Politics

It's kind of hard to avoid politics in Chicago nowadays. As this is the first non-Daley mayoral race in years, the campaigns for mayor of Chicago are heating up as election day draws nearer. There are six official candidates left (down from eleven), four of which get regular news coverage.

Rahm Emanuel got a laugh out of whatever former President Clinton had just said (which I think might have been a comment about Rahm's famously colorful expressions).

Bumper Deer

This deer family can be found by the Aon Center (also known as the Amoco Building and, before that, Standard Oil Building) in the Loop neighborhood. They are made of car bumpers by an artist named John Kearney. There are several of his bumper animals scattered throughout Chicago (perhaps I'll do a tour of them one of these days).

Year-round Flower

After a couple days of the upside of Spring (warm temperatures, blue skies and sunshine), we got two days of the downside of Spring (rain, fog, more rain, lots of rain, thunderstorms, more building-enshrouding fog). I know you need both to get the real flowers to emerge from their winter hibernation. But, the best I can do for now is this mosaic flower from the stairwell in the Chicago Cultural Center.

March Theme Day: Glass

Today is City Daily Photo's Monthly Theme Day and the theme is glass.

The Tiffany Stained Glass Dome in the
Chicago Cultural Center is the largest in the world.
It is 38 feet in diameter and contains
about 30,000 pieces of glass.
It was completely restored in 2008.

This Astrological Chart is just the center section but
I think it gives a sense of the
detail and beauty of this architectural charm

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Night Cloud

I was able to see Cloudgate at sunset on Friday. Not a view I often see. We were in the Cultural Center for a lecture from a very interesting "sustainability humorist" named Doug Fine. Before the lecture started, I was looking out the window and took this view.

Something Other Than Snow

I was cutting through a building (again) to escape the cold. This time it was the Chicago Cultural Center. I found this great mosaic in the ceiling near the Washington entrance. The ceiling also has mosaics of author names, like Longfellow and Irving, because the Cultural Center used to be the main Chicago Public Library.

The tiny suns and dolphins in the corners gave it a tropical look and a nice escape from the brutal outside temperatures.