G is for gargantuan and generals

 

For G-Day on ABC Wednesday here is a photo that involves two generals and a gargantuan building in that great town, Chicago.   We had gathered in Chicago for the wedding celebration of young friends on Saturday evening and had all day before the train would take us back to Fabius.  So Sunday morning we strolled through Grant Park (named for U.S. President and Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant) on our way to the Shedd Aquarium and the special exhibit on Jellyfish.  It was at the corner of the park at 11th Street that we passed this monument to the Civil War general, John Alexander Logan, an Illinois hero and congressman (not necessarily synonymous). 

  

The building behind General Logan is the Aon Center.   I knew it once as the Standard Oil building.  To its left is the Two Prudential Plaza building and on the right our insurance money at work, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower.  The Wikipedia article on the Aon Center has an interactive panoramic view of downtown Chicago in which you can see the relative height of all the city's skyscrapers.  Click on any building to learn more.

For Carl Sandburg's homage to Chicago, visit Chicago Poems, while you listen to Frank Sinatra sing  "Chicago, Chicago, the toddling town, I'll show you around":

Explore the world of G's beyond Chicago on ABC Wednesday.

Weird and Wild Weather

Earthquakes in Virginia and Colorado, Hurricane Irene bearing down on the mainland US, two nights of fierce thunder and lightening storms here in southwest Michigan on Tuesday and Wednesday nights racing toward Canada with tornadoes in Wisconsin and Ontario -- Weird and Wild Weather indeed. These two photos were taken Wednesday night about five minutes apart and show the turmoil and strange orange light that followed the initial storm. For more skies, some definitely gentler, please visit Skywatch Friday.

nobody home

I think this alien-looking creature is the case of a cicada.  After watching it not move for several hours, I had the courage to touch it and found it empty.  It sure fooled me!

Frogs for ABC Wednesday

Seen out the screen of the kitchen window yesterday while we were finishing the breakfast dishes was this froggy foursome.   Finally, a perfect feature for F-day on ABC Wednesday!

But then I was floundering around with a flotilla of F-words to accompany the foto;  nothing fully fit.  I figured I needed to focus better on those frog fotos, and oh, for heaven's sake.......... found myself humming this old folksong, Froggie Went a Courtin’.

Did I first hear it sung by Burl Ives?  (I definitely remember Blue Tail Fly  (done here not by Burl but by Big Bill Broonzy) and Big Rock Candy Mountain from a Burl Ives record of my parents.)   After further forays into recordings of Froggie, here is the fulsome list of recordings --folksy, funky, funny, whatever you favor! -- that I found:

Brothers Four

Elvis  

Flat Duo Jets

Kermit

National Film Board of Canada

Springsteen

Tex Ritter

Uncle Pecos from Tom and Jerry

Washboard Jungle

I bet you now have your fill of Froggie,  so I must ‘fess up and be furtive no longer about my favorite version:  Bob Dylan

So flee from thr friggin' frogs and fly on over to  ABC Wedneday!

Eavesdropping on ABC Wednesday

 

Ruby may not especially enjoy my eavesdropping on her while she is eating......   Her eyes and ears are expressing a warning should you get any nearer her treat, "I am not an effete nor an endentate!"  "Well, excuse me!" I exclaimed, and exited most energetically.

Explore more E's on this week's ABC Wednesday.

Dancers

The fairies have disappeared with the sunlight, but the mushrooms are still dancing......
For truly delicious D's, dive into ABC Wednesday this week.