Neighborhood Watch

Meow: At least one of the homes in my neighborhood is guarded by quite an attentive watchcat. Don't be fooled by the placid expression: Those ears are on full alert, eyes on the lookout for the most fleeting and subtle movment.

Happiness,
David

Celebrating Skip Johnson

C.R. "Skip" Johnson died last week. His family and friends gathered to celebrate his life on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, at the Johnson Farmstead, where the late artist himself welcomed his tribe to annual Syttende Mai parties. It is a reflection of Skip -- his good humor, his sense of mischief and fun, his affection for life, his creative impulse -- that this gathering was at least as joyful as it was sad. You can't think of Skip -- the extraordinary works of art he crafted from wood (including imaginative furniture but also astonishing flights of sculptural fancy), his fondness for carrying a bottle of beer in his back pocket, his phenomenal aptitude for dancing, his mirth and joie de vivre -- without understanding his friends' and family's instict to rejoice, revel and raise a little hell more than mourn. Skip lived 81 years by the clock but countless more than that by spirit and enthusiasm. Thus, while there were indeed tears shed Saturday, there were also smiles galore, toasts and cheers....

Six Decades in One Evening

Six people in my family marked birthdays ending in zero this year, so we gathered with friends last evening at Westmorland Park to celebrate with for a Decades Party: guacamole, chips, sandwiches, potato salad, fromage du Carr Valley, wild rice salad, strawberries with chocolate & whipped cream, pickled kohlrabi, hummus, veggies, dip, Oberon beer, boxes of Pinot Evil and Banrock Station Chardonnay, champagne, the best home-brewed mead in the history of the universe, ladder golf, disc, futbol, conversation, hijinks and....


The weather was lovely -- warm, bit of a breeze, and the exact proper number of well-sized clouds to offset the blue sky.....


At twilight, the mosquitos came out. So did the citronella tiki torches, and a crescent moon...

Happiness.

First Fridays at MMoCA: Harmonious Wail

Harmonious Wail performed during First Fridays at MMoCA last week, up on the roof of the Overture Center, where the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art sculpture garden is located. It was sunny. There was a light breeze. And the Wail's music (left to right: Sims, Matt, Maggie, Tom)...



Happiness,
David

Bike to Work Week: Why People Ride Their Bikes

It's Bike to Work Week here in Madison. A great time to ask people why they ride the bikes they ride. It's one of my favorite questions to ask. The answers tend to suggest a close relationship between the rider and his or her bike.

During the Bike to Work Week event hosted Tuesday morning by Isthmus (the Madison weekly where I enjoy the privilege of being a staff writer, and which offered coffee, bagels, rolls, fresh fruit to two-wheeled commuters, along with free bike checks courtesy of Williamson Bicycle Works mechanics), I posed the question to several people. Every answer was distinct. Here's Steve Goldstein, explaining why he rides a Klein....



And here's former Ald. Robbie Webber, extolling the virtues of her well-traveled and -accessorized hybrid bike (watch for an amusing cameo appearance by Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz)...



Next, John Rider, Madison's bicycle registration coordinator, introduces his beloved Giant Iguana...



Greg Blake, a product designer for Madison-based Pacific Cycle, explains the appeal of his Mongoose road bike:



My youngest sister, Louisa, is up next, with a testimonial for her Univega Activa Country:



Trisha Crinkley, a certified Physician Assistant at Wildwood Family Clinic and self-proclaimed fair-weather bike commuter, likewise expresses great fondness for her Fuji Touring bike:



And to wrap this up, Brian Conger, outreach coordinator for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (organizers of Bike to Work Week) explains how spiffing up his vintage Schwinn Madison has made him the coolest kid on his block:



Bike to Work Week continues through Friday, June 12, with events including Bike Trivia and a final BTWW celebration at Vilas Park. For details, check the listings on Isthmus's website at The Daily Page.

Quelle Fromage!

Tenaya Darlington -- author of Madame Deluxe and Maybe Baby, now a professor of writing and journalism at Pennsylvania's St. Joseph's University, once the features editor (and writer of spectacular cover stories and food columns) for Isthmus -- launched a blog devoted to cheese a couple months ago. I learned of it only last night, and this morning I'm adding it to my list of essential blogs. It's called Madame Fromage, and 'tis faaaaaabulous. Tenaya brings such flavor to her writing that in reading it, you can taste the cheese.

Giant Tulips March on Capitol

They grow 'em pretty darn huge here on the grounds of the state Capitol in Madison. Note how some of them are big enough to dwarf the statue of Hans Christian Heg.....