While waiting for the train after work yesterday, I was entertained by the antics of the cabbage white butterflies fluttering around the wildflowers growing between the road and an on ramp.

Cabbage Whites
A white fultter over roadside wildflowers
Another and another and another
Half a dozen in all
Two squabble
Whirling ball of frantic flapping
The defeated flops, flattened onto a mound of leaves
The victor continues to scold
Flitting, darting quick jabs
Little butterfly, tasty morsel for a hen to peck
Becomes the hen-pecker

West Bank Station

Hamline Ave.

Our neighbor's back yard

My front yard

Dinkytown Greenway

Larpenteur Ave.

A pair of moments of architectural creatures:

Horton Park

I was in Chicago this weekend to do some networking for Moments in the Park (notably meeting with Connie Johnston of the Coordinates Society). I brought some sidewalk chalk and was planning to do some “guerrilla marketing,” chalking a sampling of moments and my web address around Millennium Park. The first chalking was a lovely experience, as curious passerby stopped to see what I was writing. I even had a nice chat with one woman and gave her a bookmark for future reference. The second one was going well too, until a couple of park maintenance guys came by in their cart and informed me that what I was doing was “defacement,” a term he repeated no fewer than three times. Since the definition of defacement is damage to property and the chalk would wash away in the next rainstorm, I disagree on the terminology. I had also looked up the park rules on their website beforehand, and had seen no mention of such a rule. But they were dead set on splashing my work with a bucket and scrubbing it away (probably without even reading it). 

Pierce Butler Route

My back yard