Sometimes...

...it's just better to stop--and play Solitaire, isn't it?

I consider myself 'a thinking person', as do many of you. Yet, at times, I have to let the brain calm down--and what better way to do it than play Solitaire, which, though boring, seems to relieve a lot of stress, and still allows enough of a challenge to keep the brain functioning?

This past week, the entire world seems to have gone 'off its rocker', hasn't it?

The Moslems have gone nutzoid, as have the unions and all the Democrats, including Obama re: the DOMA situation.

This doped-up Prez MUST realize (and come to grips with) the fact that HE is not the Judicial branch of the government of the United States of America.

HE is merely the head of the Executive branch...and MUST LEARN to conduct himself accordingly.

He (and his wifey!) must NOT be allowed to think he is our DICTATOR--ever!

And personally, I think he is a PUTZ!

It was a Sunday morning...

...in 1979, when I was working as a Production Artist here in Chicago on a film called "The Blues Brothers".

I had a boss, Gary Osborn, and his second-in-command, Jerry Palermo, who were members of the Studio Mechanics union out of Los Angeles. We were all working for Universal Studios on this film, but we found some spare time to walk around and shoot photos. Gary was very interested in photography. As a thank-you gift, I bought him a new lens for his camera. He was thrilled.

These are my pix, from a Sunday morning along S. Halsted Avenue, showing a couple of what we then called 'bums'. I wish I had Gary's shots!

The necessary bottle

The necessary 'air' guitar

Just why the crib was out in the middle of nowhere, and just what was written on the head and footboards...I have no idea any longer.

Just thought the whole post might be of interest to someone...somewhere?

A message from a troll...

...and I laugh.

"You'll never hear from me again"--Anonymous

Oh, the dichotomy!

Instead, if you'd like to know more about me...you might watch, and listen closely to, this:

I'm certain it's still there...

...somewhere near Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

Fences, these days, seem to block out everything in the name of 'privacy'. This fence was welded, piece by piece, and became ART.

These are 35mm film shots, scanned, and with no retouch, turned into digital photos. I took them with a borrowed Pentax in 1979. The negatives have been stored away in glassine envelopes all these years. There is no evident deterioration.

And...it's really nice to see these! I can finallly print some of my favorites from a time when I was exclusively shooting black and white!

ON: Birthdays

Just when we think we are crumbling, the Creator shows us the enigma of life: the complexity of the simplest of designs.

I had a thought today, as I retouched these shots I took 32 years ago. I hope you like them, at least a bit, as I no longer have these shells--I gave them away in 1987, when I was going to move to Italy. I continue to find surprises, as I look back on my life.

Eroded Shell-1979

Inside the Chambered Nautilus-1979

I had a thought today, as I retouched these shots from thirty-two years ago:

Marine life, according to the Bible, was created BEFORE Man.

Therefore, as these simple shells are so complex in their design, THAT design is technically older than Man. Think about that.

For those of you who may have a birthday (as does my friend, www.alwaysonwatch3.blogspot.com whom I am very priveleged to know), know that we, the sixth-day creation, are loved and protected by our Creator because of our faith.

Out and about, on a Nice Day...

...shooting some bits...

...and pieces.

Got back home and decided to make 'pizza from scratch' with lotsa trimmings. YUM!

That's tomorrow's brunch you're looking at!

Then, I opened the blog to find that...OMG(oodness), the "Anony-mice" (the troll(s), do not care my my photography, nor the fact that I give recipes for healthy food (Michelle Obama, BEWARE of my troll(s)!).

First, they hate how I look at almost 65 ("not as good as Betty White"). Then, they don't like (vehemently) the photos I have taken 'from my window', a recurring series I've done. Next, they tell me to "take you (sic) meds" and ask "How can you sit at the computer all day?"

Well...I don't sit at the computer all day...and I am quite proficient; after having done graphics for 19 years now; and I have some really great software...which means I don't have to sit for long, idiot(s).

Actually, I prefer to read books, which is why I skim through the 'Favorites' list, skipping many websites along the way.

BTW...the troll(s) claim to be 'half-Italian', which I imagine, in Chicago, translates into 'half-Sicilian'--ancestors from an entirely different place.

That's why neither of them would like the 'pesto-based' pizza...the recipe comes from Genova, the home of someone called CRISTOFORO COLOMBO (you may know him as 'Christopher Columbus'?

And I shall continue to photograph what I see, as long as I live, and post as long as I can do so...because the United States of America needs documenting of every day's events...trivial as they might be to you, EVIL troll(s)!

And thanks so much for 'boosting' my number of readers!

Post-blizzard Absurdity!

After my walk along the lake yesterday, I turned west at Greenleaf Avenue to head back up Sheridan Road. When I reached the corner, this was what I saw:

Plow damage to the Loyola Park Fieldhouse planter

In the clean-up after the Groundhog Day blizzard, this walk was closed to foot traffic, as up to nine-foot high piles of snow had been dumped along most of this two-block western boundary of Loyola Park.

Though I'm not certain when this plow came through to clear the walk, I am dismayed at the destruction!

Bench #1

Bench #2

Bench #3

Bench #4

Bench #5

Toward the back of this snow pile is a metal trash container, which was attached to the sidewalk a half-block away. The mangled black shape in the foreground is the heavy-duty plastic liner.

An example of what the benches used to look like (on an interior park path)

These benches have been in place since, at least, the late 1950s. Seats and backs were replaced by Chicago Park District as necessary.

To have these five benches destroyed in one fell swoop is ABSURD!

Was the plow driver drunk, or on drugs?

I also wonder...what did the plow blade look like after this total debacle?

STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!

Today's Walk along Lake Michigan

Melting, but...

...it'll be a while....

From my Window: Does somebody up there not like me?

When the ice finally melted from my window, after three days, I wanted to clean off the 'birdy poo' I showed you several days ago.

I found this:

I live on the sixth floor, so someone on 7 or 8, or someone on the roof, 'slopped this former food' onto my concrete sill.

It looks like beans and mashed potatoes, or something.

In addition, my entire window had a lot of what I call 'schmutz'--as if someone sprayed it with salt water.

I've worked hard this morning, on my knees, to clean the outside storm window. I suppose I'll have to take it out of its housing...a somewhat difficult and dangerous job when one lives high up...for now, this shot will have to do: