Stop Me Before I Blog Again!

2009-07-30T18:41:00.002-05:00

Borage.

I'm not sure what borage is good for, aside from being a sure-fire way to bring lots of bees to your garden. And a lucky thing, too, because that's what My Darling B planted them for, I think.

They look pretty good in backlight, too.

2009-07-25T12:13:00.005-05:00

The cow on Atwood Avenue has her thinking cap on.

What's she thinking about? It looks like she wants ideas for how to dress up for the next holiday season.

Plenty of suggestions seem to have been given to her. She's showing quite a few of them off for us to see.

What they'll settle on next seems to be anybody's guess, though.

I'm on tenterhooks.

2009-07-24T20:34:00.002-05:00

Spotted outside Schwen's auto parts shop on Monona Drive on Thursday afternoon, this old-school Volkswagen microbus.

It doesn't have the safari windows but it does have the split wind screen and sliding side windows. The cargo door's split, too, not sliding, and the air intakes are louvers in the lower half of the body instead of the big, open scoops VW would put in the upper rear wings later on.

The headlights are recessed and the big, silver VW on the front is smack dab in the middle of that iconic dart. I'd love to have one of these in my driveway, but I'm pretty sure I don't make enough money to buy one even in this condition ... which is pretty good, really. Patch up the rust and it'd be gorgeous.

2009-07-24T20:30:00.000-05:00

Although some of the softer stuff has been lost, most of the really important things are there. It wouldn't take too much to make this over into a like-new Veedub that would turn heads, not that it doesn't already.

I was a little surprise to see the the bucket seats. I expected something this old-school to have a bench seat in the front.

2009-07-24T20:25:00.002-05:00

See? Still in great condition! Well, except for that passenger seat, but the driver's seat looked fine. It was all I could do to keep from slipping into it, just to get the feel of the wheel again, for old time's sake.

2009-07-11T13:37:00.001-05:00

It's the thirtieth year of Art Fair On (and Off) The Square in Madison! Wouldn't this saxophone-playing hippo look great in your entryway?

2009-07-11T13:35:00.001-05:00

Find the fish.

The guy who makes airplanes out of soda cans wasn't there this year, so the gal who makes fish out of tin is filling in.

2009-07-11T13:32:00.002-05:00

If there was a better sculpture for the garden than Sam-I-Am with green eggs and ham, I didn't see it.

A curious thing about Art Fair On The Square is that it's attended by people who would love to buy something like this for the garden, but don't have anywhere near the kind of disposable income it would take to buy a piece like this. Mostly it's just people wandering around, taking photos and munching on two-dollar hot dogs.

2009-07-11T13:30:00.002-05:00

"Girl With Her Head Chopped Off" would have made an excellent snack bowl to keep salsa chips in beside the sofa. Too bad the asking price was thirty kajillion dollars.

2009-07-11T13:18:00.002-05:00

The sheer size of these artworks made them a show-stopper. If I owned a villa and had a couple hundred thousand dollars of disposable income, I might have taken a couple of these home to hang in the broom closet.

2009-07-11T13:15:00.003-05:00

The vendor selling handcrafted bed steads placed this nasty-looking abortion right in the middle of his creation. I don't know if he had an odd sense of humor or it was an effort to keep people from photographing his work. So many of the artisans have a weird aversion to allowing photography of any of their pieces, as if we're going to steal their souls.

2009-07-11T13:12:00.002-05:00

This guy did windows, combining lots of cut-glass ornamentation, ordinary cast-glass bowls and other fragments, and this metallic peacock.

Asking price: Forty-two million dollars

2009-07-11T13:10:00.002-05:00

Frogs seemed to be everywhere at this year's Art Fair On The Square. There were realistic and fanciful frogs, frogs in sculpture, frogs in paintings, photographs of frogs. Must be something in the water.

2009-07-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

The Cow on Atwood Avenue, dressed up in Independence Day Bunting for July.

2009-06-14T08:39:00.002-05:00

BMW on Dayton Street

Why do the old BMWs look so much classier than the sleek, modern models? I'd rather drive this than anything BMW is putting on the road these days.

2009-05-25T11:51:00.003-05:00

Memorial Day Parade in Monona 2009

Every parade I've ever been to has featured the guys that paint a face on their great big beer bellies and jiggle while "Colonel Bogey's March" plays on the loudspeaker. And the crowds just love them.

2009-05-24T07:22:00.003-05:00

I used to drive one of these. although I never had the artistic bent that would have let me decorate it as lavishly as this and didn't have any friends at the time who would have done it for me.

Mine was a few years older than this model, but had the pop-top.

This one's been very nicely cared for. Besides the paint job, the body's in good shape and the interior appeared to be very well-preserved; not a lot of wear & tear evident.

I'd love to have one of these again, if only I had a place to garage it in the winter.

2009-05-10T08:24:00.000-05:00

An intriguing juxtaposition of movie titles.

2009-05-03T15:33:00.001-05:00

I just barely had time to grab the camera and snap this photo while waiting for the light to change at the intersection of Monona and Broadway.

Don't know how safe it is for the dog, but he sure looked like he was having fun.

2009-05-03T07:44:00.002-05:00

Purty Colors

2009-05-03T07:40:00.000-05:00

A clear spring morning and tulips at the Dane County Farmer's Market

2009-05-02T12:34:00.000-05:00

A day at the Dane County Farmer's Market.

2009-04-27T21:34:00.004-05:00

With it's beacon-yellow turret and its faded TAVERN sign, Mickey's is one of Willy Street's landmark buildings. It looks a bit like a dive on the outside but if you venture inside you can order some of the best locally-brewed beer and eat some of the most delicious food to be had in the neighborhood.

2009-04-26T10:10:00.004-05:00

Coming soon to the former premises of Bunky's Cafe, the Daily Cafe & Munchkery. Maybe the Dairy Cafe & Lunchkery. Or the Daisy Cafe & Quichkery.

It's been driving us crazy for a week now. They uncover a new letter every couple of days but we've been puzzling over this all week and can't figure it out.

The last word's got to be made up, that's all we can imagine.

I just realized: None of my guesses work because of that last letter. I'll just go sit in the corner and tear all my hair out until they uncover it.

2009-04-26T10:08:00.000-05:00

The cow on Atwood Avenue is all dressed up for May Day.

2009-04-22T21:01:00.002-05:00

Another lovely old building along Williamson Street that's managed to not only hang on over the years, but grow more handsome with age.

I don't know if the King Midas Flour sign is authentic, but it does add a nice touch.

2009-04-21T20:27:00.003-05:00

Madison Candy Co.

The building on Williamson Street that is now home to Ground Zero Cafe and the El Dorado Grill was once a candy company, unless the sign's there just to give the building character.

2009-04-20T21:07:00.001-05:00

Mini Cooper, the Original

Seen in the parking lot behind St Vincent de Paul's over the weekend, dwarfed by a mid-size Ford Focus.

2009-04-12T13:21:00.003-05:00

Tree house at the intersection of Yahara Place and Dunning Street, along the shore of Lake Monona. It even comes with its own trampoline.

2009-04-11T18:11:00.003-05:00

By coincidence, the same day that I stopped to snap a photo of The Cow on Atwood Avenue, this fiberglass cow turned up in front of the Rubin's store on Monona Drive.

2009-04-11T13:48:00.000-05:00

The Cow on Atwood Avenue has put on her Easter garb.

2009-04-07T20:51:00.003-05:00

Here's something you don't see in your pocket change much these days. In fact, I would have gone so far as to say you'd stand no chance at all of finding one of these in circulation any more, until last week when My Darling B was culling coins to keep in the car for the parking meter. "Is a 1942 dime worth anything?" she asked, when she found this amongst the silver. Oh, just a little bit. I think somebody's been funding trips to the candy store with donations from big brother's coin collection.

2009-04-02T20:04:00.001-05:00

Cat On The Fence

Behind the parking lot at the Willy Street Co-Op.

2009-03-29T09:14:00.005-05:00

This Remington Standard has been loitering for three weeks at the St Vincent de Paul thrift store. The first person with fifteen bucks and a penchant for old typewriters takes it home.

I am particularly fond of old typewriters, but it cost twenty-five bucks when it still had the "T" key cap, a price that was just over my threshold for buying stuff in a thrift store. I would have snapped it up for fifteen, or even twenty, if it had all the key caps, but a missing "T" is a little hard to work around.

If it's still there next week, though, I may have to take it home anyway. Maybe by then they'll take a sawbuck to get it off their shelves.

2009-03-28T18:40:00.000-05:00

Well, crap. The snow is back.

