a day in the suburbs

Yesterday I navigated, for the first time in a great while, Chicago's suburbs to photograph a couple people of the pen who were taking advantage of this month's recessionista special.

My first stop was green Wheaton, where I spent time with a local author and his beautiful collie, Merle.



I then visited Ten Thousand Villages on my way to the day's second session. TTV, with its simple cooking cookbooks, international microindustry-fed shelves, and Mennonite roots, always makes me wistful for my family and, yes, California's Central Valley.




After spending some time with the TTV staff, I met up with an author and speaker living in Glen Ellyn.







I made it back to the city in time for a few rounds of kid- and dog-friendly Veggie Bingo at the Hideout with Rubino, who won a smokin' bottle of hot sauce when he bested everyone in the martini round.