they kept me up

Different nights, same results, I could not fall asleep after reading
the book, "Next" and viewing the movie, "Melancholia." 

Garfield Park field house

Many buildings in Chicago are rectangular. Regular city lots measure 25 by 100 feet, resulting in long rectangular buildings.  It is a treat to be in a building round, enveloping, and fancy. Churches,  movie theaters (now many demolished) are places of beauty and grandeur.  As I take my children to park district classes I get to experience and marvel stunning architecture of park field houses.  I love the sweep of  marble staircases worn at the edges by so many footsteps.

Garfield Park also has to recommend a beautiful conservatory.  My favorite was the fern room. Heaven in the winter. I haven't been back since a huge hailstorm pounded and broke the glass panes last year.  Very weird, giant iceballs were a bad manifestation in July 2011.

Circular lobby.
For historical background, see link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfield_Park_(Chicago_park)

Upper level bounded by circular railing.

Crowned by ornate ceiling overhead.

Limestone (?) pillar detail.  Little face lost nose.

What conversation would
 these fine fellows have?

What do you wanna do?

 

I dunno, what do you wanna do?

Front facade.

Hope you've enjoyed this tour. 

What are some of your favorite places to visit?

What moves you about them?

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stand here, be awesome

My mother loves pansies, saying they look like little faces.

I try to get her some every spring early in the season.

Sometimes they self seed the following year escaping her merciless weeding.

Once the bloom is gone, she clears the path for tomatoes, her number one crop, top banana (so to speak) in her city garden.

The cutest thing in the (plant) world must be purple and yellow johnny jumpups

in a clump between cracks in the pavement.

Beautiful and temporary.

Don't get me started thinking about plants that went by the wayside in my life.

A few years ago someone (I suspect a member of a construction crew lunching on our front stoop) took a 5-gallon container with oleander from in front. 

A week later, the second one disappeared.  I kicked myself for not locking it up behind a gate.

Other losses to theft: A Meyer lemon tree in a container I could only push along, due to the bricks I put inside to discourage thieves.  They must have enjoyed the challenge. A palm underplanted with caladium.  Individual tomato seedlings in rapid succession.  All from the front.

Neat freaks can be inadvertently  or passively/agressively vectors of destruction too.

One year pansies seeded in cracks in a wall, those were plucked by a dear,

although overzealous relative.  Another time someone "cleaned" away moss I was cultivating on the patio. Yesterday (?) someone "helpfully"  dug up and pulled the roots of lambquarters I was happy to find and harvest in my plot of a community garden. I read about lambsquarters, purslane, wood sorrel being common "weeds" chockful of goodness. 

I took the roots and reburied in another section.  I'm hoping they'll spring back.

Sweet arrangement, dainty, tender, diminutive flowers. 

A little incongruous in a giant modern planter on busy, downtown  street.

Pavement and asphalt in every direction. 

Incongruous also to see a chalk drawing on the sidewalk downtown.

Stand here, be awesome, see yourself onscreen.

Smile for the camera.

Or look for a dark corner.

Impromptu clothes closet

This is a partial view of our back hallway.

I am pleased with my little neatening and repurposing project. 

I found a 4 or 5 tiered plant stand in the alley with little wooden trays. 

One day some of the trays gave up and fell to pieces to the floor. 

So this was the result of a deconstruction.

I looked at the remaining metal structure and a light bulb went off in my head.

The crossbars that face the front and back are more frequent that the ones on the side.

There is enough clearance on the sides to hang jackets for

my 10-year old son above and his little sister below.

The rack is pretty lightweight, so it is good that it is weighted down by her more numerous jackets. 

To save on room I used the kiddie sized hangers for Wisteria.

Above for Clement, I used thin, full sized, yet lightweight hangers, also alley picked.

Clement's jackets used to be on a little, very diminutive coat tree that was too small for his jackets. 

It is shaped like a multiple pencils and painted in primary colors.

 I'll repaint and use for hanging purses.

 Wisteria's jackets and coats were bunched up in a tall, tangled heap on the orange fiberglass chair

(the chair was about 5 dollars at a thrift store and I carried home walking/riding on a bus midday).

It was a hassle sifting though to find what she wanted. 

Also no one could sit down to tie their shoes and now they can! Yeah!

A salvaged low and wide shelf has a second life as a shoe rack. 

It is out of frame to the right of the orange chair.

A big basket on top holds, gloves, scarves and hats.

Yes, many were salvaged (and subsequently washed) post moveout from neighborhood alleys.

Thank you neighbors. 

This a a good solution for now.  I know they'll need a longer space as the grow. 

I purchased coat hooks and will have to figure out how to attach them to the drywall safely.

Years ago in an Anthropologie store I saw some attached to vintage-looking,

 decoupaged paper-covered wood planks. Not sure how they were meant to be mounted.

I have saved bits and pieces of wood from the alleys with the idea of DIYing something similar using old maps, calendar images, illustrations from nature magazines or fairy tales.

The teal bin to the left is used as a hamper for dirty clothes at the end of the day.     

tail to tongue, it's all good

Clement and school mate collaborated on art project.

Lovely watercolor.

 Bulk, lots of bulk, holding capacity for lots on monster prey.

I'd know those trademark teeth anywhere.

I love how they added pieces of paper until it was the size they needed.