Our third annual Dyngus Day party was last week, and I think it was our best to date. We had also hosted Easter and rearranged the house a little so that everyone could eat together. We took the couches out of the front room and moved the dining room table in there. For Dyngus Day, the long table gave the party a beer hall vibe. It was also great for euchre. For sausage, supermarket kielbasa leaves a lot to be desired, so I went to Swan Market for German sausage. They had kielbasa as well, which was good but overly salty for me. I did an easy cucumber salad and avoided all the trouble of having to package together little golabkis. Sue Lynn and Jennifer brought Polish baked goods they made themselves. The batches of fried pierogis were also a big hit. The music situation was also improved, because I found all-polka radio WRJQ streaming on the internet out of Appleton, Wisconsin. It provided great variety with minimal commercial breaks. In the past, I had one polka CD that I repeated too often throughout the day.
I have added WRJQ as a link on this blog. WRJQ is run by a 26 year old guy named Aaron Schuelke out of his basement on the northeast side of Appleton. I E-mailed a request during our party and shortly heard back from Aaron, who was away from the studio but checking his E-mail remotely. I wanted to support the station, so I bought a T Shirt. It turns out that he is out of XL, but since polka festival season is just around the corner, Aaron is going to print up more shirts and I told him that I would wait. I just couldn’t ask him for the money back. This all gives me an eerie feeling that I am becoming more and more like my father. I can see this as being exactly the type of thing he would get himself involved in. I am thinking about taking the next inevitable step and sending Aaron the MP3’s I have of the Iroquois and Simon Pure radio commercials that I have. He seems like a really nice guy and has a good sense of humor. You should check out his FAQ’s, especially the one about “Can I tune into WRJQ on the radio?” Funny stuff.
The kids seemed to enjoy Dyngus Day as well and insisted on playing outside. I got some awesome squirt guns at CVS for only $3. The cold didn’t bother the kids nearly as much as it bothered the adults. It’s probably a good thing that it was so cold, because if it was another five degrees warmer I might have been tempted to set up outside and gone through the whole routine of pretending it wasn’t cold.
I’m glad Dennise didn’t want to break the tradition and we did the party again. I am always kind of ambivalent about it before hand and I’m always surprised at what good sports our friends are. I do this not totally without embarrassment. Hanging a Polish flag on your garage on Dyngus Day when you’re not even Polish is embarrassing. I’m not quite sure what possesses me to do it. But it’s fun going to Beers of the World every year and buying the Polish beer, and I do enjoy listening to the polkas. And who’s to argue with drinking beer and playing euchre on a Monday afternoon?
I have added WRJQ as a link on this blog. WRJQ is run by a 26 year old guy named Aaron Schuelke out of his basement on the northeast side of Appleton. I E-mailed a request during our party and shortly heard back from Aaron, who was away from the studio but checking his E-mail remotely. I wanted to support the station, so I bought a T Shirt. It turns out that he is out of XL, but since polka festival season is just around the corner, Aaron is going to print up more shirts and I told him that I would wait. I just couldn’t ask him for the money back. This all gives me an eerie feeling that I am becoming more and more like my father. I can see this as being exactly the type of thing he would get himself involved in. I am thinking about taking the next inevitable step and sending Aaron the MP3’s I have of the Iroquois and Simon Pure radio commercials that I have. He seems like a really nice guy and has a good sense of humor. You should check out his FAQ’s, especially the one about “Can I tune into WRJQ on the radio?” Funny stuff.
The kids seemed to enjoy Dyngus Day as well and insisted on playing outside. I got some awesome squirt guns at CVS for only $3. The cold didn’t bother the kids nearly as much as it bothered the adults. It’s probably a good thing that it was so cold, because if it was another five degrees warmer I might have been tempted to set up outside and gone through the whole routine of pretending it wasn’t cold.
I’m glad Dennise didn’t want to break the tradition and we did the party again. I am always kind of ambivalent about it before hand and I’m always surprised at what good sports our friends are. I do this not totally without embarrassment. Hanging a Polish flag on your garage on Dyngus Day when you’re not even Polish is embarrassing. I’m not quite sure what possesses me to do it. But it’s fun going to Beers of the World every year and buying the Polish beer, and I do enjoy listening to the polkas. And who’s to argue with drinking beer and playing euchre on a Monday afternoon?
My Labatt’s Sabres hat arrived in the mail last week. I wore it during the game last night and I wonder if it was a jinx. Ten minutes into the first period we were all trying to change what we were doing and what we were wearing in order to change the Sabres’ fortunes. Since I wasn’t in town for Game 1, the biggest jinx was probably me. We are going to change the venue for game three and I am going to have to alter my Sabres gear somewhat. I think I’ll get rid of the hat at least. I think it’s impressive that so many of us have the classic Sabres sweaters, but looking at a room full of them I couldn’t help but be reminded of all the failures of the past. Ramsey, Andreychuk, and Foligno were three guys who weren’t very successful getting the Sabres past the first round. I shouldn’t have to do this much soul searching for a series against the Islanders.
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