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.

Tailgater's view of a 1932 Ford roadster parked in a yard along Broadway in Monona.

The Perfect Taco

We had tacos for dinner tonight and I was so hungry I threw together two of them right away and was astounded when one of them turned out perfect. I mean, flawless! I could probably sell that photo if I'd managed to hold the camera a little steadier.

It's on the corner of University and Gilman, not a very rough part of town at all, but the owner must have had a lot of trouble with vandalism in the past to go to the trouble of armoring up this Pepsi machine to such an extent.

Cool tree house.

This one's on the Yahara River along Broadway.

Corner of Sleepy Lagoon and Whispering Waters, the abandoned trailer park in Monona that was supposed to be new condominiums by now. I'll bet that's on indefinite hold with the popping of the housing bubble.

... city crews continued to cart away lumber from the 150-year-old Gorham Street elm cut down Thursday morning.

Farewell to a Madison Landmark

Work crews dismembered one of the oldest trees in our fair city today, an elm that's stood on Gorham Street for about a hundred and fifty years. (I hope somebody saved a slice of it and counted the rings.)

A single light bulb burning in J. Taylor's antique shop on capital square this morning lit this strange scene.

I've rarely seen J. Tayor's open for business. Every so often the proprietor posts a sign in the door saying he'll soon have regular shop hours, but I've been inside just three times in the three years I've lived here, and I walk past it a lot. Nearly every day, in fact. Sometimes I wonder if he rents the space just to have a place to keep all the great attic treasures he collects, not that I would blame him. I'd do the same thing if I had that kind of extra money.

Freaky State Street window display.

What kind of zombie weirdo fetish is going on here?

You can usually count on Rag Stock's window displays to be oddball.

A Langdon Street Bestiary

This carved owl over the door of an apartment block ...



















... and this walrus on the wall of another.

Coo-coo ka-choo.