The night before

Taking smart phone photos in church is probably something to be frowned upon, but here's a little something to wish everyone a merry Christmas tomorrow.  So I meant well!

Stunning

I happened upon this stunning piece of work by accident.  It's near where my brother and sister-in-law go to church in downtown Dallas.  While we waited for her to get their son from the nursery, we wandered down to the Chapel of Thanksgiving in Thanks-Giving Square.

The stained glass spiral, which I recognized from being used in The Tree of Life, is in the ceiling of this building.  The chapel is a small, unassuming room.  Look up and...wow.

Insert punchline

Since I saw this sign I've been trying to come up with the perfect joke about Schrödinger's cat, but with so many options, I've not been able to settle on any.

For what it's worth, I'm not laughing at the misfortune of those who have lost the cat.  But the uncertainty about the whereabouts of a cat with that name, which is why it amuses me, is almost too good to be true.

Up north

After heading south on Thursday, I turned to the north on Friday and drove to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since I arrived home pretty late from Thursday's activities, I was slow getting around and didn't get to spend as much time in this lovely downtown as I would have liked. I did see a movie at the theater with this lovely marquee.


This theater is just a few doors down in what was quite the hopping downtown. The sidewalks were packed, and it seemed like something was going on. There was a really good energy to the place.

My visit was spurred by the chance to see Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis again. I figured that since they don't play often in the region, I might as well take the opportunity and make the trip. I've previously been to The Ark, the place they played tonight, and really like the venue. I also had planned to use this day as an excuse to check out more of downtown, but I left home later than I intended.

I didn't quite realize it until I almost passed them, but on the way from the movie theater to the club, I walked by them on the street trying to get into a guitar shop right as it was closing. (Turns out they needed something.) As it is with small shows like this, I did get to speak with them briefly after the concert, which was nice.

I didn't plan it out this way, but on consecutive nights I attended drastically different concerts. Thursday: Paul McCartney, stadium show, hundreds of feet from the stage. Friday: Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison, small club show, a few feet from the stage. The ticket fees for McCartney covered what it cost to get into tonight's concert. This isn't a knock on seeing the Beatle. Both shows were terrific in their own ways. It's just interesting to consider the massive differences between these experiences.

And I write this to you from my parents' home in Indiana. I've driven quite a lot these two days. Time to stay put for a few.

Daytripper

Vacation commences, so I hit the road and set Cincinnati as my first destination. I was in town for a big event later in the evening, so I wanted to get into town early. I used the extra time there to take in a movie at the Esquire Theatre in Clifton. I really liked how its exterior makes the building stand out.

Going to and coming from the parking lot I saw this sign painted on the back of a building. I have no idea what's going on there.

I capped the day by going to see Paul McCartney at Great American Ball Park. More on that to come in the next day or two. (Spoiler: it was a pretty great concert.)

Stormy

It was a hot, sunny day. Then the sky darkened, winds increased greatly, and rain and hail came down in a torrent.

And yet there was a kind of ethereal beauty to it too.

Packed to the gills

Dear readers, I do have tales to tell of my evening here, but they will have to wait until another night when I have time to do them justice. I've not done a lot of socializing while at this event in past years, but going to tonight's shindig gives me celebrity interaction and festival party anecdotes.

In the meantime, here's a car I spotted nearby. The owner is apparently hoarding all manner of paper. There's room for a driver in the interior, but that's about it.

Stumbled upon

New York is so stuffed with amazing/noteworthy things that you can run into them without even looking for them. Why, there's the Chrysler Building!

And that gallery at MoMA that we almost skipped? It has Les Demoiselles d'Avignon!

And you know how you'd seen the Empire State Building from a distance but hadn't had a closer view? It was behind you outside Penn Station and Madison Square Garden the whole time! (Seriously, the last day I was there I realized this iconic New York building had been the direction I hadn't looked pretty much every day.)

Statuesque

Posting some New York City photos while I'm catching up on things/preparing to head to Cleveland for a couple days. This is, of course, the famous bull near Wall Street. It was especially crowded the day I was there, as people took turns getting their picture taken with--or on--it.

In the Museum of Modern Art's sculpture garden.

At Rockefeller Center.

Say cheese

Yesterday at work my photograph was needed for a brochure. No big deal, right? Well, I guess it's nothing, other than the fact that I am not crazy about having my picture taken, especially when it requires lining up as in front of a firing squad.

I was going to try and track down a photo of myself that I could live with, but I didn't have the time and had to have a new one taken. I insisted that I didn't want to see the shots and would leave the decision of which to use to the person who snapped the pictures. Is that jerk-like behavior? Probably.

I'm not sure when or why my aversion to being photographed began, but it isn't a recent development. I can recall this being something that extends as far back at least to the day of my high school graduation.

I suppose this hang-up has something to do with vanity and lack of self-confidence, which would seem to be a contradiction. Factor in an aspect of what I do for a living to make this even more irrational. Yet there I am, preferring not to have my picture taken if I can help it.

Maybe it's as simple as I'm uncomfortable having to pose for the camera. It doesn't feel natural to me. In turn, this probably doesn't lead to good photographs. And so the vicious cycle repeats.

One way of trying to get a ticket

There will be plenty of time later to write about the experience of attending a playoff baseball game. Now is the time for crashing at the hotel. Anyway, isn't this picture I took outside the stadium sufficiently entertaining?

