This weekend Travalon and I went our separate ways. He went with his buddy up to Hayward, where they went tubing for over three hours on the Namekagon River and stayed at a lodge right on beautiful Little Round Lake. This is his old college buddy who lives in Japan, the one whose wedding we went to in Hawaii. He misses Wisconsin fish fries, so they went to an excellent one on Saturday night at Long Lost Lake Lodge. Today they did a long hike on Rib Mountain on their way back south. He had a fantastic time.
Meanwhile, Saturday morning I sat on our porch, listening to the rain and watching the hummingbirds. When Tiffy came to town, we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then hiked on the boardwalks that are part of the Ice Age Trail out in Cross Plains before heading to the outdoor theater in Spring Green. We saw an adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility which was very enjoyable. We went to our hotel in Dodgeville, which seemed a little sketchy in that everyone who worked behind the desk always had a big, grim dog with them. However, it was a perfectly serviceable hotel.
Yesterday we went to Mass at St. Joseph's in Dodgeville, and it was a wonderfully short Mass because it seems the organist never showed up - they had hymns listed on the hymn board, but there was no music. The priest was young and lively. Then we had a light brunch at a cafe in town before heading to Galena. Tiffy really liked Galena; she had thought it would be a really bougie town like Kohler when I said there were a lot of boutiques there, but she loved how old and historical it was. The red brick buildings set into a hill overlooking the river really are very pretty. We shopped and bought crystals, then we sat on a balcony drinking chocolate avocado smoothies and listening to a woman folk singer do 80's pop songs. We had Tiffy's (early) birthday dinner at a Japanese restaurant, where we split a rainbow sushi roll and a hibachi for two and tempura green tea ice cream for dessert. We went back to the hotel and indulged in the hot tub (there was no pool), then we just talked for hours.
This morning we drove back to town and had brunch (and way too much Kona coffee) at the Pancake Cafe, then we took a two-hour hike at Cherokee Marsh with Rich and Kathbert. They were joking about the (imaginary) aboriginal marsh people, and Rich said, "They're Marshians!" (You might have to say that joke out loud to get it.) Tiffy and I recovered on my porch with bananas and sports drinks, and we watched the hummingbirds. One always makes happy squeaky noises, so I call her "Squeaky." There is another female one who never squeaks - at least I assume it is a different bird, because there are at least two that I have watched chasing each other. Now and then I see the male, who also makes no noise. Then we went to a Venezuelan restaurant for dinner, and then Tiffy headed home and Travalon returned and told me about his adventures. I got him a Yellow Submarine shirt at his favorite shop in Galena. One other thing I got worth noting: one shop had stone necklaces for each zodiac sign except Tiffy's, which she noted, and I said, "They're probably sold out because it's your birthday month," and she said, "Oh, yeah." I got the Capricorn one, which is snowflake obsidian (I'm wearing it now), and the proprietress asked if we needed anything, so I said, "My friend can't find the necklace for her sign." She said she had a secret stash, and Tiffy didn't like the carnelian necklaces, but I loved one and bought it, even though I am not a Virgo and in fact have no Virgo in my chart whatsoever. The proprietress said she could barely keep carnelian in stock because of a TikTok craze, so later I looked it up, and the TikTokers claim carnelian makes you irresistible to the opposite gender. I said, "Are you sure you don't want this necklace, Tiffy? I already have a husband. Besides, it has a Virgo symbol on it," but she doesn't like the color. She said, "Take the symbol off and wear it yourself. I don't like it." So maybe at some point I'll model my "I'm not a Virgo" necklace for my gentle readers.
Famous Hat
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