Front yard, mid-July

Front yard, originally uploaded by Hawk3ye.

Thanks to Mr. Brown Thumb for prodding me to make a front garden update! Although now that I have run outside with my camera, edited and uploaded my photos, answered a few emails, and generally goofed around, it is almost time to pick up the Little Guy from daycare. So I will be brief:

First of all, I am very thankful for the grass that was planted on the corner. It looks different in any season, and always a spot of light in the garden! I’m not really sure of the variety.

My least favorite feature – the yews that flank the steps.  I’m fairly sure that I want to keep them to have some evergreens through the winter, but the shaping is not going so well.  I have been looking at some online photos and blogs trying to get ideas for how to tackle them.

The spiraea looked really cute in June, but now are looking quite wild and wooly again. The front burning bush is lovely and graceful, and the favorite napping place of Orange Cat (our neighbors’). The back burning bush has suffered a little in the heat, and you can see some leaves near the bottom have turned red. I wonder if I should take off all the small, bare lower spindles or leave them?

You can’t see it right now, but I have planted a lilac just over the fence. I hope that it will grow up to that horizontal dining room window and add yet another level to the landscape.

Finally, there’s our yellow maple tree in the backyard, down the brick path. I really don’t know what kind it is, but the color is always unusual in any season.

Our intrepid homeowner takes on the front yard

Our intrepid homeowner takes on the front yard, originally uploaded by Hawk3ye.

Today is my first day of full-time telecommuting. I don’t have the extra 40 minutes in the car each day listening to Kurt Vonnegut stories on audiobook, but I do potentially have a more interesting lunch environment than the suburban office park (although, minus the goose poop, that can be quite pretty).

Today I spent my 30-minute lunch cutting down last year’s decorative grasses from the front yard. Lo and behold, there were daffodils and Siberian squill and possibly tulips underneath!

I can’t wait to see what the blooms look like.

Tags: bulbs, gardening, grass, oak park, spring

Iconic Moments

Seka Meets Lynch, originally uploaded by leznek.

I just spent a little time looking at my husband Jim’s photos on flickr. He tends to be selective about what he posts, including choice shots from his digital collection and others that were scans of school days, but every one seems to encapsulate a wonderful facet of his personality. They just hang together well as a collection. So just in case you haven’t before, click on “leznek” and browse around.

Tags: flickr, jim, photography

Signage and Architecture in Chicago

Cermak Plaza, originally uploaded by Hawk3ye.

I updated the tags on my Chicago set on flickr, and added a new photo of the cool Cermak Plaza sign from this weekend. I’ll have to try to get a better one of that sometime.

I really enjoy photographing these signs and buildings and will continue to expand this collection over the years. I think I have a lot more old photos in my files that should be in this set, including some black and white film photos that have not yet been scanned.

There are a ton of wonderful blogs about Chicago architecture and signage out there. To name a few that I read:

Tags: atomic, design, mid-century, photography

Uknavages at Wellpinit, 1955

Uknavages at Wellpinit, 1955, originally uploaded by Hawk3ye.

I am just crazy for babies lately, and can’t stop cuddling my little baby Simon each night when I pick him up from daycare. I am really enjoying this photo of my mom & family. She was born in January 1955 in Tuscola, IL, but the family traveled to the Pacific Northwest that year to find mining work. They moved back to Illinois by the end of the year.

Here’s info from Aunt Pam:

Yes, that’s snow back there. We only lived in Wellpinit about five or six months, from about June of 1955 until November – moved out before the worst of winter hit. As I recall we are all dressed up in this photo because we were headed out on one of our rare excursions. This might have been the time we went to Seattle. I can’t remember. Mike remembers the chronology better than I do. This must have been an early snow that fell. Thanks for the compliment on the hair. I’m sure Mom did her best to make up presentable and not like a bunch of wild indians on the reservation At least your mom seems to be wearing a sweater.

