Elsita

I've been a fan of Elsita on Etsy almost as long as I've been doodling about on Etsy. I was most attracted to her 3-D work--her little felt and paperclay people and her 3-D paper cuts of honeybees.

But this print is the perfect blend of cute v. creepy that I love so much.

Freddy's

There are a few downsides to where we live (note my last post and L.P.'s downward spiral into gangland tagging), but there are so many little upsides, that we hardly even notice. The Oak Park Farmer's market so close by. The Lake movie theater. Our cute little backyard. Still being close to the Blue Line on the CTA. And Freddy's--a tiny Italian market/restaurant/gelateria--within walking distance of our house.

Located on 16th and 61st Ave., Freddy's has changed some of my cooking habits--probably for the slightly less healthy, though also for the significantly more tasty--and they've ruined me for ice cream. Their gelato and their ices are amazing. . . best in town.

Yesterday Dan and I went for a walk with the L.Pster and on the way, stopped at Freddy's for little ices. Dan had Chocolate and I had Lemon. . . and how did they make the Chocolate taste so creamy?!?!?

They're Magicians.

L.P.: in a gang?

I don't know what "L.P." stands for in sidewalk/street maintenance land. So instead of figuring that out, we decided that, in a town with its share of gang problems, our boy L.P. has started to act out and stray from the straight and narrow path.

Maybe he sneaks out of the house in the thick of night and tags the neighborhood while we're sleeping.

He certainly stood next to his spray-painted name with enough pride today to make us suspect our imaginings to be true.

The Farmer's Market Is Back

Winter in Chicago can drag on forever and ever. . . except that eventually the farmers' markets come to neighborhoods all across the city, chasing winter away.

This is our first visit of the year to the Oak Park farmer's market. The OPFM is a very special market. Good farmers have good produce to sell, but there's also a bluegrass band that plays every market, rain or shine. And there's a group that sells the most amazing freshly made donuts--powdered, plain or cinnamon and the cinnamon are the best hands down. Sometimes, I think the OP crowd can be a little self involved and that translates often to rudeness, but if you can focus on the donuts, the music and the sweet sellers, it's a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

How bout them apples?

I don't know if these little guys will make it to full adult applehood or if I will get to eat them in the Fall. But these are the first to appear on our five trees and I'm just so super excited.

Here's hoping that I have a picture in September of me eating one of these. . . but the happiness of expectancy is good enough for now!

street lamp art

Udo

Memorial Day my fella and I spent the evening with our buddies Justin and Chris. LP was invited to play with their beast Udo. I say beast, only because he is exactly five times larger than our little pup. But he's actually a big sweet teddy bear of a dog.

new bunny

oi! new bunbun!

half naked

all dressed for outdoor spring fun.

Beans

The beans are even pretty before they go into the ground.

so lovely from their point of view

The Blackstone and Spring Magic

The best kind, really. This week I've been discovering all kinds of delightful things in the Chicago sidewalk planters, but this one is extra special. The Blackstone Hotel has been taking care of this one for about a month and I've walked past her several times and peeked. But yesterday was the big exciting day for her and us.

Come on. Let's go take a look.

Do you see her?

How bout now?

Bah! There she is. Mrs. Duck. . . and she's not alone.
The eggs just started to hatch yesterday.
I've been thinking how amazing and cute my bush beans are that just started coming up in the garden, but they don't hold a candle to ducklings.

OMG

So, I'm thinking about composing a song (knowing nothing about composing songs) as a tribute to a brand new kind of spring happiness.

It will be titled: OMG (There's Apples on My Apple Tree).

This is the third year of growth for the five apple trees of "fivetrees" fame and at least three of them are actually producing. The apples are too tiny to display yet, but I will try to capture them on film, before neighborhood squirrels capture them in their tiny gaping maws.

Happy Manifest Leftover

Going to work yesterday, I noticed a few little leftover goodies from Manifest that I hadn't noticed on the day. It was such miserable weather that we were all scurrying from building to building missing some of the weird magic that often appears out on the street during Manifest.

