A walk on Christmas

 Christmas day this year was a gift in itself.  The sky was mostly sunny but more importantly the temps were in the mid 40s which in a Wisconsin December is saying something....  And the added bonus is that Lake Mendota has not frozen over yet.  

Todd and I took the pups for a hike around Governor's Island on the northshore of the lake.  Teiko saw the open water and looked for a stick immediately.  The water is pretty frigid - but heck, he's never been able to swim this late into winter.  

Here he comes in from the water.  I could tell after a couple of fetches that the cold water had numbed his hips.  Not sure if that was a good thing or not - but we continued on our hike. 

Because the ground is actually frozen, we got to walk through the cat-tail marsh - it was beautiful. 

Even Cita got into the thick of things when we hiked down one of the cliffs to get to the shoreline.  

What a nice way to spend Christmas seeing the open water of Lake Mendota, the Madison skyline and walking with loved ones. 

The Kitchen is sublime....

Wow,  Raine and Ryann are working at the newest restaurant in Madison, simply called the Kitchen.  Todd and I have have the opportunity to eat here twice so far and have left quite delighted with the food and service.  Of course, we might be a bit partial..... So far, the reviews are great - http://www.thedailypage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=50494

Ryann is working a couple of nights a week as a bartender at the Kitchen as well as being a full time student at the University where she's finishing her BA in history.

The restaurant is an off-shoot of the Underground Food Collective, of which Raine has been working with for the past two years on the catering side. She loves the organic, locally sourced farm food and the freedom to create amazing dishes.  As the restaurant opens, all hands on deck.  Raine is working the kitchen as well as a full time student at Madison College in the culinary program.

Mama (and the Daddy) are so proud of these amazingly hard-working girls.

Sunset over Mendota

A beautiful sunset at the Tenney Park locks last night.

Sunday morning at farmers market

What a great way to spend Sunday morning in Madison.  The Northside Farmers Market is just the perfect size - lots of variety yet small enough to walk around in an hour and have time to actually talk to the farmers.  

Today's market was packed with amazing foods like these heirloom tomatoes - loved the shape and striping colors .  We brought Mississippi River catfish caught/cleaned this morning, fresh eggs laid yesterday, raw-milk cheddar cheese, ground cherries, shitake mushrooms and a beautiful bouquet of summer flowers - just to name delicious and local grown foods.  

The best baguette this side of France can be found at Madison' newest bakery called Batch Bakehouse.  Raine and I made an early morning run there today.  The baguettes were fresh out of the oven.  Pure heaven!  Above is my "go to market" bag that I brought at a French market in Nancy, France almost 10 years ago.  

Reason 743 to Love Madison

There are so many reasons to love Madison.  It's a great place to live, work and play.  With lakes surrounding us, there's always ample opportunity to get out on the water.  To tell the truth, it's also the best place to watch a sunset - like I did just the other night.

Amazing. Beautiful. Peaceful.

April Showers bring May weeds.....

Once again, I find myself so busy at work, and at home that I'm not spending time updating like I should.  Have posted several things over the past month on my facebook account.  Naughty girl.  I need to post that to my blog and then link...

That being said,  Spring is in beautiful bloom here in Madcity.  When I'm not taking photos with my iphone, I'm finding plenty to keep me busy!

 I've already put down the first load of mulch,  am planning several house improvement projects, preparing for Raine's HS grad party,  developing three websites for clients using WordPress (not much liking blogger anymore....) and planning this summer's garden layout.  

Life is busy but good!

Music Bliss

Caught a bit of Ankur's pre-New Years' Eve music last night at the Frequency.  Bumped to the groove for a bit and caught a few photos of Spin Cycle.  I like this one - it captures the beat of the music that was playing last night.

the storm aftermath....

Saw this poor car on my draggingly slow commute into the office this morning. Halfway buried in the thick frozen snow mess, I couldn't even tell what kind of car it was. Just glad it wasn't mine.  

Downtown Madison at Lunch

Reason 430 why I love Madison. A beautiful and warm sunny day walking around the Capitol square at lunch.

Looks like some renovation work is taking place on the Miss Forward sculpture on top. You can kind of see the workers walking along the top of the dome. Couldn't pay me enough to do that.

Madison, home sweet home

Flying into Madison the other day, the sky was just beautiful and clear. I shot these photos from my seat in the plane. Not bad considing I used my iphone shooting through the plane windows.
Love this photo as it is my childhood neighborhood. There's my elementary school (kind of center left) and my parents home is just a smidge over.

Amazing what a different perspective will give you.

a piece of Madison history

Anyone who grew up in Madison, knows this house and I know you want the color version, but too bad. I'm paying homage to 154 years of its existence.

It's called the Leicht House and is on Gorham Street by James Madison park. Both Todd and I have loved this house since we were little, when every Christmas, the owners used to decorate every window with lights, even the cupola on the top of the roof.

Yesterday, we visited the house, even that cupola. I loved that the stone path from the sidewalk is made from the same quarried stone as the house. While the style of the house is quite Gothic Victorian, I could definitely make it my own.

I loved the three separate staircases, the 13ft ceilings, the fireplaces in every room and the beautiful woodwork. But the reproduction Victorian wall paper in every room would definitely have to go.....

