A bright, warm winter day in Madison.

We got out early, skating on the Lake Wingra lagoon, happy that it was warm — 37°, almost too warm for good ice — and then exultant when sun broke through — because we've had so many grimly gray days lately. It turned into a brilliant day. The blue was much appreciated:



That's a picture I took around noon as I walked along the shore of Lake Mendota. By then, Meade and I had gone separate ways. He dropped me off downtown and went off with Zeus (the Labrador Retriever) to the dog park. I preferred solitary walking with my audiobook ("The Path to Power/The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1"). Any dogs in that book? Yes. Once, 4-year-old Lyndon "disappeared for several hours; his father located him only because Lyndon’s dog, 'Bigham Young,' was moving around in the cornfield in which the boy had been hiding and making the tassels wave."

And I did get to see a couple dogs. There was this one, in the café...



... and there was another dog just outside who inspired a barista to exclaim: "Oh! The puppy has a Packers jersey!"

Meanwhile, in Seattle: "Temperatures are in the low 50s, but rain has been falling... a chance for harder rain or a storm later on in the afternoon, toward the end of the game. Winds are also expected to be in the 15-20 mph range. So, the 'run the ball, stop the run' analysis many have used to describe the Packers’ best chances to win could apply even more significantly if the rain or wind impacts QB Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay’s passing game."