Dragon Mood? -- more dragon downloading or catching up, as it were
...so here's the "more"...
After leaving the Farmer's Market, we headed to the famous Madison Brat Fest to eat brats and drink beer.
Let's be clear about this: the Brat Fest was ALLLL about how many brats Aaron could/should/would consume. The night before at the bier garten, Aaron, Yosh and the penultimate pot-stirrer, S, had pondered, argued and laughed over numerous wager schemas. I listened and when asked, always responded, "I don't want Aaron to get sick!"
I wish I had $10 for every wager I heard considered. I could take a whole 'nother ferry ride. Anyway, at the last moment, S removed herself from the negotiations (thank you!) and Josh and Aaron agreed on an 8/2 wager. If Aaron ate less than 8 brats, Aaron owed Josh $50. If he ate at least 8, it was a "push" where no money exchanged hands. If he ate 8+2 for 10 brats, then Yosh owed Aaron $50.
We all watched curiously, carefully as Aaron ate the first four brats in the first 10 minutes. Oh yeah, that was the other part of the bet; it all had to happen within the course of two hours.
Suffice to say, that Aaron ate just (he would roll his eyes at the word, "just") 8 brats, although he said the last one was pretty hard to get down. The brats had ceased to have any taste for him and he said the texture was rather repulsive. Yosh bought him bottles of water and I rubbed his back lightly, which according to massage therapist Lina, stimulated his parasympathetic nervous system and may have helped his poor, unsuspecting GI tract deal with the five pounds of brats it suddenly received(!)
We lay on the grass, listened to so-so local bands, watched people, talked and snoozed. There was a nice breeze and it was fun to be outdoors, even though it was getting more and more humid.
We hit the infamous Woodman's on the way home to stock up on --what else?-- beer and popsicles (don't forget the popsicles!). It rained and got even steamier. I took a nap, S took a nap, and the young'uns watched a movie, I believe.
A fitting finish to such a fine day was our giving the old German card game, Sheep's Head or Schafskopf a try. Here's the website (Milwaukee Sheepshead) we used as our reference. It's an unusual game but we kept at it and finally started getting the hang of it. I had fun and I think everyone (except perhaps S) did too -- we played until after 2 a.m.!
Sunday was slow and hot and languorous as all family gathering Sundays should be! We made numerous pots of crack cocaine Alterra coffee, drank even more glasses of iced coffee and got ready for the Indy 500. Aaron and Lina did a high technology installation of Yosh's old-but-new TV, which involved allowing the flux capacitor to warm up (according to Aaron!). Lina made a whiz-bang frittata filled with tomatoes, green onions, black olives, ramps, green pepper and more lovely vegetables that I can't remember. I fried a whole pound of lovely saturated-fat bacon and another half-pound of heart-healthy turkey bacon. We ate like proverbial kings and queens ... and every bit of it got eaten!
And then, we all sat in Lina's cozy living room, in our jammies and tank tops and shorts, unshowered and unshaved, drank more beer and watched the Indy 500. I'm proud to say it was the first time I ever watched that race from start to finish. And, given the excellent company, I enjoyed it all!
At the end of the race, which Sam Hornish won in a squeaker over newbie Marco Andretti (see -- I really DID watch the game!), we all dispersed and headed our separate ways. Bye kids, I love you!
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