This weekend is Taste of Madison. After the farmer's market Saturday Taste of Madison set up around the Square. We will head up there shortly for dinner. And since we live so close we can bring it all home and eat here if we want. Lots of bites from lots of restaurants that we haven't been to yet.

What kind of amazes me is that I saw no security at all at the T of M and only 2 in the Capitol.

I should say that I am crazy about the Capitol. I get that way about houses and buildings and places and monuments. Any time I can cut through the Capitol on my way to State St. I do. Often in the mornings it's dark and quiet with pretty light filtering in. Just me and someone at the info desk. Lovely.

I am completely amazed at how accessible this fabulous building is. Yesterday people were roaming everywhere. Kids laying on the floor on the cool marble looking up into the dome. People with strollers, some using the bathrooms instead of the porta potties outside, people with food sitting on the floor leaning against the wall eating, kids running around. I am pleased at how anyone can just go there and hang out.

Some afternoon when we are bored we will spend some serious time there taking photos for an upcoming Ornaments of Madison font. We haven't been out on the observatory deck yet. Once as a kid my family came here and I vaguely remember my Dad trying to get me out on the teeny, tiny deck way at the top. (Now closed to the public.) I made it as far as outside the door and stood with my back to the wall frozen. There is also a very intriguing pictorial story about the time they emptied the well of water under the Capitol for repairs. That was also the time they let the insurance lapse and yes you know where this is going... it did burn down.

Once again I feel so fortunate to be in Madison and even more so DT. Looked at some condos today. Different parts of Madison feel completely different. I could live somewhere and it could feel like Eau Claire, or Rochester or Cedar Rapids... or the urban mixed use areas, or heavily wooded stand alone house condos or DT which is small spaces and high prices but who knows...