StringGrrl sees the World

StringGirl and our driver (sorry I spaced your name Bro) If you find yourself in Chicago with some sore feet after a night on the town and you want to get back to the hotel. You could hop in any one of the many taxis driving around this incredibly car-unfriendly town (parking your car around there can add over $50/night to an otherwise affordable hotel stay). Of you can opt for one of the many Rickshaw Trikes, or pedi-cabs around town. Fancy shoes make for tired dogs after dancing StringGirl's gal pals and her chaperone had some sore dogs after Saturday nights festivities. So they opted for the first smiling face in the rows of rickshaw parked outside Navy Pier. More fun than the back seat of a IC (internal combustion) taxi With ample room for all of us, the brave pedaler dropped his ride into LOW and made his way up the hill from Navy Pier to the SAX where we were staying. The ride took us up the hill from the lakeshore, over Michigan Avenue, acro...

When in Chicago, my girls always wannt to stop for breakfast in one of the 4 locations of Orange. The small neighborhood brunch and juice restaurant is known for its fresh squeezed juices, esoteric breakfast fare and "frushi". Frushi as pictured below is fruit sushi. Typically, it is sweetened shortgrain rice wrapped around delicate cuts of fresh fruit to look like sushi. Frushi Also, featured at Orange is a weekly flight of pancakes-chef selection of silver dollar pancakes all matched in a common theme. Today it was a flight of 4 tropically prepared pancakes with coconut, pineapple, mango, and other island tastes. No one in our group opted for the flight. Chai-infused French Toast Instead, the Chai-infused french toast, chorizo hash, steak and eggs, and one of their house omelettes featured at our table today. No one was displeased. Chorizo Hash To be fair Amber will remind all that you should be prepared to wait at Orange. No reservations are take...

Amber decides to ham it up by inserting herself into the Star Dream sculpture  A trip to Royal Oak is always a pleasant experience; a sunny summer day, folks are out and about enjoying the city, and free Artwork is hanging about. Continuing her adventure of tracking down as many of the DIA: Inside | Out installations as she can. StringGirl ambles about Royal Oak. See more of the other pictures here:  http://stringgirl.blogspot.com/2012/07/dia-inside-out.html A Warrior and Two Pages, and one StringGirl outside Pronto The Recitation at the R.O. public Library Eleanora of Toledo and Her son, with Amber the stringkid

In the summer of 2010 the Kam Family trekked around the AutoForm offices of Europe in a 6 week long adventure. StringGirl of course acting as a tour guide.  These shots are from the brief stay of 4 days in Barcelona, Which featured trips to the Olympic stadium, the Ramblas, and more. Large Scale art work outside the RAMBLAS. Doing the "Dali" Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, detail from one of the towers   KamGrrls taking the underground in Barca     Strolling the Diagonal

Self Portrait Vincent vanGogh Tavern on the Main 255 South Main Street Clawson, MI Biking through the center of Clawson does afford one chanced to participate in the summer incarnation of DIA Inside|Out.  The latest stop for StringGirl and her intrepid band of world travelers is the very famous self portrait by Vincent VanGogh .   Part of the permanent collection of the DIA ever since the Roaring 20's, this is another example of world famous art in the less famous Detroit Institute of Arts. The DIA has housed many masterworks over the years and is at risk of closing if the city and neighboring communities do not step up with a very modest millage proposal. At only $15 per household, the millage would preserve the DIA for future generations, to recall the days when the captains of industry called Detroit their home.

As a follow-up to the prior post about the GPFish display at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House. Here are more pictures detailing just one of the fish from the event. Amber gets set to view the GPFish Amber and StringGirl get to visit a site in S.E.Michigan again extending their streak of days in the US. With the visit to Grosse Pointe Shores Historic landmark the Edsel and Eleanor Ford house. To take part in the special preview night for the GPFish fundraiser. Steamfish, Details like the hemispherical eyes, and lower "observation" port  With the Artist The artist used a variety of media to augment the perch. Gears were provided by a nearby machine shop, metal tubing, grommets, aluminum plates, and the usual fiberglass and bondo. DreyKa "L-O-V-E"d this fish too, though she used her peoples choice vote for another The local "Patch" the Grosse Pointe Patch has also posted a photo gallery of all the fish.

Grosse Pointe residents poured onto the grounds of the stately Edsel and Eleanor Ford House on Wednesday July 11th, to preview the latest in the Art Based Fundraisers that have previously adorned this community and others with giant fiberglass Frogs , Cows , Rhinos , Teddy Bears , and Globes .  The Ford House is an Albert Kahn Cotswold Styled Cottage done in mansion proportions. The grounds are   have beautifully sculpted gardens, lovely vistas, an enchanting lagoon, and even a precious child scaled "playhouse" 2/3 scale to be precise in the Tudor fashion; a single bedroom, single bathroom house complete with kitchen and sitting room. Steamfish, a Steam Punk styled fish. Very Captain Nemo The project features 51 larger than life fish, which are all sponsored by local business and patrons who employ artists to augment the standard issue fish in a variety of styles to capture the imagination of the viewers.  This Fish bears the Fishfly , a frequent visitor to ...

Selene and Endymion Nicolas Poussin Noir Leather   124 West 4th Street The Detroit Institute of Arts novel event program if "Inside | Out" brings museum quality reproductions out of doors and into the "wilds" of the neighboring communities. The current installations have brought many of these pieces conveniently along my Bike commute to work. Royal Oak, Clawson, and Troy all figure in the summer installations. It is a great opportunity to not only see art in a new environment, but also to experience parts of the communities that we may not have used previously. Alexander the Great  and the Women of Darius Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo Leon and Lulu    96 West Fourteen Mile Road   Ishtar Gate, Dragon of Marduk    Unknown (Neo-Babylonian) Black  Lotus Brewing Co  1 East Fourteen Mile Road