Sunday's Surprises in Rogers Park

This gorgeous magnolia on Sheridan Road, near Greenleaf Avenue, looks fragile...kind of like Poland right now. But it is durable and strong, as are the Polish people!

My favorite Hosta bed on Sheridan Road just south of Chase Avenue shows no sign of damage from the recent hail storm. The Hosta is also durable and strong, much like the Poles, and keeps 'coming back', even when it looks as though it has been beaten to the proverbial pulp!

Then, as I looked down at the sidewalk (always have to watch my step!), I found this little gem on Morse Avenue, just east of Sheridan Road.

It's a tiny copper bit of Rogers Park history, embedded into the concrete. I've Googled and Googled, but can find no mention of "Simpson Bros. Co.", nor can I figure why the term "Chamber of Commerce" applies, as to my knowledge, there was no chamber in Rogers Park during the 1910s or 1920s, which I assume is the period during which this sidewalk was 'laid'.

Perhaps, someday, I'll find the answer?

Omen of Christmas Future, OR?

Today is, as all my sources revealed, the tenth of April, 2010.

This is the facade of the Gateway Centre at Howard and Hermitage in Rogers Park.

The mall is also one of Ald. Joe Moore's "jewels of the 49th ward" .

Jewel, schmewel, I say!

They have not removed the Christmas wreath, YET, and those little lights have been burning since mid-December!

OR...perhaps they are keeping it up to demonstrate how next Christmas will be celebrated?

Click on pix to enlarge

Major Rule #1: The evergreen does not remain green when it is cut down or cut and fashioned into decorations!

Major Rule #2: Paint will not stick to concrete unless it is the proper paint for concrete, and has been properly applied during proper drying/curing weather!

What with all the empty storefronts in the Gateway Centre, wouldn't you agree the place is pretty much "Moore's FOLLY" ?

On today's walk north...

...I took some close-ups of just-emerged ivy. The leaves are a mere inch to an inch and a half, and it was grand to finally see them!

I walked on to Jarvis Beach, Howard Beach, then ended here, at Rogers Beach, where waves rolled in, slapping at the boulders.

The view to the north shows the Evanston campus of Northwestern University.

Wasn't it just a beauty of a day?

Ald. Joe Moore and my socks

I bought these, in 1990. Good socks, great socks! I bought them in Milwaukee, when I was living there.

Actually, I have another pair, which is green, but the shots of them on my feet today didn't turn out so well.

However...my socks have been around longer than Ald. Joe Moore has held office...and I think that says something important...something more important than he e-mailed me (again!) today.

You see, every time I see this type of e-mail, I think Joe's parents had his ears 'pinned back'.

But they never felt it was important to have that space between his front teeth taken care of.

But, that is just my personal impression of Ald. Joe Moore.

And...never take it lightly.

But he still looks like this to me:

The Great Alder-Joker....he walks, he lies, he creeps us out...doesn't he?

Reading is never a waste of time...

...as a matter of fact, I wish that would be taught in all public schools, and especially here in Chicago.

Reading, and then discerning what one has read, CAN OPEN the mind to creativity.

Unless, one has been reading something like 'Dreams from my Father', the 'fantasia' of Barry Soetoro, penned, apparently, by his dear friend William Ayers.

It is precisely at that point that we should not believe what we read.

Stop.

And look.

As your parents taught you to do before you crossed the street--at least as mine did.

It is time to put Barry Soetoro in his place, and that place is NOT the presidency of the United States of America.

He recently cancelled a visit to one of his homelands--Indonesia-where he learned the 'sweetest sound', the Moslem call o' the day.

That is crap. And everything else he has stated, including every word from January 20th, 2009; and that includes the do-over presidential oath--which was done in private--which should never have had to be done.

I will state formally here--he is NOT my president, and NEVER could be.

Because he operates on the very old basis of Marxism (becuase that is all he has ever been taught)...which history has proven USELESS.

Amen.

Lisa and Olivah and Arnold the Pig!

HULU has just added 60 episodes of the old favorite--Green Acres!

Watch their adventures for free on http://www.hulu.com/!

What's so great, you ask, about an old TV series?

It has NOTHING to do with the OBAMA'S, nor could either of them ever appear on it!

So refreshing, even with Mr. Haney!

Here is REAL beauty...

...so totally unlike the two in the post below, who merely think they are creative and wonderful!

NGC 602 and Beyond

Explanation: Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies 5 million year young star cluster NGC 602.

Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this stunning Hubble image of the region.

Fantastic ridges and swept back shapes strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the cluster's center.

At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the picture spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible in the sharp Hubble view.

The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years or more beyond NGC 602.

WARNING: May cause serious injury! UPDATE!

Obama's to Appear on "American Idol"

B & M, gettin' all giggly, or just jiggy, with it

The phonies are going to appeal for more of your money!

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I urge everyone to pray, whomever you are, and whatever religion you may follow:

Please, deliver us from Obama and all of his ilk.

Today's Visual Respite...