2009-03-28T17:53:00.000-05:00

The Return of the Cold Evil White Stuff

2009-03-24T18:39:00.001-05:00

The cow on Atwood Ave is still dressed up for Saint Paddy's day.

2009-03-23T05:54:00.002-05:00

Everybody needs a hobby, I guess.

2009-03-22T10:25:00.003-05:00

Mother Fool's Coffee House
Willy Street, Madison WI

In times when few people knew how to read, business owners would hang a sign over their doors painted with a picture that depicted their trade, or a totem such as a horseshoe or barber pole, or both.

I don't know whether the good people at Mother Fool's hung this enameled coffee pot outside their door as a nod to that tradition, or because they left a pot on the hob and boiled it dry but were loathe to throw it in the trash. But I like it.

2009-03-22T09:56:00.004-05:00

For as long as I've lived here -- only three years, not like I'm a life-long resident -- Mother Fool's has lent this exterior wall to people armed with cans of paint and an itch to express themselves. Regardless of whether you might characterize people who paint on the sides of buildings as graffiti artist or vandals, for the first year and a half I passed this building every morning on the way to work, I looked forward to seeing a smart social commentary rendered in an eye-catching style.

About six months ago, though, the style changed abruptly, and the graffiti wall at Mother Fool's has acquired all the visual charm of a bridge abutment in a railroad yard. I beg the management of Mother Fool's: Please find a new artist. Please. Pretty please.

2009-03-22T09:53:00.004-05:00

Ironically, the opposite side of the building is chalked with graffiti from passers-by and is much more interesting.

2009-03-21T11:02:00.002-05:00

Seen at St Vincent de Paul's thrift store this morning: a home entertainment system from a simpler time.

The body is plywood, the turntable is flocked with felt, the tone arm weighs close to a pound and it has just one speed.

I would have taken it home as a curiosity if they hadn't priced it at twenty-five dollars.

2009-03-20T22:13:00.000-05:00

A sample of the decor at Mickey's bar at the top of Willy Street.

2009-03-17T06:07:00.000-05:00

Cool artsy-fartsy lamp in the dining room of Lazy Jane's cafe.

2009-03-16T06:15:00.000-05:00

Would this look good on my mantle piece?

2009-03-15T12:51:00.002-05:00

I followed this dedicated paddler down to to the lake shore to see if he would really be able to find enough open water to put his canoe it, and what do you know, he could.

2009-03-15T09:21:00.002-05:00

This might be a hallucination brought on by four cups of strong coffee drunk too early in the morning, although I've never had any luck photographing my hallucinations before this ...

... or it might be a collection of Curious George stuffed dolls on display at Lazy Jane's cafe. It is.

2009-03-15T09:19:00.001-05:00

Uncle Wiggly, Emperor of Williamson Street, addresses the massed throngs from his balcony.

2009-03-14T13:52:00.001-05:00

Seen on Willy Street: These antique items outside a store across the street from St Vincent de Paul's.

2009-03-14T13:51:00.000-05:00

A close-up of the Louis Armstrong statue.

2009-03-14T13:45:00.002-05:00

I want this Buddha so bad.

He's perched atop a display case inside Lazy Jane's cafe. If I could come up with a way of distracting every one of the dozen or so staff on duty behind the counter, I'd slip him under my coat and walk nonchalantly out the door with him, but I'm not that clever. Nor that amoral.

I've never seen a carved Buddha that captures the happiness on this guy's face. I'd put him on a pedestal in our front room just to make sure I could see the expression on his face every day.

2009-03-14T13:42:00.001-05:00

Moldy Jam performing at the Dane County Farmer's Market today.

2009-03-13T21:47:00.003-05:00

Seen at an auction: A Santa for everyone.

I especially like the Santa with the binoculars and the fatigue jacket. What's he supposed to be, an artillery spotter?

2009-03-08T17:41:00.001-05:00

Seen at an auction today: A young boy's dream. Or even the dream of a middle-aged man who spends too much time playing with toys.

2009-03-08T17:37:00.003-05:00

I would have been happy with either one of these, and could have taken one home if only there might have been a couple c-notes in my wallet. In my dreams.

2009-03-08T17:35:00.002-05:00

Although I did manage to take home a souvenir.

2009-02-22T14:03:00.000-06:00

Tiny town seen at the Mad City Model Railroad Show

2009-02-22T14:01:00.001-06:00

Tiny town at the Mad City Model Railroad Show

2009-02-14T12:49:00.002-06:00

I took My Darling B to The Mermaid Cafe this morning for a Valentine's Day breakfast.

