low_delta

I'm never sure what to call the stuff... cleaning liquids? I generally clean the bathroom surfaces with a cleaning liquid mixed into a bucket of water. I sponge things down. I prefer to avoid harsh chemicals, and definitely stay away from strongly scented stuff, especially the fake kind.

I used to use lemon scented cleaners because I like lemon. But over time those scents became too realistic. I didn't want to be thinking about this yummy lemon while cleaning the toilet. Because pretty soon I'd be thinking about the toilet while eating yummy lemon. I started using Mrs. Meyer's products. They seem a little more environmentally responsible than, say Dow Chemical, and they use natural ingredients for scents, which are garden themed. So that's nice, but I don't find all of them to be attractive. I settled on lavender.

Here's a partial list of their scents: Blueberry, Tomato Vine, Fresh Cut Grass, Dandelion, Dewdrop, Lilac, Rose, Mint, Daisy, Rain Water, Lemon Verbena, Basil, Birchwood.

I would avoid tomato vine like the plague but lilac and birchwood sound great. But they don't make all products in all scents, and not all stores carry all their products, let alone all the scents. My grocery store seemed to have stopped carrying what I need (big bottle of liquid).

So I picked up a small bottle of Pine Sol. It's a very strong scent, and now the house stinks. Maybe I used too much. It's a very evocative scent, though. It's institutional. Reminds me of... school? Not sure.

I had a ticket to see Les Claypool's Gold tour in Chicago on Wednesday. He took all three of his bands on tour together - Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, The Claypool Lennon Delerium and Primus. I never put it on our calendar, so had kinda forgotten about it until my friend messaged me on Monday to say he wasn't able to go.

Tuesday night I saw where someone had posted a video of Union Pacific's Big Boy. It is the world's largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive. Built in 1941, it weighs 1.2 million pounds and stretches 132 feet long. It doesn't come around very often. This year it's on a coast to cost tour for America's 250th. So I looked it up to see where it would be and when, and see if I'd have an opportunity to see it. It turned out that it would be in the Chicago area the next day - the day I was going to Chicago for the concert. Perfect! And my friend wasn't going to the show, so I didn't have to worry about dragging him to this thing.

It was in West Chicago, which is a little town pretty far west of the city. I got on the road at 11:00, which was a little later than I'd planned, and I also hadn't planned on stopping for lunch. The town had planned on huge crowds, so they set up shuttle buses stopping at various parking lots around the area. I chose one and parked. I was the only one there. I waited ten minutes for the bus (and was the only one on it), and it took 25 minutes to complete the circuit and get me to the train. I finally got there at 2:30, and the event was to close at 3:00.

On the way down I was wondering what I was thinking - it's a big train. Is it going to feel spectacular. I honestly don't have a good feel for how big a normal steam train is, since I've only seen a few in my life. But it turned out to be pretty cool. And yes, it looks huge. I must have spent about 45 minutes around it (you could see it from one side from outside of the closed off area), and got almost 200 photos.





It was near 90°, and I sweated a lot. I didn't get any water, and the water I had in the car was then too warm to drink. I drove downtown, which took over an hour. Then I wandered around for another hour before I finally got water.

I bought parking at a garage there, and had a pass on my phone. I got in OK, but getting out was an issue. It took me a couple of tries to get out, but then I realized I wouldn't be able to go back in that way. I walked completely around the block and didn't see a way back in. I went up to the door I came out of, and just then someone was coming out, and he let me in. I found a different exit, and this one had a scanner where I could use my parking pass to open the door to go back in. Why is everything so hard?

I ate at Goose Island Brewery, next to the venue. Got in the venue just a few minutes before showtime. It was open air general admission. I'd heard old people complain about standing for too long, and I always assumed it was their feet or legs that gave out, but I've learned it's my back that hurts. I'm also too old for most of these shows. Frog Brigade was good, much as expected. Claypool Lennon Delerium was good, but I was hoping for great. I've watched shows on YouTube and loved them, but there really wasn't much added by the live experience. Much more subtraction. Much of that being the crowd. Everyone was constantly pushing by, going in our out. And I wasn't close enough to see anyone very well. The sound wasn't as good as when I'm listening on my headphones. And those two bands only played for an hour total.

