative) is bhfaighidh, which is pronounced something like “wahi.” Kathbert asked why I was studying this language, and I said purely intellectual interest, it’s kind of useless plus it’s dying out. I suppose in a couple of generations it will be extinct. She said, “From the looks of it, it has a death wish.” Actually, according to a couple of native Irish speakers who were teaching at that Irish language weekend I went to back in October, even they don’t understand the spelling. They said it was some sort of compromise between how all the dialects pronounce things, which is another story – don’t get me started on how all the dialects are different. Our teacher is forever saying, “This is how they do it in Connemara. Now if you were in Ulster…” My fellow student says it’s like we’re learning English by studying the Boston accent versus the Deep South accent. Don’t they have a sort of generic Midwestern, let’s-make-news-anchors-talk-like-this dialect? That would sure make our lives easier.

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First Valentine's Day as a Married Couple

Friday night Travalon and I had our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner at the Manna Café. We had amazing rolls shaped like hearts and delicious shrimp and ravioli. (I had the leftovers for lunch today.) We had our usual waiter, and he was sorry to inform Travalon that there was no chicken paprikash that evening because of the special Valentine’s Day menu. Then we came home and exchanged gifts: I gave him a book he wanted, and he gave me jasmine on a heart-shaped trellis and a box of chocolate truffles. What a romantic way to spend Friday the 13^th!

Saturday Travalon and I had brunch at La Brioche, which we hadn’t been to since the morning we left for our honeymoon. It was crazy busy, and there was a pianist who looked stuck in 1979 playing ragtime music. In the evening was Rich’s official birthday party, and I made the cake and helped Travalon bring the pizza. There were no decorations except for Catzookz’s balloons, and I got stuck all night listening to one of the marathon talkers Rich knows. She actually has some interesting things to say, but she never stops talking. So I didn’t really get to talk to any of the other guests, including Kathbert, Luxuli, Prairie Man, and OK Cap. Jilly Moose had to work, so she came late with the group present from the Rosary Ladies: a pink stuffed hippo that raps, “I like big hugs and I cannot lie…”

Sunday after Mass and brunch, Travalon went to a Badger basketball game, but I just went home. I like basketball, but it was awfully cold to make the long trek to the Kohl Center. Then we watched a movie called Oconomowoc, which had no discernible plot and mostly inane dialogue, though there were a few mildly funny lines. Three guys got together and went hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt to make this movie, which strikes me as rather bizarre. Didn’t they have anyone read the script before they threw all that money at it? There were a few scenes actually shot in Oconomowoc, but according to Travalon, a lot of them were in surrounding towns instead. Then Cecil Markovitch wanted us to join him and the Single B-Boy at Mickey’s Tavern for a lamb burger, so we did, and it was a very good burger. Cecil decided we should go to Dotty Dumpling’s Dowry for their fudge-bottom pie, so we did that too, although the B-Boy did not partake. Cecil joked after that we should get a grasshopper somewhere, but Monday morning comes very quickly, so we decided to head home instead.

Today is Handy Woman’s birthday, so a bunch of the retired ladies who used to work with her came in with treats. A lot of us got our jobs because these ladies all retired around the same time, a couple of years back, but they stay in touch with Handy Woman. One lady brought her husband and her adorable toddler granddaughter. Aw! The little girl gave us all hugs when she left. So cute!

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Rich's Last-Minute Birthday Dinner

Last night I met Light Bright for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, where we had tacos and margaritas and dished about the people she still works with. Her least favorites are the same ones I always had trouble with, so that makes me feel better. Not for her, of course, but at least we can both be fairly certain it isn’t our fault. She didn’t have any good Sock Puppet stories, alas. She did ask the worst Sock Puppet if he could bring a sign-in sheet up with him after a weekly conference, because he comes right upstairs from the conference whereas she would have to go out of her way to go pick it up, and he replied rather snottily that it was above his pay grade. Oh, so Mr. Six-Digit Income, you don’t get paid enough to carry a piece of paper upstairs? Then we went to get Travalon’s Valentine’s Day present, and there were two things he wanted, so I had to choose one. Finally we went to Light Bright’s house, and she showed me her totally redone basement with the in-floor heating. It’s kind of a man cave down there, with a 60” plasma TV her husband likes to play video games on. Fancier than Travalon’s man cave, since we only have one TV, it’s much smaller than that, and it is in the living room.

After that I went to an Italian restaurant for a last-minute birthday gathering for Richard Bonomo. We’re having a party for him tomorrow, but Catzookz couldn’t make it, so she and Twins Fan said we should get together for a late dinner. Cecil Markovitch, Prairie Man, and another person never mentioned on this blog were there as well, and Travalon joined us after his basketball game was over. I had already eaten and was not hungry, but then I ended up having a fancy ice cream drink and some of Travalon’s tira misu, so I wasn’t particularly virtuous. Catzookz brought balloons, which hopefully will still be up tomorrow for the “official” party. We don’t have a theme this year, but next year will have to be a big one, so maybe we should all start planning for that.

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Time Capsule Movies

Last night Travalon and I went to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which I had never seen before. It is one of his favorite movies, and Audrey Hepburn is very stylish in it, but Mickey Rooney’s Japanese character is something else. It reminds me of a friend almost a generation older than I am, whose high school put on a play with “colored” characters, and the one actor wore blackface. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that people just did that stuff without thinking about how it would make other people feel. The movie felt like another era in other ways too, like one character is very excited about his speaker phone, and there is the phonograph they keep listening to. It’s so interesting to see such things when they were real and not just a modern attempt to recreate the period. That’s why I love silent movies – those are actual flappers in them! Too bad we don’t have movies from the time of Bach and Vivaldi, or even further back, in the Middle Ages. Can you imagine how cool those would be? Back at the turn of the millennium, when I was hanging out with Mr. Ubi Caritas, he was very scornful of the time capsule they were planning to bury that year. “Why would anyone care about that stuff in a thousand years?” he sneered. I replied, “Are you kidding?? I’d be so excited if they found a time capsule from the year 1000!” I guess he was not much of a history buff, more of a true crime one. But Travalon understands - he loves history too.

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