Northerly Island

Last weekend, we field-tested my new camera lens with some friends on Northerly Island, a man-made peninsula along Lake Michigan.

We came across these three beautiful sculptures and after taking a billion pictures of them, I had to know more about them. I honestly don't know what people did before Google.



Turns out, they are all made from scraps of old Cadillac cars and the artist used a mold of her own face for all three.



They are meant to resemble Daphne.

So who was Daphne?
In Greek mythology, Daphne was a beautiful girl who preferred to spend her time hunting in the woods rather than meeting men. I can understand. Apollo fell desperately in love with Daphne and began chasing her. She did what any smart girl would do and took off running. When Apollo was about to catch her she prayed to her father for help, who transformed her into a laurel tree. I'm certain that there were better solutions. Her hair became leaves, her arms became branches, her feet stuck in the ground as roots, and she retained nothing of her former self but her beautiful face. Apollo stood amazed and said, "since you cannot be my wife, you shall be my tree. I will wear you for my crown." Apollo declared that the leaves of the laurel tree would always be green and he would always wear a wreath of laurel leaves around his head. Since then the laurel has become a symbol of victory in Greek culture. Although I'm not totally sure where the "victory" is in this story.

The lesson here: Ladies, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. Men, if she seems like she's not that into you, LEAVE HER THE HELL ALONE. Or she may turn into a tree. And then you'll have to pretend that you still like her. Lest you appear shallow.