SUNDAY POEM

This is a recent poem from among my cancer-fight writings, backed by a photograph from Windsor Castle outside London.

SUNDAY POSTER

This photo was taken at the United States Marines Memorial outside Washington, DC, more commonly known as the Iwo Jima Memorial. I processed the figures into a striking silhouette while keeping the color in the Stars and Stripes.

Into LeClaire

Our visit to Antique Archaeology was like a visit to a small museum. Various items were on display, such as this box of sunglasses, much of it without rhyme or reason. All we bought there were souvenirs, not antiques.

On the way to walk around the small town Main Street, known as Cody Road, we found a train track decorated perfectly for the season.

American Pickers

We Americans love our television shows, and when a show has a place to visit, we love to pack up and visit. A History Channel show called American Pickers sent us to LeClaire, Iowa, just north of the Quad Cities, on a sunny autumn afternoon.

The store is Antique Archaeology and the signature Packard in the front yard is seen with a sparkling Harley. We will look at a few more images in the next few posts.

Toward the Stirrup Cup

Once the railroad cleared Army Trail Road, the riders continued on back toward the stables and then on to the party, the Stirrup Cup.

With the weather so perfect and with the help of my new acquaintances pointing directions for me, my first Fox Hunt was a complete success . . . for me, at least!

Hold On There

With a chance to move more than once, I saw a good portion of the Fox Hunt. Just as the group approached the east side of town on the return route, a freight train pounding down the Canadian National line caused a short holdup.

To a train buff such as myself, the delay only allowed some closeup rail photography.

Hounds Finally in Action

Directly on the trail of the scent, set by the riders we saw in the previous post, the hounds were a big success in the hunt. Active and interested, following the clues just as planned, they looked competent and effective, great representatives of the long history of fox hunts.

The riders following the pack were no doubt grateful!

On the Trail

As the Blessing of the Hounds was completed, the hounds and the riders embarked on the trail of the scent. I had spent time well during the morning, making a few new acquaintances, and I was given a suggestion of where I might have a good chance to see the group pass. The tip was perfect as the entire group came through a straight and narrow pass, right to my camera. Here we see the group marking the trail with fox scent, and then the hounds directly on the trail.

Riders of All Ages

Returning to the Wayne DuPage Fox Hunt, we see the wide age range represented in the hunt. From the Master of the Hounds sounding the call for some errant dogs to the smiling young boy on his pony, the hunt is a true family event.

SUNDAY POEM

Today we begin looking at another set of posters I have been working on. As I was generating the quotes and quips I have been featuring each Sunday, I also began developing some of my photographs into posters with poems I have written concerning the fight against cancer. One of my best, I think, was written late in 2007 in the aftermath of my second cancer surgery. It remained a poem in black and white until this year, when the poster project got underway.
In my effort to use photography to promote the work of Living Well Cancer Resource Center, I have donated several poem posters for use in their work with those fighting cancer. Proud to be able to try to boost the spirits of my fellow cancer fighters and survivors, I will be posting some of these here on Sundays as well.

SUNDAY POSTER

This week we feature a new poster generated by the familiar lines from Frost's masterpiece, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." I had not been moved to turn that favorite into a poster with one of my photos until last Wednesday evening, when it was used to perfection to close a particularly touching episode of CRIMINAL MINDS on CBS Television.

The Magnificent Hounds

The hounds look wonderful when you look at them in action as a pack, but as they paused outside the church in Wayne for the Blessing of the Hounds, I had the chance to see them in ones and twos.

Magnificent.

Hounds

Before long, the pack of hounds approached the church, following a collection of the younger riders. Just before reaching the stopping point, one of the hounds turned south, ran up a driveway, and disappeared. A good number of the hounds followed, and the blessing was delayed by a few minutes.

