hey guys

this article is pretty alarming, given the news this morning about the banking industry moves to "save" the economy....

would love your feedback on this!

Grandma:
I was sent a link to this organization and was wondering what you thought of it. It almost seems like a joke but it's not. And it's supposed to be good for the environment? Something about parking lots in the mountains so the streets can be "given back to" pedestrians and bicyclers.

Pave the Peaks

Let me know. I like the "people enjoying pavement" photo. I don't know what to think.

maya

Hi everyobody! How are you?

I'm emerging from a busy spell and wanted to share some good news with the whole fam. After applying to two graduate programs here in Chicago, Urban Planning and Architecture, I learned last night that the UIC School of Architecture has accepted me. I don't know yet about the Urban Planning, but I think my mind's already made up. Ideally, I would do both, but I don't even know if that is possible at this point in the game. So, this fall I will be starting a three year course for my Masters in Architecture.

I'm so excited! I think I'm a bit like mom (understatement?) in that I have lots of interests, but I have been interested in architecture for a long time, since high school anyway. After writing all of personal statements, I've pretty much convinced myself that my background is perfect for the study of... and now that i look back on my meandering path to grad school, I'm glad i didn't have the "foresight" to pick a career path way back when.

So yay! that's all. Here's a link to the school if you're curious. http://www.arch.uic.edu/index.php

(Grandma, I'm trying to call you back. Sorry I keep missing your calls.)

love,
maya

MOM: I forgot to tell you. I'm coming home on Tuesday nite. Got to get the ol' van. Hanks using it for touring. He's paying my way. Can someone pick me up from the train at 9:30?
thanks, maya

trumpeter swan! I thought it was an ostrich at first - bout whipped my head 'round, stopped traffic to shoot. Still didn't know what it was till i got home....

which took a little longer than expected! hehe ;-) A banner day: got to share an unexpected hour with an every-day hero, disguised as a tow-guy from Larry's, out of Carbondale. If anyone needs a tow, i highly recommend them. They were the only ones who would come get me, and i spent an hour on the phone looking!

gave up racing the sunset home, skidded off the road about two miles out on the county road to grab some shots of the sun sliding toward the corn bins and the swollen duck-hunter's pond...

this is our western view last week, after the second "100-year flood" we've had in the last 15 years.

and this was a lucky shot, improbable really, taken at some distance against gunmetal clouds. I could barely see the heron at all, then realized i was taking pictures of an empty stump. I was amazed to see this one between heron on stump and no heron at all, as i scrolled back. It's hard to see the LCD screen in daylight, so i often shoot "blind."
It really made my day!
Toes!
I got Toes! ;-)

okay, please consider last post with grain of salt. I left it up because that is how i feel sometimes. So it represents a little part of me that loves to dance, loves interaction, loves the thought of family and plays doll-house with some made-up family in my mind. When i regain my senses, i can see that i am fully delusional, that people may be busy, have different predilections and are not behaving relative to me at all. Where do i get the idea that people are supposed to share my enthusiasms? I have so many, i am sure they can be quite wearing.... But i have been hanging back quite a bit, because it felt like a big echo chamber, no pings. And it is so easy for Mind to fill in those blanks... Actually, it seems almost impossible NOT to!

it's interesting. i post and post. no comments. i comment. no responses. i used to think it was my fault, how this family doesn't stay together. now i think maybe we just have oil in the water, and we really don't give a crap about each other, don't really want to stay together as a family.

well if that is how you feel, fucking fine. you won't find me here.

thanks everybody. nice to know how much you all care.