Bright Blue Globes

Bright Blue - Self-Portrait

A visit to the local garden center this weekend provided me with a two hour photo shoot. I pretty much emptied my wallet to do some replacement purchasing for foundation plantings for my home – six bushes and a European Filbert Tree that I was told was native to Wisconsin. (Go figure!) It looks like a giant corkscrew.  So, as a result of my contribution to their economy, I felt it only right and proper that I get some photo subjects out of the deal.

The colors were wonderful wherever I looked. And after I became completely color blinded by at least a thousand kinds of flowers, I went over to the flower pots. I wasn’t disappointed there, either.

Even got a self-portrait in this photo, but you have to look carefully – or blow the photo to poster size. 🙂

A Cow Named James

A Cow Named James

HeyJules posted a weathervane on her blog The Way I See It a few days ago and her photo reminded me of this weather vane which flies high atop one of the barns at the University of Wisconsin’s agricultural complex in downtown Madison. (Except her photo was of a horse vane, and quite a lot smaller.)

I’m not really sure why the name James is on the vane – perhaps it really is the name of the cow, or more likely the name of a farm family.

Addition to the post: I decided I had better check to see if I could find out why this cow was named James. And I did find out. Seems there was a company called the James Co. out of Fort Atkinson, WI that made large weather vanes in a variety of animal shapes around the 1900s. I found quite a few examples through antique dealers’ sites: several rooster vanes – these all seem to have been used for target practice and have bullet holes in them – and another cow vane. One dealer recently sold a James weather vane for $1300, so evidently they are collector’s items.

If you want to learn some pretty awesome information about weather vanes in general, including why 18th Century vanes required a king’s permission, and what a 9th Century papal decree decreed about vanes, this short article on these silhouettes in the sky will tell all.

Oscar Mayer Weinermobile

Weiner-Mobile

I am not posting this because it is a good photograph, but because it is the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. How many of you have seen this big guy up close? I’ve always thought it might be fun to ride way up there, surveying Madison from the top of a hot dog, but this is as close as I’ve gotten. I occasionally see the hot dog car cruising the streets of Madison – Madison, WI is the home of Oscar Mayer.

The Weinermobile was the brainchild of Oscar Mayer’s nephew, Carl G. Mayer, and first made its appearance driving the streets of Chicago in 1936. The sixth generation of Weinermobiles was built in 2004 and are equipped with voice activated GPS, an audio system with a wireless microphone and a horn that the Oscar Mayer Theme Song in 21 genres, from Cajun to Bossa Nova, Classical to Rap. It also has a ceiling painted sky blue with floating, fluffy clouds. There are currently 6 of these Weinermobiles in existence, and they travel the US from coast to coast 365 days a year.

Drivers of the Wienermobiles often hand out Wienerwhistles, little toy replicas of the Wienermobile that double as whistles. I, as a proud mother of 3, have probably collected a dozen or so of these screech-y things over the years. I wonder how much monetary value is attached to a 25 year old Weinerwhistle?

If you want to see a video of the very newest Weinermobile, ABC News covered the big story Weinermobile Goes Mini Cooper in March of this year. It takes a moment to pop the story, but its fun to see the new mini-weiner. (though you’ll have to spend 30 seconds watching a coffee commercial before the featured film – sorry)

Trillium, The Giant Woodland Beauty

Large-flowered Trillium

The Grandiflora or Large-leaved Trillium is my favorite Spring woodland wildflower. Not common, but it is easy to spy when you come across a plant. Each specimen can grow up to 18 inches high and each flower is about 3 inches wide.

Grandiflora White Trillium

This is definitely one wildflower that should never be picked or transplanted in the wild. If the leaves are disturbed, the plant often dies, as this is the plant’s food source. In many states, it is illegal to disturb flowers in the Trillium family. The plant can be grown by seed, but it takes approximately 5 to 7 years to bloom.

Checkered Path

Checkered Past

While wandering around the University of Wisconsin’s campus, I came across this great shadow/light pattern. Had to play with these stairs a bit to make the checkerboard really pop. Sometimes you just gotta have a little fun with the photos. Create and play and marvel at the complexities of computerdom and software intricacies.

Imagine. Seventeen years ago this month, we bought out first home computer. 128k Hee hee. And we were SO impressed. The first program we got was Sticky-Bear Math for my then 3 year old. Anybody out there remember Sticky-Bear?