Center of Town

The small town of Wayne is the first destination for the fox hunters on the season opening hunt. The hunt is timed with the local church service and the reverend comes out to a service right on Army Trail Road, the Blessing of the Hounds. Having been given a couple of clues, I knew enough to leave the staging area, drive into town, and prepare for the event.

This first image is a reminder of the Horse Show I attended a few weeks earlier, where the star of the tailgate party was a wonderful post-war Bentley. Here the car is simply parked near the church, the owner among the crowd ready for the big event. And then the first riders began to arrive outside the church, walking right up the street.

Heading Out After the Fox

Watching the gathering for the Fox Hunt was quite interesting. Riders of all ages, males and females, come into the staging area in small groups. Hellos are said to old friends and newcomers, smiles are everywhere. Each horse has had a traditional braid done to the mane which will be taken out that afternoon.

And so off we go.

MACBETH

Last night I saw my first full-fledged opera, MACBETH, at the Civic Opera House. Directed by Barbara Gaines of the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, it was a wonderful experience and thoroughly enjoyable. I will always prefer a strong dramatic performance of such a tragedy, but the emotion that the music brings to the tale is undeniably powerful.

The scale of opera does not work well with detail and nuance, so much of that was lost, but some of the staging ideas were quite powerful. Instead of three witches to intrigue and challenge Macbeth, there were three covens of witches, at least 35 in number. Rather than three murderers to assassinate Banquo, there were three squadrons of murderers. Of course, this is where the work has slotted the impressive chorus, but the scale of numbers involved was impressive and moving.

In terms of the direction, Gaines did manage to bring in that occasional detail that worked well. Lady Macbeth is dressed in pure white during the murder of Duncan, and still grabs the dagger and smears the sleepy guards. She came back splattered in bright red and berated Macbeth for his cowardice; they left the stage with him wiping his bloody hands on the trail of her dress.

As to the acting, this was at least my 17th time seeing MACBETH live in various interpretations and structures. Nadja Morgan was amazingly powerful as Lady Macbeth, or Lady as Verdi is known to refer to the Queen. In Verdi/Gaines staging, Lady is the power cell that drives the action. She is much more pushy and direct in gaining power for the couple. She moves candles on the stage to set a circle of fire for Macbeth and sings the soprano part with power that belies her smaller frame. Soaring vocals of delight in murder and greed and power in the actress, dressed mainly in monochrome, set each scene. She is in red in act I, driving the murder plans; white in act II, then black for the onstage funeral of Duncan, something I have never seen. Even in darkest black, first one shoulder and then the other are uncovered, constantly drawing attention. In act III she is in spangly silver for the banquet, where she drinks enough wine to blitz anyone. As Macbeth chases Banquo's ghost away, she is literally crawling across the table to reach for more wine, nearly collapsing on the table to refer to HIM as a disgrace.

Truly, I felt that it took a German woman singing in Italian to power the great English play about the murdering Scottish couple to life. My 17th Lady Macbeth was certainly the most powerful.

Another Gaines touch: the first appearance of the Ghost of Banquo was a neat surprise. Macbeth is toasting him on the table (there was lot of that) when Banquo suddenly appears right out of the dangling chandelier, leaning down and grabbing Macbeth by the shoulders.

It was a fine experience, though it would likely take another script I am very familiar with the bring me back for another opera.

The show ran ten minutes late, causing me to miss the 10:40 train and wait for the 12:40 AM, but that only added to the adventure and fun of the night. I had not been in the Opera House since a 1966 Yardbirds concert when Jeff Beck was playing lead. As I waited to get off the train at 1:30, a man was talking to the conductor about a concert he was at recently and how great oldtimer Jeff Beck was. An amazing coincidence, and he was equally surprised when I told him. That man was not coming from the Opera House.

Fox Hunt

For two years we have driven through the picturesque tiny town of Wayne on the way to and from Church in St. Charles. Several times we have seen portions of the Wayne-DuPage Fox Hunt, and I tried several times to find out where and when I could see (and photograph) a hunt. My visit to the Dunham Woods Horse Show gave the chance to get some information, which I used early in October to attend the big hunt of the year.

