October 3rd, 2008 · Comments Off
From front lawn to Crystal Lake (click to enlarge)
The Path To Crystal Lake
We have continued our habit, formed when we moved here a month ago, of daily pilgrimages to Crystal Lake. The photo above is the view from our front lawn to the lake.
As that perspective makes obvious, we are embedded in a traditional small town neighborhood. The last time I resided in such an environment, I was living in my parents’ home while attending a commuter college. Since then, I’ve dwelt in a trailer park, a couple of condos, two or three rented apartments, a gated community, and, most recently, Heck Of A House. In the latter setting, I was physically separated from the neighbors by acres of woods and brush while in the other locations, I typically had no idea who the neighbors were (and when I did meet some of the folks, that anonymity seemed the standard m.o. among the inhabitants).
Our current neighborhood, in contrast, is the kind of place where folks drop by to welcome newcomers, and the lines of sight all but preclude ignorance of those living nearby. A few days ago in the pre-dawn hours, I glanced out my kitchen window, though the house next door to see a guy at his kitchen window at the address two doors down from mine.
We also have a wall of windows demarcating our living room from the 30 feet of front lawn that ends at the sidewalk. Watching the mail being delivered up close and personal, for example, by the local mailman trekking across our lawn close enough, were it not for the glass in the window, to hand the mail to us is a significant change from our previous home where the mailbox was 0.25 miles away and shielded from our home by a line of trees. In our current home, the delivery of the mail is signaled by the low volume “clunk” of the mailbox closing; in our previous home, we depended on the beeping of wall speakers triggered by an electronic sensor installed on the mailbox.
Thursday in the park with geese (click image to enlarge)
The geese remain rampant.
Lake shore homes (click image to enlarge)
As noted, recent storms had left the lake in subpar condition when I snapped the photos for Local Scenery And (Technically) Wildlife Pix. The views in today’s post, taken in the last day or two, are more representative of the town’s centerpiece.
We Crystal Lakers are a hearty sort of folk (click to enlarge)
[Read more →]
Tags: Local
September 24th, 2008 · 1 Comment
Moving to our new home has had its pros and cons. Our proximity to the Crystal Lake, the Crystal Lake for which the village of Crystal Lake is named, clearly falls into the former category.
Although these photos were taken only a week after our area suffered once in a century floods, leaving the “Crystal” in “Crystal Lake” more conceptual than descriptive, they do demonstrate why we tend to hike the block or so to the Lake at least once daily.
Crystal Lake Geese - Fall (click to enlarge)
They aren’t wild turkeys, but the geese are pretty enough.
Crystal Lake Park Building (click to enlarge)
The Crystal Lake Park Building at Main Beach (shown above) is a nifty looking building housing all manner of activities, including dancing and martial arts training. A bandshell, not seen here, is the site of concerts from spring to fall.
Crystal Lake - Fall (click to enlarge)
Pictured above is a private residence with docks and boats in the foreground.
Crystal Lake - Fall (click to enlarge)
More shoreline scenery, same geese.
[Read more →]
Tags: Local
The Gay Games VII Rowing Events, held at Crystal Lake, were fine and dandy – and you know what that means.
That’s right, they are a bust as Heck Of A Guy Blog material. If you’re in a HOAG mode, I can only counsel you to await my next, more characteristically nasty post and offer my previous posts dealing with Crystal Lake & the Gay Games Rowing competition.
Local Color
In my tour of the Rowing Event yesterday, I did notice a couple of interesting details, including
A plethora of police
And a tidy little demonstration
I even spotted a genuine bible-thumper thumping his bible while a TV camera and microphone captured his performance. By the time I doubled back to get a photo, however, the TV camera and microphone had disappeared – as had the evangelical himself.
If You Can Handle The Truth: Links
I must confess that an altogether more thorough and thoughtful rendering of the day is provided by these following posts of the McHenry County Blog:
Cal Skinner, the author of these posts, captured everything I noted and much, much more. On the downside, despite Mr. Skinner’s well-meaning efforts, he falls a bit short of my standards for cynicism and is a tad too fair-minded for my taste. Otherwise, I can heartily recommend his account of the affair.
For the graphically minded, there is an effective, rewarding set of photos of the rowing event at
The News Herald Game Games VII Regatta Slideshow
Heck Of A Guy Posts on the Crystal Lake Gay Games Rowing Event
[Read more →]
Tags: Fascinations · Local
July 17th, 2006 · Comments Off
Today’s Posting Delayed
In response to an unprecedented Heck Of A Guy blogging crisis, today’s regular post will be deferred until this afternoon. In a prepared statement, DrHGuy, the beloved psychiatrist turned raconteur, social critic, and bon vivant, who produces the Heck Of A Guy Blog, explained
Crystal Lake’s initial response to the Gay Games was a snarky blogger’s dream. There was controversy, there were city officials taking ridiculous political stands, there were citizens predicting that their front lawns would be violated by by hell-bound fornicators. Yesterday’s actual performance, however, was a catastrophe - it was, literally, a day in the park. And, who wants to read about that?
The Vision
The Reality
Who Knew?
As it turns out, Gay Games “rowing” was not, as was widely assumed, a euphemism for some kind of kinky, depraved behavior, probably involving large groups of individuals, battery-powered implements, and perhaps farm animals. Apparently, “rowing,” as used in Gay Games Rowing meant “rowing” — propelling a boat with oars.
And who could have predicted that the excitement and flamboyance associated, for example, with the Gay Pride Parade would dissipate into something that resembled — well, a rowing contest. The rowing events were athletic and pretty enough, but watching it was not markedly dissimilar from enduing an afternoon of watching the World Cup soccer championships — without the hooligans. Or the headbutting.
Later
So, it’s gonna take a bit to replace the pre-written copy that was to be today’s post with something that sorta kinda reflects what really happened.
Heck Of A Guy Posts on the Crystal Lake Gay Games Rowing Event
Footnotes
_____________________
[Read more →]
Tags: Fascinations · Local
