Stepping in this week while dmsilev is visiting family and puppy.  (And I'm not anxiously awaiting puppy photos in the least.) (Though, if you have puppy photos, the comments section of this diary is WIDE OPEN.)

dms didn't supply a theme, so I picked bugs - because of two places I've visited in the past couple of weeks - first, Notebaert Nature Museum, with its Butterfly Haven (a couple of Fridays ago), and today the Morton Arboretum.

You're not going to believe the humongous bugs I saw at the Arboretum.

Please join me over the jump.

A little more than a year ago, Jeff Zarawski & Sarah Hartfield created a banner that read, "IMPEACH! Bush & Cheney - LIARS" and hung it, along with an upside-down American flag (indicating "distress") from an overpass along I-355 in unincorporated Downers Grove, Illinois.

A passing truck driver phoned 911 and reported:

Driver: Yeah, I’d like to report uh, I’ve got two youths ... I’m going southbound on 355 at the 26th and a half mile marker 26th ½ to 27 mile marker. There’s a bridge that goes over 355 I’ve got two youths up there hanging a bunch of uh, a bunch of junk that looks like they’re hanging shit off of that bridge.

Join me over the jump for more of what he said.  

Note that the quotes are from the transcript, but I replaced the driver's name with "Driver".

Welcome to the Memorial Day edition of WYFP (mostly written on Memorial Day weekend).

Today, I met drchelo and dmsilev downtown, and we went on an architectural cruise before going to Pizzeria Due's for lunch:

Mmm, mmm, mmm - looks good enough to eat, huh?

A year ago, I spent the Saturday before Memorial Day going to three different locations in Chicago for Chicago Treasures diaries, which I recall over the jump.

WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and share advice, pootie pictures, favorite adult beverages, and anything else that we think might help. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here. Won't you please share the joy of WYFP by recommending?

The Illinois Prairie Path is a series of paths, branches and spurs that total over 60 miles.  Most portions are covered with crushed gravel, though some areas are covered in asphalt or other surfaces.  I live (according to my bike computer) 1/2 a mile from where a road crosses the Batavia spur of the path.  I've travelled both east and west along this spur.  

I have been using the Prairie Path for my runs or my walks.  But, this morning, my exercise was a leisurely photo safari for a few miles to the (north and) west.  If you'd like to view any of the photos more closely, click on them for a larger image.

It's a CHALLENGE!

(It's a RUMBLE!)

(ok.  no, it's not.  It's a challenge.  To learn about it, join me over the jump.)

I saw some simpleton bring up the "But she won the tiebreaker" crud in a diary.  

This is a lie.  Let's break it down into real simple numbers, over the jump.

Thirty days ago, the Yellowstone Wolves lost their protected status.

Today, there are 37 fewer Yellowstone Wolves.

Please see my previous diary, which references this diary, and join me over the jump.

What the hell.  My mojo has gone wakka wakka, and half (three quarters?) of the diaries today are concern troll drivel.

So, here's a Chicago Treasure I never figured I'd post.  

Mid February was my younger nephew's third birthday.  We started out celebrating it at "Two Toots" - a diner across the street from a rail station.

Join me over the jump to see what makes it fairly unique.

I first wrote about my weight loss journey a couple of months ago.  I'm painfully close to being half way to my current goal, and I'm just not going to wait another week.

I am less progressive - a smaller progressive - than I was then.

I am quite a bit less progressive - a much smaller progressive - than I was last August at YearlyKos.

To see the change, join me over the jump.

Per the Chicago Tribune's political blog The Swamp, the guy with the goatee in the Hillary Clinton ad is from Somerville, New Jersey and voted in the NJ primary on Super Tuesday, and is still registered there (though he recently moved to Bethlehem, PA, and plans to register and vote there in November.)

Join me over the jump.

On March 19 of this year, I joined in at a peace rally and march in downtown Chicago.  At the rally, I briefly met a woman who was handing out CD's of one of her songs.  I asked her for permission to share it with you.

She cheerfully gave that permission.

From that, I created the slideshow "Empty Boots."  The woman, Carol Williams wrote to tell me that she liked the results, and offered to send me more CD's.

As I listened to the song "Look What They Did to Our Country," I saw a slideshow in my mind.  Join me over the jump to see if I achieved it.

Yesterday there were two lovely diaries that reminded me a lot about a song I'd heard recently for the first time.

Those diaries are For a White Girl by RoCali and Brown Skin:  My Contribution to the Conversation We All Need to Have.

The song will come over the jump.

It's been awhile since a classic Chicago Treasure - so I'm going to pretty much repeat one of my favorites:

GARGOYLES

Let's see if we can figure out where Chicago's Gargoyle population 'hangs out.'

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I'd had enough of the Wright controversy.

No, let me re-state that.

Within 24 hours of the first Jeremiah Wright diary on DailyKos, I'd decided I'd had enough of the controversy.  And - as I prepare to add my key words, I'm laughing that I've actually written one now.

But it dragged on, and on, like a deranged Energizer Bunny. (Who would join me over the jump.)

Last night, I saw Markos Moulitsas at Northwestern University.  I left work right on time, and barely made the train out of the Route 59 station - once I made it to Union Station, I walked north through the rain to the Ogilvie Station, and took a train north to Central Street in Evanston - caught the 201 bus, which took me to within a couple of blocks of the Tech Center at Northwestern.

That was actually the easy part...  Once I was in the Tech Center, I knew that the place where a bunch of people seemed to be practicing a dance or something was not where I was supposed to be, and I walked throughout the building.

I finally made it back near the dancers where I learned... Um, yeah.  That's where I wanted to be.  (A sign somewhere - anywhere! - would have helped.)

Photos and video over the jump.  (Click on the photo to see a larger image.)

Saturday before last, I took a train from Millennium Station in downtown Chicago to Hyde Park.  I met dmsilev there, and we walked along Lake Michigan's lakefront from Hyde Park (about 57th Street) to Navy Pier.

Between walking at train stations, to buses, at Navy Pier, and along the lakefront path, my pedometer indicated that I'd walked over 10 miles.

And you bet - I took photos.  Please join me over the jump (and click on the photos to see a larger view).

Last year I travelled to Atlanta for the second time - to see the whale sharks again, and the baby panda for the first time, to meet OPOL and to see my friend BobR.

All these missions were accomplished - and I had a fantastic time playing tourist with OPOL over the weekend.

On Monday, while OPOL was at work, I went to the Martin Luther King, Jr National Historic Site.

Join me over the jump for a sheddhead photo tour.

Interested in space travel?  

Well, get ready - Virgin pairs with Google - over the jump.