So, imagine my happiness when I found little garden buddies in the planters outside of my office.

I'll lead you to him. Watch.

He's in there.

you see him?

There he is!
And on the other side was his little green buddy.

The Fabulous Jill Huntsberger. . .

needed a wok, so we went on a quick after-work sojourn to Chinatown. A quick in and out.

Jill got her wok and I got butterfly cookies and a surprise gift for the husband. . . I don't know if this is just a thing in U.S. Chinatowns, but there are stores in Chicago Chinatown that wrap miscellaneous cheap gifts in newspaper and put them in a bin for $2.00 each. You buy a box not knowing what you're getting. So, a surprise gift for Dan and for me, the purchaser.

The weather here is finally nice--nearly settled into spring/summer. And so a trip to walk around the stores south of campus seemed like just the thing. The time of year when it feels like, even after work, there are hours of daylight and sunshine and warmth to burn.

Thanks, Jill!

Mincing Mockingbird

Mincing Mockingbird on Etsy is awesome. Everyone knows it. Completely beautiful prints of paintings of birds that sell very well. . . but for my money, it's the titles. The unbelievably awesome titles for what could amount to, for lots of people, nature paintings. Check out the paintings below with attendant titles. Brilliant (in the cool British slang-y meaning of that word).

The Prodigal Son Returns, Bearing Gifts of Vengeance I have Seen The Interiors of Cloud Formations That Make Your Cathedrals Look Like Wal-Marts My Ability To See Into The Future Is Contingent on My Getting A Balanced Breakfast I admit it. I'm a little jealous.

Carousel

The Lincoln Park Zoo carousel gets its own post--because as complicated as I always eventually find visits to zoos, there's nothing complicated or remotely depressing about a carousel.

Except, of course, whatever happened to the brass ring!?!

So many cool critters to choose from for the ride. . .

at the Lincoln Park Zoo you can ride a baboon around in a circle while he eats a banana.

this was my ride--panda eating bamboo

Dan's so "over" the carousel.
He's generally too cool for school in pictures. . . it's one of the many ways he makes my life a funnier and happier thing to live.
(sometime, maybe, you will get to see the pictures from Christmas of Dan being too cool for the Chinese modern toy exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum, too cool for the giant Clifford the Big Red Dog at the Natural History Museum, too cool for the live creche at the Krohn. . . it just kept getting funnier and funnier)

elephant.
(i know all my animal names)

More Catch Up--Zoo

Last summer, realizing that we live in a world class city that we don't take nearly enough advantage of, my husband and I went on a "Staycation"--the new thing that's all the rage in these troubled economic times. We were planning a trip to California. . . but after airfare and hotel costs, we would have had less "fun money" than we would have liked. But stay in Chicago and we could pretend to be rich for a week and do whatever we wanted.

We made a big long list of things we wanted to do--Second City show, museum trips, architectural boat tour, Kuma's Corner, etc.--and we did a lot of it, but we also had a lot leftover. And that staycation reminded us to take advantage of town more. . . that we didn't have to wait for a week vacation to get that done. So, this past weekend we had brunch in town and then walked to the Lincoln Park Zoo and rode the carousel--crossing one more thing off the list. Dan had never been and it was a beautiful spring day and we were lucky to have spent the day out in the sunshine. . .

ape house entryway. . . so stately.

This guy was awesome. He completely freaked the little kid who saw him right before us. There was shreaking and uncontrollable giggling. Stuck right to the glass.

My favorite monkey. He was actually green. Though the apes and monkeys always make me a little sad. All of the zoo makes me a little sad--all of those enclosures. But the monkeys and apes are the smartest (outside of maybe the elephants) and I feel like I look into their eyes and I know that they know. And I wish I could bust them all out.

An animal we don't have to feel badly for. A little blue cow (modeled by Daniel) straight form the belly of the Mold-A-Rama. Eventually we'll have a complete set from all of the Chicago musuems and sites.

