"More of Claire's Madison Tour....."

We, of course, had to take Claire down to Monona Terrace. We did a tour through the gift shop (did you know that Orange Tree manages it?), and checked out the view of Lake Monona from inside (the roof terrace was closed).

On our way to the Square, I took this of Claire and Don with the Capitol as a backdrop.

After stopping to "refresh" ourselves at Starbucks, we walked over to the Capitol to see the Christmas Tree in the rotunda. This photo was taken with a flash......

And this one without the flash.....amazing difference, eh?

Claire suggested she take a photo of Don and me......they are quite rare of us together. :)

More of Claire's visit tomorrow......

"The final photos from Olbrich Gardens......"

Now that I am back from visiting family in Michigan, I will continue posting about Claire's Madison visit.

Continuing our time at Olbrich Gardens, we went into the conservatory where we saw these little guys/girls running around in the underbrush and across the paths. They were quite elusive, but being the great white hunters (you have to be of an older age to get that reference) we are, we got'em! ;)

A bit blurry, but that has to be expected when shooting "on the run".

They are all so tiny!

Down on the bridge prior to checking out the fish.......

It was MUCH cooler down there, too, making it a pleasant spot to hang out.

The size of some of the fish! Truly amazing! And quite beautiful, too.

After being upstairs on the highest level (and possibly could be awarded the "shortest time" spent by a visitor up there), I hot footed it back down to "low bridge" where it was MUCH cooler. I don't think I could have stood it any longer even if dressed for summer.

Taken down in the "cool spot". Everything is relative, eh? ;)

"Madison Tour......"

One of our first stops while showing Claire around Madison was Olbrich Gardens. Here we are in this season's train display. The room was filled with poinsettias, evergreen trees, unusual birdhouses, and origami birds.

One of the trains...."in motion".

It was a little too fast for the camera battery.........

Another train fancier.......and another train.

Don was able to catch this one as it came around the bend.

One of the unusual, and spectacular, birdhouses.

More from Olbrich Gardens to follow......

"Early Christmas....."

Claire arrived with a huge suitcase......quite heavy I might add, too. I found out why on Friday morning when she presented us with our Christmas gift. She knows of our love of biking and found this iron and ceramic bike plant stand in DC. Amazingly, it fit into her suitcase! It will make a beautiful addition to the deck.

In turn, Claire got to open one of her presents. Fair is fair, right? ;)

Oh, how original! A couple of pair of socks! Copper looks on to see if there was something to eat in the box, too.

She mentioned that a friend of hers would love a pair, so I happily cranked a pair out that morning after we chose which one of the hand dyed skeins of yarn to use.

More to follow.......

"More From Don Searching........"

Some of you may already know this, but I LOVE campers.....doesn't matter what size, I just love them and I always have. Of course, Don definitely knows it and happened to see this on one of his online searches, which he then forwarded to me. I copied and pasted the article.........

"The Worlds' Smallest Solar Powered Movie Theatre"

Admit it, we're pretty demanding of our movie theaters: IMAX screens, seat shaking sound and glorious AC are the bare minimum. Sol Cinema offers a different experience. It's a glorified trailer that fits 8 people and is completely solar powered.

The UK-based Sol Cinema is 100% powered by the Sun. They say:

"The U.K. isn't famous for sunny days, yet [we] still manage to run our entire cinema, including video projectors, sound systems, laptops, hard drives and lights from the energy of the sun via solar panels. This means we have no utility bill each year and can perform anywhere at anytime."

The film projector they use is powered by four large lithium-ion batteries that are charged by two 120W solar panels. Sol Cinema refrains from showing anything that glorifies violence or is "too mainstream". They tell customers to think more "Michael Moore rather than Demi Moore".

Here's the inside of Sol Cinema:

And though Sol Cinema is decidedly gimmicky in their execution it begs to wonder why more theaters don't lay solar panels on their gigantic roofs.

Nothing was mentioned about a popcorn machine though......seems THAT would be a must? Or is that just something that I think is a "must have"? ;)

Of course, I found this very interesting and think it very cool. I hope you do, too.

"Claire's Visit Begins....."

My daughter, Claire, flew in for a visit yesterday (she lives in Washington, DC). I was able to snap this photo of her as she came into the main part of the airport. Oh! This is the Milwaukee airport. She'd been able to get a terrific deal flying into there compared to flying into Madison's airport. It is about 1 hour and 45 minutes drive from our house, and was a great time to begin "catching up".

We arrived back in Madison in time to pick Don up from work, came home, got her settled in, then took Don to his bagpipe class over at Middleton High School. She and I then went to Hubbard's Avenue Diner for dinner (the beginning of our "eat-fest" weekend). ;)

After picking up Don from class, we came home, looked through photos she'd brought and also perused photos of hers on Facebook.

Don took today as one of his furlough days so the "Madison Tour" will begin today....after a leisurely start, of course. ;)

More will follow. Have a great weekend!

"Only Don......"

Only Don, the lover of pork, "especially" bacon, would find this nativity scene while searching online. The majority of it is made out of bacon.

Sometimes......people have tooooo much time on their hands.........