Tag Archives: Hyde Park
Late October color at Promontory Point
White Pines Forest State Park, Castle Rock State Park, Lowden State Park, Kiwanis Park
September 29, 2024
Fueled by an excellent buffet breakfast in the Fireside Room, we built a campfire at one of the communal fire pits. While I was tending the fire, one of the employees driving by toward the cabins stopped and asked if I’d heard any noise from the neighboring cabin. I hadn’t; I’d slept as soundly as I can anymore. He told me the people next door had damaged the screen and inner doors as well as the rustic towel rack.
I followed him over to check out the doors. It had taken a fair amount of force not only to rip off struts from the screen door, but to tear off the strip from the edge of the main door. I didn’t see the towel rack. It’s just as well as I was as enraged as the maintenance man about what they’d done to “this 100-year-old historic building” (not quite 100, but close enough). I left him to repair what he could. I hope they were able to get something out of those “guests.”
I had no plans for today other than a visit to Castle Rock State Park and checking out some artwork I found via either Atlas Obscura or Roadside America. First we visited an overlook (wetland area?) I think is part of Castle Rock State Park, followed by the primary area of the park (although this time I was unable to walk up the stairs to the overlook, alas). We also checked out some higher ground across the road from the river that is also part of the park. While driving around, at some point we spotted a turkey vulture flying up into a tree. I hope we weren’t being followed.
Afterward we drove toward Oregon, where we found a low dam, also on the Rock River. Then it was on to the Black Hawk statue, which is (1) in Lowden State Park, also on the list to visit, so two birds, one stone, and (2) a creation of Lorado Taft, the sculptor behind Hyde Park’s “Fountain of Time,” into which he snuck his own likeness. This statue wasn’t intended to be Black Hawk, but the name has stuck.
The final planned stop was to see a smaller statue of a man with a fish on his head. It’s at Kiwanis Park, which we’d passed on the way to Lowden State Park, both on the Rock River.
On the way back to Chicago, we passed wind turbines — many wind turbines. I wonder if they’re the source of my electricity?
Hummingbirds, hornets, and other pollinators
There’d been a storm that had knocked out all the panels in the fence that separates the garden area of the Flamingo from the back area of the Park Shore. I’d taken advantage to walk over to look, and found out the Park Shore has quite a lovely backyard. Either I didn’t have my phone or hadn’t thought to take a photo. By the next morning, the panels had been restored. I managed to get an awkwardly framed photo through the gap between the fence and the framework. I love the circular bench and the fountain. It looks like a peaceful oasis. I wonder if it gets less noise than we do, with the building shielding it from the street. Less noise is good.
Today, the plan was to go to Sagawau Environmental Learning Center to see hummingbirds. I couldn’t get any good photos of them, so I started looking at the pollinators visiting the flowers — from bald-faced hornets to sweat bees. There may even have been a fritillary, but if so I missed getting a photo. I love fritillaries. They’re flashy.
Sagawau closes at 4 p.m., so stopped at Saganashkee Slough, which is vaguely reminiscent of a Minnesota lake, and Joe’s Pond, which once had a pair of trumpeter swans. Then we visited Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center, where they’ve installed a signpost with distances. It even includes Niagara Falls (560 miles) and the Boundary Waters (also 560 miles). Now I want to go to both. After a stop at Maple Lake, it was time for Ashbary Coffee House and then dinner at Capri Lounge & Grill. Mmmm.
Rare visible winter sunrise over Lake Michigan
During most of the winter in Chicago, the sky is a uniform leaden gray. Today, however, there was a moment of sunrise with some defined clouds. Right under the sunrise are the steel mills of Indiana with their plumes. During summer, the sun will rise over the Chicago Park District field house to your left.
Third day of sea smoke on Lake Michigan
January sea smoke on Lake Michigan at -7°F
January sea smoke on Lake Michigan at -9°F
More January sea smoke on Lake Michigan. See this article by Catherine Schmitt for the science behind sea smoke.
David Wallach Fountain at Promontory Point
I spotted a photo in the “Snapshots” section under “Fawned Memories” with this caption and thought I should take my own photos (July 8, 2023).
Children drink from the David Wallach Memorial Fountain in 1955. When Wallach died in 1894, he left $5,000 for a fountain near the lake to supply water for “man and beast.” Sculptors Elisabeth Haseltine Hibbard and Frederick Cleveland Hibbard collaborated on the fountain, installed at the 55th Street entrance to Promontory Point in 1939. Elisabeth modeled the bronze fawn after a doe at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Her husband created the marble fountain, which includes a well in its base with water for pets and wildlife. Both had been students of Lorado Taft, who created the Fountain of Time sculpture on the Midway and taught at UChicago. Elisabeth also taught at the University from 1943 to 1950.
University of Chicago Magazine, Summer 2022
Summer’s rainy day rainbow
The windy, rainy day overall put me in an autumn mood, and I thought I’d take video of Lake Michigan’s wave action. Instead, I was struck by this unexpected rainbow — the sun wasn’t out.
