Niko's Ancestor

 

Yesterday we went for a hike on the Hiawatha Trail, then we went back to the same coffee place in downtown Tomahawk, but we got our coffees to go and hit the road right away. We did stop for a longer hike on the top of Rib Mountain. Here's the King on his throne!

We also stopped for a shorter walk at Jules Iverson Memorial Park in Stevens Point, a lovely place with stone buildings, wooded trails, an island, and a beach on the river. We need to go back when we have more time!

We were hurrying back to Madison because the woman with the fabulous porch was having a Fourth of July party, and a lot of the Night Prayer regulars were there. The hostess grilled burgers and other people brought sides, like Jilly Moose brought veggie pizza, while the guy who always brings desserts brought a coconut cake and a trifle, and the Dairyman's Daughter made a dessert with blueberries and raspberries on top, so it looked very patriotic. We brought cheese curds (plain and Cajun) for snacking on before dinner, thinking nobody else would bring cheese, but the Dairyman's Daughter also brought some. There was so much food! The porch was actually very hot, since it was over 90 F, so eventually Travalon and I moved into the air-condition house, and Jilly Moose and the Dairyman's Daughter joined us. We had to leave about half an hour before the party was allegedly ending so I could get to my adoration hour, since I missed it last week for the Chancellor's picnic and the week before for an emergency condo meeting. However, I have it on good authority that it actually went on for another three hours. Wow! That's some partying!

I really wanted to see fireworks for the Fourth of July, and they were setting them off in Waunakee, so Travalon took me to the hill behind the high school to watch them. That was a perfect view, and we could kind of hear the music that went along with them. It was all cheery pop songs and movie soundtrack music, so Travalon and I entertained ourselves by imagining a fireworks show to unexpected music like Tupac Shakur and Peter Tosh. The show was pretty good, but there were no really fancy fireworks. I still can't get over that some random person shot off a smiley face firework on Saturday when we were watching the ones from Breese Stevens - wouldn't that be an expensive one for an individual to get?

Today at work was tough, even after extra coffee. I did meet my colleague for a walk at lunch, but then it started to rain (good news!!!) so I took the free bus back up the hill to the Killer Building. I took this photo of a drawing on a faculty member's office door. It looks like a very old drawing of Niko!

As a reminder, here's Niko.

An eye in a heart is a very old idea, but Niko is new and looks mass-produced. However, when I tried to do a google search for him, I couldn't find one as cute. There are plenty of hearts with eyes in them, but it seems that there's just one Niko. However, he has ancestors. Thanks to Travalon for thinking of this blog post title!

Famous Hat