... if I could only put my finger on it.

It'll come to me if I study it long enough.

Hmmm ...

Hands-Down Winner: Ugliest Building in Madison



The United States Court House, behind the Overture Center.

Nothing says 'federal bureaucracy' like a megalithic purple building sporting a Doctor Evil laser beam in the forecourt and knobby, fire-engine red railings as big as elephant turds. If there's an uglier building in Madison, I haven't run across it yet.

State Street's World-Famous Triangle Market

"Tours Daily - Free Admission."

You've heard about it - well, here it is!

Lion's head lamp stands flank the entrance doors of the state capitol.

Field Trip!



School children file into the Overture Center in downtown Madison.

Downtown Madison's Triangle Buildings are too cool!



The Jackman Building on the corner of Carroll and Hamilton Streets.

The Baskerville Building is right next door.

Main entrance to the Jackman Building.

Transom window of the Jackman Building from inside the lobby.

Riding the storm out ...




The stick man sits out rush-hour flurries Friday evening on the roof in capitol square.

Home again, home again, jiggedy-jog



Halted at the intersection of Williamson and Baldwin Streets, in traffic-stopping citywide flurries.

Who are those guys?




The south wing of the state capitol on a gray day.

Overcast brings cold, gray days back to Madison.




A barren oak tree on the lawn of the capitol. Grace Episcopal in the background.

Derelect pump house and vaneless windmill, Cottage Grove, Wisconsin.

Genna's bar in the early morning hours




... still decorated for Christmas.

"He said the sun rose ... he said it sang to him."



Madison sees sunlight two days in a row.

I haven't blogged all week because the sun's been gone for almost three weeks now, giving me no fresh opportunities to look for new outdoor shots worth publishing. I piddle around with indoor shots, but this is the best I've come up with.

There's nobody to play with and nothing to eat, so Boo curls up in her nest on the quilt for an afternoon's nap.

Front entrance to the Baskerville building on Hamilton St.

(This is a hand-held shot, although I had to take about a half-dozen snaps to get it, and hold my breath each time. I've learned a new setting on my digital camera that lets me take photos at night. )

The Lamb building on the 100 block of State Street, home to Michelangelo's, the finest coffee shop in downtown Madison.

Wouldn't it be heaven to live in an apartent over a great coffee shop? Especially an apartment with leaded, stained-glass bay windows.

Maybe someday...

(The back entrance to the same building.)

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Madison O-Folk!

There is nobody more content than a cat in a lap.

Time to share a few more photos of the interior of Taylor's antique store, on Carroll Street in capital square (next to Shakespeare's book store). I wandered in today to see the newly-arranged selection of trinkets and baubles. The assortment is dizzying.

The shop resembles nothing so much as your very rich aunt's eclectic collection of mementos and knick-knacks, spanning 180 years and overflowing from every showcase, dresser-drawer and shelf in her thirteen-room Victorian mansion. You can visit the shop every day of the week and find something new each day.

Their specialty is maps, which explains the globes and framed prints on the walls.

Taylor's on North Carroll Street in downtown Madison has decorated their front window with a dizzying display of old-time toys. It's more than I can do justice to in a few snapshots, but perhaps I can capture a tiny bit of the fun to be had looking in the window.

A close-up of a few of the items in the window: clowns on top of the merry-go-round, marionettes hanging in the background, the detail from a carnival bench ...

... a shooting gallery, a marble-in-the-cups game, a pinball table, and a wonderful assortment of circus posters.

The seal of the state of Wisconsin, embossed in brass on the doors of the capital building; a special treat for a loyal viewer of our page.

Snow falling on capital square, at about three o'clock this afternoon.

I went for a walk through the 'mansion district' once again. Most of the old piles have fallen on hard times, their rooms now parceled out as flats to students. The landlords certainly aren't much interested in preserving the character of the buildings, as evidenced by the cartoonish color of this lost mansion. Pink?

If you're on your way to the periodicals section of Madision Central Public Library and you happen to glance up the stairway ...

More about this display.

The prow of Madison's new art gallery, still under construction, cuts through State Street like a glacial Titanic.

The West Gallery of the State Capitol in the evening.

If I could live anywhere in Madison, I'd love to move into The Baskerville on Hamilton Street.

Not only would I be able to walk through these doors every day, but I'd be less than one block away from capitol square and right across the street from the Tornado!

The Tornado on Main Street must have been a pretty swank place at one time ... and it still may be — I have yet to visit. The sign out back dates the Tornado to the neon era.




And the neon still burns strong! Here's the sign at the Hamilton Street entrance of the Tornado by night.

Michelangelo's on State Street (although this is the Carroll Street entrance). Our favorite coffee shop in Madison, if not in Wisconsin.

What's up, Doc? He's lost his carrot, and he's putting on a bit of weight. A martini-drinking Bugs Bunny on the side of a building, Carroll Street.

This is the Steensland mansion on Carroll Street, owned by the Bethel Lutheran Church, which has used it for years as a thrift shop. The shop will close on November 30th, and the fate of the mansion is uncertain.

The mansion was built in 1896 and is quite ornate. The walls inside the first floor of the house are covered with tin plate pressed with a floral design, and all the wood trim is carved with these faces and curlicues.

The ornate turned rail and paneled stairway to the second floor of the house.

I took a walk north along Carroll Street today to look at the old mansions. Most are now subdivided into apartments but this one didn't appear to be, and was beautifully kept up.

The first patch of ice I found this season had an interesting mosaic of leaves caught inside.

Steam curled up from the surface of Lake Monona in the frigid temps yesterday morning, even after the sun had been up for several hours.

Snows first began to fall the night before, but by noon yesterday traces were beginning to collect on the ground, barely noticeable around the base of the lonely tree at the entrance to the Central Public Library.

Snow flurries in capital square in Madison at about one o'clock yesterday. Temps dropped through the day until they reached the teens last night.

Main Street in downtown Madison at about four-thirty last night as flurries brought the first snow to the city.

Snow swirls through the floodlights around the capital dome at about four-thirty yesterday evening.