What makes a show worth it for me these days is when I can get into it physically, like dancing or jumping around. And that's what I expected from Primus. But they didn't deliver on that. Claypool seemed to be stuck in the trippy, jammy Delerium mode. They still sounded like Primus, but somehow more laid back. They only played two songs I recognized, "My Name is Mud," which I didn't enjoy, and "Tommy the Cat," which I did. I saw them just last year, and they played their hits which had the whole place (literally) jumping, but they didn't do them this time. It wasn't the lack of songs I knew that was disappointing - I really wanted to jump.

It was an early show, being on a school night I guess. Started at 7, ended at 10, and I got home at midnight.

I don't know if Cindy is still sick, or just feeling the effects that are hanging on, but she's not doing too well - coughing constantly. I still have some coughing, especially around bedtime but not like she's got. Other than that I feel fine except I don't have all my energy back. Yesterday I had to go out to get a new belt for my mower, then replace it, then mow. It took a lot out of me. After that, we needed to go to the grocery store, and were planning on looking for something for supper, but we learned that a BBQ food truck we like was at the brewery we like, so after groceries, we went out there and got some food and beer for supper.

This afternoon I worked in the gardens, did my Spring cleanup. I also drove Cindy to the pharmacy to pick up some cough medicine. We had leftovers for supper, then I went out for errands - got more groceries, and got my car washed. Then I left for the David Byrne concert. Cindy couldn't go because of her coughing, so I called my friend Steve, so we met and went down together. Cindy's daughter Heather was also at the show she texted me asking where I was. I told her and she said "ooh, you're all fancy, on the first floor!" I said, "you're in steerage?"

As expected, it was a fun show. Byrne did a smattering of Talking Heads tunes "And She Was", "Nothing but Flowers", "This Must Be the Place" and a couple more I wasn't familiar with, until he loaded up "Psycho Killer", "Life During Wartime", "Once in a Lifetime" and Burning Down the House" at the end. The other songs were enjoyable as well. The audience was on their feet more often than seated.

The walls around the stage were video walls, as was the floor. Since there were no shadows on the stage, it seemed like the musicians were just put in by video effect. They used a few video tracking tricks, like putting the musicians' names on the screen following that actual positions on the stage. Similarly with "spotlights" under their feet. For the first song, they were performing on the moon, as the Earth rose behind them. Byrne pointed to it and said it was heaven.

My favorite museum is MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art. It's been a while, so we had intended to see it on Tuesday afternoon, but we ended up spending the day in the ER. We had intended to take a day trip to Philadelphia on Friday, and see the Barnes, but that fell through due to illness, among other things.



This time we visited the Guggenheim. ( see more )

Yesterday I mentioned that I wasn't feeling well. Today I was fully ill. I woke early, then Cindy went out around 11:00, and I went for a walk. I walked around the area at a relaxed pace. I sat in Bryant Park behind the library, for quite a while. It was pleasant. Then I went over to Times Square. Funny, it was less crowded, on a Friday afternoon, than almost every other time I've ever been there, even at midnight. But I really don't need to go back. Nothing more to see. I got a hot dog from a street vendor, and ate it in front of the library.

Cindy went to meet an artist friend, and they went to a photography show at the Armory. While waiting for her to return I dozed on and off, then we went for a sandwich. Then came back for a bit before housekeeping showed up to service the room, so we walked down to Madison Square Park and sat for a while before coming back. Then out for dinner. I got mixed up on the diners I found on the internets, so we had to find a new place. Went to a sports bar that was noisy as hell. If we'd actually had any more to say to each other at this point, I would have turned and walked out.

I was trying to decide if there was anything worth doing for a couple of hours tomorrow morning, in my sickened state. I thought I'd take the subway down to the Brooklyn Bridge, and I could get some photos. But then I checked the weather - 50 and raining. Horrible. Just discovered there's another photography exhibition, and it opens at 9:00, but I shouldn't be in crowds of people when I'm like this. So I'll just have to stay in and rest. At least until noon, when we have to check out. Our flight isn't until after 4:00, so we'll have some time to kill after checkout. Lunch, I guess, then go to the airport early?

This is my third time at this hotel, since it is centrally located in Midtown, and the rates are reasonable. Unfortunately, the tradeoff is for a very small room. No furniture except for the bed. If I'd known I'd be spending a lot of time in the room this time, I might have sprung for a more comfortable room. But a hundred dollars a night more is a lot.

I haven't gotten a good night of sleep this entire trip. In this place, the mattress isn't great, and it's very noisy here. Sirens are not uncommon, and car horns are constant. The rest of the noise just sounds like a construction site sometimes. The first two nights were in a decent room with a good bed, but I had temperature issues, and maybe issues with just being away from home. I don't know if all this poor sleep contributed to my illness, but it's sure not helping now.

