See you next year

The unseasonably warm weather means the lights are coming off the house today. The ornaments will be put away and the tree will come down in another week or so.

Spring is just around the corner. Right?

Shaken, not stirred

The simple gin Martini served "up" (no ice) with olives is probably the drink that best symbolizes the cocktail of past business executives. You know, the two Martini lunch that lasted four hours and routinely showed up on expense accounts...

And, of course, "Bond. James Bond."

But I think of something else too. Remember Bewitched? Remember how Sam would have a pitcher waiting for Darrin when he got home from work? A PITCHER! No wonder he was able to tolerate his awful boss, Larry Tate. And, come to think of it, maybe Sam didn't really do those witch things. Maybe those were just Darrin's hallucinations from drinking an entire pitcher of Martinis every night.

Anyway, here's to you my friends: Sam, Darrin, James, and even you Larry-- "Cheers!"

Icicle season

The answer to the old riddle: What melts and freezes at the same time?


Oh sure, they're pretty, but some people have to use extreme caution around icicles. Yesterday Terri swatted one off the overhang just outside our front door and cut her hand between her fingers. During finals week, Saralyn was "almost killed" by one that fell off the roof of a school building as she was walking past.

Yes, I am surrounded by women who live life on the edge of danger.

Pavilion

On this beautiful, clear and crisp winter morning I went out to the nearby forest preserve with Morgan to test out my new wide angle zoom lens. (Yes, Santa read my 12/22 blog post.)

Hickory Creek (LaPorte Road Access) underwent a major renovation in 2009. This Frank Lloyd Wright-esque pavilion is brand new. I think it is as beautiful as it is practical.

Make it stop!

Obviously, Saralyn hates the sound of two pieces of styrofoam screeching against one another.

Either that or she just opened a gift box with a really ugly sweater.

Generations

Charlette (Charley, 11 days old) met great-grandma (Stella, 34,995 days old) on Christmas Day. Charley is Stella's 17th great-grandchild.

It seemed they both enjoyed the comfort of this moment.

Merry Christmas

Good morning

Is it an asterisk? A snowflake? A stick man? It's what I see when I wake up each morning.

Of course it's a ceiling fan and light. But when you don't have your glasses on and you just woke up and it's still dark, it really could look like any one of those other things.

Geek-tiques

Old stuff. Amazing, just a few years ago this was invaluable software. Now, it's on a shelf waiting for... hmmm, I don't know what it's waiting for.

Blog tool

When I first committed to posting a picture a day on this blog back in October, about half of the pictures were taken with my iPhone and the other half with this camera, a Nikon D60. Now I find myself carrying the Nikon with me on most of my travels.

The camera came with two zoom lenses: an 18-55 (this one) and a 55-200. I'd like to get a wide-angle lens to use as my "everyday" lens.

Santa, are you reading this?

Antique

You either love old-school decorations like this, or you are reminded of the new TV commercial in which one character tells the other that his decorations are "ho-ho-rendous".

Yum!

It's Christmas cookie time! Yesterday Terri made her iced vanilla cookies. They're mostly for friends and family, but I get to sample the broken and extra-crispy ones. And that's OK with me.

My beautiful girls

Misha, Terri and Saralyn. It's probably not fair to show this one of Sara, but she's still beautiful, even while making this face. And that is her personality-- beautiful and goofy.

And, they are all as nice and intelligent as they are beautiful. Am I lucky to be surrounded by such hot babes or what?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

As I drove through Southern Illinois...

Hurry-- they won't last long!

Squint

I remember decorating the tree when I was much younger. Mom taught me her trick for checking to see if the lights were done right. She said, "Sit across the room, squint, and look at the tree. That's how you find any bare spots."

This tree's peak doesn't have lights because there is a long skirt on the angel at the top. So, I'd say the squint test shows that this tree is pretty well-lighted. Hmm, except for that one bare spot near the top.

Comin' atcha!

Yeah, sometimes life feels this way.

(Photo taken heading east on Walnut in Murphysboro, Illinois.)

Whatzit?

No, it's not an aerial view of Chicago at night, it's a parallel port card from a PC of course.

Whenever I fly in to Chicago at night (and I've done it all of two or three times) the symmetry and architecture of the city reminds me of a circuit board such as the one shown here.

