Car for True Collectors

Collectible Car Hood

Collectible Car Hood © 2008 Bo Mackison

I saw this beaded car in a parking lot hemmed in on all sides, but I took lots of photos anyway. Have you ever seen quite such a vehicle? Do you think the car’s name is Claire?

Collectible Car's Door

Collectible Car’s Door © 2008 Bo Mackison

Here’s the driver’s door. Wonder what kinds of comments and donations the owner gets?

On the Roof of the Car

On the Roof of the Car © 2008 Bo Mackison

In case you can’t tell, this is the roof.

Collectible Car III

Collectible Car III © 2008 Bo Mackison

And here’s a take on the rear. Check out the Viking ship along the bottom of the window. If I were following this car down the road, I’d have a hard time keeping my eyes on the road, that is for sure.

Just one more reason to keep a camera available at all times. You really never know what you are going to see next. And how would you ever describe this car without photo proof? Who would ever believe you!

Happy Birthday to My Daughter

Apple Orchard Sunrise

Apple Orchard Sunrise © 2008 Bo Mackison

I haven’t been a woman in this state of affairs for a long time. For the last 7,469,280 minutes of my life I have been a mother of one or more teenagers. But today the streak ends. My younger daughter, the baby of the crew, turns 20 today. Today I lose my title of “parent of teenager.” All my kids are now twenty-somethings.

Happy birthday, dear, and I wish you a day that brings you much laughter and love.

A Door County, Wisconsin cherry orchard bathed in pink dawn light.

Bursting of a Hickory

Bursting Hickory

Bursting Hickory © 2008 Bo Mackison

Shagbark Hickory unfurling its leaves in a colorful splash of red.

Owen Conservation Park in Madison Wisconsin

Sweetbay Magnolia

Sweetbay Magnolia

Sweetbay Magnolia © 2008 Bo Mackison

Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison Wisconsin

Scallops of Pink Lupine

Scallops of Pink

Scallops of Pink © 2008 Bo Mackison

Does anyone remember reading the book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney? It is a children’s book written in the early 1980s, popular when my children were little. Miss Rumphius was a woman who wanted to do three things in her life – travel the world, live by the sea when she grew older, and make the world a better place. She easily accomplished the first two, but was a little stumped on how to accomplish her third goal until she hit upon the idea of scattering lupine seeds wherever she went. Wow! She must have made her part of the world really beautiful. Certainly a better place, too.

I think these flowers are pretty spectacular, standing about 3 feet high. This is an eastern Lupine, grows east of the Mississippi River. There are about 200 lupines in the family, and many of them are strictly West Coast plants. Many more are native only to California. This sweetie blooms from now until early June, though if the plant is dead-headed it will send up a second, though less spectacular, blossom.