A few odds & ends from
Art Fair On The Square
in beautiful downtown Madison

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good-bye ...

A tiled floor at the entrance to an old State Street building.

Ye gods! There's a cherry picker setting up next to the big oak on the corner!
It's curtains for the old wood!

False alarm. He only took down the lamp post.
*whew*

The hardhats moved in on a stretch of cap square yesterday morning and
in the space of just a few hours, made short work of pulling up the sidewalk.

Are they, now? And which carpenters would those be?
John Carpenter, the film director, and his family?
Karen and Richard Carpenter, the singers?
Carpenter ants?
I have no freaking clue.
It's in the window of the Haus Building on the King Street side, if you're interested.

My Darling B took me out to the West Side Club to see Bluetrain,
a blues band that one of her coworkers plays in.
This was their debut performance in the Madison area.
They usually appear in Mount Horeb and farther away, so she never got to see them before.
We stayed for two sets, then had to head home before it got too late.

It's going to be a scorcher!
My Darling B turned the sprinkler on her tomatoes in the early morning.

When "carpe diem" seems too ambitious,
sleep in and sieze the afternoon instead.

For one last look at the Chain O' Lakes,
these lilly pads on Pope Lake will do.

The bows of this boat were handsomely decorated by a dedicated owner.
Ding's Dock, Chain O' Lakes, Waupaca County

Interior of an old touring boat.
Ding's Dock, on the Chain O' Lakes, Waupaca County.

The Northern Trail Inn, a restaurant in King, Wisconsin, has come up with a way to discourage customers from pocketing too many after-dinner mints.

When you're vacationing in a cottage on the Chain O' Lakes, there's really nothing better to do with your time than paddle around in a canoe ...

... except maybe falling asleep under the tall trees with your favorite book.

More snapshots from our week-long vacation to the Chain O' Lakes.
This is Pope Lake at about six o'clock in the morning.
My Darling B wanted to see if the fish were biting.
The things a man won't do to keep his best girl happy.

The cabin in the woods ...

... the woods around the cabin ...

... the trees overhead.

I've just returned from a week visiting family at a cabin in the Chain O' Lakes, near Waupaca.
Here's a shot of Mom at the shore of Orlando Lake, where she found a cabin for us to stay.

A glance backward from Olando Lake at the cabin where we stayed.

Every lake looked like a picture post card.

This is Marl Lake, the lowest of the four tiny lakes at the bottom of the chain.

This way to the Asian!

This is no simple mash note.
This took a lot longer than scratching "AB [heart] CD" in wet concrete.
First, he had to get hold of a welding machine, and he had to know how to used it, then he had to sneak to the top of the parking ramp in the middle of the night and spend, I dunno, what, like a half-hour zapping that message into galvenized steel.
And just what the heck does it mean, anyway?
Did he add every one of his girlfriend's initials to it, like notches on a bed post?

That's some serious ironwork on the front door of the Red Gym at the UW.

Stepping back a bit ...

It's been here for a while.

A Blast From The Past

Mom and Dad used to refer to pocket change as "silver." I had to ask them why. It never occurred to me that it might have once been made of silver, but here it is: a silver coin I picked out of pocket change yesterday. I can't remember the last time I saw one of these. They just don't show up in change any more.

Butterfly Breakfast

I don't know what kind of flowers those are, but they smell good, to both me and this butter fly, apparently. There were about a hundred of these guys all over the flowers on a bush in our back yard this morning.

Now I've seen everything

Those are toasted walnuts on the pizza My Darling B ordered for dinner last night. I've seen lots of things on pizza before, but it would never have even ocurred to me to ask for toasted walnuts! That's just weird.

Death Takes A Field Trip

I'll bet these kids thought their field trip to the capital wouldn't be this much fun. Mr. Death strolled down the stairs v e r y c a r e f u l l y to avoid tripping over the kids as they circled him.

A Wooded Lane

Midland Lane in Monona.

The Parting Of The Ways

Trees parted where a power line runs between the boughs. In the center foreground, all that is left of a tree that failed to spread its branches is the chunk that engulfed the wire.

Up a Lazy River

Morning on the Yahara River in Monona

The fog comes on little cat feet ...

Chicago Skyline reflected in "The Bean"

Everyone who visits The Bean has to take this picture. A giant, stainless steel bean shape polished to a highly reflective shine is such a strange sight that you almost have to.

One Red Cent

The penny I found in the dirt while I was helping My Darling B turn over the dirt for her herb garden, bearing the date 1950 and a "D" mark from the Denver mint.

It may have been dropped there just recently, but it was buried under about six inches of dirt, and coincidentally the neighborhood in which Our Humble O-Bode now stands was developed in 1950.

Funny that we still call them pennies ...

The Library of Congress

See any books? Neither did I.

Cherubs on the staircase at the Library of Congress

There is some really, really cool architecture in Washington D.C. I wish I knew somebody who not only lived there but also knew the stories behind all the great buildings you can still see there.

Party Animals

Seen outside a pub in Washington D.C.

On the front lawn of Georgetown University

The graduating class of 2007 prepares to pick up their sheepskins.

As he steps up to the plate ...

Sean climbs the stairs to approach the stage where he'll receive his bachelor's of arts degree from Georgetown University.

Think he's at all happy about the prospect?

Appropriately choked up over the occasion, mother congratulates her oldest son.

Sean and Tim talk over the day's events

After the ceremony, we all met at a local restaurant for a celebratory meal and happy conversation.