Does this make me a computer geek?

An old time Christmas decoration, Part 2

If you guessed four, you were correct! A great decoration, all three smaller Santas nest inside the big one.

An old time Christmas decoration, Part 1

Quick, how many Santas are here?

(Answer Monday morning at 10:10.)

Naked

Just a few weeks ago you should have seen the pretty colors this lady was wearing. But she shed those because she chooses to go through the Winter with nothing on.

Ho Ho Woof

Christmas Eve is two weeks from today. Are you ready for Christmas? Morgan is!

But Morgan, even though you put on your Santa hat, you're still not getting any egg nog.

Sailboat going up

I suppose this could be filed under the I don't really care what I'm doing at my job heading. This was one of the two pantings in my hotel room on Wednesday night. Both were hung sideways. The one over the bed had to be horizontal because there was no room for it vertically. This one, as you can see, could have/should have been mounted the correct way.

Home tonight

Room 327. It's one of these...I think.

I love this view. It looks like you could run as fast as you want-- forever, without running out of space.

Redrum.

A day full of Elizabeths

This photo was taken today in Elizabethtown on the southern edge of Illinois. (That's the Ohio River in the background.) The sign for Ms. Lizzie's Restaurant reminded me of my friend Liz who loves to cook and has a blog called lizziecooks. Then, shortly after I took this pic, I heard the news that Elizabeth Edwards lost her battle with cancer earlier this morning.

That's a lot of Elizabeth references in one day.

Cold morning

Close-up of frost on the inside of the garage window.

Slight revision to the "Greatest Story Ever Told"

Angel, three kings, and two bearded dragons visit Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus. Bet you never knew about the bearded dragons, did you?

What a difference!

Amazing, after we shoveled the snow off the driveway, the house looked completely different-- more like Playa del Carmen in August.

A bend in the road

Electric

This is why the lights go on when we flip the switch. I thought that the person who did this work must be someone who cares about symmetry and design-- an artist in electrician's clothing.

In honor of the artistic electrician, I played with the colors to give the photo somewhat of a Warholian effect.

Really?

Really? People have to be told this?

Yeah, some areas I travel to are places where the locals need to be reminded of these rules. I was going to write obvious rules, but I guess to some people, they're not.

Favorite bowl

We bought this 12” bowl from a potter at the Frankfort Fall Festival in 2009. It is my favorite bowl and the centerpiece of our table. Typically filled with apples or bananas, it's a shame the beautiful glaze work is is hidden beneath the food. (But I usually get to see it empty on the day before we go grocery shopping.)

Details

This is the base of a little tin three-drawer cabinet in our family room. I never noticed this detail until today.

Amazing what I see when I just look.

Decorated

For years it's been all clear (white) lights on the house. This year we went crazy and mixed red and clear. Oh my, what will the neighbors think?

Kokopelli

If you have ever been to the southwest, you've probably seen Kokopelli. The god of fertility, he dances and plays the flute-- spreading seeds as he does.

At our house, he does his magic in front of the magnolia bush and tall grasses. He also satisfies a bit of our urge to go back to the southwest. But just a little bit.

Kitsch

Is there anything more kitschy than a snow globe? Yes there is-- one with an over-marketed character in a seasonal costume! And Terri got one today as a special gift for braving the Black Friday crowds at JC Penney. Here's Mickey Mouse in a Santa suit with a really badly painted 2010 (or is that 2020?) on the chimney.

The Chri$tma$ season has officially begun!

Preparing for battle

I used to have a spot at the table. But not when the sale flyers are fresh.

This is phase one of what a professional shopper does on Thanksgiving day. Phase two comes after dinner when the sale papers come out again and all the sisters discuss strategy for their Black Friday operation. Phase three-- the attack phase-- begins well before dawn. Done with the skill and precision of a military strike, these professionals operate solo and will be in and out of the stores and back in bed probably before the sun and their husbands are up. (At least that's what happens at my house.)

Happy Thanksgiving to all! And beware of the Black (Friday) Ops taking place everywhere tomorrow.

Painted Lady

I just love the old traditional farmhouse. Dress it up in a Victorian color scheme and it's really a midwestern treasure!

This one is somewhere near Bloomington, Illinois.

Iggy and Seb

Meet Iggy (Ignatius) and Seb (Sebastian).

