(click photograph for larger view)
Let the game (no rules) begin…
Last week Sophia and I went shopping for her 8th birthday gifts.
We stopped for lunch and played a few rounds of the newly acquired Pass the Pigs game.
Here we see Sophia checking the rules as to how to score her recent roll of the pigs.
Turns out that the roll scored as a “lose your points and lose your turn.”
Leica M8, 28 mm Summicron Asph
Sophia celebrated her eighth birthday party
at Bay View Bowl
Additional photographs can be seen here.
(click photograph for larger view)
Leica M8, 28 mm Summicron Asph
Yes, I know it’s a “Hallmark Card” merchant’s advertising day. Yet I enjoy its effect on my psyche. Days before I think about my dad, and his dad, in unusual ways — considering whether to put a picture of dad up on the blog, or FaceBook — then the pictures of dad and grandpa run through my memory. I think about “son-in-laws” and grandchildren; and family trees and broken branches. I wonder what Tanya may have in mind. I imagine Sophia making cards for me and her dad. I wonder what this “father’s day” will be like. I really enjoyed lunch with Tanya at Cafe Corazone and thought I’d like to share that dining experience with Ann – so Tanya and I decided – brunch there – at whatever time Ann would like to make it. But Ann had already planned on spending the day with her son Josh on his farm in Eagle. So I met Tanya, Jerome and Sophia at the Cafe a bit before it opened at 10am. A dozen people, in all manner of dress, had also begun to gather there on this warm, sunny, Sunday summer morning.
(click photograph for larger view)
Casual dining on the patio – to be sure…
always a delight to share time and space with Sophia…
and Jerome…
and Tanya…
I continue to marvel at the decor (and architecture).
After our leisurely, two hour brunch we walked a few blocks South in this newly gentrifying “old” neighborhood. A gallery owned by the artist was hosting a baby shower for a relative — and so the balloons.
The neighborhood is filled with unique touches…
A few blocks South… a small grass lot hosts a little farmer’s market… a dozen canopies with fresh vegetables, handmade soaps (I bought a bar for Ann), free books (I gifted myself with Ambivalent Zen, organically grown meats, handmade wooden kitchen tools, fresh bakery and some lovely guitar music…
Kimberly A Theisen, makes soap… get some at katmade.com
Sophia wanted to move on to the Zoo… and didn’t like the news… that it was unlikely…
I continued strolling “the old neighborhood” on my own — after leaving the “farmer’s market.”
The Riverwest Neighborhoods host 2 or 3 different micro breweries.
Leica M8, 28 mm Summicron Asph
what can I say about
meeting a new friend?
sharing chalk?
sitting on the ground?
in summer dresses?
a thousand words…
(click photograph for larger view)
two thousand words…
Leica M8, 50 mm Summilux Asph
(click photograph for larger view)
Leica M8, 28 mm Summicron Asph
(click photo for larger view)
Leica M8, 28 mm Summicron Asph
What more could one ask for? Warm sunlight… the company of one’s daughter… and Cafe Corazon serving delightfully fresh and flavorful food, wonderful service and and great value in a remarkable environment.
This working class neighborhood also contains many memories… from my living in “Riverwest” as a student… and this being the neighborhood where my parents actually spent their childhood, adolescence and teens. An amazing old neighborhood where you’ll find residences, with small factory buildings and storefronts, with living quarters above, sprinkled throughout; making it easy to imagine the era when one could walk to work and pickup dinner on the way home; back in the day when neighborhoods were designed to work and “worked” very well.
The neighborhood was first settled in the 1850’s with luxury summer homes on the west bank of the Milwaukee River. As the “working” population grew and spread, from 1900 – 1920s, the neighborhood became more working class with smaller homes; much more densely populated; sprinkled with factories, bars and storefronts. Dad’s family lived in “rented flats” in or near this neighborhood from the 1920s well into the 50s. Dad’s parents were first generation immigrants (Dad was born in 1922, the youngest, with three older sisters who survived birth and childhood).
In my university student days (1964 – 72), the rents were low; yet located close enough to the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee campus for walking and biking. The storefronts made great art studios. My first studio was about 4 blocks south of this restaurant. My first student/shared apartment about 8 blocks south.
(click photograph for larger view)
Leica M8, 28 mm Summicron Asph
So far Alan’s the only one to take me up on my invitation to accompany me on my “daily” walks. Alan Magayne-Roshak is the Senior Photographer with University Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. You can see some of Alan’s fine photographic work here.
We met at Alterra at the Lake, located in the old historic Milwaukee River Flushing Station, built in 1888. We walked the Milwaukee Mckinley Marina and Beach for an hour before returning to Alterra for hot chocolate; and continued our conversation on all things photographic, including (but not limited to): aesthetics, equipment, history, the LUG (Leica User Group), chemistry, optics, etc et al.
And of course the invitation remains open. Give me a call. Let’s walk!
Photographic evidence (click photograph for larger view) of the events:
Leica M8, 50 mm Summilux Asph or 28 mm Summicron Asph
Treasure your moments with your friends and family.
They’re precious and fleeting.
Nine years ago my dad left this world.
and
Zoe left this world this morning.
(click photograph for larger view)
Leica M8, 50 mm Summilux Asph