URBAN HIKE

I have been 'fitbitten' for only four days.  I purchased my fitbit on Thursday afternoon.  The fitbit is designed to encourage each user to take a minimum of 10,000 steps per day. As I have consistently been using an elliptical machine for workouts of a minimum of 90 minutes (and often two hours) this level of activity has not been a personal issue.  Nevertheless, the fitbit has encouraged me to be more active.  On Sunday, I rode my bicycle roundtrip (seven miles) to the YMCA and I worked out for two hours.  Once I returned home around noon, my fitbit indicated that I had taken 11,000 steps.  Yesterday seemed like a good day to try to reach 25,000 steps (especially with 11,000 steps already logged in by noon)   I asked my daughter if she wanted to take a walk.  The walk that I had in mind was more of an URBAN HIKE. Our hike logged another 24,000 steps.  And when we returned home my fitbit recorded 35,000 steps for the day.  As I was feeling ambitious, I spent another 45 minutes or so walking in place and logged an additional 5000 steps after arriving home.  Total steps logged in on Sunday was 40,001.

THE URBAN HIKERS - FATHER/DAUGHTER

Our URBAN HIKE took us all the way to the SOUTH LOOP area and we stopped at a Whole Foods for a refreshing MELON SALAD.   I calculated that our entire hike was approximately 10 miles.  It was a real hot day and the urban hike was a terrific way for us to close out the summer.  Tomorrow our family will take it easy and get ready for the school year to start on Tuesday.

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LOOKING NORTH FROM ROOSEVELT ROAD BRIDGE IN THE SOUTH LOOP

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MONUMENT WITH STANDING BEAST (that is the name of the sculpture)

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My title of this photograph: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!

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 Sunday MENU

breakfast   OATMEAL, HONEYCRISP APPLE                          455 calories
lunch         oatmeal, kale crunch, ginger, coconut water, melons 1120 calories
dinner       zucchini saute, sausage, whitefish broiled                    780 calories
SNACK    organic fair trade coconut chocolate bar, kale crunch  780 calories
     

total calories consumed 3135 calories

calories burned

elliptical machine 125 minutes, 4:3 interval,  level 20              1666 calories

CALORIES BURNED 1666 CALORIES

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Saturday net calories 1469 calories

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AGORA  ----> FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Agora is the name of a group of 106 headless and armless iron sculptures at the south end of Grant Park in Chicago. Designed by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz, they were made in a foundry near Poznańbetween 2004 and 2006. In 2006, the Chicago Park District brought the work to Chicago as a permanent loan from the Polish Ministry of Culture.Similar installations have been constructed throughout the world, but Agora is among the largest.

Chicago, which has a large Polish American community, had hoped to add a major work by Abakanowicz for several years before Agora arrived. Among the plans which were not realized were a large hand to be placed at the end of BP Pedestrian Bridge and a set of animal sculptures to be placed near the Monroe Street harbor. One proposal called for a group of headless figures be placed in Chicago's Museum Campus. Chicago MayorRichard M. Daley eventually suggested placing an installation at the south end of Grant Park, near Roosevelt Road. By 2006, private donors, including actor Robin Williams, contributed over $700,000 to bring the work to Chicago.

The figures are 9 ft (2.7 m) tall and weigh approximately 1,800 lb (820 kg).Each is made from a hollow, seamless piece of iron that has been allowed to rust, creating a reddish appearance^[5] and a bark-like texture. The figures appear to be milling about in a crowd; some face each other, while others look away. Visitors are meant to walk through the sculptures and contemplate the work.

The name Agora refers to the urban meeting places of the Ancient Greek city-states. Abakanowicz, who grew up during World War II, has said that her art draws on her fear of crowds, which she once described as "brainless organisms acting on command, worshiping on command and hating on command". However, the work has inspired optimistic interpretations. Kevin Nance of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "If they had arms and hands (they don't), these would be clasped behind their backs as if in contemplation. They seem, somehow, to be thinking, not as a group but as individuals. [...] It's possible, in fact, to interpret the piece as a representation of democracy."^[

Agora received a mixed response from the people of Chicago. "I get e-mails from people loving it and people hating it. There's nothing in between," said Bob O'Neill of the Grant Park Advisory Council. Mayor Daley lauded the work, saying, "You've got to go through it yourself to feel the spirit of the artist and each piece of artwork."

MONUMENT WITH STANDING BEAST ---->FROM WIKIPEDIA

Monument with Standing Beast is a sculpture by Jean Dubuffet in front of the Helmut Jahn designed James R. Thompson Centerin the Loop community areaof Chicago, Illinois. Its location is across the street from Chicago City Hall to the South and diagonal across the street from the Daley Center to the southeast. It is a 29-foot (8.8 m) white fiberglass work of art. The piece is a 10 ton or 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) work. It was unveiled on November 28, 1984.

This is one of Dubuffet's three monumental sculpture commissions in the United States. It has been taken to represent a standing animal, a tree, a portal and an architectural form. The sculpture is based on Dubuffet's 1960 painting series Hourioupe. The sculpture and the series of figural and landscape designs it is a part of reflects his thoughts of earliest monumental commission, for the One Chase Manhattan Plaza.

FITBIT DAY 4

40001 STEPS!

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l'Hourloupe - Jean Dubuffet