By coincidence, the same day that I stopped to snap a photo of The Cow on Atwood Avenue, this fiberglass cow turned up in front of the Rubin's store on Monona Drive.

The Cow on Atwood Avenue has put on her Easter garb.

Here's something you don't see in your pocket change much these days. In fact, I would have gone so far as to say you'd stand no chance at all of finding one of these in circulation any more, until last week when My Darling B was culling coins to keep in the car for the parking meter. "Is a 1942 dime worth anything?" she asked, when she found this amongst the silver. Oh, just a little bit. I think somebody's been funding trips to the candy store with donations from big brother's coin collection.

Cat On The Fence

Behind the parking lot at the Willy Street Co-Op.

This Remington Standard has been loitering for three weeks at the St Vincent de Paul thrift store. The first person with fifteen bucks and a penchant for old typewriters takes it home.

I am particularly fond of old typewriters, but it cost twenty-five bucks when it still had the "T" key cap, a price that was just over my threshold for buying stuff in a thrift store. I would have snapped it up for fifteen, or even twenty, if it had all the key caps, but a missing "T" is a little hard to work around.

If it's still there next week, though, I may have to take it home anyway. Maybe by then they'll take a sawbuck to get it off their shelves.

Well, crap. The snow is back.

The Return of the Cold Evil White Stuff

The cow on Atwood Ave is still dressed up for Saint Paddy's day.

Everybody needs a hobby, I guess.

Mother Fool's Coffee House
Willy Street, Madison WI

In times when few people knew how to read, business owners would hang a sign over their doors painted with a picture that depicted their trade, or a totem such as a horseshoe or barber pole, or both.

I don't know whether the good people at Mother Fool's hung this enameled coffee pot outside their door as a nod to that tradition, or because they left a pot on the hob and boiled it dry but were loathe to throw it in the trash. But I like it.

For as long as I've lived here -- only three years, not like I'm a life-long resident -- Mother Fool's has lent this exterior wall to people armed with cans of paint and an itch to express themselves. Regardless of whether you might characterize people who paint on the sides of buildings as graffiti artist or vandals, for the first year and a half I passed this building every morning on the way to work, I looked forward to seeing a smart social commentary rendered in an eye-catching style.

About six months ago, though, the style changed abruptly, and the graffiti wall at Mother Fool's has acquired all the visual charm of a bridge abutment in a railroad yard. I beg the management of Mother Fool's: Please find a new artist. Please. Pretty please.

Ironically, the opposite side of the building is chalked with graffiti from passers-by and is much more interesting.

Seen at St Vincent de Paul's thrift store this morning: a home entertainment system from a simpler time.

The body is plywood, the turntable is flocked with felt, the tone arm weighs close to a pound and it has just one speed.

I would have taken it home as a curiosity if they hadn't priced it at twenty-five dollars.

A sample of the decor at Mickey's bar at the top of Willy Street.

Cool artsy-fartsy lamp in the dining room of Lazy Jane's cafe.

Would this look good on my mantle piece?

I followed this dedicated paddler down to to the lake shore to see if he would really be able to find enough open water to put his canoe it, and what do you know, he could.

This might be a hallucination brought on by four cups of strong coffee drunk too early in the morning, although I've never had any luck photographing my hallucinations before this ...

... or it might be a collection of Curious George stuffed dolls on display at Lazy Jane's cafe. It is.

Uncle Wiggly, Emperor of Williamson Street, addresses the massed throngs from his balcony.

Seen on Willy Street: These antique items outside a store across the street from St Vincent de Paul's.