On Thursday, some co-workers and friends headed over to Chicago’s Christkindlmarkt for our annual tradition of celebrating Wĥäłĕņċħőŵĕŋ, a ridiculous fake holiday we made up several years ago. Unfortunately, Lufthansa nearly ruined our celebration this year because they booked an entire tent at the fest, meaning we had to sit outside and freeze for several hours until we couldn’t take it anymore.
We still had fun, though. Lufthansa, you won’t bring us down!
Yesterday, we went for a long walk up Milwaukee Avenue, and I took some pictures. Since we left the house around 3 or 3:30, it got dark while we were walking, which meant that some of my pictures from the walk are much darker than others. Actually, on a whole the collection is sort of non-congruous, which might be because Milwaukee changes quite a bit as you walk northwest from my neighborhood. Just north of my house, it’s rather sparse and open, but past Logan Square it changes and becomes much more closed in, with old retail shops, some of them rather run down, crowding both sides of the street. That said, it’s always a nice walk, and makes for excellent people watching.
The moon looked really pretty above this building, and I liked the way the street lights made the building look so orange. It contrasted nicely with the blue sky.
Butt mannequins are a pretty common sight in Chicago. They always crack me up.
I’m sort of obsessed with neon signs, so this hotel sign was an obvious subject for me.
On Saturday, I helped my friend Kat, who’s a teacher, with an art project she was doing with students from her school and their parents. The idea was to inform students about all things water–access to clean drinking water, privatization of water, the pollution created by bottled water–first through their classes and then also through the art project.
For the art project, Kat and her students first gathered up hundreds of water bottles over the course of several weeks. Then on Saturday, we all worked together to clean the bottles, string them together, stuff them with tissue paper, and then hang them as a sort of curtain over the front entryway of the school. I think it sort of looks like a waterfall!
We also started another project, which we finished on Sunday. More on that in the next post.
Last night, I worked on recording a song I wrote called “Goodbye Summer.” I originally posted about this same song back on day 239 when I first wrote the lyrics, but I’ve taken my time actually setting the words to music.
By the way, when I first wrote the lyrics, I was planning to call the song “Seasons Change,” but I decided to switch to the new name because I prefer song titles that come from the words of the chorus.
I’m curious which song name you prefer. Do you like Goodbye Summer or Seasons Change?
On the way home from work on Friday, I made a doodle of a sailor that I saw on the train. On the way to work earlier that day, I finished a doodle of the Sears Tower, which is, of course, now called the Willis Tower.
Just a few photos from my Friday evening.
Just a few photos of the leaves changing on the trees out in front of my house in Chicago.
Last Friday, we went to the Hideout to see Eiren Caffall–my friend Zach is in her band! ‘Twas a fun show!
On Sunday, I worked on a second attempt at a Christopher Walken portrait, since making a drawing of Walken is a goal of mine on my list of 32 things to do before I turn 33. I must say, this portrait is definitely better than the last one, but I don’t think I’d call it passable yet. Maybe next time!
Making Made 