Madison

Madison is one of those favored cities that everyone loves. State capitals and university towns in general are supposed to be the desirable places and here you have that rare city that is both.

Its geographic situation on an isthmus between two lakes adds to its charm and beauty. It is hip, progressive, and so on. We are not seeing it at is best. Temperatures are above 100 degrees and there is a drought that has turned all the grass yellow and killed many plants.

We managed to hit the only weekend in the six-month season when there is no farmer's market on the Capitol Square -- billed as the nation's largest such in terms of producer vendors. Instead there was an art fair that kept us from seeing anything else on the square and made it impossible to eat in any of the restaurants.

So instead of spending the weekend in Madison and then going to the Dells for a couple of days, we will spend Monday at least trying to see what Madison looks like without an art fair. The plan is to take the tour of the Capitol, do some shopping on State Street, and have a light supper at Memorial Union Terrace. We would visit the university art museum but it is closed on Mondays.

David is very funny about Madison. He doesn't like it and, as he says, people don't want to hear that. So they pester him about just what it is he doesn't like, but the simple fact is he doesn't like it and doesn't need any reasons. He wants to go back to San Diego. It's warmer in the winter, and it appeals to him more.

It's a bit of what you might consider the Portlandia effect. Madison is perhaps a bit too precious, a bit too full of itself. From my point of view, any state or capital city that elects and keeps Scott Walker as governor has one strike against it already. The protests and the recall effort can't excuse the fact that the state elected him governor and then gave him a vote of confidence in the recall. The people of Wisconsin, like those in Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey and Florida will get what they deserve from their right-wing Republican governors -- a lower standard of living, an increase in crime, growing inequality in incomes and perhaps the opportunity to greet new industry with lower wages and no protection against the predations of corporate bosses. I totally understand why Amy wants to move and get out of the red state that she lives in. It is an offensive situation to have somebody like Brownback affecting your life, however tangentially.