The Corona Diaries Vol. 51: That's Not a Spicy Meat-a-ball!

(late April 2022)

 

(Listen to this entry's overture.) 

We got our final snow of the season in the middle of the month. While it didn’t stick around for long, it was very pretty and those leaves that I didn’t rake last fall were once again out of sight, out of mind.

When the snow melted, things began to feel much more spring-like with slightly warmer temperatures settling upon us and the odd tree or shrub beginning to bud. Looking to enjoy the weather, the changing scenery, and perhaps even learn a thing or two, I took a guided nature walk which began at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center and then continued into the adjacent Edna Taylor Conservation Park.

The Nature Center is about 3.5 miles from home and so I hopped on my bike for what was, I think, my first ride of the year that wasn't a short hop to the library or store. 3.5 miles is a nice jaunt and the hills don't usually make for that arduous of a ride but, when it's your first time after a long winter, ascending them can seem like a Herculean labor.

But I made it.

While waiting for the group to assemble by the parking lot, a turkey hen strutted by. There were people gathering for a young child's birthday party nearby and, with purposeful strides, she smartly walked away from the growing crowd of celebrants and disappeared from view while heading towards Woodland Park.

 

Eventually everyone who was to go on the nature walk arrived and down the path we went. It was partly cloudy. Or partly sunny. I am unsure which.

It was nice to be with someone who could identify trees and plants because flora is my weak spot. But, since there was little in the way of plants in bloom, we’re stuck with fauna photos here. Walking through a prairie section which showed signs of fire, we received a mini-lesson on controlled burns. Then we came to the pond and found some turtles enjoying the sun.

Those harbingers of spring, red-winged blackbirds, were everywhere. At one point I was walking by a small tree and noticed one of them in its branches. Remarkably, the bird was unperturbed by the human and so I found myself only about 10 feet from it and managed to take a decent photo.

Between the two parks there are more than a few ponds and, since red-winged blackbirds nest near water, I was afforded many opportunities to take more pictures of them as I walked along the shores. Our guide told us that they build their nests amongst the stems of the cattails.

In my last entry, I described an encounter with a mother goose and I had another here. This goose, however, was firmly ensconced amongst the cattails on a patch of reeds out in the pond and safe from pesky perambulators.

When we were finished annoying the goose from afar, we continued down the path but, upon looking around, I noticed a flock of birds coming over a tree line. They were circling the area and slowly making their way towards us. A flock of turkey vultures were perusing the scene for a late breakfast.

Towards the end of the walk we came across a tree that was full of holes. Our guide explained that they were from sapsuckers, yellow-bellied ones, I think.

Sapsuckers are woodpeckers but, as their name indicates, they suck sap as well as eat insects, if it's on offer.

It was a lovely walk through the parks. Although offered every weekend, I would not be able to take advantage of the tours as my upcoming weekends were rather full.

On my way home, I took a picture of the remains of a telescope in the yard of a house.

Upon seeing it, "Workshop of the Telescopes" by Blue Öyster Cult popped into my head.

By salamander, drake, and the power that was undine
Rise to claim Saturn, ring and sky
By those who see with their eyes closed
You’ll know me by my black telescope

Surely anyone who has a telescope in their yard must be a cultist looking for a planetary alignment to signal the awakening of old gods. Cthulhu fhtagn!

It was built by a gentleman named Jack English. He was a chemistry teacher at a local vocational school but also built telescopes and helped found the Madison Astronomical Society in the mid-1930s. Remarkably, the tube in the yard has remained there even after the English family moved out of the house in 1958. I have not found any reference to English engaging in any cult activities...yet!

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The first concert I attended this year was by the Madison Symphony Orchestra. The Frau and I joined the great and the good of Madison for a performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. It was to be a Beyond the Score performance. I believe this is an invention of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and involves actors doing an introductory skit where the audience learns about the piece to be played. That afternoon, actors portraying Stravinsky and Nicolas Roerich graced the stage. Roerich was a Russian artist and amateur archaeologist who was well-versed in pre-Christian Russian culture and he helped Stravinsky create The Rite of Spring.

It was pretty neat. The orchestra would play brief samples of the piece after our Stravinsky and Roerich elucidated on how that section was written and what folklore elements were involved.

I found this method of introducing the piece to be very interesting. Not only did I learn about the Russian folklore portrayed in The Rite of Spring but I also caught snippets of music theory.

The performance was wonderful, although no riot ensued as did at its premiere back in 1913 like I had hoped.