In the next several posts we will look at some images of the tradition and pageantry of the hunt. By the way, most hunts do not involve a live fox anymore. Rather, they are called "drag hunts," with a small contingent of hunt organizers marking the trail by placing the scent to be followed by the hounds.

SUNDAY POSTER

All my posters are built on photographs I have taken. Here is another favorite quote.

Grandparents Day

One of the high points in the life of a retired teacher is the chance to return to a classroom for 90 minutes to be spent with a grandchild. This year our visit to second grade can be seen in the beautiful smile Gianna shows, not only to us but to pretty much every one of her classmates.
Thanks for inviting us, Gianna!

Skyline Panorama & Polar

Our last sights from the lakefront tour via Segway are two looks at the magnificent skyline of the Windy City, depicted from Adler Planetarium. The panaorma was stitched together in Photoshop from three photos and it stretches from Shedd Aquarium on the left through the entire downtown and includes Lake Point Tower on the right.

Below that we have a Polar Coordinate view of the skyline as a planet of its own. Certainly a planet worth visiting!

Shoreline and Beach, October

Touring south of Adler Planetarium and passing a beach, closed for the season, put a touch of fall into the camera lens. Later, along the harbor shore, several rowboats rest upside down, waiting for the yacht owners to run their boats up the river for the winter.

Last Pair

When I first saw the striking red of the CNA Building, featured in the portrait, I disliked it. Time has changed my eye as the powerful color sets the simple rectangle apart as no other portion of the cityscape. The landscape is from the grounds of Adler Planetarium, with its huge and beautiful sundial appearing to caress the north side buildings.

Another Couple of Looks

This pair of looks includes a peek of harbor in each, the landscape looking northwest once again and the portrait looking due north and highlighting Lake Point Tower.

The marvelous sun and crisp, clean October air really acted as the makeup to primp the Chicago skyline to its very best.
And this is my 650th post.

A Great City in Any Direction

From Buckingham Fountain and then heading south along the lakeshore, a viewer is in perfect position to see a great city in every direction. Well, every direction other than east, which is Lake Michigan.

We will look in the next few posts at some traditional landscape shots, in the horizontal format, but also some building cityscapes in the portrait format. The main subject in this portrait is the Willis Tower. (Wow, I managed to use the new name!) The landscape looks north from the Museum Campus, with the underpass in the foreground. The underpass allows foot traffic, bicycles, joggers . . . and Segways, to pass under Lake Shore Drive.

At Buckingham Fountain

Back on the Segway trail, we see a shot of Buckingham Fountain as we look north, back toward Millennium Park and the Prudential Building, once the tallest building in Chicago. Then turning to the left and looking west away from the lake and into the downtown skyline. It is still a bit hard for me to call the tallest building anything but Sears Tower!

SUNDAY POSTER

Segway

I took one more look at the baffles that soar above the Pritzker stage, this time loving the shadows from the rigging in the sky. And then I was learning how to stand on the Segway, push with the toes to move forward and with the heels to stop, and off we went.
Here I am on my vehicle, posing at Buckingham Fountain.

Pritzker Pavilion

I took my closest look at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the highly-regarded outdoor music theater at the east side of Millennium Park. I was headed around it and looked at the soaring sculpture that serves to help baffle noise and promote acoustical clarity.

I was almost to the start of the Segway Tour of the lakefront.

Millennium Park

I walked through Millennium Park on the road, though stretching the concept a bit. I had done a regular shoot in the morning in Naperville, and I was on the way to another shoot. The stretching comes in because the "other shoot" was on a personal fun trip, which will be the subject of some days coming up in this blog.

Meantime, here are two of the staples of the park, the fountain with the photos and the beautiful shape often called "The Bean," actually named "Cloud Gate." In this image it looks less like a bean than it looks like a silver egg in an evergreen nest.