The road home

All trips must come to an end, and this one nears its conclusion. This jaunt began with two Chicago legs and then shifted to eight nights in Minnesota. After stopping in Eau Claire, Wisconsin last evening, we made the rest of the drive to my parents' home today. I think it's time to be back, even if I would have preferred more time to do exploring of my mine way up there in the great white north.

There's not much to say today, so I present to you a couple shots taken while on Blackduck Lake. After a windy first two days, things settled down, as you can see in the glass-like surface in the top photo. I'll have more to say about the trip and various other things (and eventually a report on the Twins game I attended and Minnesota in general), but for now I'm satisfied to call it a blog entry and relax a bit before making the drive home tomorrow.

Lake views

I'm finding that the days and nights have been going pretty quickly on this trip up north, so I'll keep matters brief with a few photos I've taken from the boat. The top picture was taken Monday evening while we were out fishing at dusk.

If I'm correctly oriented, this place is at the other side from where we're staying. It's been a rare spot where we've caught much of anything, although the truth of the matter is that this location is only producing fishing action, not any keepers. I wasn't able to reel in any fish from this spot, but usually within ten to fifteen seconds of dropping my line in the water here, I'd lose my bait to nibbles. It was ridiculous, actually.

While we were anchored off shore from that cabin, an eagle stopped for a rest in the nearby trees. This is one of the better photos I snapped.

For the record, I did catch the day's first fish--a minnow-sized smallmouth bass that maybe reached two inches--and reel in a long-abandoned lure and maybe 50 feet of line. So, my tally is up to two fish of the real variety and one fake one. Clearly I've not been exaggerating the size of these fish as they've been awfully small.

Overcast

I can't think straight with the jackhammering bass coming from the adjoining apartment, so this photo is all I have today. (I left the apartment for the better portion of the evening because the thought of dealing with this seriously stressed me out.) I think I've figured out that it's a video game rather than music, which may actually be worse. I expect these younger guys will be playing it until the dead of night.

Ugh.

The Steel City

I've spent very little time in Pittsburgh and can't say I have much of an impression of it other than the conventional wisdom of the Steel City being an old, run down industrial city. Imagine my surprise as I briefly walked the streets around the convention center and cultural district. This part of downtown has a funky, architecturally diverse look.

The old buildings stacked side by side are like books on a shelf, coming in a variety of appearances and sizes.

Weathered evidence of long-abandoned tenants give the buildings a lot of character.

Some parts reminded me of downtown Cleveland if it were better maintained. (In defense of my neighbor to the northeast, I haven't seen a lot of that city by foot.)

This little park was a beautiful surprise. It's just so incongruous with what's around it.

See how much more visually appealing and distinguished that old building is compared to its more modern neighbors?

Some new architecture attracts the eye, though. The building above has a different look lit up at night.

Who knew Pittsburgh has such an interesting downtown?

Still arch

Following up on yesterday's post comprised of pictures of the Gateway Arch, today's features photos from inside it. The above photo is in the museum and visitor's center underneath the monument.

After the ride to the top in a tram that's resembles, and is as big as, a space age egg, you enter the cramped quarters at the peak.

As you can see, the windows aren't very big for taking a peek at the city and taking photos, but you can still get some nice shots. Frankly, I don't know that I'd want big window to look out of. It's mighty high. While I didn't feel the arch sway, I've been told that it does if the wind's blowing sufficiently.

Here's a look across the Mississippi River at Illinois.

Part of downtown St. Louis, including the ballpark that was my next destination.

And more of downtown St. Louis. It really is a great view and was very much worth seeing. If you're claustrophobic, though, you might think twice about visiting. Those trams are awfully small, and as you can see it can be packed up top.

Arch

I was so busy being on vacation that I never got around to posting any of my other shots of and inside the Gateway Arch. (There are a lot to pick from.) Since these photos belong in this month and it's an otherwise lazy posting day for me, I present the first of two picture days. Today I'm sticking with shots of the Arch. Another day will feature photos inside it.

The spirit of St. Louis

Semi-long day on the road today and another one ahead tomorrow. In the meantime and to whet your blog reading appetite for more, I present a few photos from an action-packed not-quite-half-day in St. Louis.

Yes, that's the famous arch, and yes, I went to the top. This was a very tourist-y thing to see and so totally worth it.

The new Busch Stadium is a beautiful ballpark.

It looks even better from the inside. Nice skyline too.

Postcards

My overnight trip to Cincinnati will be over before I know it, so rather than devoting a lot of time to crafting a well-thought out blog entry, you're getting photos today. Hey, it was a lot hotter here in southwest Ohio than it was back home in Columbus. The time and temperature sign read 94 when I walked to the ballpark around 4:30 and was 86 around 10:00 on the walk back to the car.

I certainly got my share of sun in my outfield second row seat. Watching batting practice was an adventure as I was in a pretty good spot to snag or be conked by a home run ball.

Needless to say, I was awfully close to the field if I could get a halfway decent shots of players on it. Here Atlanta's Brian McCann and David Ross ignore the yells of fans for baseballs. (Ross, a former Red, did chat up the crowd a little and tossed a few balls into the stands.)

Here's a view of the Ohio River and Newport riverfront. I'm planning to park in Newport tomorrow and walk over that bridge to the ballpark. I'll walk back to Kentucky for dinner and a movie promo screening before returning home.

While the third out wasn't yet recorded, the Reds did hang on for a win tonight. Go team!