… barks at radiators and refrigerators
and anything audible that stops and starts
as it can’t hurt to be alert:
the world is so huge and overwhelming
with the universal stench of humans
and a tiny dog at home is so very alone,
even having to pee where other dogs will
never smell.
It’s almost inevitable: The dog wants to smell my pictures and the camera can’t resist a ludicrously exaggerated nose. Well, who could? Not me.
The dog was singularly unimpressed by a camera…
Photo by Roman.
The above popped up on a lamp post at Touhy and Sheridan recently. It appears to be signed, you’ll note.
This dog has a stylistic resemblance to a dog from last June:
Though that dog was unsigned… I expect to find others around the Rogers Park neighborhood and indeed just yesterday I found another at Morse & Ashland…
Photo by Roman.
Posted above a spot where many dogs might choose to leave a message of their own… but given that it doesn’t smell or move, maybe this is not intended for dogs but instead exhorts the human to live up to their dog… ?
You might think of this video from Joe Cappa as a dog’s version of the movie Get Out… or maybe not. It doesn’t try to make any larger commentary. It just takes the horror genre and plays with it:
“A rescue pup discovers its new home is haunted by the family’s deceased pets in this mind-bending horror.”
Here are two strays from the 2021 Artists of the Wall. I’m pretty sure these are panels I missed photographing back in 2021 or perhaps I simply did not like the resulting photos. Though… I have seen panels replaced or elaborated over the year that they’re on the wall.
I’ve been revisiting some old photos, taken with a largely automated Pentax film camera. They were scanned from prints several years ago.
These are some images captured from the annual Artists of the Wall event in Chicago’s Loyola Park at the turn of the century. It would be nice to say these document the event, but the artists are all unknown to me.
Click on any image tile to enlarge it.
Here is the annual storm chasing anthology for 2021 from my favorite weather videographer, Pecos Hank (25:57):
It’s not all-weather, so to speak…
Two interesting dog ideas that have come and gone in Chicago’s Loyola Park.
This first (above and below) was from 2009, before the tax on plastic bags: a station in the park filled with plastic grocery bags for dog-walkers to use for picking up the doggy-do. Lacking a dog, I had an abundance of plastic but somehow never got around to making a contribution. On the other hand, I have yet to leave a deposit on the lawn…
The second idea manifested in the final months of 2021: a stick-lending store for dogs. It was ultimately chased out of the park by a pack of frantic dogs: a sort of canine Black Friday shopping riot.
(Wait a minute. You’re taking me seriously? Seriously? I don’t know what happened. My choice for most likely is that the Park District removed it as they generally do. But maybe not. Maybe it was chased out of the park by a pack of joyfully enthusiastic mutts, each yelping it’s hunting cry of “Sticks! Sticks! Sticks!” Which would you prefer?)
[Post Script Spring, 2022: It’s back. Or maybe it never was really away…]
Yip Abides 