Madison has so much free music in summer. Tonight I strolled to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace, which is situated on the edge of the lake. Its a very modern, pretty structure. On the rooftop, they host free concerts and its landscaped with planter boxes full of prairie flowers. The “Docksiders” were a cover band playing 1970s soft rock. As I strolled up, they were doing a stirring rendition of Rikki Don’t Lose That Number – and the guitar nailed the classic solos....

In July, the fields of Wisconsin are filled with flowers. We’re delighted to have Lucy visiting with us from LA. Last night we watched fireworks all around Lake Monona. Today we went to a dog park and had a great hike among these lovely flowers. Click any photo for larger images

Today, we discovered what a “dog park” means in Wisconsin. Prairie Moraine is an 80 acre area where dogs can roam off-leash. There were nice, wide hiking trails covered in soft bark (so not muddy). The countryside was rolling, as is most of Wisconsin. Ollie and Sugar Baby loved the freedom to follow their noses, and I found many flowers to photograph. There are many dog parks around Madison; this one was 20 minutes away....

Today I had a nice visit to the Olbrich Botanical Garden in Madison. I’ve purchased a pass for the city bikes, and I picked up an electric bike nearby. It was a nice 15 minute ride along the Capital Bike Path, which went adjacent to extensive community gardens. The botanical garden has 16 acres of land, and is planted in sections with varying themes. One area was a Thai garden, and it has a Thai temple but this was closed for repairs....

The Orrin Evans Quartet took the stage of the Madison Jazz Festival on a beautiful evening at 7 pm. Audrey and I packed a picnic dinner, including fresh sugar peas from the morning farmer’s market. The terrace was packed with people, most with plastic pitchers of beer, in most various states of disattention to the music. Which was unfortunate as Evans led a blazing, innovative set with super talented musicians....