It was a fun weekend in Madison and I was delighted to see that there was an array of various expressions of Bucky Badger throughout the city of Madison.  So, here are some of the photos that I took of Bucky around State Street, the Madison campus, and around the Capital.

Bucky in all of it's glory on campus by the Student Union overlooking the lake at UW Madison.

An inked version on State Street in Madison.

Contemplative in front of the famous Red Gym at the UW Madison Campus

One Leg Up while on Campus

As if you were sending a vintage postcard from Madison Wisconsin, showing key sites.

A Mosaic version of Bucky!

A dreamy, night time vision of Bucky with a lit up State Capital in the background.

This is just a small sampling.  There are 85 in total in all parts of Madison.  It was fun to explore those that I did see at various times of the day.

I’ve never taken so many photos before on a vacation.  I went through two 32 G memory cards with my Canon P&S camera.  And I had a great time doing it.

We went to Germany for almost three weeks on this trip.  We started in Hamburg and we totally were in luck because the gardens were in perfect bloom.  I am glad that I took photos on our first day because by the third day, the petals were starting to fall.  I think that is when I realized that taking photos often is a great thing because the “moment” can change very quickly.

We took a couple of river cruises during our time there.  One cruise where taking lots of photos was the right thing to do was when we were in Berlin.  It was very clear that we were not to stand up and take photos….too many low bridges.  There were a few very interesting photo opportunities on the other side of the cruise boat, but we were sitting 4 people deep on each side and I snapped a possible photo, but we happened to turn around and take the exact same route back.  When I was back on the other side, I was able to anticipate my shot and get exactly what I wanted to capture the first time around.

And I played around with some of the features on my camera.  I discovered that I have a built in neutral density filter that I just had to use when I saw some water fountains in the Hamburg park area and wanted to slow the water for a more feathery look.

Pad May 20 Water Action in Hamburg

I also didnt bring a computer along, just an iPad.  And I didn’t want to spend time downloading and being tempted to edit photos while travelling.  We had a busy agenda each day from morning until night and downloading and editing wasn’t a part of our travel agenda.  I think I took more shots, just in case-wise, because I wanted to make sure that the lighting was good or depth of field worked, etc, etc.  So, a casual observer might look over my array of downloads in Lightroom and think that a lot of the shots were exactly the same thing….and they were “sort of”.  Just different settings or a slightly different composition or somebody accidentally crossed into my compositioin or the lighting in the museum was casting all sorts of nasty shadows.  All of these things did happen and I have lots of extra shots to prove it.

Although sometimes it was the first shot, like this one at Brandenburg Gate.  5 minutes later and the square was filled with people since the tour buses arrived.

Brandenburg Gate in Berlin

One shot that I took over and over again was a jeweled statue of St George slaying the dragon.  I took so many photos because the lighting caused all sorts of reflections.  When I got home and downloaded, I discovered one image that really captured what I saw in all of its jeweled glory.

And, now I have finally gone through and edited photos and uploaded to my photo sharing gallery.  Still lots of captioning to do.  But the sorting process is over for now.  The rough edits are over.  Now, I can enjoy reviewing and I can invite others to view my vacation photos.

I was in the house for over two days and had a serious case of cabin fever.  The blizzard had dumped over 2 feet of snow and there was a lot of drifting since wind gusts in our area were over 40 miles an hour.  Once they plowed our street, I thought I would go for a walk.

I put my tall boots on and my down snowsuit.  The winds were still brisk.  My first surprise was getting to our corner and finding out that many people had plowed the sidewalk, but not the portion of the sidewalk where the snowplow dumps the snow.  Huge drifts to walk over.  

My walk considered where things were plowed and where things weren't.  Part of the walk was to discover what got plowed first.  We live fairly close to a hospital so I figure the roads leading to the hospital and the sidewalks around there would be nicely plowed.  Although I discovered just because you were on a main street, don't assume that the sidewalk would be plowed.  Or if it was on a bridge, that the city would have had the time to plow the sidewalk over the bridge.

Memorial Street BridgeThe street is nicely plowed but the sidewalks on both sides hadn't been attended to yet. There was a pretty significant drift where the plow had dumped snow. Closer to the side of the bridge, it was passable but up to the top of my boot in spots. I never used the handrail before, but found it was handy as I walked over the bridge.

One of the side streets was nicely plowed so I started walking towards Pierce Park.  I was amazed at how nicely plowed the street was within the park.  Must have had something going on later that day.  The sidewalk along the park was also nicely plowed.  Figures, it was on a main street.

The Pavilion at Pierce ParkThe Road was nicely plowed here and not a sole around except for the workers finishing up cleaning the road.

I continued my walk and appreciated those who plowed their sidewalk along the busy street.  Made walking a whole lot easier.

Clean Sidewalk , Easy WalkingI appreciated when the sidewalk was pretty clear. Made for easy walking.

There were also interesting moments while walking.  Ephemeral moments that you realize would be gone later in the day when the snow would melt.  Time to enjoy them now and appreciate their beauty.  

Snow on Trees, an Ephemeral MomentIt looks like the trees are dancing with a little bit of snow on the trunks. Fun to walk by and also to realize that a few hours later this scene would look much different.

The winds were so strong that there was snow plastered along the side of the bridge.

Clinging SnowThe winds were so stiff that snow clung to the wall underneath the bridge. Although it probably melted later in the day.

Snow blocked by stone occurred often.

Stone Wall Blocks the SnowThe wall provided a barrier to the snow, but with the winds there were drifts on both sides.

This road surprised me since the sidewalk was perfectly clear.  It was along the river and a walking path for some.  It's nice that the city took the time to make sure that it was clean.  More a haven for geese than for regular folks today.  I was the only person walking.  Just me and the Geese that congregate by the river and were having fun waddling through the snow.

Geese Waddling throughThere is a huge flock of geese close to the river. Today they were waddling in the snow. Kind of fun to watch them!

My next part of the trip was to walk on the Fox Trot Trail.  My plans were changed, however, when I discovered that the bridge in the Flats area was full of snow and that the trail itself was also full of snow.  I came just a little too early because the sidewalk cleaner and the plow were right behind me.  I could walk faster than they could clean the sidewalk and get rid of the overabundance of snow.  Bridges seem to take a long time to clean.

Look Behind YouI had just crossed this bridge where the sidewalk was covered with snow. The sidewalk cleaner and the snowplow were behind me. I discovered that it takes a long time to clear a bridge.

This particular building always look so nice with a snow covering on the ground.  I like the white trim as well.  Don't know what it's being used for these days.

White Trim, White SnowI was attracted to the white trim on this red brick building and the layers of snow. Looks like this building is being used since the parking lot was plowed.

Over the bridge I went on Olde Oneida Street and saw this timeless photo.   

The Red Brick Building in the BackgroundI had just crossed the bridge over the Fox River and saw a nice shot of the river, the river bank, and the red brick building way in the background. Timeless.

My next destination is to start walking to the hospital.  I figured that the roads would be cleaner and the sidewalks pristine.  And I was right.  The only little problem was getting across the intersection.  The plow must have gone though after the worker bees of the hospital had cleared the area.  But I was happily pleased that there was plenty of salt and plenty of walking space on the sidewalk.  No shortcuts taken here.  This will make it easy for me to get home.

Lion and SnowEven the Lion signaling the entrance to the Breast Center at the hospital was full of snow. The pathways around the hospital, however, were completely cleared, with salt to make sure that no one slipped.

Now, I am almost home and this little gnome says it all about a Blizzard in mid-April.

Knowing GnomeThis Gnome says it all about having so much snow in mid-April.