To keep on the Food theme, but also acknowledge spring... The carts are back at the end of State Street, and that means it is springtime in Madison, WI. Food carts of every ethnicity open to serve lunch and snacks to the students at the University of Wisconsin... and the rest of us who wander past.
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The Food theme marches on, and today I decided to get a bit abstract with it. We picked up our organic eggs fro the little health food grocery and had breakfast. I am totally enamored with the colors of eggs, and these brown ones are no exception. What I hadn't realized before was how glorious and abstractly floral-like the shell could be after it is cracked open and emptied out. So I had some close-up fun!
I would be derelict if, as a member of an international group with a theme of Food, I didn't introduce the Midwest American "Hot Dish". Not to be confused with a cassoulet, a ragu or even a casserole, this is a uniquely upper Midwestern USA, phenomena crafted, more often than not, for the church basement gatherings or the school potluck. Often seen accompanied by Jello salads of every ilk and maybe a mayo soaked seven layer salad (which in many ways is a cold hot dish!) or, more recently, the "Chinese" salad that includes uncooked Ramen noodles.
All kidding aside though, it is the ultimate comfort food for many of us, whether in the form of the tomato based pasta with corn and ground beef as shown above, or the Tuna hot dish complete with smashed potato chips on top. In full disclaimer, a true hot dish would never be so showy as to use the pasta used above; only elbow macaroni is found in a true Hot Dish. The other staple I am proud to portray is Peanut Butter Toast. It is my breakfast of choice. I will admit that I have "graduated" from the squishy white bread of my youth to grainier goodness, but the comfort level has never decreased for me. Following the theme for this week, Food, I decided to start at the shopping experience. So went to the big one; Costco. These two girls pretty much reflect my feelings about going grocery shopping, and the below photo is the feeling I have each time I turn the corner on an aisle. Thanks goodness I have a husband who likes this sort of place so I don't have to go here too often! Today the group's theme changes from Architecture to Food. I have encouraged Jon to inspire me with his cooking this week, and he certainly did this first day! This should be a tasty week! I can not wait until spring really is here and we can get most of our veggies from the farmers' market. Until then Costco's Asparagus will do nicely! As a final nod to Architecture, I also took some pictures of nature's building prowess. two small nests that made it through the winds, storms and snows of winter, and one of the many rodent tunnels that was used all winter, but collapsed when the ground thaws. It was cold and rainy and I think I am coming down with a cold (Hmmm maybe hours photo'ing in the cold rain the other day wasn't so smart!) so I stayed very close to home for this day of theme challenge. In 365 days, they can't all be winners!
Today was rainy and dark, so I didn't have a lot of hope when I headed out to shoot. Boy was I wrong. I found a wonderful world of quiet and soft images. I started with some full landscapes. I love how the silos and farms dot the landscape and are surrounded by minimalist landscape. The rain softened the atmosphere and views into shapes and edges that accent the curves of the roads and fields. A couple of barns really caught my eye. You don't often see a black barn, but if you really look carefully you will see it was once red. The other grouping of barns retain their traditional red color. More barns for the Architecture theme. This one is barely hanging on at the edge of town. Surrounded by a parking lot and houses, it stands as a reminder of what was. I really like the decay that has been allowed to gently progress. Below is a landscape that I took while photo'ing the barns. It is such a good portrait of exactly how the weather felt!
I love this barn. it is just on the other side of Mt. Horeb from us. I don't think it is used any more, but the painted silo and the colorful roof make me smile every time I pass it. It was very cloudy (and still very cold!) today, but the sun found just enough space between the clouds to add a bit of glow to the top of the corn field. The sunset on the way home last night was cloudless, but colorful. After 15 hours of being in the car, it was mostly boredom that moved me to shoot these, but I am very glad I did. These are basically unedited with no color correction... just lucky sometimes!
Completely wore out my younger grandson tonight. He has some sneakers that light up when he runs, so I had him running up and down the street so I could get a light painting of his green shoe lights! Tried catching the lights as we went through the toll booth on the way home... not well focused, but it is fun! Another day of movie themed photos... One more of Alfred's classics and one that might take a bit of thinking... take a guess (answers at the end). The top one was shot and just a bit of contrast added for edits, the bottom is straight from the Camera. top: Psycho,
bottom: From Russia with Love. Our theme this week is "movies". So of course I had to go for Hitchcock right away. One collage illustration from 4 previous photos and one simple and straightforward picture. Hopefully the films they refer to are evident!
Still on the "about me" theme in the challenge. This is where most of our weekdays start! It doesn't always look this dramatic, but today there were some massive clouds and some editing involved! Below is the year's first robin sighting. From the explosion on Facebook, it appears they came back north in mass yesterday! It is said that in Wisconsin that there are only two seasons: Winter and Construction. Well here is evidence that winter is about over and the new season has begun! The other evidence is that the ce fisherman have dispensed with the shanties and snowsuits, and are down to bucket stools and sweatshirts! No talk about our family would be complete without these two. Meet Thurgood and George. Their charges may have left home to forge lives of their own, but T+G are still members-in-good-standing of our family! Below are many of the family members who came before us and made us what we are. Below are a few of the "wall photos" for you to see better. The top left is the opening day of the Sears store where my parents met (Dad is far left) and there are my parents in the Sears truck!
Below are my fraternal grandparents (Grandmother on left of group photo and Grandpa with the fish). I never met these hardy immigrants; so wish I had! On the below right is my family (I am the one on Dad's lap!) This has little to do with the theme of the group, other than I do love the bovines and will miss them a lot when we move from Wisconsin (no other state has cows, right?) After an afternoon of shooting spring pictures (see blog post for today) I was headed home and saw this view. loved it... and after all of the others moooved on, the white cow continued to watch me carefully. Magic Moment.
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