More fun in Madison

When I visited Madison last week, Keith and Rachel took me out for Sunday brunch at one of their favorite places: Monty's Blue Plate Diner. I had stuffed French toast with caramelized apples and it was delicious. Those are Keith's walnut and banana vegan pancakes.

Since it was going to be another hot (in the 90s) and humid day, we decided to get out on the lake where it was breezier and cooler. It was pure bliss! Keith and I rented one of the boats that you power by pedaling your feet because with my bum shoulder I couldn't paddle or row anything.

Rachel rented a stand-up paddle board, and here she is with the state capitol peeking out above the trees. The water felt sooooo good.

On my first day, when it was cooler and Rachel was still at work, Keith and I walked along a creek corridor trail in Middleton, where my Airbnb was located. It's so leafy and watery compared to Tucson.

A big event was meeting a branch of the family on the in-laws side who had flown in from Michigan, Virginia and South Carolina. My sister-in-law had a family reunion for them in Rockford, IL, on Saturday, but since they were staying in Madison I got together with them a few more times. Here we are at a neighborhood festival that we walked to after dinner at a Thai restaurant. Always some kind of festival going on in Madison!

They gave Rachel and me beautiful flower bouquets, and mine brightened my rental.

Another night we gathered at the Great Dane brew pub for dinner before they left the next morning. They're such a nice -- and fun -- family! I hope we get to see them again.

When I was in Rockford for the reunion I also visited my dear friend Susan, who has the most beautiful cottage gardens and goldfish pond.

There was also a lot of relaxing at home with the pets. Ozzie, the little one, and Phoebe look identical except for their size. Both are rescues who hit the jackpot with Keith and Rachel as parents.

Spud the tortoise is the latest member of the family. He's also very pampered, with a long  enclosure open on the top that Keith built for him plus regular outings in the backyard. Here is Keith relaxing with Ozzie in front of Spud's place.

All too soon it was time to leave. I always book a window seat when I fly so I can see the ground from above. I'm one of those people who watches the flight map instead of a movie so that I can monitor our altitude, speed and what we're flying over. We were mostly just under 40,000 feet and going about 500 miles an hour. Here we are heading into New Mexico just west of Santa Fe.

(I can't understand why people would spend hundreds of dollars for a flight and then close their window shades and watch a movie that they could view at home.)

I'm intrigued by patterns of civilization, like roads and crop circles.

But mostly I like clouds. You can see the shadows from these puffy New Mexico clouds on the ground. And a solid cloud cover is bright and white when viewed from above, like a snowy field punctuated by mountains.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now!

Have a colorful day