Infinity

I admit, this is a really weird photo. Sometimes the symmetry of an image catches my eye in a way that makes me want to snap a shot of it, though, and this was one of those images loaded with symmetry.

No, nobody else was in the room at the time.

How Cold Is It?

In the fall, the frost is on the pumpkin, but in the dead of winter, it's on all the windows and around the joints of the doors. This was our front door last night at five below zero.

Looking Up

An abstract fabric sculpture hanging in the entrance to the Monona Terrace.

And Now, For a Wine That's Completely Different

This is wine as I imagine the Python boys might have made it, a little whimsical, a little nonsensical, with just a touch of the purile, yet with a full body and rich in whatever wines should be rich in. Pull the cork and add it to the dozen already dangling from your bush hat.

Hot, Sexy Wine

This is a wine that wants you bad. Uh-huh, it's looking right at you. You know you want it, too.

Comic Book Wine

Although the label of this fine screw-top wine looks like the cover of a comic book, "The Squid's Fist" sounds like the name for a sexual technique normally discussed in the advice column of a men's magazine, or has my mind wandered to inappropriate topics once again?

I'm also left wondering why the pair of women are depicted inappropriately geared for snorkeling at what is clearly scuba depth, although they're certainly about to become after-dinner sweets, so I guess their impending death by drowning is a moot point.

Frighteningly Generic Wine

"House Wine" reminded me of that generic beer we used to drink back in the 80's that came in a white can with the word "BEER" printed on it in black, block letters. I can't believe we used to drink that stuff, and I suspect that in thirty years there will be people looking back in disbelief that they drank this stuff.

*crickets*

Sorry, yes, I notice I have gone silent here for quite a while, mostly because I seem to have devoted quite a lot more time to a couple other web sites (obligatory plugs follow):

Drivel, one that I update daily with lots of words but rarely any photos.

Our Humble O'Bode, mostly about the continuing adventures in home improvement I find myself in with My Darling B.

And partly because work has kept me from wandering the streets of Madison the way I could more freely do when I wasn't taking half-hour lunches.

It's an exhausting pack of lame excuses, I know, but since you took the trouble to check back I thought I owed it to you. Thanks for asking.

Winter's Officially Here

Our first morning waking up to a blanket of snow on the ground.

Skimmed Over

We've had a little more than a week of temperatures below freezing, so that the ponds on the golf course along the edge of Monona Drive have finally begun to freeze over.

Visitors

These Canadian geese came wheeling over my head as I strolled the neighborhood streets of Monona this afternoon. By coincidence, I walked home along Monona Drive and found them grazing on the fairways of the golf course.

A Morning Walk in Monona

This sentinel is keeping watch over the shore line of Lake Monona from his perch atop a stump at Graham Park.

The city of Monona is confined to a peninsula jutting into the lake from the eastern shore. Mammoth houses stand shoulder to shoulder along the shore, blocking sight of the lake from the road almost totally.

One of the nice things about Monona, however is the public access to the shore guaranteed by a string of small parks. My walk along Winnequah Road this morning took me past Graham Park and Frostwoods Beach.

Here's another view of the shore, looking north, from the beach at Frostwoods Park.

America's Favorite Cookie

Or Wisconsin's, at least, if the polls can be believed.

When I sent my brother a photo of My Darling B with this cookie last week, he asked, "Does it come with Kool-Aid?"

So I made sure I had a sippy cup for this photo. Mmmmm ....

Autumn colors on Nichols Road in Monona.

Majestic

Morning Lights

A swirl of freshly-furrowed earth and a blank wall ... all that's left of St. Raphael's cathedral.

And now for your enjoyment, a bear's head.

If the license plate you get from the DMV is offensive to you in some way, you can ask them to issue you another one.

I wonder if there's a similar policy if you see a license plate that's offensive to you? Can you call the DMV and have them remove it from the car?

Declaration chalked on the library at the University of Wisconsin

Not exactly sure what they're declaring, though. Their name is Butts and they're married? They're married and they have butts? Their butts are married?

Keep it simple, please, I'm from Illinois.

Seen at an auction: A selection of books for the pious ...

... and a selection of books no library should be without.

A reading from the New Catechism of The Steam Engine, First Book of Baldwin, Chapter 1, Verse 1-10

A portrait of Matthias Baldwin, patron saint of steam engineering.

From the Catechism, a hymn in the key of steam.

The Dane County Farmer's Market on capital square is home to inspiring artists ...

... and aspiring artists

Looking up Johnson from State street.

Radio Orpheum

Grace Episcopal church spire

Early morning sun on the Jackman Building, downtown Madison

See if you can kick it right between the uprights ...

Monona's Sylvan Shores

I took a walk this morning to see if I could find out who was playing their stereo loud enough to wake me at six-thirty. I ended up on the shore of Lake Monona at Frostwoods Park, where the sun was just beginning to shine down on this idyllic early-morning scene. This is what they pay the big bucks to wake up to.

All the noise, by the way, was coming from the Monona Terrace, where the Iron Man was getting underway. From the opposite shore of the lake I could just make out a couple thousand people teeming across the terrace. The near-calm on the lake must have been perfect for carrying the sound all the way to Monona, five miles away, where I could clearly hear the announcer and the background music.

“A Silly Bug For You”

Spotted on Owen Road, this matt-black Baja Bug.

I went to the Taste of Madison today and I'm just stuffed!

But not as stuffed as this guy.

Just another good reason to be a fireman

You get to be a card-carrying, sticker-sporting FOOL.

Lunchtime on State Street

YWCA Cafeteria

On Carroll Street between Mifflin and Dayton.

Ivy-Covered Halls

Madison Area Technical College on Carroll Street, downtown Madison.

A Little Bit Of Heaven at the End of State Street

The front window of Paul's Book Store, just one block short of Library Mall.

Say It Ain't So!

"Is that tree turning already?" I asked My Darling B as we sipped our java on the sofa this morning. "That can't be right."

B's been telling me over and over again how Fall is coming early this year. "It's the cool nights," she says. If that's so, this tree's in for one hell of a shock when the Dog Days of August bring ninety-degree weather this week.

I snapped a photo of this same tree when it began turning last year -- on September 9th, three weeks from today.

My Darling B is a huge fan of garlic, so I knew she'd like to see a photo of this shirt.

She liked it so much that now I'll have to find a shirt like this.

Hellooo Monona!

This old Willys was in the parking lot at the Monona farmer's market last weekend.

I've never seen one like it before, but knew as soon as I caught sight of it that it was my kind of car.