Not The Best View Of Chicago

I spent most of my time in Chicago at McCormick Place, a giant convention center that takes up hundreds of acres alongside Lake Michigan just south of Chicago. At the end of my second day there, I walked to the far end of the complex to see what I could see, and got my first view of the Chicago skyline. It's not the greatest view in the world, and certainly not the money shot, but you get the idea. To the left is the Sears Tower, tallest building in this hemisphere. Towards the right is the John Hancock Building, second tallest building in Chicago. In between you can spot Soldier Field (which is obscuring the view of my hotel), The Art Institute Of Chicago, and of course, a marina that's empty for some reason in March. Sharp eyes will be able to pick out dozens of other landmarks, but I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader. (There's a really good panorama at the Chicago Wikipedia entry if you want to know what's what. Go check it out.)

Here There Be Lions

I've brought you pictures of lions before, but nothing as big as these guys. The fact that they are stone and guard the entrance to The Art Institute Of Chicago doesn't enter into it at all. A little internet research reveals that these two lions were created the same year as the hotel I stayed at while in Chicago, 1893. They stand at the edge of Michigan Avenue, one to the north of the museum, and one the the south. The northernmost lion is above and below, and is called "On The Prowl". The southern lion, at right in the bottom picture, is called "Stands In An Attitude Of Defiance" I'm not sure what all that means, but they sure do look cool. I've got some daytime shots of these guys I hope to share with you later, but these nighttime shots from my first evening in Chicago sure are neat. Tough to tell in these pics, but the lions are actually bright green. Oh, the artist for these fellows was Edward Kerneys.

Chicago's Leading Lady

It's hard for me to believe that I was in Chicago two weeks ago. So much has happened in the interim that it seems decades ago. However, I was able to take some time to myself and get out with my camera while I was there, so I have some digital memories that should last for a good long while. This lovely lady is one of the things I saw that intrigued me. She was planted in the median of Congress Avenue right next to my hotel. You could see hundreds of little bulbs just starting to peek out of the ground, so I'm sure that by now this statue is surrounded by greenery. I think this was part of an exhibition of pieces made from recycled auto parts, but I'm not sure. Let me do a little research. Well, the exhibit I'm thinking of was called Artists + Automobiles and was on display in 2006. So I've no idea what this piece might be from.

UPDATE: Someone found out who this lovely lady is for me. Her name is Magdalene or Magdaline, depending on where you look, and she is sculpted by Dessa Kirk. Turns out that she is the same artist who did the Artists + Automobiles pieces I saw, but I think those are a different exhibit.

The Whole Arc, Such As It Is

I happened to catch this odd rainbow this afternoon at my parents house. I don't know if you can tell just how odd it is by looking at the picture. See how low it is to the ground? This was created by an oncoming rainstorm at around 4:30 in the afternoon, more than three hours before sunset. That made the sun quite high in the sky, and this the rainbow was low to the ground. You don't see these very often, and this one only lasted about 5 minutes. I figure I'm pretty lucky to have seen it, and even more so to have photographed it.

Whoops, Missed It

While I was out sick, I missed the three year anniversary of the blog. Seems like it's been a lot longer than three years, but the 21st of March is three years to the day. Well, not exactly to the day, since there's at least one leap year in there, but I suppose we can overlook that. If you want to see what you missed way back then, you can click here, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and start reading your way up. It's not as exciting as I might have hoped, but it's grown into a nice little diversion for me. I've gathered a few regulars over the years, and quite a few folks who stop by almost frequently. I appreciate all of your support, and here's to another three years! 526K visitors is pretty successful if you ask me.

The End

Here's your picture for today and tomorrow, the very end of March. This is also the end of the picture book from 2007, which as you can see has spilled 3 months into 2008. I shot this furry fellow at Ft. Desoto some time back. He was hanging out near the picnic tables hoping for a handout. I didn't give him anything he wanted, so he beat a hasty retreat not long after I took this shot.

