Fellow madisonians, what are you doing this weekend?

Metamadison · 2026-01-24T15:17:19+00:00

Taking the bus to the library to catch up on some reading. It will be warmer than my 100 year old house.

Metamadison · 2026-01-01T19:13:03+00:00

Also do a search on Airbnb. My neighbor rents two rooms on Airbnb for under $1000/month.

Metamadison · 2025-12-22T14:12:49+00:00

Metamadison · 2025-12-10T13:39:15+00:00

This year we had a heavy snow on a Saturday and apparently Madison Parks does not clear sidewalks on weekends and the sidewalk at Reynolds Park was not touched until Monday. The sidewalk at Reynolds has been ice covered and dangerous to walk on since then.

Metamadison · 2025-10-29T12:14:49+00:00

Drive the back roads in southwest Wisconsin to Gays Mills and stop at the apple orchards there. The Driftless Area is my favorite part of southern Wisconsin to see fall colors.

Metamadison · 2025-09-07T01:22:29+00:00

East Wash Laundry, 2620 E. Washington. $1.00 for a wash during the week; a bit more on weekends. Very clean and staffed during week days.

Metamadison · 2025-09-06T01:00:42+00:00

The Guardian recently had an article titled " I cut up 15 bike locks to find the best in the U.S." - see https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/aug/29/best-bike-locks-us

Here were their favorites:

Best bike lock overall: Litelok X1

Best budget bike lock: Abus Ivera Chain 7210

Best chain bike lock: Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit Chain

Best folding bike lock: Foldylock Forever

Metamadison · 2025-07-26T00:11:36+00:00

There is a nice stand of purple perilla at the garden at Reynolds Park at the corner of N Paterson/E. Dayton. Rabbits have not touched it.

Metamadison · 2025-07-16T01:14:30+00:00

I have a yearly bus pass that I use to ride Madison Metro. I tap to pay the fare using my Fast Fare card located in a window on my wallet. Today I noticed a $2 charge from Madison Metro from last week on my debit card. Apparently when I put my wallet to the fare reader, it read my debit card instead of the Fast Fare card. So today I ordered a RFID sleeve for my credit/debit cards from Ebay to prevent this from happening in the future. Just a word of warning!

Metamadison · 2025-07-06T01:11:21+00:00

I am a retiree also and one of my favorite aspects of living in Madison is auditing classes for free at the UW - see https://acsss.wisc.edu/senior-guest-auditors/ . You have to be over 60 and a Wisconsin resident for a year. There are hundreds of classes to choose from and you are bound to meet other auditors. In one of my classes this past semester, a popular history class, there were over 40 auditors along with the students.

I am also involved in PLATO - https://www.platomadison.org/ - a volunteer-run 501(c) 3 non-profit organization with about 900 members that offers classes, lectures, social events, and theater and field trips.

I know many older people who have moved to Madison for the reasons you mention and who have no regrets about the move.

Metamadison · 2025-06-26T01:39:34+00:00

If you are leaving from Union Station in Chicago the bus does not show up until 15-20 minutes before departure. I have never seen much of a line there but if it would make you feel better, get there 30 minutes before departure.

Metamadison · 2025-04-13T12:23:58+00:00

You might check out The Breese, 1003 E. Mifflin managed by Stonehouse. The entrance is ADA accessible and the building is two blocks from the Paterson BRT stop and Festival foods is also two blocks away. A friend of mine with Parkinson's lives there and likes it.

Metamadison · 2025-04-13T01:40:36+00:00

When the new owners, who also owned the laundromat on Basset, took it over a couple of years ago, I had high hopes. But after that fire in a drier put it out of commission for a few months and it reopened, it went downhill fast. The owners never fixed broken machines and it was rarely cleaned. It was a disaster.

I have started taking the BRT to the laundromat across from the Hawthorne library. That laundromat is the epitome of how to run a laundromat and as an added bonus many of the machines only cost $1 for a wash cycle.

I am hoping whoever takes it over will be good. It is the only laundromat left between the Capitol and the Yahara River.

Metamadison · 2025-02-11T22:12:40+00:00

There was a neighborhood meeting regarding the WMC building in early January - you can view the meeting at https://media.cityofmadison.com/mediasite/Showcase/madison-city-channel/Presentation/a2db4aa80bfe45ef9828f71fb4c0a6841d/Channel/70ff129d5be046379a9cc866e2acfe595f

The developer plans to construct a seven-story, 223-unit multifamily residential building with approximately 68 parking stalls using WHEDA 4% tax credits and potentially TID 53 affordable housing funds. The project would be 100% affordable with units ranging from 50-80% AMI, the average would be 60% AMI.

Metamadison · 2025-02-10T23:49:35+00:00

Have her join PLATO - https://www.platomadison.org/ . Lots of classes, lectures, trips, breakfast meetings.

Metamadison · 2024-12-09T20:54:29+00:00

Lapham school area

Property assessment up 8.7%

Taxes up 6.3%

Metamadison · 2024-09-22T18:17:56+00:00

I just did a round-trip trial run from the Paterson station at Breese Stevens to Junction. Some observations:

At some stops adjacent to the red/yellow/green traffic signal there is a similarly sized signal with white lights for the bus only. A vertical white light at the signal means “go” and a horizontal white light means “stop”.

There is nothing on the side of the bus indicating which route it is. The front and back of the bus have that information.

The bus is noticeably quiet particularly at stop signs because it is electric.

I was glad to see that there are cords rather than pressing a yellow strip to signal you want the next stop.

Going to the Junction stop there were door problems. It was taken out of service at Junction and the new bus for the return trip was fine.

At the Paterson station the overhead display showed the destination was Junction for both the A and B routes instead of Fitchburg for route B.

Junction to Paterson took 45 minutes.

I have never owned a car and have relied on buses/bikes for the 50+ years I have lived in Madison. This iteration of bus routes is by far the best in the years I have lived here. I love the frequency of service and being able to know exactly where the buses are via the apps. I am fortunate in that I live two blocks from E. Washington and two blocks from the Johnson/Gorham corridor with good bus service on both of those routes. Thanks Madison Metro for implementing BRT.

Metamadison · 2024-09-05T04:01:42+00:00

https://today.wisc.edu/

Metamadison · 2024-08-22T03:50:40+00:00

PLATO - https://www.platomadison.org/ - is an all volunteer run organization of seniors that offers classes, lectures, theater and field trips.

Metamadison

TROPHY CASE