Lensing and Shuttering: August 2013

Dry land in late summer,
as I embark on my journey,
my ordeal, my joy.

I did a "photo walk" session today
in the City of Peoria, Illinois.

4 hours in 95 degree heat,
walked downtown to the
Peoria Riverfront Museum,
and back home,

to pick up my prize for
winning the 2013 Ansel Adams
"Midwest Exposure"
photography contest

with my
"Cicade Emerged from Shell"
photo.

The streets were almost entirely deserted.

Only the most foolhardy or seasoned survivalist
would dare to walk even a few blocks
in the stifling, mercilessly extreme heat.

Delirium set in right away,
which made it a bit easier.

The top of Main Street has this
Peking Restaurant now,
formerly Mr. Quick,
and in the 70s, Hoy Toy Lo
restaurant in a basement facility.

That old church on the right had old black
spiritual music jams a few nights a week,
with loud drums and tambourines.

Let the strange looking truck
just roll on by, roll on by.

Converse Marketing
formerly a bed and breakfast
formerly a funeral parlor.

Top of Main Street hill, Peoria, IL USA.

Up there, in that bedroom,
a crazy family member
of the funeral parlor people
was rumored to make gestures
through the window
to the passers-by.

The OSF Randolph Building.

Reaching the bottom of
Main Street hill,
to enter the
downtown heart of
the City itself.

Glen Oak Towers.

The mentally and physically disabled
live here, as do medical students
who attend the University of Illinois
medical center across the street.

Almost nobody out on the street today,
it's a scorching 95 degree heat wave,
something we'll sorely miss
come this December
as winter snows fall
and chills settle in.

David Commonday.

Anheuser-Busch Building.

I love old ruins.

Beginning to wonder if this
was such a good idea.

Okay, I made it downtown.

Must be stern with myself.
Must get to the museum.
Pick up my prize.

Private parking in locked alley.

Music poster near
Illinois Central College.

Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Let's go in shall we?

Greeted by the confetti creature
suspended above the fray.

I did it.

I got to the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Picked up my prize.

Feeling so good,
I think I'll walk all the way
back home.

Weihenstephaner Octoberfest,
the large mug special, please.

At Sully's.

I heard some guy at the bar
say he drank only Octoberfest beers,
they're the best.

Maybe this will help me cool down
as I prepare mentally
for the long trudge home.

A $6.00 beer gets a $1.00 tip.

"Colorful" the dizzy man said,
when asked, as he collapsed,
what was going on around him.

Okay, in the name of defiance and
insubordination to Extreme Weather,
let's DO this.

Another happy heat walker.

We march on,
like ghosts of sweat
and sun struck insanity.

Hey guys.
Here's a gal who's
tougher than you,
curled up with your
air conditioning at full blast.

"Yeah. These heat zombies
really freak me out.

To be out in this
blistering hot weather,
you'd have to be so crazy,
it scares me."

Let's look in the mirror
reflection of this door
and see if I'm all right.

Man, I'm really messed up.

This heat is getting to me big time.

Am I hallucinating?

That's a creepy alley.

And that's a creepy door.

Finally, another human
working in the heat.

We are a rare breed
that can stand this
extreme summer weather,
the sun beating down
like a hot hammer.

Yet onward I go.

I'm committed now,
and have Asic shoes for the trek.

Did not expect to encounter
any duct tape or
computer humor
en route.

Nice.

Ah, still all distorted,
my perceptions
must be running amok.

Am I even headed
in the right direction?

I feel trapped by this
incessantly pounding heat,
the merciless sun
burning up everything.

In this urban desert
one can lose ones bearings
and walk in circles
until you collapse
to be baked into
an immobile and permanent
component of the landscape.