Something Nice in Madison



The gazebo



If you live in Madison, Wisconsin or happen to be visiting for a day, there are a lot of possibilities for how to spend the day. You might visit the State Capitol or the Historical Museum or the Veteran's Museum. You might walk down State Street, stopping in at whatever eclectic little shop that tickles your fancy, then end up with lunch from one of the carts on Library Mall and Babcock ice cream from Memorial Union. What you might not think about doing is visiting one of the small gardens that grace the beautiful campus of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and for sure, then you would be missing out on something special. Today when lunch time came around I took a short walk, and ended up at the Botanical Garden. Granted, it is only an acre and a half, but that just means you can take a relaxing stroll and not be in a hurry to see everything. It is a sweet little nook in which to come to rest your mind. If you have a few minutes when you're in Madison, I recommend it. Here are a few photos to give you a taste.

Water lily

Prickly Pear

Hydrangeas in all colors

 



Sparrow taking a bath

  

Goldfish in the pond

The Blossom Sculpture

Disclaimer: for those of you who are familiar with my husband, Norm's photography, he get's neither the credit nor the blame for these pictures. For better or for worse, they are my original work.

Restoration...

Do you ever run into one of those times when you reach an end? You know the kind I mean - where you’ve finished a big project or made it through an especially busy period of your life? That’s me right now. I just finished a very busy school year and was plagued with illness along the way, and am very much feeling the need to take time to be refreshed. I’ve been asking myself what that means over the course of the past few weeks, and realized that I simply need to do some of the things that I enjoy that tend to get shelved when I take on outside commitments. So - I made a short list of summer priorities. If it’s not on the list, it might not get done. As I write this, I’m reminded of the summer after I finished taking college classes. I hadn’t had much opportunity to read for pleasure, so I promised myself that is would be a summer of reading - and it was - 11,000 pages of reading strictly for enjoyment. This summer’s priority list includes gardening and working in the yard, practicing my music, writing, 15 minutes a day of housecleaning (ala Flylady), camping and fishing. Here’s to hoping that by summers end I will feel mentally and physically restored. What do you plan to do this summer to refresh yourself? Write a comment and tell me about it.