It was nice being in the city so early. Even though it was a solid three hours earlier than I’m usually around downtown, the city was still full of joggers and pedestrians, mothers with baby strollers, people clutching large cups of coffee.
The thing on the right caught my eye, as I was walking past. The grill on top made me think that fire was involved in some way. The more I looked at it, the less I knew what it was or how it worked. And the more curious I got.
A while back, I had heard about some street work that was happening on our street. There were lots of signs up the days before, peppering much of the area near our house. Around 7:30AM or so, we started to hear the sound of an impact hammer, digging into the street.
Spotted another set of these marks again, on the way in to work this morning. Or rather, Liz spotted these – as I walked by completely oblivious.
I didn’t see any kids around, and given some of the water damage I spotted… my best guess is that this has been sitting for some time. Possibly left here the day before, on someone’s way home.
I spotted this the other day: two metal tracks, right in the middle of the floor. This is from the 56th street station, and I’ve passed it daily for many years now – and never really noticed it.
On my walk to the Metra each morning, I see in the distance a large crane. It’s visible once I get along 55th, but it becomes even more so when I’m on the Metra platform.
Whenever I encounter construction and work like this as I’m heading in to the office, I wish I could just pull up a chair and simply observe. I find it all so darn fascinating.
It’s right around the corner from the old Emmis Interactive office. And in fact, I remembered that this used to be a kind of gated off area. I walked by it countless times, but I guess things have changed over the last 5 years.
In light of yesterday’s commute, it seems even more appropriate to share.
This morning, I happened to be one of the first people off my train. And I also happened to be the first person to get to the very top of the ramp. There… I saw a man on a gurney, surrounded by four or five medics. One medic was pumping the man’s chest.
I’ve been able to peer down Wabash a few times during my commute, and I’ve always found it fascinating. Partly for the actual construction work going on, but also partly because I found myself imagining some distant time in the future.
In my head, I compare what I see now in the present tense, imagining some future day when this will seem incredibly old and antiquated.
Closeup of the neck, which made me think of a huge, mechanical dinosaur. I could have stayed and watched this all morning. Fascinating stuff.
This is totally ridiculous, but… the bricks that lined this tree along 55th are gone! When we first saw it, Liz exclaimed “The bricks are gone!”
Liz spotted this, as we were walking to the Metra stop this morning. While there are lovely colors to be found in Fall, it’s particularly delightful whenever you can spot Nature in the process of using a gradient.