We had a quick breakfast at the coffee shop up the block, and got to the library when they opened at 10. We saw the famous Rose Reading room, which you have seen in movies like Ghostbusters. Then we saw the Polonsky Collection, which is basically a museum. They have some of the original stuffed animals that Winnie The Pooh was based on, which I thought was pretty cool. Then we walked on up to Central Park. Got a hot dog at a cart. It was subpar and we'll have to be more careful about the vendors we choose in the future. Then up to the Guggenheim. Saw work by Carol Bove, Gabrielle Munter and Robert Rauschenberg. I was only marginally interested in these artists, but Cindy had never seen the Frank Lloyd Wright building. And then we took the subway back down to the hotel.

This was all rather slow going. Cindy was tired, and had to walk very carefully. With her arm fractured and in a sling, she can't afford to fall again.

We rested a while and then I went back out with my camera. I went toward the east river, and ended up at the UN Building. Shot a lot of architecture. Then we had supper at a noisy Irish Pub. And sat in the room for the next few hours.

They said to show up between 9 and 10, because Lily goes down for her nap after 10. But early this morning they told us Lily was up early, which means an early nap, so we'd have to go much later. And sit around the hotel room for a couple of hours. I asked Jill if we could do gardening outside before she gets up. That was fine as long as we didn't alert the dogs and wake Lily. So we showed up at 11, and Lily was waiting at the door for us.

Cindy spent the day playing with Lily. She took her for a walk in her stroller. I spent the day working in the yard with Jill. We planted all the plants she'd bought the day before and dug up a lot of weeds. I was like her accountability buddy, keeping her working (with the help of Cindy watching the kid). And also give her a lot of advice. So I enjoyed myself. I kept working until about 5, long after she went inside because her allergies got bad. But I got everything done. I was feeling pretty good until I sat down, and then I crashed. I'm I'm pretty stiff now.

Thursday, I saw something on Fb about Good Friday being the next day. This was the first I'd realized this weekend was Easter. Sometime on Friday I realized I hadn't heard anything from my mom about Easter dinner on Sunday. We always have dinner with the family on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Saturday morning, Cindy made plans to visit a friend for her birthday on Sunday. Later in the day I finally decided I should inquire about said dinner. If I hadn't, I figure I probably would have gotten a "where are you?" call this afternoon. And it would have been partly my fault for not asking.

Turns out my mom had forgotten to tell us about it. So I went over to Mom's today. My sister and her two kids were there. Before dinner, I saw my mom take the salad bowls off the table (we usually bring the salad). So we had dinner. Cindy arrived after we'd finished eating, but before dessert.

Cindy retired from her job this week. She was, what 30 years at her previous job, and fifteen at this one? She has a lot of photography ahead of her, and one of her projects is to visit all the public libraries in Wisconsin. She started last Fall, but only got about ten libraries done before we went to Madison a couple of weeks ago.

She visits a library, takes a few photos inside and out, and then does a little research and writes a post about it. Maybe two or three at once. You can read (and subscribe to) them here: https://wisconsinlibraries.substack.com/

She got a tour from the director of one library so far. Hoping that will happen again. Some libraries are more interesting than others. Some are Carnegie buildings, some are in community centers or town offices. Some have their histories right on their websites, some barely have a website. There are eight tribal libraries, that we know of, on reservations.

I'm getting invested in the project. I'm sure I'm annoying her by pushing her to make plans to visit more. And I keep offering advice. Like, do some research before you go, so you know what to look for. Hand out business cards. I'm sure some the things I suggest are things she's already thought of. I also made a Google map. I pinned every library, and populated her list with addresses and websites. There are around 450 of them. I've even found new libraries that weren't on her list.

I'm trying to figure out how long it's going to take her. Two or three years? She can maybe get ten on a day trip. Do that every other week, that's five per week, or less than two years. The ones in northern Wisconsin will require longer trips, but we can get more done per trip because it's longer. I'm trying to figure out some routes, but it's hard to judge how long it will take until we actually do a few. I keep saying "we," but I won't be joining her on a lot of these trips, because I don't have that much vacation.

When I was in Chicago last week, I stopped to see a bridge.



Yes, I like the bridges. If you want to see more pics, and maybe read a little about it, I posted in Substack: https://kevinhansenphotoart.substack.com/p/deering-bridge