The Missing Week In March

I know it's Saturday already, and posting the calendar page at the end of the week doesn't really do you much good. But give me a little break here, I've been sick. At least you get a great picture. This is a heritage flight at one of the airshows I went to back in 2006, I think. They roll out a vintage WWII fighter plane and fly it alongside current US military fighter jets. It's terribly impressive, and shows you how far we've come in so little time. This reminds me that airshow season is coming up, and I need to start keeping my eyes open for MacDill Airfest and Sun-N-Fun.

Why Fly When You Can Drive?

When I was in Chicago, I realized that Lakeshore Drive, right on Lake Michigan, is US 41. That runs right by me here in Florida, and it was right by my hotel in Illinois. I could have avoided all that flying and just driven there. Silly me.

Hello World

Hi. I'm back. When last I posted anything on here, I was in Chicago at a trade show. As that event wound down, I started to get a little sick. I was coughing a bit on Thursday before I got on my flight home, but nothing too bad. A disastrous flight out of Midway got me to Atlanta ten minutes too late to catch a connecting flight Thursday night. Luckily I was able to get in touch with friends in Atlanta and stayed at their house for 24 hours before I could get a guaranteed seat on a flight back to Florida. The longer I stayed in Atlanta, the worse I felt. But I thought that if I could just get home and sleep in my own bed, I'd be OK. I finally got home a little before Midnight Friday. I spent all day Saturday in bed and never got any better. Sunday I called the ambulance and spent Sunday night in ICU. Turns out I had the flu. If that's the flu, then I don't think I've ever had the flu before. On top of that, I had what they call diabetic ketoacidosis. That means that my body was breaking down fat to use as energy to fight the infection, but once the fat turned into sugar, I didn't have any insulin in my body for the cells to utilize it. So even though I wasn't eating anything, by the time they got me to the hospital, my normal sugar level of 120 had turned to 771. My meter wouldn't even read that much, it just kept coming back saying HI. So, suffice it to say I was in a bad way. I got out of the hospital Tuesday afternoon and I've been recovering at home ever since. I left the house for the first time Friday to go get some little bit of food, and I might do the same thing today. Today is the first day I've felt like I could sit at the computer and type for a while. So that's why I'm sharing my story with you now. I've spoken to some of you in the past week, and I thank you for your concern. I'm sure that the rest of you might be wondering, and now you know, but at least I'm on the road back to well-ville. One cough at a time. Excuse me a minute, I have to go hack up the rest of this lung...

Top O' The World

My adventures in Chicago took a turn for the better today when the heavens cleared and the sun came out. I got out of my convention a few minutes early, caught a train right in rush hour (Thankfully I was going against the grain, which meant the train I was on was relatively empty, but I had to wait 45 minuted for it to come...), dropped my bag off at the hotel and headed out on foot with my trusty camera. The shot above is from the 103rd floor Skydeck at the top of the Sears Tower, the tallest building in this hemisphere. I was afraid I wasn't going to make it up there during my trip, not because I didn't think I'd get the free time, but because they close at 8 pm. But I got there well before that, even on foot and after joining a peace rally for a few minutes. I spent the rest of the day, and a big chunk of the night, exploring my way across town, moving from landmark to landmark on my quest for a decent picture. I'll share plenty of them when I get home, but for now, I gotta get some sleep.

Chicago Is Cold. And Foggy

Yes, I'm in Chicago. I just now figured out how to connect to the internet, but I'm on my way out the door, so I don't have time to post much. Got an hour or two last night to go shoot, but it was foggy and dark. Still got some good shots of Cloud Gate, which was one of my goals. It's got to be the coolest thing ever in the whole history of the world.

Bumped!

Yep, I got bumped. Now I'm waiting on a flight 2-1/2 hours later. I'll get to Chicago an hour later than I expected, since I'm making up some time during a layover in Charlotte. But now I have a free round-trip ticket on US Airways. Hooray! Now, where to go... France? Probably not. London? I doubt if they fly overseas. Hawaii? All signs point to no. Phoenix? Maybe. We'll have to wait and see. Work paid for the ticket, so that freebie may be theirs. We'll see.

On The Road

Look at me, I'm sitting in the airport using the SRQ free wireless service! I'm too cool! I'm actually hoping to get bumped to a slightly later flight and get a free round-trip ticket somewhere. How cool would that be? Well, depends on how late I get to Chicago, I guess. But I could deal with a free ticket.

