No Fixed Plans

  At St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Chicago, my contribution to the year's first Sculpture Saturday. To see more, click here . 

 

Bain News Service, Publisher.  Cafe, New Year's Eve . , ca. 1910. [Between and Ca. 1915] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014694999/. My Sepia Saturday post this week commemorates New Year's Eve with photos from the Library of Congress and vintage cards I've found. At Hotel Prosperity all the tables have been reserved. How about that? Keppler, Udo J., Artist.  New Year's eve at the hotel prosperity / Kep . , 1909. N.Y.: Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, Puck Building. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2011647535/. Federal Theatre Project, U.S., Sponsor.  "Vaudeville frolic" 15 acts: Gala midnight show New Year's eve . San Diego California, None. [California: federal art project, between 1936 and 1941] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/98516889/ I've checked an inflation calculator for these prices. Thirty-five cents in 1936 is $7.00 now and 55¢ is $11.00. So entertainment is a category where prices have really skyrocketed. I didn't

The Starlight Night By Gerald Manley Hopkins Look at the stars! look, look up at the skies!     O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air!     The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there!  Down in dim woods the diamond delves! the elves'-eyes!  The grey lawns cold where gold, where quickgold lies!     Wind-beat whitebeam! airy abeles set on a flare!     Flake-doves sent floating forth at a farmyard scare!   Ah well! it is all a purchase, all is a prize.  Buy then! bid then! — What? — Prayer, patience, alms, vows.  Look, look: a May-mess, like on orchard boughs!     Look! March-bloom, like on mealed-with-yellow sallows!  These are indeed the barn; withindoors house  The shocks. This piece-bright paling shuts the spouse     Christ home, Christ and his mother and all his hallows. 

 

 Four or More Colors National Mexican Art Museum, Chicago Orange, pink, reddish, black, white, orange, purples. That's more than 4 colors for this week's challenge. If you want to see more colors, click here . 

  Taipei, Taiwan My entry for Sami's Monday Murals is a dragon I saw in Taiwan. To see more magnificent murals, click here . 

 

 Here's my Sepia Saturday holiday post. Vintage cards from the solemn to the ridiculous. Jolly? To see more Sepia Saturday photos, click here .  My favorite

O, Holy Night! Bono and the Edge It Came Upon a Midnight Clear A classic retelling of the Christmas Story.

  In Indonesia a pony that pulled a wedding carriage. This week Cee's challenging us to share photos of animals, whether they're on the farm or in the wild. Now this pony probably doesn't lie in the wild or on a farm, but I liked his headdress and think he's cheerful.  To see more animals, click here . 

 I've been a bit under the weather since December 9th. With my tight work schedule and the limited hours for COVID-19 testing the one day I could get an appointment was Tuesday at 12:45pm at a Walgreens not far from here.  Surely, I could get this done in an hour. I left right at 12:30pm when my lunch started and arrived at 12:40pm. There was a long line in the drive through, but I figured they weren't all getting tested. Surely some were doing a simple pick up.  The line inched along. By 1:18pm I was still 4 cars back. I had to leave because my work is strict about lunch time. What is the point of appointments if they're so overbooked. From looking at Yelp about this Walgreen's in Glenview, IL the reviews are appalling and have been for some time. Clearly, Walgreens has no interest in customer service. I'll stick with CVS. 

  Bain News Service, Publisher.  Christmas Shoppers . , ca. 1910. [Between and Ca. 1915] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014689326/. I missed Sepia Saturday but thought I'd commemorate Christmas shopping of days gone by. To see some Sepia Saturday posts, click here .   O'Halloran, Thomas J, and Warren K Leffler, photographer.  Retail Christmas Story Shoppers . , 1974. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019631433/. Harris & Ewing, photographer.  NO ELEPHANT TOYS FOR FIRST LADY. MRS. ROOSEVELT, ON A CHRISTMAS SHOPPING TOUR, HAD A HARD TIME CONVINCING SANTA CLAUS THAT SHE DID NOT WANT A TOY ELEPHANT, A SYMBOL OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT. SHE IS SHOWN HERE INSPECTING AN ASSORTMENT OF TOYS AT A WASHINGTON, D.C. DEPARTMENT STORE FRIDAY . United States Washington D.C. District of Columbia Washington D.C, 1934. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016883487/.

 

  For this last Thursday Doors Challenge of the Year I've chose a few of my favorite doors from 2021.  To see more fabulous doors, click here .  St. Stanislaus Kostka, Chicago Old World Wisconsin

  Beijing My entry for this week's Monday Murals, which Sami of Colourful World gradiously hosts is a China Dream mural. To see more murals, click here . 

 

 Cross-eyed My contribution to the Sculpture Saturday Challenge.

 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas For this week's Sepia Saturday I thought I'd share photos from my visit to Old World Wisconsin. Last week a friend and I visited this historic site in Eagle, Wisconsin to see it's Christmas festivities. Old World Wisconsin is a place where they've gathered and restored buildings from the 19th Century. In December on the weekend's they're open to show visitors how Christmas was celebrated over 100 years ago. In the town's church, which was the first Catholic church in Milwaukee, visitors could sing carols. The performers read a Christmas passage from a Little House on the Prairie book. They also brought kids up from the audience and they read "The Night Before Christmas." Ready for Christmas morning. This room is set up for a cobweb party. Each guest has a color of string and they have to unravel the string to get to their Christmas gift. I wonder what other kinds of parties they had back then. This l

 At Old World Wisconsin This week Dan, the Thursday Doors host, encouraged bloggers to share holiday doors. Last Saturday I went to a Christmas event at Old World Wisconsin, a site where they have gathered 19th century structures from across the state.  To see more holiday doors, click here . 

 Basically Two Colors I went with Blue and White At first I couldn't see the girl. To see more two-colored photos, visit Cee's blog .

In Uptown Sami of Colourful World hosts Monday Murals, a favorite photo challenge of mine. Here's a mural I first saw in the summer when it was just getting sketched on the wall. Now it's finished. To see more murals, click here .