Vacation Day 4: Smaller Picture

Mr. egret keeps hunting for frogs right across the street. Lucky us. . . unlucky frogs.

i love pipers.

beach conundrum. it's garbage and it's on the beach and we want to pick it up and throw it away. but it's covered in barnacles. . . so, now it's like it's a piece of a coral reef. we left it there. . . but who knows if we did the right thing?

Pillar Fini!

Senorita Caterpillar is complete!

Vacation Day 3

Was the perfect day (more will come. The ocean delights me, admittedly, and so nearly every day nearby the Atlantic is a perfect day). 80 degrees, sunny, crazy waves to entertain Dan (and by extension, then, us), a steady breeze from the south.

But we started the day with Senor Mockingbird:

There are three of them tucked in around our house. It's like Mockingbird American Idol up in here and they're all competing from 7:30 AM on.


the ocean view from inside our new L.L.Bean sunshade--high winds yesterday and it held fast!

North of us.

south of us. . . and in the bottom right hand corner, you can see the beginning of the sand walls that Dan I built to protect us from high tide. He was doubtful that they would work, but my more in depth beach experience won out. three rows of concentric sandwalls. . . and high tide never breached our defenses.

Dan loves being beaten up by rough waves. Some were twice his height yesterday. (If you look closely at the above photo, you can see the black top of his head and his little arm, just about to be squashed by a tidal wave. ) I joined him for a half hour and it was rough. . . but super super fun. I don't know how folks vacation in places were the ocean is as placid as a bathtub. They must get so bored.

Long Drive

It's a long drive from Chicago to the Outer Banks of North Carolina--about 1100 miles. It took us two days in our wee VW wagon. Through the plains, the heart of it all, the mountains (holy fog, VA?), the lowland marshes, before finally arriving at our destination.


Something a little sad about the drive. Heading to the beach in Fall feels off--the leaves are changing, no other cars on the road loaded with beach balls, lots of places feel quiet and forgotten.

the forlorn pool outside our hotel in Charleston.

Even the golden dome of Charleston looked a little morose.


A short break in Raleigh to have lunch with Scott at Lilly's Pizza (seriously good pizza and these funny bathroom doors).


L.P. figured, once on the beach, that all 20 hours in the car had been worth it. . . and then we took him to the kennel downshore. (never fear, we will break him out on the weekend for fun, but our rental house doesn't allow dogs).

Embroidered Pillar

Working on a new project. Always enjoyed embroidery, but haven't been inspired to do any of late. . . until about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Not very interested in traditional embroidery (I mean, I think it's gorgeous and i wish I had the patience), more interested in using it the way an illustrator might use colored pencils. Much more illustration-y.


I'll show you when he's all done!

a little more love for Chicago

My uncle just asked Dan and I the other day if we could think of Chicago as home, if we saw ourselves still there in our dotage. I actually think about this a lot. It's an expensive place to live. I think it was Forbes that just rated Chicago as the most stressful place to live in the country. But I love it.

Look:




It's an architectural wonderland. Living by Lake Michigan is almost like living by the ocean (without all of the car eroding salt and sand). And I'm madly in love with the unknowability of Chicago. NYC is daunting. Too huge. But Chicago is just big enough to not be able to fully know in a lifetime, while still small enough to give the illusion of feeling familiar and known. So, there's always this mixture for me in Chicago of comfort and ease and then suddenly being knocked out by something brand new and unexpected.

I love it.

I really do.

"It's a shame about our city."

Said Liam when we first arrived at the top of the Cobb. And then he said, "Where's the grandeur?"

Funny.

Chicago at sunset. Wish you could have been there.

Zapruder Point Week

It's been a musical week for Dan. Performance at Cole's on Tuesday and then tonight to the top of the Cobb Towers (Marina City) to film Dan, Elizabeth (from Canasta) and Liam (from Frisbee) performing "Steps from the Lake" for the Chicago Public Library Chicago song contest. Bob C was our ticket up and Camera Operator 2.

The music and the city were lovely.

light and linoleum

And Cole's had the most beautiful combo of floor and lighting.

Dan plays Cole's

and it was great!
(and so were Eric z and Denise Hadrecky!)

Hurry Up. Wait,

The fabulous Jill Huntsberger has a new blog (Hurry Up, Wait) that catalogs her work-travel exploits. Strange food, strange art, strange hotel carpets. And because the fabulous Jill Huntsberger is less likely to stay in large corporate hotels than she is in B&B's and kitschy themed hotels (think concrete teepees built in the 50's or silos converted into motel rooms), there are likely many odd and lovely stories to come.

Check it.

Hello Hiram!

New little mousy on the fivetrees etsy site.

Summer's End Garden

3 kinds of nasturtiums and hyacinth beans.

Weekend Fun

Renegade, then sushi.

How do I explain the cuteness?

Lest I Forget to Look Up. . .

I've been spending so much time scouring the streets for tiny reflective robots that I quite forgot that I had recently pledged to spend more time gazing at the sky.

But never fear, post from Britain provided reminder galore today.

I am a bona fide member of the Cloud Appreciation Society(undoubtedly, though, if any of the rest of the society members see this and my use of "bona fide" as an adjective in this way, my membership might be revoked. . . so, please keep it between us if you will).

Henceforth, forthwith and thusly, it would be ill-advised to use "cloudy" pejoratively around me or I might soundly rebuke you as required by my new position in society.