Bratfest

When you live in Wisconsin, you know there is going to be a BRATFEST. And where we live, we have the World's Largest Bratfest. Four days of brat eating over Memorial Day. A few years ago they moved it from a mall parking lot to a convention center lawn, and, although it has changed a lot, I think it is for the better.

Now there are rides:


And carnival games with prizes:


And the obligatory scary clowns:


There was also a dancing iPod, kayak rides on a drainage pond, cover bands, a marathon finish, ice cream, 160,000 brats, veggie brats (yay!), representatives from the Mustard Museum, and a K9 police dog. What more could you want from a bratfest? Only cotton candy was missing.

Why didn't I think of this?

Sighted and photographed on the golf course near my house:



I can just imagine the artist walking around town with a pocket full of flags, just hoping to come upon some dog poop. Or thery are dog owners who leave their own dog's poop as a political statement.... but I doubt that.

Tagged

I got tagged by Julie for the 7 random things meme. Here are the rules:

List 7 random things about yourself
Tag 7 other people
Direct them to your blog so they can see the rules

Here is my list:

1. I started getting gray hair in my 20s. I colored it once, then decided it was silly, and haven't tried to hide it since then. Now when I see someone my age or older with less gray hair, I assume they are coloring their hair. I know that is not an accurate assumption.

2. I love to sleep. I know at my deathbed I will regret spending so much time asleep, but for now, it is wonderful.

3. I usually remember my dreams. Sometimes they are so intense and wonderful I regret having woken up.

4. I love my garden and the plants in it so much, sometimes it makes me cry. I think of the plants as my children.

5. I once did 425 cartwheels in 15 minutes.

6. I place more emphasis on getting things tidy than on getting them clean.

7. I still think about my cat Hewi, who died three years ago, my friend Tom, who died 21 years ago, and my grandmother, who died almost two years ago. I miss them.


It was fun to think about things about myself that were ME, rather than generic stuff like the color of my eyes, or my job.

I also realized that I don't know 7 people who blog, but I will send this out to those I do know. Cousin Flora, my mom and my sister (who can reply at our family blog), and amongthepines, I am sending this to you.

Bunny encounter

Of course we are programmed to find baby features cute, how else to explain the success of Micky Mouse, Hello Kitty, and cute overload. But what happens when cute takes the form of the dreaded and dangerous Sylvilagus floridanus, scourge of the garden, carrier of dread diseases....... yes, the bunny rabbit.

It was first seen crouching by the car tire. Later my husband went out to move it to a safer location. He got close to it, and it just looked at him. He made a noise and the bunny hopped right over to him and hopped into his hands.



It had clearly been abandoned by its mother, and was looking for warmth. It really liked us and spent its time with us leaning against our legs. Without a doubt, one of the cutest things I have even seen.

The bunny had no fear. It followed us around, and almost seemed to have a personality. A cute personality. A personality that you wanted to bring inside in a cardboard box and keep warm for the night.


Sadly, last night was down into the 40s, and we presume it probably froze to death. Such is nature.

More pictures on my flickr page.

Plants are astounding

When you look at plants closely you can see some neat effects.

These bleeding hearts are almost translucent.

And this Allium looks like a fireworks. I like it better that neither the flower tips nor the stems are fully in focus, it enhances the surreal effect.


Can you tell all I have been doing is taking pictures in the garen.

More color effects

And the tulip parade goes on. This time I took a close-up and a blurry view of the same flower. I can't decide which one I like better. Tulips are endlessly fascinating to me now.

Neat as a pin

This is how I like the garden, clean as a whistle. I think this is the best time of the year, when the grass is emerald green, the perennials are neat little mounds, and nothing is flopping, dying, or brown.


This is my favorite trough, I took out the dwarf conifer and put in an Armeria to go with the Alchemilla.
This is a view of the side garden, nice little mounds of plants.

Soon all will be chaos and mosquitos.

Does this work?

Does this work at all? I was interested in capturing the colors of some of my flowers, just the color, no pattern, texture, or form. I took these pictures out of focus.






What do they look like? Do they look like impressions of color? Or do they look like blurry flower petals? Sometimes blurry can be artistic, but sometimes blurry is just blurry. I think they look better enlarged, rather than as these small images.

Any suggestions for how to get even more abstract and removed from a traditional flower portrait and into the world of pure color?