November: Chicago Architecture Foundation's Chicago Model City exhibit

Mark and I went to the Model City exhibit at CAF (Michigan & Jackson) a few weeks ago but my silly camera batteries died (and hey, CAF, how about selling batteries in your gift shop?) so I couldn't take the millions of photos I wanted.  Yesterday I slipped out early and returned to do the exhibit full justice.


Sunrise on the river. The lighting is challenging for photographers because they simulate a 24-hour light change and even the brightest daylight is soft, to reduce shadows.

The exhibit is a completely fascinating sight, a scale model of the buildings of Chicago from Roosevelt to Halsted to (hmm, not sure of the north boundary) to the lake.  It's a lot of fun to crouch down and see familiar sightlines, and to pick out the buildings you know.  It even has a replica of the Bean!  I encourage everyone in town to go see it.  It was scheduled to close in November but someone from CAF let me know this morning that it has been extended.  So no excuses!

Website:  Chicago Model City

My Flickr set:  Model City

Here's a comparison:  the model view from UIC:

And the same view in real life:

November: Picture This Photo Contest Entry

My entry for this month's Picture This photo contest at Gardening Gone Wild. The theme is "The End of the Line," interpreted in any number of ways.

I took this picture at University of Illinois at Chicago today. The row of honey locust trees and shadows against the wall suggested prisoners grimly facing a firing line, and with a cold and windy winter coming, that isn't too far from the truth.

November: Campus goes to sleep

UIC's leaves have mostly fallen and the grounds (and the students) are getting ready for a long winter, but under today's autumn sunshine the campus was putting on a show.

When the leaves fall, hidden secrets within the trees are revealed

November: The Money Pit, part 6

Almost finished!

November: The Money Pit, part 5

After a full weekend of work, all of the carpentry is finished.

Saturday afternoon:

A tiny issue with the roof:  it was visibly not level.  It appeared that the back of the roof was level to the siding and the front was level to the ground, and since the house is not level, the roof looked a bit twisted.  This morning's task was to make the roof the same degree of unlevel as the house, which they did successfully.  Of course, first there was much shrugging of shoulders and muttering amongst themselves in Serbian.  We don't speak Serbian but "Give the client what they want, even if it makes no sense to me" sounds about the same in every language.  Too bad!

Today:

Pay no attention to the woman behind the tree; Foley does not like the camera flash and bolted for the door as soon as this was taken