My second concert of 2022 was the rock band Transatlantic. It took place on a Thursday night down at the lovely Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois. I went with a couple friends from the Chicago area one of whom lives in West Chicago so it was a short drive from his place.

                                                    (Screenscrape of video by eddienotvanhalen.)

Transatlantic are a progressive rock supergroup as its members are all well-known from being in other bands. I'd heard a little of their material over the years going in but can't say I was familiar with their music. They are one of those bands that you'd think I'd love given my love of prog, but I have always struggled to really get into their music. This concert was to be part socializing with friends but also partly an attempt to get Translatlantic into my musical diet.

The show was great but I must admit that it felt a bit odd to be at a public performance not wearing a mask. I think the band were overjoyed to once again be out on the road performing. Their last album came out during the pandemic so they hadn’t been able to tour behind it then and they made up for the tardiness of the live shows by giving us a 3-hour concert.

I stayed overnight in West Chicago and took Friday off from work. On Saturday it was off to another concert with several friends. That one was here in Madison. I hadn’t seen Primus in over a decade.

(Screenscrape of video by Rebecca Alsen.)

I can’t remember the last time I was at a concert with such a large group - there were half a dozen other people. It was at a newish venue here that I’d never been to before, The Sylvee. In a bid to avoid fees, I went to purchase tickets at the box office where I was told that they no longer print them on paper so I'd be getting digital ones. I asked how that worked and the ticket agent asked if I had my phone so she could show me. I did not. And so she explained that I'd get a text with a link that would become active a day or so before showtime which would take me to a page where I'd find QR codes in lieu of tickets.

"OK..." I skeptically muttered sotto voce.

When the doors were opened, I attempted to get to those codes and found that I could not. The webpage was blank. This is what I get for having a $60 phone, I guess. I asked the woman at the box office if that link could be texted to another number but she simply printed paper tickets. Go figure. We are moving towards a point where people without a smartphone are going to be excluded from large swaths of activities. Many probably are already.

I was happy to hear that the sound was excellent and that it was hard to find a spot with a bad sightline. $11 beers meant that I only drank one and I must admit that standing for 3 hours has become a lot more painful than it used to be. The bar did not take cash so, as with owning a smartphone, having a credit or debit card is becoming mandatory for participating in certain activities, if not the economy itself.

Primus were excellent! They played a couple new tunes, one of which, "Follow the Fool", received its live debut. This was part of their Rush tribute tour so they played A Farewell to Kings in the second set. It was hilarious hearing Les Claypool attempt to scream like a young Geddy Lee at the end of "Cygnus X-1".

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Every Christmas finds me struggling to figure out what gifts to give my Frau. I keep telling her that my love, generous displays of affection, and undying loyalty should be enough but she will not hear of it. And so every December I spend time desperately trying to secure gifts that I think she’ll like. Last year I gave her a gift card for Penzeys Spices along with a Caribbean/South American cookbook in the hope that she’d whip up some dishes from warmer climes during the winter to keep the cold at bay. This did not work out as planned so I’ve been spending some time with that cookbook.

The first thing I made was Spicy Meatballs in Tomato Sauce which were really Meatballs in a Mildly Spicy Tomato Sauce.

While they were very tasty, the sauce just didn’t have much of a kick. I think that the next time I make it, I shall adjust the chili payload in the sauce upwards a bit. Perhaps even use something hotter than a jalapeno. One thing I really enjoyed about this dish was that the vegetables in the sauce weren’t overpowered by seasoning so Bell pepper and tomato – especially tomato – were very prominent.

The next recipe I tried was found in the chapter for poultry recipes despite having more than a pound of pork loin in it. It was chicken, pork, and potato in a peanut sauce.

The recipe called for coarsely ground peanuts. I was too lazy to dig through boxes in the basement for the small food processor so I ground the peanut pieces with a mortar & pestle. Although sloth is a deadly sin, I was punished with a mere blister on my palm.

This was also quite tasty. My only quibble was that it needed more peanut flavor. Perhaps adding some peanut butter along with the ground peanuts might be the way to go. Or grinding up more peanuts. As with the meatballs, the seasoning was simple and light. A little cumin, salt, pepper – some paprika too, if I recall correctly. This left room for the peanut flavor to come to fore only there wasn’t enough of it. Oops.

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Bonus photo: this time it’s a sculpture that sits atop a nondescript office building here in Madison. A statue in the same style sits atop a building on the same street four blocks away on the Capital Square.