Riverwalk of Mirrors

When the city extended the Riverwalk past Michigan Avenue, they put mirror-like tiles under the Michigan Avenue Bridge section. If you look up when a boat is going by, you get a distorted "House of Mirrors" view of the boat.

Lego Avenue

You just never know what you are going to find on Michigan Avenue.

Over the summer, it was refrigerators (here and there and over here and over there). Now, it is Lego statues. I think there are six or seven sprinkled along Michigan Avenue between Grand Avenue and Chicago Avenue. These are to promote a Lego Show/Kid's Fest that will be at McCormick Place.

I like the little diver that is "stuck" behind the shark's goggles - it's shown in the lower right photo in the collage.

Windy

Not sure if this photo really captures that it has been a little windy lately. It was supposed to be a perfect storm/storm of the century type thing but I think it has been A LOT windier other times. (Heck, my building wasn't even creaking which it usually does during strong winds.) If it doesn't give that "windy" feel, at least it is a nice picture of an area called Art on the Farm. Art on the Farm is an urban garden right in downtown Chicago that Growing Power uses as a job preparedness training ground for young people.

Standing in Line

The artistic touches at the Wellington stop on the CTA Brown Line.

Aftermath

I knew if I stood in that spot long enough, a bunch of leaves would fall from the trees at the same time so I could get a photo.

So maybe it took a little longer

than originally expected ;)

Hunter's Moon

According to the Native Americans in the Great Lakes region, the October Full Moon, which rose yesterday evening, is known as the Hunter's Moon. It is so named because this is the month for hunting and storing for the long winter.

Personally, I've been storing all summer - in the form of freezing raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries - to help get through that long winter ;)

Autumn Sunrise

Thursday's sunrise included a jagged layer of clouds at the horizon. I'm thinking that was probably the weather front that came through that dropped our temperatures by about 20 degrees again (no worries -- we're supposed to be back in the 70s early next before another thermometer plunge.)

TechnoChrome

Chicago is getting another Apple Store. During construction, it has been hidden behind a large fence. Since its official opening is Saturday, the barrier has come down, replaced with a shorter fence, to give passersby a sneak peak.

Autumn, Michigan-style

What can I say? The trees are gorgeous in Michigan.

Autumn Crunch

One of the many leaves I went crunching through this past weekend on a visit to the other side of Lake Michigan.

The Intersection of OOH and AAH

A Truck at an Intersection + A Line of People = The Cupcake Truck

Now followers of this blog already know that Chicago has some kind of obsession with cupcakes (see this post or this post). So when I was walking down Wabash and saw a truck with a line of people by it, I had a feeling it might be the cupcake truck I'd been hearing about. Apparently, they post on Facebook and Twitter where they will be and wait for the people to arrive.

If you bake, frost and tweet it, they will come

Cupcake Options

Devil in Disguise, No Plain Jane, PB&C,

Mocha Me Smile, The Curious George, The McDreamy,

CinnaHoneyStreusel, Smore Me Over, Great Pumpkin Patch

Tempting Treats

I guess I should have tried one to see what the fuss is about but I was already in the middle of a large pumpkin spice latte and was a little concerned about sugar overload.

Fog Attack

Autumn in Chicago means the fog can attack at any moment. This attack came with at 15 degree drop in temperature!

There are usually more buildings

visible in the skyline.

What happened to Lake Shore Drive?

The fog was still rolling through

(rather quickly)

at sunset.

The Lock Bench

The Lock Bench, also part of the Water Marks Mosaic Sculpture, shows the development of the city of Chicago from a harbor/water perspective. It has scenes of the Chicago Portage (first crossed by Father Marquette), DuSable's Cabin (Chicago's first resident), freighters, and the recreational boats that use the lake and river.

Silurian Seat

Over by Navy Pier is an art installation that is called the Water Marks Mosaic Sculptures that celebrate the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The I and M Canal was a major water route for the early traders and pioneers as it connected Lake Michigan to the Illinois River. It was instrumental in Chicago's development as a major city and trading hub.

The Silurian Seat portion of the sculpture is a bench that represents the pre-civilized Chicago landscape; images show the glaciers and subsequent tall grass prairies, fossils, plants, and people who lived in the area, built and used the I&M Canal.

A Buoy's Life

Not sure if they are starting to take the buoys out of the marina or if they just didn't use all of them this summer. They do usually stack them more neatly than this, though.

Hi Bob

This beautiful warm Autumn weather we are enjoying prompted Dr. Robert Hartley to move his couch out to the park near his condo building. Things got out of control, though, because everyone who walked by said "Hi Bob!".

Churchill Corner

Strange that I never noticed this fairly large plaque at the corner of State and Goethe until yesterday. It commemorates the home of Dr. Frank Spooner Churchill and his wife Lucretia Mott Hallowell Churchill. The plaque indicates they were pioneers in the areas of food, water, air, sanitation, worker rights, and education reforms.

Having a Snack

Caught this little guy having a snack on a Grant Park bench. I guess everyone is enjoying these warm early Autumn days.

I Guess He Relocated

I always had the impression that Sam Spade did his detecting work in San Francisco. I guess he relocated his offices to the Old Town section of Lincoln Park in Chicago. Not sure he gets many clients because the only entrance seems to be through the storefront on the first floor ...

... which has this sign on the door.

Wolf Lake Sunset

One more from Friday's sunset. This is leftover sunset color on Wolf Lake. Taken through the passenger side window created a cool blur of foliage in the foreground.

Sunset through the Glass

Last Friday's sunset through the car windshield. Don't worry, it was the passenger side. Glad you can't see how spotted the windshield really is ;)

Theme Day: Graffiti

Today is the first of October so that means it is Theme Day on City Daily Photo. October's theme, chosen by vote of all the people in City Daily Photo, is Graffiti.

Now this was a tough theme. Chicago banned sales of spray paint and indelible markers back in 1995. So the only graffiti we get is done by tourists and suburbanites and - let's face it - they save their best stuff for their hometowns. Yeah, you can find the random declarations of "A.B. Loves C.D. 4-ever", gang tags, and other less-than-enthusiastic exclamations done with Sharpie markers, but there's not much in the way of really deep thoughts like "Kilroy was Here" or "Clapton is God".

I have found these three, though.

The one on the top left is an old photo of graffiti that showed up under Lake Shore Drive in late 2008. I found the graffiti shown in the bottom photo in the Lakeview Neighborhood earlier this week. It seems to be Illinois' former governor striking a very Jailhouse Rock Elvis-esque pose. The one at the top right is interesting. I walked over to take a photo of the blank square that was painted over a graffiti portrait of the former governor in a striped prison outfit. (I was going to lament how if you don't get a photo of the graffiti when you see it, it could be painted over quite quickly.) But I found this graffiti portrait instead! It had to have been done this week. I'm pretty sure it is commentary on the mayor's decision not to run again next year.

None of these seemed to have any signature, but they must have been done by the same person. And that person seems to have a unique political sense of humor.

ADDENDUM

OK, after a few commenters mentioned that these looked like the work of Banksy, I did a little more internet searching. Although Banksy was apparently in Chicago in the Spring, I think these may actually be the work of a School of the Art Institute graduate known as CRO (aka Ray Noland). He seems to do a lot of graffiti related to Chicago politics and a number of his works were at the same location of the Golfing Mayor piece.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants