Monday, December 31, 2007

Collins House on Gorham Street


A beautiful old craftsman-style house that was most recently a well-known bed and breakfast. I don't know what it's used for at the moment. It appears to be vacant.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Overture Center's "Falling Snow" Holiday Lights


The capital dome through the curtain of lights


One more look ...

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Ice! Damn!


Tuesday, December 18, 2007

There is no frigate like a book to take us worlds away ...

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Most Impregnable Snow Fort In Madison

Spotted on Pinckney Street last week.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Festive Pagan Seasonal Pine Bough 2007

Saturday, December 08, 2007



Opening act Paul & Storm (far left and far right) join Jon on stage along with audience participation volunteer Alyssa.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Evening Snowfall on Cap Square

Capital Dome In The Falling Snow

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Nap Time!


Saturday, December 01, 2007

Woodland Fairy Houses at Olbrich Gardens



The leafy veins of a bronze sculpture in Olbrich Gardens fill with new-fallen snow.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

OMFG


We have one of these here? Seriously? I haven't seen one of these since the 1968 issue of My Weekly Reader with the cover story about Paolo Solari and all those goofy-looking buildings in the Arizona desert. Zow!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Is it just me ...


... or has advertising slipped to a new low?
The very latest in bicycle accessories:


The hoagie chain guard.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

What I saw on my morning walk

Footprints in the sidewalk cement. A raccoon, maybe?

Homicidal electricity.


Ice already skimming the surface of the ponds
at the Edna Taylor park.


A cool-looking tree house with a custom-made circular stair.

Lazy Jane's for Lunch


I took My Darling B to Lazy Jane's Cafe for lunch. We've been driving past it for more than a year going to and from work and it always looked so appealing, but we didn't stop in for a bite to eat until last weekend.

The food is delicious and the atmosphere is cozily like home. Although their collection of decorations seems eclectic, it all seems to share a common vibe somehow.

Are there any cookies in that jar? I wasn't bold enough to find out.


It's on Willy Street, by the way. Worth the trip for a breakfast, lunch, or just a cuppa joe.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Unfinished building


At the southeast corner of State and Lake
there's this odd little building that looks almost as if
somebody began building an art deco office block,
got to the third floor and ran out of imagination, money and willpower
all at the same time.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

An oracular voice speaks truth via the marquee of the Orpheum

A Morning Walk

With the sun still low in the morning sky,
the capital building catches the light in different ways ...

The northeast entrance catches the muted golden reflection
off the windows of the building across the street.


The north portico is tinted a subtle shade of aqua,
again a reflection off the windows on the other side of Mifflin St.


The northwest entrance is still in shade,
but the sunlight has caught the leaves on the trees across the lawn.

Friday, November 09, 2007


Uh-oh, time to feed the pig!


Tuesday, November 06, 2007

First Snow


It hardly amounts to more than a dusting,
but this snow fell last night and it was still there this morning.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Autumn leaves seen on my walk through the neighborhood this evening.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Opheum marquee poetry:

Sunday, October 21, 2007

An autumn day in the country

A visit to Pleasant Hill Market Garden, a CSA farm just outside Stoughton, to pick up some pumpkins for pies and jack-o-lanterns.


Cirrus clouds hanging high over the farm fields.

Now there's something you don't see every day

A super-sized papier-mache mascot for the anti-tax rally last week on cap square.
I wonder if they plugged one parking meter or two?

Monday, October 08, 2007

The battleship Wisconsin, reduced to a size that's easy to display, at the Veteran's Museum on Mifflin Street in cap square. She plied the high seas with The Great White Fleet in the age of the dreadnaughts. That's the helmsman's wheel from the real thing off in the background.

A dive-bomber's-eye-view. The modeler put a lot of love into this one. Sadly, the artist's name isn't posted beside the model.

This version of Wisconsin, built to slightly larger specs, was launched on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. She's a sister to the Might Mo.

Again, the modeling is exquisite. Rigging the antennae alone must have required hands as steady as stone.
Again from above. When all the guns were blazing to hold off an attack, it must have looked, sounded and smelled like the crack of doom vomiting hellfire at the sky.


Wisconsin's fantail. How many sailors did it take to swab that clean?


The full-sized Wisconsin is still afloat and maintained as a museum in Norfolk, Virginia.

Sunday, October 07, 2007


Because the beer fest was inside the tent (instead of around the outsides of the tents, as it was at the Great Taste of the Midwest), I had some trouble getting a clear shot in the low light.

This happy sampler's t-shirt reads, "fizzy yellow beer is for wussies."




This guy was in a hurry to meet somebody at the other end of the tent and I couldn't catch his attention to make him stop a moment, so I had to take several snapshots on the fly. The final word of this "Scottish proverb" is thirst.