food and crickets and black earth and flowers

well, we missed the prairie burn because we were eating.

after the smoking ban took effect in madison, some of the smaller, 'towny' bars closed down. one of these bars, on the northside, turned into a little italian restaurant. at first we'd drive past it and joke... oh la la... cafe la bellitalia... so fancy... with the big pepsi sign out front... but everytime we did this, we noticed just how crowded it was inside... until finally we decided to try it... and we liked it. so much so, that we've been at least 4 times in the last couple of months. it's sort of your typical italian food... reliable when italian is what you crave. it's run by an italian family... from southern italy... so it's mostly pastas and tomato sauces... good tomato sauces!
and pepsi in cans.

once we got home we walked to the aftermath of the prairie burn...

scorched earth...

raedar and greg investigate for crickets. we've determined that raedar's ancestors were cricket hunters, and that this is the reason her nose is always to the ground on walks...

my billy goat's gruff and me...

what the cold weather did to the early bloomers... sad.