January in Chicago

 

Anything I could say about the year past or the (rest of) the year ahead is as dated now as the scene in this photo (dying Christmas decorations), but at least the photo is recent...January 29. And this is Roosevelt Collection, a fairly new development. Late-January holiday decor tends to be confined to shabbier locales, so this was a bit strange. (Also...it's been close to 60 degrees out at the end of January.) Taken on a short, fruitful trip to a few spots along Roosevelt Road in Chicago the other day. Anyway, I haven't managed to blog at least every week of the year but at least I'm off to posting every month. It's a start! Big things ahead!

happy holidays

It's still the holiday season. It's still the 12 days of Christmas, for that matter, and thus okay to post my Christmas photo a little late. (It's on Flickr, too, with my incredulity that my transparent attempt to post a specific photo that everyone would say "Merry Christmas!" or whatever on, didn't work.)

A photo store in downtown Belleville, IL (which still has small businesses: an office supply store, a sporting goods store, a hardware store, a craft supply store--as well as chains), seen on Black Friday 2011. (There's a photoessay waiting about the gingerbread display contest there! And on the CTA Holiday Train, and on shopping mall decorations...)

Just a fond message to the many great photographers I've met through the Internet and in person (especially the one who made it possible for me to take photos in Belleville) and to anyone who supports any of the work I do.

(And now to see if I feel like writing a 2011 wrap-up piece.)

waiting for the train

Waiting to catch my first CTA Holiday Train of 2011 on the Cicero Green Line, abandoned Brach's factory in the background, multiple rush hour Metra trains going by between the platform and the factory, I got a couple quick and fuzzy videos. Really just posting this to see if I remember how to include video properly, and because I'm still in the habit of blogging daily (if not promising to do a NaBloPoMo for December, too):

and day 30

...and I'm trying to end this National Blog Writing Month on a good note, but I stayed in (well, after catching the CTA Holiday Train for the first time this season, that was cool) when there were some great events going on, hoping to get iPhoto and blog things done, and ended up dozing off and catching up later. Oops.

I'm still happy I did this project, even if it was a bit of uh, quantity over quality. Especially because traveling to Detroit, Toledo, St. Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis again, and Cincinnati in November meant I didn't have much time for posts. And I got virtually no response to this on social media (heard from a couple friends in person/via email, at least) and I'm not so great at pursuing projects without external feedback. (I guess hitting the 200th post on my blog is unimpressive in the Tumblr era. People still like a blogiversary, but I don't know when to say I started this blog!)

Also, I haven't looked, even once, to see if I got any comments on the blog all month. That's kind of a problem I have, too. But if anyone did comment in a non-spam manner, thank you! I signed in and posted to the blog ten times as much as I did in the previous six or so months--that counts for something, right? I may even get going on the blogroll, design, and profile overhaul, in time for a 2012 relaunch of sorts. Yes, you've heard this before...

Because I'm too overwhelmed with which new photos to post, here's an old favorite (taken 2006, South Chicago) posted very, very early in my Flickr stream:

away in Cincinnati

Yes, yes, a Megabus trip (and Greyhound return) barely 24 hours after I got back from the St. Louis Thanksgiving one. However, StL was unplanned. Since I had no way to tweet from the road and haven't yet tried scheduling posts to post later, this is written/dated after the fact. And of course, still no way to post new photos, so here's an alternate version I liked from photos of my Cincinnati trip a little over a year ago:



My Flickr set of Cincy photos.

as seen on the Red Line

I am back from the mostly wonderful St. Louis Thanksgiving trip, filled with gratitude for having been able to take it and good memories and a camera card I still can't upload from yet, so I must do another quick NaBloPoMo post of photos. These were taken on a recent night out using the near north CTA Red Line, and show old and not-so-old signs and advertising there.

