The Wild Reed: Weekend in Chicago (Part IV)

I conclude the sharing of photos from my recent trip to Chicago with images from the afternoon of Saturday, August 11, 2012. This was when I met up with my friend Eduard (who moved from the Twin Cities to Chicago in 2005) and enjoyed a long walk with him along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

We started at Thorndale Avenue Beach and walked south to Montrose Harbor, passing through a lakeside dog park, a nature reserve, a golf course, and a marina! Later in the evening we shared a delicious Thai meal and a bottle of Malbec at a sidewalk restaurant in Boystown.

Above and below: Thorndale Avenue Beach.

Above: Eduard and a new-found friend at Montrose Dog Beach.

As always, it felt like a real gift to spend time with Eduard. For reasons I won't go into here, such times, however, always put me in a strange and unsettling place in which I'm both reaching out and holding back; a place that draws forth from me feelings of hope and doubt, and all kinds of questions about our relationship, about my future, and about life and love in general. It can all feel rather overwhelming. Given this and the coastal environment I found myself in, it's perhaps no wonder that the following lyrics came to mind.

Too far out on the wilder shores of love.

Too far out, what I knew before

on the wilder shores of love . . .

– Marianne Faithfull