We drive past the Mermaid every morning on the way to work, and say to each other, "We've got to stop there soon" at least once a week. This was our week.

2009-02-14T12:46:00.002-06:00

Service at the Mermaid is excellent, and the decor is cozy.

There are three sizes of coffee offered: regular, large, and bottomless. The mug she's holding in front is regular, the bathtub behind that is large.

2009-02-14T12:43:00.002-06:00

A selection of fizzy drinks are on offer at the Mermaid.

It was a little too early in the morning for me to pop open a bottle, though, so I settled for just snapping a photo of them.

2009-02-08T08:34:00.002-06:00

Art At Monona Library

My Darling B had to stop by the public library to return the forty-two dozen cook books she had checked out, and pay a library fine large enough to fund half the economic stimulus package. I tagged along to help carry books, and to see what's new at the library.

There's an exhibition of art work on display at the head of the stairs that's very eye-catching. This book, its pages re-imagined and fanned open, was an unusual example of art transforming an ordinary object.

2009-02-08T08:33:00.000-06:00

Described as a geode.

2009-02-08T08:31:00.000-06:00

Not sure what this is. Medicine chest?

2009-02-07T11:40:00.002-06:00

Do You Know the Author?

I can read the quote, but not the attribution.

Found in the furniture section at St. Vincent de Paul's thrift shop.

2009-01-18T12:40:00.005-06:00

This wind-blown snow at the edge of Squaw Bay on Lake Monona has been built up into a layered crust sturdy enough to bear my weight when I cross it on a pair of skis. I could easily ride across the thinnest layers, but broke through the thickest layers, about four inches deep. Skiing across it became a tedious exercise in climbing back on top of the crust after breaking through.

The snow on Squaw Bay was much easier to break a trail through, not layered and crusted over like this at all.

2009-01-18T12:39:00.001-06:00

A view of downtown Madison from the farthest edge of Lake Monona.

2009-01-12T19:56:00.000-06:00

Flaking Out

New snow falling on the corner of South Hamilton Street.

2009-01-12T19:54:00.001-06:00

Looking Down Main Street On A Snowy Evening

That's Genna's on the left with the Tornado Lounge just behind it, and Inn On The Square on the right.

2009-01-12T19:51:00.001-06:00

New Snow

The capital under floodlight as snow falls on cap square.

2009-01-09T05:55:00.003-06:00

Interlude

This kettle was steaming like mad when I snapped this photo. I don't know why you can't see it. The steam, not the kettle. Obviously you can see the kettle.

I was waiting for it to break into a boil so I could make the morning pot o' java, well-needed after waking up at three o'clock and staggering around the house sleepless the rest of the night. When the steam finally came, it was such a pretty sight, no doubt because of my anticipation for a piping hot cuppa, that I grabbed my camera and caught this snapshot. All for naught, it seems.

Going to be a long day ...

2008-12-24T07:42:00.002-06:00

Infinity

I admit, this is a really weird photo. Sometimes the symmetry of an image catches my eye in a way that makes me want to snap a shot of it, though, and this was one of those images loaded with symmetry.

No, nobody else was in the room at the time.

2008-12-22T06:22:00.002-06:00

How Cold Is It?

In the fall, the frost is on the pumpkin, but in the dead of winter, it's on all the windows and around the joints of the doors. This was our front door last night at five below zero.

2008-12-21T08:40:00.001-06:00

Looking Up

An abstract fabric sculpture hanging in the entrance to the Monona Terrace.

2008-12-20T16:43:00.002-06:00

And Now, For a Wine That's Completely Different

This is wine as I imagine the Python boys might have made it, a little whimsical, a little nonsensical, with just a touch of the purile, yet with a full body and rich in whatever wines should be rich in. Pull the cork and add it to the dozen already dangling from your bush hat.

2008-12-20T16:39:00.002-06:00

Hot, Sexy Wine

This is a wine that wants you bad. Uh-huh, it's looking right at you. You know you want it, too.

2008-12-20T16:29:00.003-06:00

Comic Book Wine

Although the label of this fine screw-top wine looks like the cover of a comic book, "The Squid's Fist" sounds like the name for a sexual technique normally discussed in the advice column of a men's magazine, or has my mind wandered to inappropriate topics once again?