These guys are bearded dragons and about three months old when this picture was taken in July. At the time, Iggy and Seb tolerated each other, sometimes even liked each other as shown here.

Terri noticed that Seb was growing at a normal rate but Iggy was not. Feeding time seemed to be traumatic for Iggy so the folks at the Chicago Reptile House recommended separate housing for the two. It turns out those guys knew what they were talking about. Iggy has his own digs now and is almost as big as Seb.

Because they live in separate rooms, these former roommates don't ever see each other. They probably won't even get together on Thanksgiving.

Pineapples!

Pineapples encased in Jell-O is a staple at Terri's parents' house for any gathering. Not-so-much for the adults, but the grandkids go crazy for them.

Terri made a big dinner Sunday and even made pineapples for the boys-- now 16 and 18. It seems they are moving into the adult phase as, after two dinners, most pineapples still remain.

Jingles

Though we did not get around to decorating the house this weekend as planned, our yellow lab Morgan is ready for Christmas.

This is her "Jingle" collar that she wears throughout the Christmas season. She is such a good sport to humor Terri and me the way she does with her tolerance.

Yay!

This picture is from June 2009. Terri and I were hiking "the narrows" in Utah's Zion National Park. This is a unique hike because the river is the trail through slot canyons.

I am posting this and saying "Yay" because today I finally sorted through the 2,080 pictures we took and culled them down to a 94 photo album.

Whatever

Nothing says, "I really don't care about time!" like this clock does.

Old time laundry

This building is right next to a bed and breakfast I stayed at in Elizabethtown, Illinois.

The sign says "Ralph's Laundry" on the first line and "Charles & Eula Mae" on the bottom. It does not appear to be open any more.

Some day I'd like to know the story of Charles & Eula Mae Ralph's laundry operation.

Bricks or tiles?

While passing through Casey, Illinois yesterday I noticed several buildings with what looks like multicolor glazed bricks. Or are they tiles? I can't tell.

Anyway, I was taking this picture of the side wall of a commercial building and the County Coroner pulled in to the parking lot next to my car. He probably thought I was weird, but does he know this is not common in the USA?

Graffiti shack

Today I let my GPS take me a different way. This is what I found.

I knew how to get to my hotel, but Alfred-- my British-accented GPS-- suggested another route. I knew right away it was going to be country roads instead of highways, but I like that sometimes. And I thought, "Maybe I'll find my pic of the day going this way."

So I did. And I did.

On the back roads north of Carmi, Illinois, a few empty beer cans and some spray-painted initials on road signs mark the hangouts near the one lane bridges. This small building (maybe 16 by 20) happens to be right next to a bridge. I didn't see any beer cans nearby, but that's probably because the kids were too busy painting to drink!

I wonder if the owner enjoys the colorful expressions or if he sees it as vandalism. I hope he enjoys it. I sure did.

Clean and plentiful

These wind turbines are all over central Illinois. It makes me happy to see that we are embracing the alternative of clean, natural energy instead of relying strictly on dirty and poisonous fossil fuels.

On a related note, I saw a funny headline in the online edition of The Onion.  It said something like Accident at Offshore Wind Farm Creates Nice Breeze. Wouldn't that be a refreshing disaster!

Ahhh, fall

Cool dry air, vibrant autumn colors and a good breeze-- what a great fall this has been!

Downtown Chicago

It was a beautiful late fall night in Chicago. Terri and I ate at Lawry's Prime Rib (my first time, her second) and stayed just south of the Chicago River on Michigan Avenue. The half mile walk was perfect both before and after dinner. This photo was taken looking west from the Michigan Avenue Bridge.

Big cities may have their drawbacks, but they are so alive and that is what makes them exciting to me.

Arnie's corner

There's an intersection near where I work that has a bar, a fast-food restaurant, and a parking lot all with the "Arnie's" label. The remaining corner has a gas station that is probably owned by Arnie too.

I always get a kick out of the old school playful design and colors of this sign while driving past it. I finally had the opportunity to get this shot because, once again, I was waiting for a train.

Later, when I looked at the picture on the computer, I noticed a bit of a family connection with the train. My cousin Bill is a Senior VP for GATX-- and that's a GATX car right between the two legs of Arnie's sign. Small world.