28 February 2013, Day 268

As you may have noticed if you follow this blog regularly, i'm very fond of buskers. Even when the music isn't especially good, they can smooth the edges of a rough day and put a little sway in your step. These guys, however, are brilliant. They are called Adrian and Mark Duet, and even though i didn't get a chance to record them, someone else had the forethought to make this short documentary about them. You can also like them on Facebook.

27 February 2013, Day 267 -- Bonus Shot Borrowed from My Other Blog

I'm cheating a little, reposting a picture from my other blog, How to Build a Substation. I usually try to avoid posting the same shot on both blogs, but i kind of love this one and know that the two blogs have different audiences, so why not?

27 February 2013, Day 267

Another snowy day....

26 February 2013, Day 266

Alas, i have lost the ability to appreciate the pristine beauty of falling snow (especially when it is driven in nearly horizontal lines by gale-force winds). I look on this sparkling winter landscape and all i can think is that if spring doesn't get here soon i will need to be committed to a home for the terminally melancholy.

25 February 2013, Day 265

Jorge esta muerto.

I am sad to report the passing of my longtime companion Jorge el Curioso. I don't remember how or when we first met, but our relationship spanned two continents and many years. Unfortunately, Jorge suffered sadistic disfigurement of his eyes, mouth, and butt, before ultimately falling victim to monkey-cide at the teeth of a jealous dog. Adios, buen amigo! RIP.

24 February 2013, Day 264, Pt. 2

It is such a beautiful Sunday afternoon that i had to post this beach picture. I fear that my psyche is irreparably twisted as a result of having seen far too many movies, because the first thing that springs to my mind when i look at this lovely couple taking a romantic stroll on the beach is Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest in The Conversation. 

24 February 2013, Day 264, Pt. 1

Snowman du jour. 

Though lacking in stature and arms, today's snowman is better equipped in the wardrobe and nose department than yesterday's.

23 February 2013, Day 263

Small dog, big snowman

22 February 2013, Day 262

Random scenes from a snowy day

21 February 2013, Day 261

CTA worker changing lightbulbs while perched on a precarious ladder. I like how the reflecting tape on his safety vest catches the camera flash. 

20 February 2013, Day 260

Getting religion -- along with milk, spanakopita, and kitty litter -- at the Morse Fresh Market.

19 February 2013, Day 259

Alas! Yesterday's thaw has become tonight's hard freeze. It's that point in the winter when it's begun to feel like it will never end, and i'm finding it hard to feel inspired enough to take off my gloves and snap a picture. But at least it's shiny.

18 February 2013, Day 258

First little blooms of the season: a small patch of aconites nestled among last year's dead leaves

17 February 2013, Day 257

On his way to Rome to choose a new pope, this cardinal paused to rest his wings in a tree on Pratt Blvd. It's a good thing cardinals are so loud and persistent in their singing; otherwise, i would probably never have noticed him.

16 February 2013, Day 256

The Lincoln Park totem pole, taken from a speeding bus. I feel a great personal connection to this totem, carved by Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) artist Tony Hunt in 1986 to replace an earlier one that fell victim to neglect, weather, and vandalism. The Kwakwaka’wakw people were the subject and actors in In the Land of the Head-Hunters, the topic of my poor abandoned dissertation, and Tony Hunt is a descendant of George Hunt, who was instrumental in bringing a group of Kwakiutl people to the Columbian Exposition in 1893 and who also played an important role in the making of In the Land of the Head-Hunters. 

15 February 2013, Day 255

I ventured to the other side of Devon Avenue today on a mission to get hot cross buns from the Swedish Bakery in Andersonville. As usual, my self-control did not accompany me through the door of that temple to temptation, and i left with a diet-busting array of baked goods. 

Andersonville is a lovely neighborhood with so many beautiful houses, but this one on Berwyn Avenue is without equal. 

This is another of my favorite spots in Andersonville: Gordono's Parmacy/J.B.'s Deli. The combination of a drugstore and Jewish deli sharing a small storefront is in itself pretty unique, but it's also one of the few places in Chicago that sells bagels worthy of the name. Oh yeah, and then there is this pressed-tin ceiling and these beautiful vintage light fixtures. 

And finally, one of the greatest neon signs anywhere. I wonder if the handless clock with the missing 8-o'clock mark is a nod to the notion of immortality or just a symptom of disrepair.

*** UPDATE 02/16/13 ***

I just came across this story about the ornate house at 1430 W. Berwyn pictured above, with a link to pictures of the even more ornate interior. I've always been curious about the house, and this brief account of its history (complete with a multitude of scathing comments about the recently departed owner) does not disappoint.

14 February 2013, Day 254

Robins? Buds? Is it possible that winter will not last forever?

13 February 2013, Day 253

One of several very pretty Victorian-style houses on Glenwood Ave. in Rogers Park. These houses, with their meticulous paint jobs and gingerbread details always remind me of Cape May, NJ.

12 February 2013, Day 252, Pt. 2

What this guy was doing is a complete mystery to me, but he certainly looked interesting.

12 February 2013, Day 252, Pt. 1

It was the end of the day, and i'd just missed my train, so i stopped to take a quick picture. If i'd known that the next train wouldn't arrive for half an hour, i would have taken the time to take a better picture.

11 February 2013, Day 251

All our ducks are in a row and swaying wildly in the wind.

10 February 2013, Day 250

Every pristine snowy day is eventually followed by a gray and grimy thaw. It's not the frigid cold or the snow and ice that make me long for spring. It's days like today, when the temperature is in the 40s and the sky is devoid of color and brightness. 

9 February 2013, Day 249

The sky is so clear and blue today that i had to go with a daytime shot. 

I love the selectivity of photography. This snow-capped yew bush looks so beautiful and rustic here, like something you might see while cross-country skiing 100 miles from the nearest town. But in fact, it's outside of the sketchiest apartment building on the block, the place that i couldn't walk past for the past several days until the sun finally melted some of the ice and snow that nobody had bothered to clear off the sidewalk.

8 February 2013, Day 248

It may be a construction site right outside my window, and it may be noisy and disruptive, but for today at least it is inexplicably festive.

7 February 2013, Day 247

On the L platform at Morse, on an evening when the snow only seemed to add to the gloom, an unknown, unseen man either abandoned the formality and constrictions of his life for something more casual or simply melted away. 

6 February 2013, Day 246

Winterscape approaching Chicago

5 February 2013, Day 245

For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. - William Penn

4 February 2013, Day 244

Today was a sad and difficult day with little time for taking pictures. But this view of backyards in winter is one that i always enjoy visiting. Everything seems so peaceful and calm in this little corner of the world.

3 February 2013, Day 243

Before it was a supermarket, this site in Abington, PA was the home of a cemetery and an old farmhouse built in 1795 and is believed to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad. 

2 February 2013, Day 242

Abandoned porn palace, Market St., Philadelphia

1 February 2013, Day 241

Seen from the SEPTA airport line in West Philadelphia: historic Woodlands Cemetery framed by a long stretch of colorful graffiti.