A Denizen of State Street.
Looks a little like John Bolton.

I can't reconcile my delight of old cars and trucks with my despair that there are too many cars and trucks in the world. Keeping the old ones around would seem to be nothing more than adding to the mess. But the nostalgia I feel for a dolled-up show piece like this is undeniable.
I spotted this old Chevy off Bridge Street in Monona.

And speaking of trucks:

Old McDonald had a truck ...

I snapped these photos on my bike ride around Lake Monona today:

Spot the penguin:

Tenney Locks

The birds on Paterson St

A perfect day over Lake Monona

Sailboats docked on the lake near John Nolen Drive

I went to the Dane County Fair with My Darling B to see the llamas.
They're very curious animals, attentively watching every passer-by.

Some sheep have to be shorn of their coats, but you only have to unzip these clever little numbers.

If you win a contest at the fair, they write on your butt with white shoe polish.
Doesn't seem dignified, somehow.

They had contests for everything, from corn ...

... to hay ...

... but nothing's more fun than cupcake judging.

A beige Thunderbird?

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?