Endless Forms . . . or Not!

I checked this book out of the public library, lost it, paid for it, found it again, then killed a mosquito that was crawling on top of it before returning it to the library for a refund. I found the sight of such a critter on the cover of this particular book quite ironic. That's her smooshed form that I ended right there on top of author Sean B. Carroll's name.

The Bean (Chicago)

Just a few more from Chicago

All but the first and third below are reflections.

Happy Chicago Asphalt Face

Images of Downtown Chicago

These are some random images from my day trip to Chicago the other day. Non-tourist versions perhaps.

Chicago Public Library Main Branch

I had never been in the main Chicago library before today. There are some really neat looking (and rather fancy and large) gargoylish birds on the roof corners. Inside there are about eight floors with lots of room for study. The security guards checked everyone's bags on the way out, including my purse. Life in the big city, I guess. Here you can see the roof detail, the main lobby area, part of the travel reference shelves, and a hallway we used to get to the main lobby.

Reflections (Chicago)

The same window can look very different depending on where you stand and what you catch reflecting in it. Three of these are the same set of windows, but the green one was nearby on the same wall.

Chicago 8-28-10

Went down to the Windy City this past Saturday just to walk around and take pictures, maybe climb what I am used to calling the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) and have a good lunch. Turns out the climb to the top of the nation's tallest building costs about $15 and I wasn't willing to spend it at this point in my life. But we did have a good time walking around in Millennium Park, up to the Tower and then stopping at the Chicago Public Library on the way back to the car. I have lots of photos to play with and a few to share here.

This is How it Happened Today

A flash, a flicker, and then thunder. The skies look like they’re gonna burst. I take a walk downstairs with my boss to accept a gift donation at the circ desk and on our way back, the lights go out. A few seconds later the emergency lighting comes on, helping us find the stairs. On the second floor, we all gather near the north-facing windows and chat, looking out at the sky, nothing to do without our computers. I read some John McPhee that I found in the book sale. The rains finally descend, fast and furious. After a while an announcement comes over the PA telling us that the library will close early due to the power failure. (I don't know how they make the PA work without power.) We dribble down to the lobby and judge the skies before some make a dash for their cars. Those of us who have to walk a ways hang back, chat some more, and stare at the strange sunshine that is now beating down along with the rain. I remove my shoes, put up my flowered umbrella and walk out across the plaza and into the puddles. The rains had fallen so suddenly and so heavily that the drains in their depressions across the concourse had backed up and made a series of shallow pools. I walk through as many as I can on my way to the south end of campus. The warm water feels so good on my tired feet. I continue all the way to my car, three blocks past campus, barefoot in the sun and rain. A man getting out of his car along Downer Avenue looks up at me and says, “You are just like a little girl walking home through the puddles.” I smile and laugh. Yes, I am.

Architectural Porn

While skimming through a new book in our library, Green Living: Architecture and Planning, I came across the following quote from the foreword written by Britain’s Prince Charles. The quote was planted next to a photo of a large, shiny, undulating building in a downtown area somewhere by architect Frank Gehry, hence the reference to him:

Architectural pornography: Eye-catching sculptures of steel and glass regularly get publicity and win prestigious architectural awards. But are they good buildings? They stimulate without inspiriting, they dazzle but often don’t function, and they usually leak. And, like pornography, people pay a great deal of money to have them; sex sells. We don’t mean to single out Frank Gehry, architect of this structure, nor even the entire class of “starchitects” who dominate the public’s attention. The criticism is really pointed at the starry-eyed public held in rapture, and the decision makers who consistently choose glamour over substance for the design of major buildings.

Next, read this description of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Brise Soleil, designed by Santiago Calatrava and shown in the photo above (photo taken from the MAM’s website):

Unprecedented in American architecture, the Burke Brise Soleil is a moveable, wing-like sunscreen that rests on top of the Museum’s vaulted, glass-enclosed Windhover Hall. The “wings” open Tuesday-Sunday at 10 a.m. with the Museum, close/reopen at noon, and close again with the Museum at 5 p.m.; except on Thursdays when the Museum closes at 8 p.m. This schedule is, however, subject to change without advance notice due to weather, special events, or maintenance (italics mine).

While the Burke Brise Soleil has a wingspan comparable to that of a Boeing 747-400, its two ultrasonic wind sensors automatically close the wings if the wind speed reaches 23 mph or greater. Unlike the airplane, the Museum prefers to remain on the ground.

The building may remain on the ground, but the budget for the project was anything but earth-bound. The Museum originally planned to spend around $40 million, but costs quickly took wing as the project went forward, resulting in a $120 million building that looks kinda pretty, but gave precious little bang for the big bucks in actual exhibit space afforded for the collection.

