The window-washers think nothing of what they do, hanging and spinning like spiders off the sides of our buildings. To those of us inside, they are sometimes a nuisance (especially if they appear outside our bedroom windows before 9 a.m.), but there’s also something bold and outlandish in their craft.
I wish I knew the truth about Mr Fisher
The Fisher Building‘s exterior exudes the pride of artisans, who crafted the ornamental details that cover its surface. This elaborate arch over the south entrance is characteristic, integrating aquatic motifs with traditional Gothic ones to memorialize the original owner by whose name the building is known. The undersides of the window-bays are richly decorated, repaying…
Mr. C’s masterpiece
This is Chicago, after all. A lot of pride goes into making a classic dog. Sometimes we even make the pilgrimage and buy from these guys.
The drama of the dunes
The massive sand drifts on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan form a terrain that is rare and spooky. Its novelty entertains us in the summer, when the sun is warm and hiking in brings the childlike sensation of being in an enormous sandbox, monumental enough to fascinate even the blasè. In the off-season, the…
Going
A happy second marriage has been one of Fate’s more surprising gifts to me. After a first marriage that dead-ended in misery, the chance of a re-beginning presented itself in the form of Mr. C. Each of us is a world within ourselves, which only a few others are given to explore. Mr. C’s universe…
Grant against the Gray
The Grant equestrian sculpture in Lincoln Park is one of my favorites. I take a picture of it whenever I can. On this day, Grant and his horse were engulfed in gray, which, being the color of the Confederate uniform, was probably not the happiest circumstance. But apt. The setting and grand stone base help…
Hothouse
The old conservatory in Lincoln Park is the ideal resort on a dull winter day. There, life, light, and the obscene fecundity that troubled Werner Herzog crowd out any suggestion of snow or the long seasonal sleep. Here we enjoy a wonderfully domesticated display of the exotic, inside a structure designed to coax nature into…
Consolation on parting
I took this picture just after seeing my sister off at the Jackson stop of the Blue Line. After a delightful if too brief visit, she was bound for O’Hare and a flight back to her family in the Twin Cities. We see one another a few times a year. It was a terrible letdown…
Corinthian
Once you notice them, they are everywhere. Columns, with varied capitals. Corinthian, Doric, Ionic, even some they didn’t teach you in elementary school. I love these old-time building facades, with their heavy, overdone, enthusiastic quality. This one is the base of the Edison Building, on Adams. The whole building is covered with patterned brick and…
Rural traffic jam
The rural traffic jam had its compensations. There was time, while sitting on the road below Milwaukee, to admire the color gamut and the grainy texture of the dirty snow. The telegraphed serenity of the twilight households. There was time to acknowledge the moon’s splendor too.
Farm silhouette
A drive to Wisconsin yesterday gave me a chance to enjoy the tranquility of the country. The twilight was beautiful as it fell over this farm and its sleeping fields.
The implied city
To walk this stretch of park is to tread the very fringes of the city. To the left of the park, with its driving range and harbor, lie only the ribbon of Lake Shore Drive and the Lake. From the right, across the park’s patchy dimness, lights from the nearest congested neighborhood stream. In the…
