First zinnia of the year.

Beverly View stairs up to the train embankment from which one cannot actually view Beverly. @dmercer.bsky.social

Then step back and spot Venus too,

One can try to frame a shot, or just let Mother Nature do it.

Annual cicadas, fireflies, and clouds to the east lit up by sunset. Ballgame on the radio, and a cold beer. Summer backyard life for the win.

Clouds are interesting.

Sunset sunbeams lighting up sprinkler lawn watering.

Weird, or reassuring, that a bank will keep singles in circulation?

Doesn’t quite show in picture, but the Red Line platform at Monroe was smoky.

Really don’t like to imagine what the infrastructure for GREASE TRAP manhole covers imply. How does the grease get in under there? How is it disposed of? @robertloerzel.bsky.social @jjtindall.bsky.social @kevinirvine.bsky.social @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social

Butterfly breakout day. First a Monarch, now a Black Swallowtail.

Monarch hanging out on a milkweed in the Back 40, which this year is just wild, whatever grows is fine. Has been fluttering around for a long while.

Beachfront hot dog stand with a jazz band doing a tap dancing show. Rogers Park for the win, again. And folks from all the world enjoying it!

Goodnight from Rogers Park.

OK, now this AI shit is personal. Someone actually posted this online. Most of the written text is relatively accurate, but the image is an abomination, an insult to James Thompson and Edward P. Brennan alike. There are countless fine Chicago maps available online, why create this abomination?

Rolling the dice. . .

My favorite American flag variant, seen on the South Side. Happy Independence Day.

Two views of the Moon, last night and tonight.

Font isn’t the exact same one, but pretty close. @rickkogan.bsky.social

No comment on the beer, not a local brand since Goose Island sold out many years ago, but this ad’s color aesthetics and font remind me of 1980s Chicago Magazine covers.

This strikes me as a troubling combination. Simpsons “Well, open up the ‘stick with your wife’ barrel.” comes to mind. @anotherjulie.bsky.social

Memphis! @robertloerzel.bsky.social @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social @jjtindall.bsky.social @kevinirvine.bsky.social

This definition of cotton, from the Cotton Museum in Memphis, surely applies to other commodities, like, say, AI. Or tulips, or the Stock Market in 1929, or sub-prime mortgages in 2006. “Whatever you do will be wrong. Act at once.”

Cotton Museum in Memphis. Quite an interesting place. With another one.

Almost all small museums feature an old typewriter. @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social

We used to be a real country.

Great to be back home and have options! A whole (bus) bunch of options. @chicagocta.bsky.social

Ok.

Ever been to Memphis, @ladytophamcatt.bsky.social? Thought of your interests.

Hello, beautiful.