Hard to say Goodbye....

Sigh.   I'm writing this with such a heavy heart.  Our little old-lady dog, much beloved and cherished by my family for so many years, is ailing, as she has now for the last two weeks.   I've been nursing her to the best of my ability, but without improvement -- as such it's clear to us all that she's just not going to pull through this.  With her quality of life in question, we're likely going to make the very difficult and painful decision tomorrow to have her put down.  And while she is 15 after all, and has had what we know is a long and happy life with us, it doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye.  In fact it breaks my heart, but we have to be strong and do what we understand is best.   In any case, I know everyone is always declaring one's own dog as extra special, but trust me when I say that our little Katy truly is and always has been.  Such a good, super sweet temperament all these many years, with amazing patience and loyalty, complete safety with kids, and real smarts.  Never a speck of trouble.  One of these days soon when I'm more collected I intend to compose a blog post in tribute to her....

In the meantime, on a happier note, I'm posting pics taken during my family's little weekend excursion to the megalopolis of Chicago last week (where, indeed, I got my Big City fix on.  It had been awhile)....

Don't know what Chi-towners refer to it by, but I call it the 'Big Jelly Bean'.  In Millennium Park.

My Daughter, next to The Bean

My daughter's and my reflection in the Bean, looking like a fun house mirror...

The view from our downtown hotel, from the 24th floor (you can just make out the River in the distance)

Waiting to take a downtown architectural river boat tour....

Making our way down the Chicago River.  We were lucky the weather was so lovely.

Passing by the well-known Tribune Tower, with its gothic topper...

One of the newest additions to the CHGO skyline, the Trump Tower......

Marina City Towers -- I've always loved these....

Chicagoans call them the Corn Cob buildings --fair enough (but when I lived there I always referred to them as the 'Jetson' Buidings)....

The massive Merchandise Mart building, in all its fine, Art Deco glory.....

The Building Formerly Known as Sears Tower....

Another funky, round, reinforced concrete apartment complex, by the same architect as the Marina City Towers earlier....

Another view of the brand spankin' new Trump Tower....

The building here in the middle (behind the other two), called Aqua, is also new, and significant in that it's the tallest building in the world to have been designed by a female architect, by the name of Jeanne Gang (our hotel was across the street)...

After our river boat tour, we took a stroll along Navy Pier, taking in the gorgeous Lake views....

We enjoyed the Stained Glass Museum at Navy Pier -- so many gorgeous examples of Tiffany Glass, and all of it backlit....

Another Tiffany glassworks, so pretty....

This caught my eye...a vintage glass window piece made from a collection of glass pot lids -- how cool is that...?

There was a collection of these cast iron pieces for weary walkers to rest upon.  Wish I could have a few for my yard.

The Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier that, despite the earliness of the season, was up, ready and running, thanks to freakishly nice March weather.....

And but of course we had to go on it.

View from up in the ferris wheel, looking down on Navy Pier.  Glad I'm not bothered by heights...

What a great weekend trip....!

Windy City

I've been quite busy lately with my ongoing Project (with some progress made), but it hasn't been ALL work. No indeed -- yesterday I took my two kids and two friends to Chicago, where we all had a fine time galavanting around the big city for the day, and from whence I snapped the above photograph ( Crown Fountain at Millennium Park, in downtown Chi-Town)....

I do love public fountains, both large and small, traditional and contemporary, with the Crown Fountain installation by far unlike any I've ever experienced (note that the 1,000 various faces intermittently projected on the glass brick wall (which constantly cascades with splashing water) occasionally and randomly 'spit' every now and then ;-) -- a really fun example of interactive, urban art. And I think perhaps we may have been quite lucky to catch it running and spewing this early in the season -- I suppose we have our pleasant Midwestern Spring weather of the last few weeks to thank for that...

However now that I'm back home, and it is yet another Monday, I realize I have some catching up to do. Back to The Project (pictures coming soon) for one thing -- but also it's dawning on me that today is the 19th of the month. Which means tomorrow is the 20th (yes I can count!), which means.... the start of Nibblefest, the monthly ebay art contest that I like to partake in so much (and which begins the 20th of every month). The date totally sneaked (snuck?) up on me this time around, and as of yet I haven't started anything for it -- but perhaps it's not too late. April's theme is to be "Fabulous Felines"-- so, 'cats' essentially. Ought not be too hard, really. And I do so like entering the NFAC -- it's just plain fun after all, and if I miss this round, it will be another long month until the next (with May's theme being "Monochromatic"). So, I'll see what I manage to come up between now and then (and of course I'm hoping mentioning it here In Print for all to see will provide a little extra incentive too)....

EBSQ Permanent Account

I'm so excited!

After being a member of the EBSQ online artist community for some time now (6 or so years I'm thinking?), the other day, as part of a Voter's Documentation Photography Challenge hosted by the site (and involving the photograph in my previous entry), I won a permanent EBSQ lifetime account: http://tinyurl.com/5rrvpx . This means a personal savings in membership fees, especially over the long term (and note that the lifetime membership account option normally costs $650!). It's been a few days now, but just thinking about it still puts a grin on my face...!

Thanks EBSQ....!!!

Liberty: Use it or Lose it....

I took this shot this morning as I exited my neighborhood precinct upon performing my civic duty....

Power to the People!

Camera Surgery

What a nuisance to have my camera out of commission. On the other hand, after a little online research, we found out that apparently the problem is due to a defect in Canon Powershot cameras -- with Canon issuing a recall and offering to fix the cameras, at no charge (and reasonably so). Shipping included. I sent my camera off to Canon yesterday. Who knows when I'll get it back -- whenever it is, I'm sure hoping the problem is all remedied....

Portraits....

Black and white photographic portraits of my two fantabulous offspring....

"Bird"

Just take a look at this little interloper. I don't know exactly how she got into the house, but it sure gave us a surprise. Here she perches atop a framed photo of my children on a hutch in my dining room.

Nor was she easy to catch either -- but happily after several false starts and attempts we did finally manage to get her back outdoors where sparrows belong.

She did bring back a lot of fond memories for me though. Years and years ago I had a dear little sparrow I'd raised as a naked abandoned chick, found tiny and injured in my uncle's barn. She survived her rocky beginnings, though she ended up with a permanently disfigured wing from her long fall, and was physically unable to fly. Since I couldn't release her, she became a very treasured pet. Very Treasured. I named her 'Bird' -- and she had a wonderfully sweet personality. She even imprinted on me (thinking I was her 'mom') and would follow me all over the house. One could never imagine just what an endearing little sweetheart she became -- hunkering down into my hand regularly for cuddles and allowing me to stroke the length of her tiny back gently with the tip of my finger. And give her lots of kisses -- indeed, and this a Sparrow of all things. Sigh, my little 'Bird' -- I still think of her, and miss her lots.

And still love birds to this day....

Lula

I love this photo. It's a picture of my maternal grandmother and grandfather, plus some random boy cousin (this couple had 10 children, and mega-tons of grandchildren, so I have lots and lots of cousins -- a score of whom I don't even know and wouldn't recognize on the street). I'm guessing this was taken in 1950's maybe? On the family farm -- showing off some garden produce by the looks of it....

Sadly, I never did know either of my grandfathers, both having died well before I was born (being the youngest child of older parents, who were themselves both youngest children of older parents, and something like this is bound to happen). My grandmother here, Lula, was my last surviving grandparent -- and she passed on when I was 8 (my dad's mom having died when I was 5). I still have fond memories of her though, and sometimes even dream about her.

She was a good grandma while I had her -- wish I could have gotten to know her better....