The trees are finally leafing out along the top of State Street.

Lunch on the Capital Lawn

Another gorgeous spring day under the oaks ...

I've got about a million photos of this thing by now, and I keep thinking that should be about enough, but then I see it from a new angle with the light on it in a different way and I have to take another snapshot.

At The Farmer's Market

There's something not quite right about this photo ... wait a moment ... it'll come to me ...

As I wandered the stacks at A Room Of One's Own, the bookstore on Johnson St, I felt as though I were being watched ...

I don't know a thing about this book, but the title certainly is eye-catching.

I know there's a legitimate use for this, but it still gives me the giggles to know you can find packaged bat guano on the shelves of our local grocery, the Willy Street Co-Op.

Monona City-Wide Garage Sale Today

This was about the most interesting thing I saw.

Flowers at the farmer's market.

Ostrich eggs at the farmer's market.

This woman at the farmer's market had the coolest hand-made signage.

I don't know why it caught my eye, but I liked it a lot.

A special surprise was the "Grandma Mary's Paste tomato."

My Darling B bought one to raise in her garden so she could make pasta sauce for my Mom, Mary.

Lunch hour on cap square

I bought a pint of orange juice at the corner store, sat down on the lawn and ate my hamburger.

I wish you could smell this

The lilacs are in bloom!

More lilacs!

Attack of the Garlic Mustard Gang

My Darling B wades into a patch of garlic mustard with both arms swinging.

The groundskeepers of the capital lawn dug up the tulips and gave away the bulb to passers-by this week. The square was littered with tulip blossoms.

If your car is missing one or more parts that are so significant a person who had never seen a car before would notice, you're probably driving a piece of junk.

If your car is being held together through the liberal use of duct tape, you may be driving a piece of junk.

Flowers! Zillions of 'em!

Tourists will have to find somewhere else to say "cheese" with one hand raised in greeting now that the construction crews have moved in on the State Street corner of cap square to begin tearing up the sidewalk. Miss Forward will be off-limits for a couple months.

I spy with my little eye ...

a headless man sitting on the lawn in front of the capital.

I spy with my little eye ...

some new masks and other ephemera in the front window of Taylor's.

Ducks on cap square.

The view from the western shore of Lake Monona while biking into work yesterday morning.

The Unmistakable Signs of Spring

Grass greening the lawns
Buds on the trees
A garden tilled and planted
Steaks on the grill

Two of Boo

Striking a pose on the end table in the sitting room yesterday morning.

The Ants Go Marching One By One, Huzzah! Huzzah!

A little added interest along a conveniently blank building foundation on S Pinckney St. just off capital square.

The balloon's a nice touch of whimsy, I think.

We are the opening baaaaand ....

Paul and Storm take the stage at the Majestic yesterday evening.













The trouble with taking photos of Paul and Storm is they won't hold still for a second














Paul and Storm with Jonathan Coulton

















An enthusiastic audience member threw a pair of dripping-wet panties on the stage when JoCo came out. "That's seriously effed up," he said, holding them up for all to see.












Coulton action shot

New Maple Leaves in the Morning

The early morning sunshine caught the slowly unfolding leaves of the maple tree just outside the back door in a way that made me run out with my camera and take a few snapshots.

Contentment

Good Times

My first car was 1969 VW minivan. It cost me just $500 and was in a lot worse shape that this one, which looks remarkably well-preserved, but it was my first car and I still remember it with a lot of affection, even though I spent a lot more time fixing it than driving it.

While I was taking these photos, a fellah passing by stopped to get a good look, too.

"Brings back some memories, does it?" he asked, so I told him about my first car.

"I crossed the country in a van like this one," he said. The way he said it, he could remember it like it was the other day. "It wasn't mine. I borrowed it from a friend."

Sometimes it seems like everybody's got a Veedub story.

I had two other VW buses and a Beetle, and I miss them all.

Sunrise, sunset

The morning sun through the dining room window fell so brightly across the living room desk it inspired me to pick up my camera ...











... and the setting sun through the living room window painted this picture across the opposite wall.