Not Exactly SRO

Last night's snowfall kept an awful lot of people and vendors away from this morning's Dane County Farmer's Market at the senior center.

My Darling B tucks into her chicken-friend buffalo.

That's right: Chicken-fried buffalo. I would've never thought of it, either, but that's what they were serving for breakfast at the Dane County Farmer's Market this morning, along with fried eggs and a scoop of grits smothered in gravy, a cup of cranberry juice and a bottomless cuppa joe, all for six and a half bucks.

Prelude to the Blizzard

Snow began to fall in the evening, and the lowering clouds reflected the city light back at us.

100% Chance of Snow

The back yard appeared to be even brighter than the front.

My Darling B reviewed the forecast and found they predicted a 100% chance of snow. She seemed troubled by the certainty of the science. "How can they predict absolutely that, without a doubt, snow will fall?"

Snowmelt

The temps have jumped from below-zero to mid-forties. Everybody's out in their short jackets, or shirtsleeves, circling capital square once again.

The warm weather has melted off almost all the snow and it's running across the sidewalks in reflective sheets. The reflection of the YWCA - the old Hotel Belmont - jumped out of the water at my feet as I strolled up Mifflin Street.

Lost in the Lights

Looking up into the whalebacked ceiling of a big theater with the house lights on is sometimes so much more like staring into infinity that it makes me dizzy.

Distinguished Lecturer in Time Lapse

My nifty digital camera can snap photographs under many adverse conditions. It can't, however, take a picture of Sarah Vowell when she's standing, floodlit, on center stage at the Memorial Union. Too bad.

It's the Mad City Model Railroad Show!

The biggest part of it, anyway. There was more to see in a few other rooms, but this is the main floor with the biggest layouts. Other rooms had smaller layouts and vendors galore, but no matter where I went, the floor was packed butts-to-bellybuttons with train nerds.

Mad City Rail Show '07

There were all kinds of model trains on display, from the classic Lionel toy trains ...

Mad City Railroad Show '07

... to some of the smallest scale models. These N scale engines, most just a few inches long, loiter in a maintenance yard.

Mad City Rail Show '07

Some of the models are big enough to climb into and drive!

Mad City Rail Show '07

I'm a big fan of steam locomotives, even when they're this small.

Mad City Rail Show '07

Some of the most eye-catching models weren't even part of a model rail layout.

Round pegs in a snow fall

The picnic area at Mifflin and Main.

After the snow

Stairs at the capital blanketed with the fresh snow we got Monday morning.

The cat with the warmest seat in the house

Weekends are the only time we have the luxury of a nap.

I woke in my easy chair to find that Boo decided to take advantage of Darling B's warmth and recumbency.

Found among the shelves of a local liquor store

"Tempered over burning witches."

There's nothing that can't be made into a novelty beer these days.

Smiley, Happy People

When the downtown fine arts center became the Overture Center, these faces, locked together like a jigsaw puzzle in the hippest 70's style, got painted the same faded army blanket green as the rest of the building, effectively hiding them from view. The only way you notice them now is when the sun hits them at the right angle, which strikes me as odd, given that the mission of the building is to be a showcase for the arts, and these are certainly a form of some kind of art.

I took My Darling B to the Dane County Farmer's Market at the senior center in downtown Madison this morning for breakfast and a bit of shopping.

We parked our car in the ramp next door.