The Cobblestone Creation (Revisited)

< One Month Ago >

Wicker Park; Chicago, Il.
December 29th, 2010; 4:40pm

Winter Tree 3Pictures

Wicker Park Water Tower II

Wicker Park; Chicago, Il.
December 4th, 2010; 3:11pm

Splash Water Ice and The Frozen Algae Shuffle

Northerly Island; Chicago, Il.
November 27th, 2010; 4:16pm



:click image for hi-res:

Pure City

Wicker Park; Chicago, IL.
October 18th, 2010; 7:40pm

October Skies

October 2nd, 2010; 6:23pm
Original photograph. Northerly Island.

This used to be an airport. 

Grassroots

Six Pix: North Pond

click for large pic

Posted on RedEye Royalty Blog with slideshow of images.

July 2nd, 2010

Alaskan Wild Caught Salmon

I did a pure vegetarian diet from May 5th through my birthday, May 23rd, when I treated myself to a 6 oz. piece of Norwegian farm raised salmon. It was good. But eating it, I wondered, what does the bear eat? This is not the salmon a wild thing would munch on. I want bear food! I want my salmon straight from the river! I could see the bear, laughing at me, eating his delicious river salmon. So I stormed back into the grocery store the next day complaining about how farm raised salmon is fed corn and I demanded there should be the freshest of fresh bear food present at all groceries! And when I calmed down the kind fishmonger smiled and pointed and sure enough there it was. Alaskan wild caught salmon, the sign read, we scare the bears away so you don’t have to. So I bought some, nine dollars for eight ounces, nine dollars: I’m going to get you bears, I thought to myself. But I gotta say, it was good. Real good. And I smiled as I ate at my dining room table, surrounded by trees with the sound of the river. Fuck you bears. I won.

decaying graffiti in the deciduous forest

 

Way back in the middle of the woods there is a table. Surrounded by trees, it's  been there for years now. It belonged to the town, but we brought it back home. 

@thegratefulone

#'s 13, 14, & 15. And #'s 25, 2, & 1

So, I've been riding but not writing about rides, though I was quoted in the RedEye about riding. But now that the weather has turned I more or less ride for everything. I've been riding to class, I ride to Dominick's, I ride to the post office, I ride to Wrigley: no desire to get behind the wheel anymore, which is good given the newly discovered cracked radiator. And though I try to change things up as often as possible a lot of the routes are very similar, so in order to avoid redundancy I'm going to focus on new paths, exercise rides, and pavement bombing routes as opposed to the "for fun" and short zen rides.

So since my last ride post I've gone on three document-worthy rides, numbers thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen. Thirteen was pure exercise, I raced myself every minute of the ride. Saturday afternoon... Saturdaaaay Afternooon  ...April 10th, 1pm to 3pm and it was my exact throwback route.

Ride fourteen was a mad dash from point A to B to C. I had 10 minutes to get from Bryn Mar and Kimball to Wrigley Field for the 1st Inning. I made it with 3 minutes to spare, even squeezing out a twitpic walking in. Google Map'd.

The following pictures are from Wrigley. Cubs rallied for four runs in the eighth to win 7 - 6 over the Brewers, great game. Theriot, Fukudome, and Lee all hitting real well.

Addison & Clark Entrance, 04/14/10 - Walking in during the National Anthem

A beautiful day at The Friendly Confines

Five dollar tickets on Stubhub. Of course I snuck down seven rows

Ride fifteen was today. I reversed my normal route and headed Southeast on Lincoln towards the lake, then South into Old Town, East on Division, and then back North on the Lake Shore Bike Path. Winds were around 25 mph and I was hoping to catch the stream heading North but they were crashing in from the West pretty heavily. Google Map'd.

Pictures below are in order corresponding to the numbers listed on the map.

The Hancock Building in the distance from the corner of Division and Astor

#Chicago #Beach

Lake Shore Bike Path on the left, facing North

Starting the hunt for a new bike this weekend. I want to go into this as educated as possible so I'm taking my time doing as much research and test riding as I can. Any suggestions or advice is always welcome and greatly appreciated.

Happy Official Awesome Spring Chicago Weather Riding Season!

-Zach

@thegratefulone

North Pond

So far I've taken three shots of North Pond in Lincoln Park, just North of Fullerton right off the lake, adjacent to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Click image below for large version.

My ride today, number eleven, took me right past there for shot number three.

Bigger versions of the three shots from North Pond.

Cheers!
-Zach
@thegratefulone

ISO: One Charismatic Solar Deity

6th ride of the season so far. That season being Springter (or Winting as some prefer, though most have trouble with the pronunciation). A rough mash up of almost all four seasons, March can provide quite the sensory experience while riding through the city. The sun warm and new, inviting; after months of hibernation it only takes seconds to remember. I bow. The moving air still crisp, remnants of Autumn and reminders that this isn't California, this is Chicago: a city of four seasons, today we get to see them all. People in shorts wearing sandals, people in scarfs and wool jackets; squirrels searching through dirty snow mounds, a bit confused... but happy nonetheless.

Shortened my ride today in favor for a slower pace: we're supposed to get some good old cold rain and snow this weekend, so I went zen. Mental health is just as important as physical health.

One part of this ride I would like to point out really quickly is a section of brick houses near Wrigley Field called Alta Vista Terrace. The district was built in 1904 in imitation of the rowhouse style of London (this sentence was copy & pasted directly from Wikipedia). It is an awesome street with a super homey feel, probably one of my favorite blocks in the Northside neighborhoods, and definitely worth checking out. There are pillars on both entrances to the street that point it out.

And here is the route I took today, pretty spot on to my old school, and I guess new school, half route.  12.5 miles.

I only took one photo on the go today. The photo I did take, however, is from the exact same spot at which I took a photo during ride number 3, which you can find in this blog, from March 10th. The photo was taken from a walking path behind The Nature Museum off of Fullerton and Lake Shore. In the 8 days since the 1st photo the small lake has thawed. I'm going to try to document the spot over the year.

Alright, that is all for now.
I'm ready for the snowstorm: go springter!
Cheers!
@thegratefulone