Thursday was the last day of the online students orientation, now an online event, and grades aren’t due until the 16th, so even though I have a ton of grading to do for my internship class (37 students) I decided that I deserve a real weekend. I mean, I have a whole other weekend to ruin, coming up, before grades are due.
So far I have only answered two work-related emails. Pretty good for almost 1:00 on Saturday.
We biked to the Farmers Market, and when we got back, I sorta did virtual yoga – some of the time doing the poses, some of the time on the couch, listening to my yoga teacher’s soothing voice.
I had a mask with me at the Market, but did not put it on, although there was considerably more mask-wearing in evidence. I’m operating on the assumption that outdoors unmasked is still OK, although the Market is a lot of people and pretty crowded together. Dane County Public Health says even private indoor gatherings should be masked, but again, I think that’s for larger groups than when I have kids over for dinner.
Tonight we’re going to see Willy Nelson & the Avett Bros. at Breese Stevens, so that’s two largish outdoor gatherings in a row for me, because I went to the McPike Park Sessions last night to see Paul Cebar – who was wearing bright, bright red trousers for the show. But I think the crowd at McPike was all locals, not too many out of towners, which we will probably have tonight.
I dunno. I did schedule a Covid test for Monday, since as a UW employee, I can get one free from University Health Services. I’m assuming we’ve gone back to the nasal swab tests, instead of the drool tests we had to do last winter, because the lengthy instructions for what you had to do to generate a good sample for the drool test were not included when I made the appointment.
I’m lazily getting the room ready for our AFS student who arrives next week. I’m going to take a bunch of stuff to Goodwill, and move the extra bedding out of the dresser drawers, so there’ll be room for her clothes. I’m going to go sort t-shirts for my Goodwill run, and come back & tell you about recent cooking adventures.
So, OK, now it’s Sunday afternoon. I did my Goodwill run, but they didn’t want the 2 pairs of used crutches I cleared out of the closet in the student room. They took everything else, though. I think I’ll have to donate the crutches to a clinic, or someplace where they can use them.
I had a bagel.
Green & Gold Packer bagel – or maybe it’s Mr. Bill
And then we went to see Willie & the Avett Brothers. Since the weather forecast was so iffy, we drove instead of biking. We parked in a free lot that’s employee parking for MG&E, and available for others after hours. It’s about a 10 minute walk to the show. As we were walking there, there seemed to be a lot of people leaving, and it turned out that everyone was being evacuated due to weather. We went back and sat in the car and kept laboriously checking (too many people on the cellular network) the Breese Stevens facebook page, and finally, after sitting through a heavy downpour – and good thing we had the car to shelter in – they posted that the doors would open at 7:45 and Willie would be onstage at 8:30.
And the show was … OK. Willie took the stage at about 8:45 and sadly, I think he’s getting a bit past his peak, and going on later in the day – he was originally supposed to perform at 6:00 – probably was outside the magic hour when his voice still has some of its old smoothness.
And, I like the Avett Bros., but they’re just a little too dramatic, soap opera-y in a “This Is Us” way (and I don’t get me wrong I am addicted to the show, and will avidly watch its 6th and final season when it comes back in the fall), so we left after about the first 5 songs. Shows at Breese Stevens are supposed to end at 10:00, but the operators had gotten the curfew relaxed. Still, we were hoping for a quick changeover from Willie to the Avetts, but instead it took the standard 30-45 minutes, so they didn’t go on until 10:00. Not sure how long they played; recent setlists have them doing at least 20 songs plus an encore. We’d watched a New Year’s pay-per-view with the Avett Bros. (with musical cameos by some cast members from This Is Us, Chris Sullivan, who plays Toby, and Mandy Moore who is married to Taylor Goldsmith, a member of Dawes, who co-wrote and produced Sullivan’s album, all probably underscoring my feelings) so all the materiel felt pretty familiar.
Anyways that’s the entertainment. Foodwise, here’re some pics and not too much text.
I made these pizza buns Monday and they were much admired on insta, but I cut the recipe in half, and still got 6 (instead of 10) and there’s four left I’m not sure what to do with. Sandwiches?
Corn salsa – I made 3 jars and we’ve already eaten one
Andy & Deena brought us peaches and I made cobbler on Wednesday
Banana muffins with cinnamon chips, mini and full size – baked on Friday, when they were freshly baked, the chips were kind of crunchy in a good way; not sure if they still are
I also made roasted beets and pickled some with eggs on Friday. This beet and egg wouldn’t fit into the jar of pickled ones so I ate them on Saturday. Beet salad for one, with spoonful of Hellman’s.
Bucky chairs discarded on the curb, seen on our walk last Sunday (a week ago)
And speaking of chairs here’s my traditional retirement from ASEC mini terrace chair. The label looks a bit epitaph-like, unfortunately. I think I’m supposed to get my engraved plastic name tag, too. I’ll have to ask.
And oh, yea, I’m reading the 3rd book in Stewart O’Nan’s “Emily” series, Henry, Himself which is about her husband so I wasn’t sure I’d like it that much, but I do.