Nurse-in

Bonnie McCall holds her 5-week-old son, Nolan Sullivan, in their Cedar Rapids home on Tuesday, May 4, 2010. McCall is upset that a Lindale Mall security guard told her to breastfeed her son in the family restroom instead of the children's play area. In response, area moms will hold a nurse-in at the mall this Sunday. Iowa law allows women to breastfeed in any public area where she is allowed to be. I shot some portraits of Bonnie with Nolan on the porch, and some photos of her feeding him, but really liked this moment. Good thing, too: we had a photo of a military wife feeding her child on page 3 of the same section.

Check out the story on gazetteonline.com.

Barton Opus 510

Here's the first installment of photos from the restoration of the Barton pipe organ. There's some history of the organ over here. I had no idea just how much these instruments can do.. the Barton organ has marimbas, a glockenspiel, horns, chimes, bells, strings and a whole percussion section -- it's basically an all-in-one orchestra.

Lulu

My new pal Lulu is the shop guard dog at Jeff Weiler's pipe organ restoration workshop in Chicago. Her ferociousness (or maybe it was just a really enthusiastic greeting?) when I walked into the workshop quickly faded into her following me around most of the morning, toy in mouth. I'll visit the workshop again over the next few months as the Barton pipe organ from Theater Cedar Rapids undergoes restoration and repair.

waiting on a verdict

I've been at the Iowa County Courthouse since this morning, waiting on a verdict in the Jessica Dayton case. After lunch I ventured into the tower of the courthouse and found...


Court records from the 1880s.

Defendant's exhibit A.

everybody's fine

I'm clearly in a very detail-ish mood this week. While waiting for a digital projector to be installed at a movie theater in Independence, I let my eye wander to this batch of film hanging on the wall.

let's fly!

I went flying this morning for a couple different stories. Unfortunately, the Effigy Mounds (the main reason I was up there) weren't visible at all from above. We'd have needed a helicopter capable of blowing the trees away. Oh well, here are some things I saw along the way!

recycled

I did my 'distracted by textures, wandering around while reporter and sources talk' thing at City Carton Recycling yesterday, for a story to run on Earth Day.

spring storms

This is a bit old, but... The first round of spring storms left behind damage at a manufactured home community one day, blowing the roof of of Esther's house (below). And the next day, a new greenhouse was ripped apart. Employees and volunteers were working to save as many plants as they could.

Esther Blessman describes the sound of the wind that tore the roof off her home Monday night while talking with family members on Tuesday, April 6, 2010, at Five Seasons Manufactored Home Community in Cedar Rapids. The carport was also knocked over, and siding from the carport littered the yard of her neighbor.

This isn't the same greenhouse I photographed last spring, but the contrast is striking:

Tea

Just a few frames from today's Tea Party rally in Iowa City.. You can see more over here.

Sad boat

Sad boat just wants to be out on the water, not sitting next to a murky puddle. But sad boat is probably no longer sea/river/lake-worthy.

Spring light

As I was skipping out the door for work this morning (in spring I don't "walk," I "frolick," or "skip," or "stroll."), I decided to finally photograph the great morning light in my neighbor's yard. I've been eying the tomato cages for a couple days now (bottom photo), and the birdhouse has been subject of a few photos in my two years in this house.

Post Mortems

Whoops, forgot to share some photos from the second night of the Gabe's reopening.. Al and Devin, of the Post Mortems, always put on a good show. Not sure why it took a year of knowing them to finally photograph a show, but, here we go! See more here.

Cheesy

Acoustic farms is one of only four in the state that produces cheese entirely from milk produced on their farm -- in their case, from their eight Jersey cows. Reporter Cindy Hadish and I spent an afternoon last week with Mark Armstrong while he made a batch of mozzarella cheese for a story in today's paper. (Follow the link for a video of Hank the dog singing along with Mark..)

When it was all done, he gave us some fresh curds to try... and ohhh man, there's really nothing like it! Those of you in the Iowa City area can find Mark at the downtown market this summer. (Below, his own Parma Blue hybrid... mmm...)