A look out the back window

A bit chilly ...

Couldn't resist the pun. Sorry.

Reserved Seating

A stone bench in Elizabeth Link Free Park, between State and Gilman streets.

Not-Quite-Patiently Waiting

Coffee at Cleveland's

"Hey, I didn't notice the restaurant's picture was on the table cloth!" said my breakfast date last Saturday morning.

Up from the bottom

It's a limestone quarry redeveloped as loft apartments. It's a modern art installation titled Concrete Poop Dee Doo. It's the core of a nuclear reactor. It's about as far into the bowels of a downtown parking lot as you can get. It is.

A Back Alley near University Ave

There was so much going on here that it caught my eye.

Outside the Chazen Museum

Mother and Child, although nude, would be warm enough on this fine day.

Penguin Love

Pasted to a store front window on State Street.

That smell means it's time for a brat

The clock on the corner of State Street Brats telling me I've got just twelve minutes to get back to the square before my lunch hour is over.

Hot Time in the Old Town

While the western states are digging out from under several feet of snow, Madison is enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures and beautifully clear skies.

Just the day to get out to stretch the legs ...

No better destination than a book store ...

Paul's Books stands at the other end of State Street from the square, on the very edge of the UW campus.

There aren't many places like this left. I happily spent as much of my lunch hour as I could before I had to head back to work.

A Warm Welcome

Eight-foot-high stacks of books ... throw rugs across the floor ... a fancy pressed-tin ceiling above ... the cockles of my heart couldn't be gladder.

The room is filled with twists and turns

Ends of book shelves are gloriously festooned with old fly leafs, newspaper clippings, post cards and photos. It's a warm, cozy place.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve was a quiet night in for the O-folk, watching movies and eating plenty of party food.

At eleven-thirty I began to fade, so I made the rest of the family gather for a photo. With just fifteen minutes or so left before the appointed hour we all look as though we've had maybe one too many.

By the Shores of Beautiful Lake Monona

A flock of ducks on the lake ice caught my eye, so I risked crossing Monona Drive on foot (note: Don't do it!) to snap a photo of them but they all flew away as I approached. Not stealthy enough, I guess.

This stump looked rather photogenic, though, so I thought I'd try it out.

Fairchild St in the Evening

Looking southeast up the hill past the Overture Center.

The relatively modest Hovde Building seems to tower over all else.

If I were a betting man I'd put all my money in developing the 100 block of State St, those older buildings to the immediate left, across the street from the Overture Center. The only thing my money has the muscle to develop, though, is film.

Tinkering together a track plan ... in 3-D!

The bench has been ready for months but I've been putting off laying down the track because, well ... because I'm a scaredy-cat, that's why.

I suck at track planning. I'd much rather just piece a loop together and watch the trains go round. And that's all I've done to date.

But I found that John Armstrong track plan -- see it? Way back there in the upper left? -- in a July 1954 issue of Model Railroader last night and a light went on over my head. I could almost see the room get brighter.

So tonight I found as many of the storage boxes as I could that were stuffed with the collected model railroading track and rolling stock of many years. Many, many years. Some of this stuff hasn't been trotted out since 1989.

Striking a pose

A PA in Milwaukee livery waits to stretch its legs.

If only I could find an affordable (okay, so I'm cheap) B-unit on e-bay.

Smooth-side passenger cars lie like beached whales in the background, waiting for me to find their wheelsets. They might wait quite a while.

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 ...