Wandering Around, Ukranian Village

I wasted most of the day playing around on the computer, but did finally get my butt out the door towards the tail end of the afternoon. I decided I wanted to look around a bit more near Justin and Dave’s neck of the woods.

Before starting out, I needed some coffee. Oddly, Gallery Cafe was closed earlier than normal, so I headed down to Filter to get my fix. En route, I spotted the return of the Green Army Men. I guess the warmer weather brings everyone, the military included, outside.

This was near Wicker Park. The fence caught my eye mostly because of the brick/wood combination, especially since it was on a street that seemed to be full with newly built houses.

Near Wood and Division. Not sure if this is an actual store or what, but from the looks of all that sealant, this door hasn’t been open in a long, long time.

Sidewalk chalk art always cracks me up.

When I saw this, my first thought was that this was one coffee table and a few magazines shy of an office lobby.

Old sign, Augusta and Winchester.

I swung by Justin’s apartment, and the two of us hung out there for a bit. I got to see some great home movies of his niece Madden, when Justin visited his family last weekend.

We then headed out to Leona’s, to shoot some pool. En route, we stopped by the Happy Village bar, to try to find an adapter that he left there when he DJ’ed Michael’s birthday party, many weeks back. No luck finding the adapter (although the woman behind the bar was a complete jackhole about letting us look in the other room).

Walking up towards August, I spotted this piece outside a woodworking shop.

“I wonder what this is called,” I said.

And then I saw this.

Justin about to sink a shot. We had a beer and shot four, maybe five games.

The entire time I was out walking around Ukranian Village, the sky was gradually darkening. Lots of wind and gusts, and it seemed like every other block I had a bit of dirt blow into my eyes. At one point, near a school playground, the rain started to come down a bit and I had to run for cover under an apartment awning. For the most part though, the heavy stuff didn’t kick in until Justin and I were inside, circa 5:30 PM.

This was the view of the sky above Augusta and Damen. I thought I might be able to outpace the storm home, but had no such luck.

Honestly though, it was a really enjoyable walk home, despite getting pretty soaked. It was one of those times when, after a certain point, there was no real sense in trying to avoid being wet. I walked pretty slowly the rest of the way home, rain be damned, and it felt really good. It’s good to get completely drenched once in a while – just to remember what it’s like.

I didn’t come across as much cool stuff as I had hoped to, walking around today. I think in my mind, everytime I go out wandering, I expect to find something as amazing as Bryan J. Hyman’s fern. But of course, those finds are few and far between. I guess that’s good cause for wandering around even more.

I am glad I left the house today, and got to hang out with Justin for a bit. Took some pictures, shot some pool, and walked home through a storm. Not a bad way to end a 3-day vacation.