Wisconsin was hit hard by winter this year — until official stats are all in, we won't know the hard numbers, but 2007/08 is currently hovering at #3 on the all-time worst winters of Wisconsin list. In Madison, they did manage to break the record for number of consecutive days with snowfall measuring an inch or more — 110 days in a row when the good people of Madison didn't see the ground.

No sooner did the snows recede than the rains started... of course, we all knew that if the weather was just a bit colder, all that water would be snow. But it was water, and it resulted in torrential downpours, flooding, and tornadoes. Jewelry and bead aficionados soldiered on; on two out of the three days that the Bead & Button Show's marketplace was open to the public, the public was sequestered on the show floor until the danger to the glass-fronted foyer passed. But the good humor and fortitude shown by the vendors, attendees, and staffers alike was incredible.

Now, we're seeing blue skies, finally. The long, hard winter (and wet, violent spring) makes days like this past Saturday all the more precious, as people turned out in high numbers to see and buy beautiful artwork in one of Milwaukee's most beautiful location — the festival grounds surrounding the Art Museum. The event was the 2008 Milwaukee Lakefront Festival of the Arts, a yearly gathering of high-end craft. I walked, I gawked, I ate, I sprawled on the (thankfully dry) grass and listened to live music, and yes, I bought. A truly great start to the summer — that's finally here!

(And a special call-out to photographer Perry Heideman, whose site I linked to above, and who has taken such lovely pictures of the Milwaukee Art Museum and the lakefront.)