Sweet Home Chicago

A couple of hours from now, I'm going to get on a big plane and fly to Chicago (via Charlotte, NC). I'm flying up there for a couple of days to attend a trade show, so I don't know how much time I'll have to get out and about and shoot, but I'm hoping. It's about 82 here now, and it's below 40 up there. Talk about a shock to the system! I'm staying in a hotel that was built in 1893, so I'm hoping that in itself should provide some nice photo ops. It's right by Grant Park, overlooking Buckingham Fountain, so if the weather allows, it's not a far trip to get some good pics. If I have internet, I'll try to get something posted up while I'm there, but I'm not counting on it. Stay tuned for the end of the week and hopefully I'll have something good to show you all. Wish me luck!

The Week With St. Patrick's Day

Gettin' towards the end of the month here, but that doesn't mean we're gettin' towards the end of the pictures. These things just seem to go on forever. This week you get a close-up shot of a barred owl. I shot this guy at an Earth Day celebration at Oscar Scherer State Park just a little south of where I live. Every year they trot out all sorts of displays and animals, and it's always a show worth seeing.

Babysitting

I visited my local bald eagle nest today, and got to see the young'uns. Look close and you can see two juveniles on a branch to the right above the nest. I don't know where the other parent was at the time, but I assume she was off getting some take-out or something. I don't know if these guys are flying yet, but I sort of doubt it. Shouldn't be long, though.

A Demilio I Don't Have

Sometimes you have to look closely to see what's right there in front of you. I spotted this LP recently and didn't think much of it until I took a closer look. And sure enough, right there in plain sight was another Demilio cover, one that I didn't have! Unfortunately, I still don't have it, but at least I have a small picture of it. The record you're looking at above is Stanley Black And His Orchestra-Red Velvet (London LL 1592), but the Demilio cover I've blown up for you below is on Stanley Black And His Orchestra-Festival In Costa Rica (I can't read the catalog number, sorry). If you can't wait for me to find this fifty year old album, you can visit this website that has a picture of the UK version of the LP on Decca. He's also got two or three others that I've never seen, so I have my work cut out for me.

(I've got still more minor Demilio treats for you this week, so come back soon!)

One More Demilio

It's been quite a while since I've brought you a new Demilio cover, one, because they're pretty hard to find, and two, because I've been too lazy to scan it in and piece it together in Photoshop. But I've got all my ducks in a row and I'm proud to present you with this new Demilio cover, my eighth, I believe. This is from Robert Farnon And His Orchestra-Flirtation Walk (London LL 1053). Last time I shared one of these covers with you, I posted all of the ones I have to date, so I'm going to point you to that other post rather than list them all again. And just for the record, I've got some more Demilio-related stuff I intend to share this week, so stay tuned.

More March

I know it's still winter for most of you folks, so here's a little picture to remind you that summer is coming. I don't remember what beach I shot this at, or when, but it's a nice picture, don't ya think?

Ladies And Gentlemen, This...Is Tom Jones!

I got to go see Tom Jones in concert last night! He was playing at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City for some reason. I felt that was a little bit below his level, but I wasn't going to complain because I was able to see him for $5 in parking and $10 for fair admission. Of course I was in the free seating section that was about half a mile away from the stage. I still got a decent picture or two, one of which is above. (I was actually so far from the stage that I didn't know until I looked at my pictures this morning that the third backup singer was a guy.) But this one picture tells you all you really need to know. Those four girls standing in front of the stage are the Strawberry Queen and her court. They are wearing big puffy dresses and sashes of course, and I think satin gloves, but I can't tell for sure. The queen introduced Tom at the beginning of the show in the most stereotypical beauty queen voice you can imagine, but I think it was her real voice. And I don't think she had any idea who Tom Jones was. They're shown dancing above to Kiss, which may have been the only song they recognized. For the record, it was a great show. The man can still sing like nobody's business. He did new stuff, some hits, and plenty of stuff in-between. And yes, some women did throw their panties at the stage. No lie.