I'm also left wondering why the pair of women are depicted inappropriately geared for snorkeling at what is clearly scuba depth, although they're certainly about to become after-dinner sweets, so I guess their impending death by drowning is a moot point.

2008-12-20T16:24:00.004-06:00

Frighteningly Generic Wine

"House Wine" reminded me of that generic beer we used to drink back in the 80's that came in a white can with the word "BEER" printed on it in black, block letters. I can't believe we used to drink that stuff, and I suspect that in thirty years there will be people looking back in disbelief that they drank this stuff.

2008-12-14T15:21:00.004-06:00

*crickets*

Sorry, yes, I notice I have gone silent here for quite a while, mostly because I seem to have devoted quite a lot more time to a couple other web sites (obligatory plugs follow):

Drivel, one that I update daily with lots of words but rarely any photos.

Our Humble O'Bode, mostly about the continuing adventures in home improvement I find myself in with My Darling B.

And partly because work has kept me from wandering the streets of Madison the way I could more freely do when I wasn't taking half-hour lunches.

It's an exhausting pack of lame excuses, I know, but since you took the trouble to check back I thought I owed it to you. Thanks for asking.

2008-11-24T05:55:00.001-06:00

Winter's Officially Here

Our first morning waking up to a blanket of snow on the ground.

2008-11-23T13:23:00.001-06:00

Skimmed Over

We've had a little more than a week of temperatures below freezing, so that the ponds on the golf course along the edge of Monona Drive have finally begun to freeze over.

2008-11-23T13:20:00.002-06:00

Visitors

These Canadian geese came wheeling over my head as I strolled the neighborhood streets of Monona this afternoon. By coincidence, I walked home along Monona Drive and found them grazing on the fairways of the golf course.

2008-11-16T11:24:00.003-06:00

A Morning Walk in Monona

This sentinel is keeping watch over the shore line of Lake Monona from his perch atop a stump at Graham Park.

The city of Monona is confined to a peninsula jutting into the lake from the eastern shore. Mammoth houses stand shoulder to shoulder along the shore, blocking sight of the lake from the road almost totally.

One of the nice things about Monona, however is the public access to the shore guaranteed by a string of small parks. My walk along Winnequah Road this morning took me past Graham Park and Frostwoods Beach.

2008-11-16T11:21:00.002-06:00

Here's another view of the shore, looking north, from the beach at Frostwoods Park.

2008-11-02T21:13:00.002-06:00

America's Favorite Cookie

Or Wisconsin's, at least, if the polls can be believed.

When I sent my brother a photo of My Darling B with this cookie last week, he asked, "Does it come with Kool-Aid?"

So I made sure I had a sippy cup for this photo. Mmmmm ....

2008-10-12T16:17:00.002-05:00

Autumn colors on Nichols Road in Monona.

2008-10-11T16:52:00.000-05:00

Majestic

2008-10-09T21:27:00.001-05:00

Morning Lights

2008-10-08T20:47:00.001-05:00

A swirl of freshly-furrowed earth and a blank wall ... all that's left of St. Raphael's cathedral.

2008-10-06T06:12:00.000-05:00

And now for your enjoyment, a bear's head.

2008-10-05T15:23:00.002-05:00

If the license plate you get from the DMV is offensive to you in some way, you can ask them to issue you another one.

I wonder if there's a similar policy if you see a license plate that's offensive to you? Can you call the DMV and have them remove it from the car?

2008-10-04T17:44:00.001-05:00

Declaration chalked on the library at the University of Wisconsin

Not exactly sure what they're declaring, though. Their name is Butts and they're married? They're married and they have butts? Their butts are married?

2008-09-30T20:51:00.000-05:00

Keep it simple, please, I'm from Illinois.

2008-09-28T17:04:00.001-05:00

Seen at an auction: A selection of books for the pious ...

2008-09-28T17:03:00.001-05:00

... and a selection of books no library should be without.

2008-09-28T17:01:00.000-05:00

A reading from the New Catechism of The Steam Engine, First Book of Baldwin, Chapter 1, Verse 1-10

2008-09-28T17:00:00.000-05:00

A portrait of Matthias Baldwin, patron saint of steam engineering.

2008-09-28T16:56:00.001-05:00

From the Catechism, a hymn in the key of steam.

2008-09-27T11:19:00.002-05:00

The Dane County Farmer's Market on capital square is home to inspiring artists ...

2008-09-27T11:12:00.002-05:00

... and aspiring artists