blue and gray, summer grouse

As the heat index tops 104 degrees,

I think back to a cool, blustery evening spent on the shores of Lake Michigan.

John Hancock building and Drake Hotel on the left margins.

Icy waves.

Overcast skies. A wee bite in the air.

Lakepoint Tower, you look so alone and cool.

Jacket weather in Olive Park.

I miss you jacket weather.

Summer, not to complain too bitterly, but you're drooping my "O."

Tourist Attractions

Bad Ass Coffee.

I had my husband pull over so I could take pictures. 

 Love the simple, lazy name; tight, red typeface crowded over the doorway.

Taken October 2010 when visiting family in California.

Giant eyeball sculpture.

Downtown Chicago summer 2009.

Redwood Forest, Armstrong Woods, California 2010.

Air smells amazing.  Feel oxygen making every cell of my body sing.

Depressingly, about 96% of original forest cut down in California.

Sadder yet, compare with Illinois, 1/100th of 1% of original

prairie and oak savannah remain,

on fringes near railroad tracks and old graveyards.

Stare down. Big dinosaur. Field Museum, Chicago, 2009.

Lake Michigan, Chicago lakefront.

Windy day bridal party,

taken near Alder Planterium, 2008?

autumn interrupted

with a furnace blast of summer, offspring complaining about too much sun driving them away from the park to the comic book store, to mc don't dolts, clothes hung up on the line drying way fast, watering containered plant with partially yellowed leaves, how long can they stay out, a few years ago the warmth lasted, the roses bloomed into mid November, a pot of dusty miller overwintered & bloomed yellow the second year, we may wear sandals yet again, may put our city feet into Lake Michigan on the Michigan side, how long before the layers of swaddling start again?