Was it worth pushing the Museum’s budget near bankruptcy to build this structure? That’s open to debate. It is quite a conversation piece and is Calatrava’s first major United States work, something we can brag about, but for $120 million, we could have gotten a lot more space for the Museum’s works and programs and maybe even had money left over to expand the collection itself. And I’m not an engineer, but anyone can see that these wings are going to be a lot more expensive to maintain and repair over the years, especially in our climate. I am convinced it’s not about the quality of the building, but about the name attached to it that both raised the roof on the budget 300% and allowed the plan to go through in the first place.

The Year in Martial Arts by Dwight Schrute

I just wanted to use that headline. This post has nothing to do with Dwight's annual year in martial arts workshop on The Office. I have been way busy lately with grad school, an awfully stressful divorce (as opposed to those easy ones I hear people go through all the time), more grad school and the various completion ceremonies of three out of four kids. Only one of the four will remain at his current school next fall. I'm talkin' crazy busy.

The camera still comes out, but more often than not I don't get photos off the thing for months at a time. Just to remind myself how to download and upload, I made myself work up at least one photo tonight. Nothing super spectacular, but maybe this attempt will prime the pump again.

This is an ornamental onion blooming in my yard next to a plum-colored Knautia macedonica, with chartreuse Lady's Mantle in the background.

Rusting Metal Tub, Hilltop

Hilltop pond, Spring Green, Wisconsin

You can read about Frank Lloyd Wright's life in brief on Wikipedia. The late Herb Fritz was one of Frank's architecture students at Taliesen and he purchased a bunch of land across the road from the school and named it Hilltop. A friend of mine rents a small house here where I spent this past weekend. The countryside is pretty and I enjoyed wandering around with my camera. There is a spring-fed pond up the side of a hill on the property - kinda neat because you have to walk uphill to get to the pond, set into a flattened step-like ledge of land just before a line of trees. When the horses are around, they come up here to drink.

Ravine Gardens State Park, Palatka, Florida

Ponce de Leon

This is the ceiling in Ponce de Leon Hall on the campus of Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. I had to use my flash. I tried to hand-hold it, but there wasn't enough natural light and I was a bit too embarrassed to lie down on the floor, which probably would have worked quite well to hold the camera steady.

I &hearts Gainesville!

This bent hunk of metal across the street from the University of Florida - Gainesville made a heart with its shadow. I think it might be a place to lock a bike? We were walking by and I noticed this at just the right moment. A foot or two further and the illusion is gone. &hearts

Gainesville Graffiti Wall

So I'm on vacation in Florida and I have begged my host to take me to Gainesville so I can see the University of Florida's libraries. After leaving the campus we headed off toward the Natural History Museum, but en route I saw this really long wall covered in graffiti. She left me there and went shopping while I spent about a half an hour or so exploring this display that stretched for several blocks along a busy street. We never did make it to the museum.

The sidewalk is also covered in paint, some of it purposeful and some of it obviously there accidentally. It's pretty either way. I think this wall must be a memorial of some sort, but I'm not sure. There was a plaque on the meridian with four or five names on it, but I don't know what the story is. If anyone knows, please leave a comment.


Love the palm trees (I'm such a northerner) and there I am, actually IN one of my photos!

This beautiful creature had washed up on the beach and just begged to be photographed. Of course it was dead, so I'm making that up, but isn't it pretty? It was about 10 or 11 inches across at its widest point.

Micro Landscapes

A micro landscape . . . imagine flying over this scene, somewhere far north where wind and snow cover a frozen river and hug the rocky cliffs.


This strange land is so rugged and wild. Who could survive out here? Who would want to?

Your plane passes over this amazing island in a sea of snow and ice. I know I may be biased, but I see a Schnauzer's head here. Could this be the fabled Schnauzerland? Let's back up a bit . . .

All of these micro landscapes are part of this seaweed-covered outcrop of rocks on Crescent Beach south of St. Augustine, Florida. The "snow and ice" is actually just sand. This whole area is only about 15-20 feet across. Cool!

Time for more travel photos

Having just returned from a week in sunny, warm Florida (NOT!), I will soon be posting a number of what I like to refer to as "non-traditional travel photos." I am particularly fond of the 1/8th-mile long wall of graffiti I happened upon in Gainesville. My host simply dropped me off by the start of the wall and went shopping, while I spent the time taking gabillions of shots of the wall. That was cool. We also walked in Ravine Gardens, a small state park in Palatka. Not the best time of year in Florida for the brilliant things, like azaleas and the like, but the area was beautiful with other things, such as palms, air potatoes (equivalent to our buckthorn, maybe?), bamboo (like our honeysuckle?) and streams and lily-pad ponds. Okay, lots of undesirable invasives, but exotic to my northern sensibilities. I have never seen so much bamboo and so tall! They are removing it by the truckload.

Stay tuned. They are downloaded, but I'm still digging out from the effects of a week's vacation.