25 July 2014: Gone Fishin'

Dear Reader,

I am taking a break from this and my other blogs for the next couple of weeks to focus on personal and professional matters. I hope to return by mid-August. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves.

23 July 2014: Surf's Up!

Lake Michigan is flexing her muscles this morning,
doing her finest impersonation of an ocean. The surf is roaring,
the wind is blowing, the swallows are swooping,
and the air is clear and cool. What a morning!
Drop everything and head to the beach:
days like this are as rare as they are wonderful.

22 July 2014: A Bumper-Crop of Fungi

It might seem frivolous or escapist of me to focus so often on the small quotidian details of life in Rogers Park at a time when our neighborhood seems to be under siege. Each day brings news of yet another shooting, and i've even wondered if maybe i should leave this place i love. But ultimately, the fact that i do love this neighborhood -- fiercely -- makes me reject that notion. We've been through hard times before; hopefully this latest wave of violence will soon be resolved, and life in our beautiful community will return to normal. In the meantime, i will continue to celebrate the beautiful, the strange, the charming, and the inexplicably weird elements of life in Rogers Park. It's just my way of reminding myself and my readers what a precious place this is. 

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On that note, here is a chronicle of the latest crop of bizarre fungi growing on a lawn on the 1400 block of W. Farwell. The cool weather and heavy rains this summer seem to be especially conducive to the proliferation of fungi. Doggie Demeanor has graciously lent her assistance in providing a sense of scale to the pictures; admittedly, she is a very small dog and objects placed next to her may appear larger than they would if shown in juxtaposition to a Bernese Mountain Dog, but these are some huge 'shrooms!

NB. I know absolutely nothing about mushroom identification and, as a rule of thumb, assume that these, like any fungi  that i haven't bought in the market, are poisonous. 

Sunday, 20 July: What looked like four giant golf balls perched on their tees emerged on the lawn. 

Monday, 21 July: The "golf balls" have developed into classic mushroom shape 

Tuesday, 22 July: The caps have flattened a bit and gotten even larger. To the naked eye, they are a pure, bright white; the photos make them seem to be glowing in a strange otherworldly way.

Yikes! It looks like Doggie Demeanor is pooping UFOs!

19 July 2014: Lotuses

The lotuses in the pond in the Hare Krishnas' garden
are just about ready to bloom. I confess that i never
noticed them before today, but isn't it nice how they
blend with the painted lotuses on the sign?

18 July 2014, Pt. 2: Rogers Park, a Love Story

This has been a tough week for us Rogers Parkers. After the tragic death of William Lewis on Saturday and the shootings near Farwell and Greenview on Wednesday, i don't think that i'm alone in feeling a little bit afraid in this neighborhood i love. In the fourteen years that i've lived in Rogers Park, i've seen a lot of ups and downs. When i first moved here back in 2000, things were so bad that i used to walk an extra four blocks from the Loyola L stop rather than risk walking from Morse after dark. But this time, i even considered, however briefly, whether maybe it was time to find a new place to live.

Even though the events of this week have truly rattled me, i've been reminding myself of the resilience of this neighborhood and its people, of how we don't let these relatively infrequent outbursts of violence define us or drive us away. Then yesterday afternoon i walked to the beach with the dog, as i often do. It was a beautiful day: the sun was shining, the lake was sparkling, there were kids playing in the sand, bicyclists, couples strolling along the path, old folks sitting on the benches, and the man pictured above strumming his guitar and belting out "Free Bird" at the top of his lungs. And i stopped. And i smiled. And i remembered that this is the Rogers Park i love. 

This is home. 

18 July 2014: Rehab Barbie

Rough night, Barbie? Woke up under a tree again?
Maybe it's time for an intervention.

17 July 2014: Playing with Picasso

This picture was taken yesterday at Daley Plaza.
Music was playing and the kids were dancing and playing on the Picasso
 -- a sight that always cheers my heart.