Welcome to mid-2021. A lot of water has passed under the bridge, to coin a phrase. I finally got around to updating the engine of this site as one of my final COVID-era projects. I was hesitant to push the button out of fear that the rusty WordPress installation would fall apart as soon as …
Presto-Change-o
We bought a new canopy for our gazebo, and take a look at the effect it has on the color of everything on our patio. These photos were taken within 30 minutes of each other, and I didn’t do any Photoshop wizardry on them. Nice effect, I think. (For those of you who came here …
Active Recovery
I wrote this piece as my submission to the the3sixfive project. It was published today on their site, and I’m presenting it here to you. “Active Recovery” is what personal trainers call it: that’s when you follow a particularly intense training period with one that’s a little easier on your muscles, giving you the chance …
A HiFi from Don Draper’s Apartment
We recently found this hifi in a local thrift shop, and after a little cleanup it now sits in our living room. It definitely has the Mad Men-era design, which we think is a pretty cool look. Click here to read more about it at joesradiopage.com.
Morning Greenery
Since it’s been so dry here in the Chicago area, I’ve been up every morning around 5:00 am watering all the plants around the house. We put in a bunch of new stuff out front and it would be a shame if it all dried up. This is what the ornamental grass along our driveway …
Revere Eight
This is the Revere Eight 8mm movie camera my dad used since the 1950s to capture our family events. It’s because of this that all my childhood memories look like The Wonder Years. He gave me this camera a few years ago, and I hope to one day get it working again.
Chicago Board of Trade
There are only a couple of weeks during the year when the sun shines on the façade of the Chicago Board of Trade Building at the angle you see here. I happened to have my camera with me the other morning, so I captured it. With the morning sun shining at this angle, you can …
After the Storm
We had a storm blow through earlier tonight, and at the very end we saw this in the Eastern sky. Becca grabbed my camera and captured the rainbow.
Preparing for the Summer
We usually wait until mid-May to set up the patio furniture and put the canvas on the gazebo, but we had a small window on Sunday morning where we were able to get it done. So why not set the video camera up and do a little time-lapse? This entire operation took about an hour, …
Emitt Rhodes – Farewell to Paradise
Today’s clip is “Farewell to Paradise” by Emitt Rhodes. Rhodes is most often referred to as “the one-man Paul McCartney,” because he wrote, performed, and recorded his music entirely on his own in his garage studio. And yes, his music absolutely has a mid-60s-to-mid-70s McCartney sound. He’s been a cult favorite since his debut album …