Tag: Loyola Park

Here flies the banner…

Photo by Roman.

… of the Frost Queen and Her consort,
the Earl of Autumn.

They say Her Worship is the polar bear’s pajamas. But the Mister, He’s not so much, being Her mister-right-now, not mister-right. It’s a sinister business, if I may beg your pardon, but I predict She’ll be with Winter before long, Whomever that may be, as sure as the world spins.

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Photo by Roman.

As delicate as a silhouette against a shade, it draws the eye. Are we voyeurs to witness a leaf slowly shutting down, its life draining away to the greater tree, dreaming a blaze of sun-burnt color? Is this a guilty intimacy or a sacred sharing? Or is it after all only tomorrow is another year?

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Photo by Roman.

A drama fruit, a diva fruit, the apple of my eye?

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Photo by Roman.

The social gossip of courtiers… we heard it on the grapevine… which way’s the main stem… it’s the happening scene… the carnival crowd, grifters and peasants… in this strange, strange land where even the area codes are alien and beg repeating.

–Yip

Prey Ablaze

Photos by Roman.

The morning sun set the victim ablaze, as if it were not just meat and drink but rather a spirit of light.

“I am,” the bug declares, “an imaginary number borne away on a flood of neutrinos.”

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Photo by Roman.

Nonetheless it is still and fundamentally a meal…

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Photo by Roman.

And still alive and wiggling, perhaps impatient to be eaten though the prospects seem dim judging by the state of the web.

Flowers at the Beach

Photos by Roman.

I am loath to confess, but… I really can’t tell you what you are looking at except in the most general way: The Chicago Park District has been planting parts of Loyola Park with “native” plants, mostly as a way of encouraging the formation of dunes. It’s a cheaper way of preventing beach sand from being sent southward or away along with the winds and the wave action of the generally counter-clockwise lake currents. They’ve tried various wave breaks in the past, but dunes anchored by plants that go in for that kind of thing are at least more picturesque and more helpful for those years when the lake level rises. I assume these flowers are one of those favored species as the CPD has had volunteers out planting and weeding. Whatever they are, them flowers sure are purdy:

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Photo by Roman.
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Photo by Roman.

Sun After Rain

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Photo by Roman.

This seems appropriate as the past few days have had some pretty lively weather here in Rogers Park, Chicago, even though the photo itself was taken several weeks ago. As I type this, yet another wave of thunderstorms are headed our way. Will they make it here?

Yesterday, the storms arrived in the early evening with some spectacular straight-line winds from storms that were collapsing: “outflow dominant” as storm chasers might call it. The same storms had produced tornadoes out in DeKalb county and it added some suspense to the day to track them on their way here. Indeed, the radar animation was fascinating. It seemed as though storm cells one after another were being born just west of there in a continuous stream, like a bubble machine, all marching in a train aimed dead at us.

Straight-line winds can be every bit as troublesome as any tornado. On this occasion, the rain came down in clouds that broke in waves against the east wing of the building in great swirls that rose up against the west wing. And various unfortunate neighbors came home from their day that evening, very wet indeed. “Drowned rat” or “wet t-shirt” or simply “sodden” were words that came to mind. I hope no cell phones were ruined. Having been in those squishing shoes myself, there comes a point when distress is pointless. Wet is all there is, all there was, all there ever will be… until…

Here comes the sun…