You just watch this will be our house one day!

Summer in Madison let the music begin

Yesterday, Saturday, Jun 13th, was the official kick-off the the Madison summer music scene with the Marquette Lakefront Festival. Headed down around 5pm to catch the last show of the day, Rupa and April Fishes from San Fran. - Love the sound - European gypsy, Mediterranean and Bollywood with all songs beautifully sung in french. The we stopped at Ankur and Ashwini's to visit with his wonderfully fun parents who were visiting from India. We then departed en masse for some great music on the Union Terrace belted out by the Lee Boys out of Florida. I loved their rift of Jimi Hendrick's Purple Haze, they hammered out over Lake Mendota. Wow, gotta love the steel guitar. Music on the terrace must end by 11pm so the night was still young! We then headed over to our favorite neighborhood haunt - the Harmony Bar and Grill for an amazing final set of New Orleans' Bryan Lee - the braille blues daddy. Great guitar playing by Mr. Lee and the drums were absolutely smok'n.
Now today, Sunday, if I was feeling up to it, I'd head down to the Chicago Blues Festival to catch me some Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - the hottest Soul Queen in America. Check her out! Just an amazing voice and she is so wonderfully nice.


Todd and I caught her show in Madison last fall - She rocked the Barrymore to the ground and stayed after wards to clean up - she signed records and talked with everyone. Beautiful woman!

Gotta love summer in Madison - the music is so amazing and a joy to the soul.

That was a close one...

Seriously loud thunder and lightning brought both Todd and I out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night. We had no idea until this morning how close the lightning really was.

Holy Cow! It totally stripped the bark off of our tree and took a whole branch down. Not sure if the tree can be saved or not.

A Madison Landmark

Last week, while enjoying a quite warm winter day, I captured this iconic image of Madison known as the Orpheum Theater. I've been seeing movies and shows here since I was a little girl. Madisonians also know that this is a great place to meet for a lunch and dinner.

The sky was just a beautiful blue and I wanted to see how it would contrast with the faded reds of the rusted metals of the theater's marquis. It didn't turn out too bad - still working on the photography and editing side of things.

Hubert comes to town

This was a wonderful weekend. Hubert, a friend from my days working at Philips Medical in Holland, came for a weekend visit. After spending a good part of the week in San Jose, CA, he willingly chose to fly to the frozen tundra of Madison for a weekend stay. Go figure.

It was a good time (at least I hope...), as we took Hubert for a typical Friday night fish fry, walked down State Street on Saturday, visited the capital and walked out on Lake Monona for this perfect winter scene so typical of Madison.

The grand finale was a Superbowl Party on Sunday where Hubert was able to meet about 20 or so of our Madison friends. They (and we) came to eat some of Raine's awesome food creations, a bit of my Yankee Gumbo and watch a little American football. Definitely a good time had by all.

Today Hubert left for Chicago, to visit the windy city for a day before flying back to Germany.

This visit from a good Dutch friend, reinforced to me the importance of friendship. Good friends are so worth keeping and doing everything you can to maintain the relationship. Maybe our next meeting with Hubert and his wife will be on a sunny Greek isle for a relaxing vacation!

Madison at night

The Capitol is so beautiful at night. I took this picture on Tuesday night. The air was so cold and crisp it just made for a wonderful light around the dome.

Neko Case - great show

Saw a great show by Neko Case last night. She was headlining the Forward Music Festival. The flavor of the fest is indie with over 50 bands having roots in the midwest. Great concept! Before Neko's show at the Opheum, we saw Bob Mould (of Husker Du) at the Majestic.

Check out a couple of Neko's songs at her website.

My car was broke into last night

I went to walk Teiko this morning and I found the garage door was partly opened. Not thinking much about it, I continued through the garage and when I got out to the driveway, I found the passenger side door opened on my car. Yep, the car had been gone through. It appears that the only thing taken was the garage door opener. Checked the garage and everything appeared in its messy messy place. Also found a book bag lying in the driveway. It belonged to a neighbor two doors down. It appears that it was a busy night for the local thieves.

Called the police to report it. An officer was at the house within 15 minutes. Imagine my surprise when I found out a neighbor further down the street actually had two cars stolen out of their garage last night.

The garage door opener was reprogrammed this morning. Teiko has been given strict orders to guard the house against intruders. Knowing Teiko, I doubt he'd do much, but I wouldn't want to enter into a house with a nearly 100lb German Shepherd. Here's a recent photo of our house-guarding Cujo dog.....
Lesson learned: Don't get freaked out when this kind of crap happens. Nothing was taken, no one was hurt and there was no damage to our property. Personally, it wastes energy to live in fear.

Cranes are really dinosaurs

These prehistoric-looking birds are Sandhill Cranes. This year, there are around eight of them in the neighborhood. They arrived in mid-April and stay until Fall. Our house sits close to a protected marshland - so its the perfect habitat for these birds. These cranes were outside my backyard fence about 10 minutes ago. They don't appear to be too afraid of Teiko or me while I was taking pictures.
The way they look, sound and fly - Todd is convinced they are modern day pterodactyls.

They really are beautiful and amazing to be around but dang, they're big and loud. Their call sounds like a strangled turkey at about 150 decibels.