Sunday in St. Louis

Even slower and weather's even drearier than Saturday's (about a thirty degree drop from the fantastic Friday) and I will just note this: the bar we impulsively chose on the way back from Small Business Saturday shopping for a quick dinner, local institution the Bleeding Deacon, turned out to be having its second to last night before an indefinite hiatus? closure? closure before relocation? that night. I am so glad I went: good beer menu and impressive food menu (vegetarian and non-, gourmet touches, probably lower prices than a similar place in Chicago--and embarrassingly, I couldn't think of an equivalent place in Chicago). And I'm glad I took a few photos, even if I can't upload and post them yet. So I will take the extremely rare step of posting someone else's photo, since I actually got to ask permission in person and all. Here's one Darren took two and a half years ago:



Flickr link to it here. I also recommend his other photos of the bar, including him hugging the jukebox, an entry in the GroupHug St. Louis photo contest earlier this year.

Saturday in St. Louis

Was a somewhat quiet, drizzly day here in St. Louis. Observed Small Business Saturday in a few neighborhoods. Again, since I can't get new photos uploaded yet, here's a shot from one of my first visits in 2011, for a nice corner grocery, Gustine Market. I've seen this sign out on every trip this year.



Link to this on Flickr

Black Friday 2010 and 2011

The following was taken Black Friday 2010, when I set out with a new camera (a late birthday gift, and a good camera that ran into problems within a few months). I think I Flickr posted a few of my shots taken in Chicago's Loop, and around the L and Metra, and of my first visit to Orland Square mall in Orland Park (after stopping in their Borders store a few blocks away for my first--and last--Cocoa Trio drink there), but I'd held on to the ones I considered/entered into the Picture Black Friday contest. (The site information was unclear, I've hardly ever emailed my photos before, and to this day, I have no idea if anyone at the contest saw the photos. Obviously I didn't place in the contest, but I loved the excuse to take the photos.)

Here's arrows taped all over the Toys R Us store across from the mall to facilitate orderly lines, which were happily quite minimum by the time I got there.



I need to do a photoessay of just the mall, and of where I spent Black Friday 2011. I didn't get out of the house until after the doorbuster sales had ended and I didn't go near any big box stores, but I did see the bustling and charmingly decorated downtown of Belleville, IL, and for the first time (looks like I'm making a new-to-me mall a BF tradition), the Saint Louis Galleria. When I get back to Chicago I'll see how they turned out.

(This post also marks me finally discovering a much faster way to post my photos and a way I can do them on someone else's computer. I'm embarrassed I hadn't thought of it before...)

Thanksgiving

Brief post from the road, from the unexpected trip mentioned late Wednesday. I made it to St. Louis all right and on time (a little early). I had a relaxing morning and a great day of taking photos of mostly abandoned/vacant things in suburbs I hadn't seen before. In between the photo opportunities, a pleasant afternoon watching the National Dog Show on NBC (a Thanksgiving tradition I haven't done before) and then eating at a restaurant with my host Darren's parents. (I was the only one who ordered a Thanksgiving-type meal; couldn't resist.)

Relaxing in the evening (looking at Black Friday ads in the StL paper, though I didn't intend to shop much this weekend), then a house party at his friends' where we probably consumed more calories of snacks (so much cheese!) than during the afternoon meal, and I bravely tolerated watching some of the Cardinals World Series 2011 commemorative DVD surrounded by Cards fans (reliving the infamous Game 6, which I got to watch with my parents on my most recent Iowa visit and the one kind of substituting for visiting for Thanksgiving, wasn't bad).

I've had good Thanksgivings with my family and good ones going on adventures around Chicago--seeing what stores were open on Thanksgiving one year; my first visit to the great Korean grocery store Chicago Food; my then-longest-ever bike ride in Chicago (about 50 miles on what I've told everyone was a 60-degree day, but from the forecasts this week saying Chicago was about to have its first 60-degree Thanksgiving in 13 years, I guess I was off a little); an excursion to an abandoned trade school in 2007 (one of my all-time favorite posts here)...This was a chance to do something a little different, and I'm glad I took it.