Fat Chance

Reading Recommendation: Six Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed...

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:46:00 -0400

Reading Recommendation: Six Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism, by Jane J. Lee in National Geographic Daily News.

Not so much a recommendation as a directive: you must read this.

Great blue heron (Ardea herodias), at the falls of the...

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:36:48 -0400

Great blue heron (Ardea herodias), at the falls of the Rappahannock River, Fredericskburg, Virginia.

Please click photo to enlarge.

As we were reaching the end of our trip we spotted a great...

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:34:00 -0400

As we were reaching the end of our trip we spotted a great gathering of great blue herons (Ardea herodias) at the falls of the Rappahannock River, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. From Mayfield Bridge my sisters counted about thirty birds on the rocks at the fall line. I counted 25 from the shore, but never had a sight line that took in more than about ten birds at once.

In 1910 a small hydroelectric dam was constructed here, impeding the movement of anadromous fish - like herring, shad, and stripped bass - that historically swam from the ocean and bay to the Rappahannock headwaters to spawn. The dam was demolished in 2006, and these fish are now returning to their historical ranges in the river, though their populations are still in flux. Our guess is that the herons we saw were there to exploit a run of fish at the old Embry Dam site, where the river narrows and the falls slow (but no longer stop) the fishes’ progress.

Please click any photo in the set for full views.

Bonus trivia: the collective term for a group of herons is sedge, sege, or siege.

Thoughts I Have Thunk

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:10:59 -0400

The world needs more pie.

A little less conversation… …and more pie,...

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:10:02 -0400

A little less conversation…

…and more pie, please.

At Mom’s Diner in Archbold, Ohio

Yes, please. I saved room. At Mom’s Diner in Archbold,...

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:08:42 -0400

Yes, please.

I saved room.

At Mom’s Diner in Archbold, Ohio.

The Man Born to Farming

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:25:49 -0400

The grower of trees, the gardener, the man born to farming,whose hands reach into the ground and...

Farms of Fulton County, No. 5.

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:22:45 -0400

Farms of Fulton County, No. 5.

Farms of Fulton County, No. 4.

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:22:01 -0400

Farms of Fulton County, No. 4.

Farms of Fulton County, No. 3. Please click photo for enlarged...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:20:25 -0400

Farms of Fulton County, No. 3.

Please click photo for enlarged view.

Farms of Fulton County, No. 2.

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:19:16 -0400

Farms of Fulton County, No. 2.

Farms of Fulton County, No. 1.

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:18:31 -0400

Farms of Fulton County, No. 1.

Faceted curtain wall, at the Spertus Institute for Jewish...

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:27:00 -0400

Faceted curtain wall, at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, Chicago, Illinois.

Obligatory Bean, with lowering sky. Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor,...

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:14:14 -0400

Obligatory Bean, with lowering sky.

Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor, 2006, in Millennium Park, Chicago.

No matter your resolve, if you have a camera in your hands when you visit Millennium Park, you will take a photograph of The Bean. It’s a rule.

The Spirit of Music / Theodore Thomas Memorial. In Grant Park,...

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:08:42 -0400

The Spirit of Music / Theodore Thomas Memorial.

In Grant Park, sculpted by Albin Polasek, 1923. Viewed from the north, the statue displays a striking full-frontalness not normally seen in prudish American civic art. The sculpture and garden honor Theodore Thomas, the first conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The Bowman. In the Congress Plaza Garden at Grant Park, By Ivan...

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:00:00 -0400

The Bowman.

In the Congress Plaza Garden at Grant Park, By Ivan Mestrovic, 1928.

Model city. At the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

Sat, 18 May 2013 05:57:43 -0400

Model city.

At the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

One of the reasons for my recent trip was to gather all the...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:49:55 -0400

One of the reasons for my recent trip was to gather all the FatChance siblings and distribute some of the personal items left unclaimed and unassigned when our parents passed away. None of the things were of particular intrinsic value, but they are still the stuff of memory and shared history, and therefore beyond price. So, I am now the custodian of my father’s shoe brush, and of my mother’s bronzed baby shoe, and her class ring - if only for a little while, until they are shuffled and reassigned again someday, by my children or theirs.

My sisters insisted that this little green viewfinder, kept for many years in my father’s sock drawer, should go to me. If you hold it to the light and peer through you are rewarded with a tiny image of three-year-old me.

Renoir Hands, No. 5. Detail / Madame Léon Clapisson / 1883 /...

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:13:00 -0400

Renoir Hands, No. 5.

Detail / Madame Léon Clapisson / 1883 / Pierre-August Renoir / Art Institute of Chicago

Renoir Hands, No. 4. Detail / Two Sisters (On the Terrace) /...

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:10:32 -0400

Renoir Hands, No. 4.

Detail / Two Sisters (On the Terrace) / 1881 / Pierre-August Renoir / Art Institute of Chicago