The 42-year-old license plate from my grandfather’s Ford had decomposed to a flaking, rusty, unsalvageable state. Sentimental me, I propped the plate up against a tree and photographed it. While doing so, the left-hand “LAND” side actually blew away. I disposed of the plate after capturing the photo.
As a fan of the Titans and Bears and a loather of the Giants and Patriots, I had little interest in the outcome of Super Bowl XLVI. Nonetheless, I made the short jaunt from Chicago to Indianapolis to take in the pregame frenzy firsthand. A surprising highlight for me was watching crafty Ohioans from Wilson Sporting Goods hand-construct footballs at the NFL Experience. Here’s a bonus photo of a Wilson employee at work, and one more for good measure.
The Chicago skyline as viewed from the food court at the Shedd Aquarium. Here’s a bonus shot, with wallpaper-friendly dimensions of 1920 x 1080, for those who can’t get enough of North America’s most impressive city skyline.
For Christmas we bought our daughter a giant stuffed tiger, which she absolutely adores.
What we didn’t anticipate is that our 14-year-old hound, Emerson, would compete with our daughter for the tiger’s affection, often napping alongside it with his paw touching — and dwarfed by — the faux feline’s mitt.
Is it sweet to see him express love for the tiger? Yes. But it also instills guilt, as we wonder why we didn’t get him a stuffed friend years ago.
I suspect the English teachers in Earl Park, a small town in northwestern Indiana, get a bit twitchy when they drive past this sign on Highway 41.
Surrounded by posh abodes worth north of $500,000, the 117-year-old home at 8 Park Drive in the Chicago suburb of Glenview can be yours for a mere dollar. The catch? The buyer has to uproot the massive structure and move it to a new site.
The owner of the home, the Glenview New Church, wants to redevelop the property. If a buyer doesn’t come forward soon, the home likely will be torn down. The Queen Anne-style dwelling lacks a landmark designation even though it possesses significant historical value. It was designed and owned by Hugh Burnham, Glenview’s first village president and the nephew of the famed city planner of Chicago, Daniel Burnham.
According to Trulia, the annual property taxes on the uninhabited home are a steep $12,713, which may explain why the pastor of the New Church described the residence as a “money pit” in an interview with TribLocal.
