A once-proud livery, reduced to this ...
The rolling stock of my tiny railroad empire finally sees the light of day.
Well, not daylight, precisely; the light over my workbench will have to do for now.
Some of the hardier models seem to be intact, but a few have seen better times. To the right, the smooth-side sleeper in Milwaukee colors and the overturned Pennsy coach have both lost their wheelsets at a bad turn somewhere.
This will take a bit of work ...
Where Once There Was Snow
Two weeks ago we had lots of snow and temps in the twenties. I snapped a picture so I could remember what it was like, knowing it was a sure bet that it'd all be gone soon and we'd have anything but a white Christmas. I don't miss the sub-freezing temps, but these snowless weeks leading up to Christmas exacerbate my chronic grumpiness. Ho-ho-ho.
DATELINE: BELGIUM
I hadn't been in the Dane County Veteran's Museum before last week. No interest. Then last Friday I saw at least four busloads of school kids go in there, bringing back memories of field trips from way back, and I had to take a look.
They represent American veterans' involvement in wars through history by standing costumed dummies in dioramas all around the walls. I've always liked dioramas. My Mom thinks they're pretty cheesy, but I like cheese, the more sentimental and cornball, the better.
And I liked that I could look at a diorama and know in an instant what it was supposed to be. I glanced at the scene in this photo, for instance, and recognized the Battle of the Bulge from across the room.
I didn't have much time, so I couldn't linger at the display cases, but I did take the time to gaze long and hard at the model ships.
At the peak of my model-building career I probably owned at least one-hundred fighter planes. I would've given them all up to build something like this. And I would've had to live in a house the size of a dairy barn to display something like this.
It's the USS Wisconsin, naturally. The full-size one was built back just before aircraft carriers took over as the ultimate warships of the high seas. She was mothballed after the world war, briefly came out of retirement to fight in the Persian Gulf war, and I believe she rests in a comfy berth once again.
They made a pretty nifty display out of the model, with the ship's bell and the brass name plate mounted on the other side of the display case. And what display would have been complete without an example of the 16-inch shells fired by those big guns?
Best thing in the museum, though, was the periscope, no contest. Who doesn't go gah-gah over a periscope? Okay, my wife wouldn't, but what guy wouldn't shove his way through a rugby scrum for the chance to look through a real periscope? You can pan it around for a good look at most of the buildings in cap square, but you can't increase the magnification to see if anybody's sleeping at their desks or photocopying their butts. Still, a periscope! Freaking awesome!
Ceci n'est pas une pickup truck
There aren't a lot of teeny-tiny pickup trucks around any more, so when one of them shows up at a local parking lot, it's eye-catching, particularly when it's painted pink and is parked alongside a bulked-out SUV.
To make it appear even smaller than it already is, the owner had taken the trouble of dropping the suspension as low as it could go. The truck's frame was about three inches off the ground.
"I expect you to die, Mister Bond!"
The entry to the federal court house, on Henry Street
The more I look around, the more I'm astonished at how many really ugly buildings there are in downtown Madison.
Surely this has got to be in the running for the ugliest. There aren't any others that combine indigo-colored steel cladding with red highlights, and no other building in town has a death ray hanging over the entrance.
A Gator on the loose at Emian's Bakery
Tim told us about Emian's on Monona Drive near his high school. He said he has lunch there every so often, and if they can appeal to his picky tastes, we figured they had to have a pretty good selection.
Barb and I have only ever stopped for coffee and some baking, but we haven't been disappointed yet. They have lots of scrummy rolls, muffins and cookies, and the dining area is very cozy.
On our first trip we slid into a booth and lingered over the Sunday paper for an hour while we noshed on scones. Today we stopped by for a coffee but couldn't resist grabbing some goodies, too.
The eyes of this pastry gator caught my attention on the way out the door.
The Barrymore
My Darling B has had a hankering for eggs benedict all week long, so we stopped at The Blue Plate, just across the street from the Barrymore theater in the Atwood-Schenck neighborhood. I had the country breakfast. Both meals were delivered to our table in what seemed like no more than a heartbeat. It was almost as if they'd been waiting for us. We both went home with our sufficiencies surensified.