More of Aunt Pam’s photo scans from Wellpinit: flickr.com/rdpamrussell

Tags: colorado, continental divide, family, fifties, mom, road trip, snow

More Infamous Kin

My aunt received a copy of this newspaper clipping about our great-grandfather, “Smokey Bill” Smith, from his niece who still lives in Harrisburg, near Harco. I am delighted that the local newspaper thought this item amusing enough to reprint it in a “75 Years Ago…” column! I wonder if they knew his relatives would see it, or if they just thought a chicken thief named “Smokey Bill” was too funny to be someone’s ancestor. Then again, it’s a pretty small town, and maybe the newspaper staff know my family all too well.

James William “Will” Webster Smith, aka “Smokey Bill,” was born Sept 10, 1890 in Providence, Webster county, Kentucky. He married Verla Leona Doss and had 9 children, 7 of whom lived to adulthood, including my grandmother, Mary Mildred Smith. His youngest daughter Barbara is the only one living currently. The family lived in Harco and several other coal towns in Saline county Illinois and Clay county Kentucky. Smokey Bill died in Harrisburg, Illinois in June 1970.

Below is a picture of great-Grandpa Smith (right) and a man identified on the back as Clarence Johnson. The photo postcard was probably taken between 1910 and 1920.

I always thought that, while handsome, Smokey Bill looked like a troublemaker or black sheep of some type in this photo — but I imagined it to be the slightly more glamorous life of a Shawneetown gangster, ladies man, gambler, or since he was born in the hills of Kentucky, maybe a moonshiner. But apparently his was the ignominious career of Chicken Thief. Below is some more detail from my aunt about her grandfather:

“[Cousin] Johnny confirmed that Grandpa Smith was an accomplished chicken thief. In fact, she said that Grandpa and a sister of Grandma’s (don’t know which one – must have occurred in Kentucky where the sisters lived) could go into a chicken house and steal chickens without any of them making a peep. I asked Bob about this and he told me there is a real knack to stealthily grabbing a chicken and putting it down into a bag without making it or the others erupt in loud clucks and squawks.

“By the way, in November of 1934 Grandpa was 44 – old enough to know better. But the thirties were tough times. Aunt Barbara was only two years old, Betty, five, Mildred, seven, Todge, nine, Toots, fourteen, Lou, seventeen, and J. G, twenty-one. I’ll bet J.G. was away in the Army. I have a feeling there are a lot of things about Smokey Bill we’ll never know. Cool things, like this .”

I absolutely love my family!

Tags: chickens, family, harco, legend, southern illinois

The Engorgement Zone

I really SHOULDN'T find this so funny... but it's over, so I can laugh.

Tags: baby, breasts, lactation, motherhood

Village Discount Outlet

Village Discount Outlet, originally uploaded by Hawk3ye.

4635 N Elston Ave. Much more spacious than the Roscoe Village store. Clothes can actually be pushed a few inches apart on the rack.

However, the staff is really grumpy and uncooperative. I bought 2 books and a packet of note cards, and as they were refusing to open a second line, a pre-recorded message advised that the store would be HAPPY to open another register if more than 3 people were in line… argh. Then I slipped on the ice outside.

Somehow though I still came away happy. I got a funny pop-up book for Miss Annalee about making caterpillar pizza.

Our Christmas card was a big hit

Our Christmas card was a big hit, originally uploaded by Hawk3ye.

Any Photoshop pro can see I did a pretty quick and dirty job on this, but my family and friends were impressed anyway! By the way, I’m really excited about a potential spike in “Malia” and “Sasha” baby names.

Flowers

Flowers, originally uploaded by Hawk3ye.

Jim bought me flowers! What an awesome surprise. These are from the farmer’s market and the open wider each day. The vase is from a glass-blowing studio we visited on a whim in Volcano, HI.

Why are the flowers on the windowsill in the bathroom, you may ask? This is one of the few spots in the house that Tomas cannot reach. At least not right away. He will eat almost any plant or flower arrangement.

One of the very few things I miss about living on a farm is being able to kick the cat outside when he’s being an asshole. (Maybe the only thing I miss?)