Done and Done.

How awesome is this?

So awesome that my new friend, Quinn, needs one of these?

I think it's possible. I think it's just the thing for the nursery of a boy we never expect to kill a thing for real bona fide animal taxidermy in his long future life--not if his ornithologist mom's got anything to say about it. . .

Certainly awesome enough for you to consider getting one for yourself off Etsy at Cardboard Safari's shop.
Etsy just keeps getting cooler and cooler.

Manifest redux

The last thing I saw before I left campus--wet and tired and a little sad that it was over after the long wait:


So it ended for me where it began, with Rachal Duggan's little "nun ladies". . . though these were person-sized. Fun.

Manifest Carcam

So, Manifest was smooshed under rain--which killed a lot of the outdoor festival fun. But we were still able to set up Kari's Carcam and the knit/crochet students. And all of the shows inside were stupendous. I feel terribly for the graduates that their final parade was rained on. . . but it was still an impressive collection of art and performance.

Some of my favorites:



James Kinser being smart and witty and gorgeous

detail from Amy Jacobs' heartbreaking "An Everyday Absence"

detail from Erin Cramer's "Funeral Procession"

The Carcam kids--Ashley, Marcus and Ayisha. So great. They look like a band or maybe a sassy multi-culti crime fighting trio.

Also loved loved loved the Musical Theater "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" presentation.

Love is. . .

as it turns out. . . I think this graffiti artist is a student at Columbia, because they hung some of their work in a show during Manifest. Such a huge arts festival that likely no one put two and two together, but not the smartest move.

My guess is that nothing will happen to Columbia's graffiti-er. But I offer this as advice to all of you young budding artists out there--graffiti is illegal. Period. If you damage private property for four years and then broadcast that fact formally right before graduation--you may find yourself with an extra 4-5 figure bill attached to your tuition bill to cover the cost of that repair work.

Dangerous business. . . that's why graffiti artists use tags, not their actual signatures, you know?

Best Friend's Wedding

So, I have formally stopped rating or ranking weddings I have attended. As it turns out, I have amazing friends, strange and unique friends, friends who are more concerned about spending the rest of their lives with their partners than with planning the perfect party. . . and as a result, every wedding I have been to in the last 6 years (including my own and my brother's) have been very personal, very unsual and very beautiful. Each incredibly different.

But Jess's wedding last weekend was extraordinary--right up there with all of the other fab weddings (shout out to Al and Hale in Savannah and Salida respectively) I've been to of late. But her wedding (or not-a-wedding as she calls it since the State of Illinois doesn't recognize her love or formal commitment in a legal way yet) included a level of vulnerability in the room that I've never seen before--she and Jet were surrounded by love and generosity and warmth. And Kawika dancing for them to "In My Life" by the Beatles? Blurg. Not a dry eye in the house.

Here's where they got married:

Stan Mansion

posh.

Hello Again!

I've been away from here for a bit--overwhelmed and very happy with readings and weddings and arts festivals and the million projects that went along with being a part of all of that.

But I'm back and I will catch up bit by bit, because I have photos galore from the last two weeks!

One of my best friend's wedding to her beloved--I will only include figurative photos from that event--because it was their special day, so what right do I have to post pictures of them publicly? (but if we're buddies on Facebook, check it out there!)

Columbia's Manifest--rained on horribly, but still fabulous nonetheless.

Gardening. Graffiti. All of the usual awesomeness.

ants on my peonies. . . yeah

There are ants on my peonies which seems like very good luck to me. . . because all of the bad connections of ants and peonies are all old wive's tales. This is just a natural symbiotic relationship that should happen with peonies and ants. And if that can happen, even in the city, then all must be right with the world!

Campus Sculpture

I think this is both ingenious and disgusting. That may very well be the point. But this is a sculpture that showed up on campus yesterday. A full-sized smoker made entirely out of discarded cigarette butts.

Hope the artist used gloves while building it.

part of Manifest? I don't know. . .