Crossing the Footbridge

Footbridge and Lilacs at Olbrich Gardens in Madison Wisconsin

Crossing the Footbridge © 2010 Bo Mackison

We strolled through much of Olbrich Botanical Gardens on Mothers Day morning, and it was a good thing we got an early start. The sunny morning disappeared into cloud cover that lasted for the next five days.

Olbrich was a sensorium of beauty on Sunday, though, and filled with families celebrating the big day. What a great place to take Mom and the kids on Mothers Day –no fussing with the kids to be quiet in a fancy restaurant, just great spaces for running and laughing out loud and exploring.

What a great place to take Mom or the kids or anyone, anytime at all!

Crossing the Muddy Mississippi

Across the Mississippi River

I have traveled across this bridge my entire life. Here, the bluff city of Quincy, Illinois is attached by steel girders and pavement to Missouri. I have traveled across this bridge to visit relatives in Hannibal and Palmyra, to take trips to St. Louis for shopping and Cardinals’ baseball games, to buy gasoline (Missouri’s gas tax is enough less than Illinois’ to make the trip financially worthwhile) and to catch the Amtrak in West Quincy when I went to college in Chicago.

Now I cross it when I travel from my home to my hometown. (I live in Wisconsin, but believe me, it is faster to travel Wisconsin-Iowa-Missouri-Illinois, than it is to head due south through Illinois.) Last weekend I crossed this bridge once again. I had never before taken notice of the brilliant blue of the bridge structure contrasting with the road, nor the red brick buildings climbing the bluffs in the distance. But then, never before had I traveled the country’s roads with a camera resting by my side.

Why is it I see so much more by adding a camera into the formula?

Bridge over Troublin’ Waters

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

“There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go.”   Tennessee Williams