Lights

Morton Arboretum's Illumination show is totally worth it. If you didn't make it this year, you should plan to go next year. 

Pretty lights and a few special interactive bits (hug a tree, sing to a tree), plus enough big fire drums along the trail to keep you from freezing.  Our favorite bit was probably the light show on the hill that was choreographed to classical pieces. 

Magical.

Hiking on the 1st Day of the Year

         

         

 

Turns out the best thing to do on the first day of the new year is take a chilly walk on the prairie. Extra nice that Scott was in town for the family walk. 

We were cold, but happy.

Lichen

There's nature in the city.

Deer Attack!! Aaaah!

Visiting my folks in Cincinnati for the week and brought my city dog along. My parents live in the city of Cincinnati, which might suggest that they actually have a city-living experience. But it's like I'm vacationing in the country for the week.

I sent LP out to do his usual morning business and he just about had a heart attack mid-business when one of these deer trundled out on to the lawn right next to him. This is a photo of mama and twin fawns later in the morning in the front yard, chomping their way through the salad bar that apparently is my mother's garden.

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.

Hi, Dad

It's maybe a little bit weird to put a picture of my Dad here. . . but it's such a handsome photo, and there's a lot of subtext here, as in any photograph, that's maybe not visible to the naked eye:

1. My mom took the photo with a small digital camera. She's not a trained photographer, though she clearly has a good eye and the day and the sky were really cooperating--because the set up of the shot and colors and the composition blow me away. So, for me, this is a photo both of my Dad and my Mom.

2. Dad is standing amongst soy beans near the end of a particularly difficult growing season in Ohio. Flooding after planting. Scrapping corn for soybeans. Then too dry conditions. It's a miracle these plants--the Plan-B plants--are there and so handsome for the shot. And a triumph for my Dad after a season of worry.

3. This photo is where I came from--people who work hard and make things with their bare hands. It's a proud start for me. It's a humbling start for me.

4. Nature's design is often the best design. . . which we all know, but sometimes, I think, forget. Especially those of us living in cities. Green and brown. Grey and green.

5. Plus, you know, subject/object, signifier/signified, Roland Barthes, yadda yadda. . .