A life’s gallery

The hirsute look

It’s now been nearly two months since the lockdown order was issued for my home state. Much has happened during that time, including an action that I never took before and expect that I never will again: growing out the hairs on my face. I have added a picture here for posterity’s sake. With a

“By necessity, we all quote”

Yesterday I wrote a post in this space about the passing of my dog, and I opened with a picture of my dog and a quote about how regrettably short a dog’s life can be. I’ve always been one who enjoys a good quote, something so profound that I wish I had said it myself.

Working through the grief

“Dogs’ lives are too short.  Their only fault, really.”  – Agnes Sligh Turnbull One of the things I’ve been doing during the COVID-19 lockdown is finding interesting quotes from people, about all manner of things. I send an email every morning to sign in for work, and I’ve become very fond of hunting for quotes

American Hash

I’ve never written about this before, but I was in a fraternity when I was in college. Drinking and hazing and general stupidity have given fraternities (I don’t like using the term “frats”) a bad name, and I wouldn’t disagree with much of the criticism of them. But one element of the fraternity life seems

An indefensible act

By removing the United States from the Paris Agreement–which every other nation in the world save for Syria and Nicaragua has signed onto–Donald Trump has declared war on the planet that all of us inhabit. He clearly doesn’t care about my children, shown above on the rim of the Grand Canyon and in the waters

Always in my heart

On the occasion of my daughter’s 18th birthday, I have boxes of pictures and just as many stories to share about her. My life hasn’t been what it was before she was born on April 4, 1999, and I don’t mind that one little bit. Being a parent once scared me to death. Nothing quite

My Dancing Queens

When you have two lovely, artistic-minded kids and a few thousand pictures saved on a hard drive, as I do, putting something like this together when you learn about #InternationalDanceDay isn’t very difficult. Call it a labor of love. May everyone do a little dance today.

A day with my mom

I’m getting to a place in life where many of the people I know have lost one or both of their parents. I have to admit to an embarrassment of riches on this front, because both of my parents are still with us, and still physically and mentally vibrant. I don’t usually think in terms

Thoughts at a fire

Yesterday morning I wrote a post in this space bemoaning the lack of good news stories this year. I had a realization later in the evening, though, as I was watching the fire in my fireplace burn. And it’s worth sharing it here, before it crawls back into the recesses of my mind. This is

A bleachers retrospective

Hearing that the Cubs started tearing down the Wrigley Field bleachers today felt like the end of something for me. From the first time I sat in the bleachers back in 1987, to the last time I did so back in 2005, they were always a place where I felt good. Granted, a fair amount of

It’s the thought that counts

My next door neighbors are good people. I think of them every time I hear some people on TV railing about “illegal immigration.” It seem like a bigoted, racist term directed at people that the speaker doesn’t know the first thing about. “If they speak Spanish and have brown skin, get them outta here.” It’s

Long may it wave

I saw a clip online today that made me angry. On the eve of celebrating the birth of this great country, there was Laura Ingraham and Bill O’Reilly, chattering on about illegal immigration. Terms like “anchor baby” were used, and the right wing fantasy that people can–and should–leave the country en masse reared its ugly

Rock and roll band

  Last night, on a soggy beach in Chicago, I saw Boston play live for the first time in my life. I’ve written about Boston many times in this space, and hearing their music in the company of thousands more who also appreciate their unique sound meant a lot to me. I was once a

The gamechanger

On the day that my older daughter was born, life changed for me. Irretrievably, permanently, and completely changed. When another person depends on you for everything, you can’t possibly be what you were before that happened. I like the person I am today so much better than I liked the person I was before she

Sweet home Chicago

The image above is taken from a mural on a parking garage on South State street. It’s a colorful interpretation of my hometown, and I’m glad to share it here. Is the train coming or going? That’s for the viewer to determine, but either way its passengers will end up back in Chicago somehow. And

Images of Chicago on the city’s birthday

The city of Chicago has its birthday listed as March 4, 1837. It says so right on its city seal, so that there’s no ambiguity about it. That being the case, it’s a day for celebrating the city that I’ve called home for almost a quarter century now. Here’s some Chicago images from my archives.

I’m just moving along

My teenager enjoys posting TBT (Throwback Thursday) pictures on Twitter. The idea that a fourteen year-old is nostalgic for the past amuses me, actually. And because my blog is drenched in nostalgia for the past, at least sometimes, I decided to go along. I posted this picture to Facebook today, and it will hit Twitter

A part of my youth

I spent some time this morning playing an Atari game that I picked up at a second hand store. It was a way of connecting to the kid that I once was. Video games were once a huge part of my life. I once spent hours upon hours playing Missile Command and Yars Revenge and

Rebel, Rebel

I recently went on a long drive out west to see my in-laws at Christmas. A few pictures and stories from the trip were shared in this space, but the vast majority of it will live in brain’s memory, rather than in my computer’s memory. And that’s as it should be, I suppose. But one moment

Half a loaf

It was like Black Friday without any TVs involved. I waited in lines for three hours over the weekend, hoping to get my little one enrolled in two gymnastics classes. The things we do for those we love. One class filled up, but the other was available. The wisdom of the old saying about how

Happy Turkey day

There’s so much to be thankful for, today and always.

Here’s to the nines

WordPress is of the opinion that this is my 1,000th post on this blog. I’ve been keeping track of the posts with a spreadsheet I created–for whatever reason–and think this is post number 998 instead. WordPress is probably right, but I’ll split the difference and call this post number 999. That’s three nines. Nine is

My Sweet Home Chicago

I live in the most beautiful city on Earth. Everyone should feel this way about their hometown, but with evidence like this, it’s pretty tough to say otherwise.

All that you eat

I missed out on some things growing up. Perhaps the thing I most notice–the one gap I’ve been able to correct most completely–is the taste of fresh pineapple. It sounds crazy, but I can explain. When I was growing up, pineapple came in a can. Pineapple rings, pineapple chunks, crushed pineapple, it was all the