Pops Takes Galena

... and here he is sitting on the wall in front of the historic Galena Illinois home of U.S Grant. Though born in Ohio, Civil War General/US President Grant moved here, the home town of his wife's family, to accept a job offer from his father- in-law. Then eight or nine years later, the war broke out and the rest, as they say, is history. My favorite bit of Grant trivia - when he was in the White House it was well known he would occasionally frequent his favorite Washington hotel bar and people who wanted to ask for favors or bring some issue to his attention would wait in the hotel lobby hoping to see him and plead their case. It's where the term "lobbyist" comes from.

Galena Illinois is a funky tourist town on the Galena River, a combination of historic buildings, shops, restaurants, and galleries. Number 1 on my "to do" list was to find the gallery of photographer Geoffrey Mikol. I first became familiar with his work two years ago at an arts fair near my daughter's home, part of an exhibit of special needs artists. Born with Down Syndrome, he found his joy and a creative outlet with a camera ( https://www.riverbendgalleries.com/about ). He was out shooting on the day I visited his gallery but had a wonderful chat with his Dad and walked away with a print that Connie and I were both drawn to and a "mystery" envelope with six postcards, all of barns from the surrounding countryside and its thousands of acres of cornfields. I certainly wasn't disapointed - the old New England farm boy in me loves barns.

... and the adventure through the viewfinder, when we shoot with our heart and a spirit of joy, continues.