Grey skies finally turned to rain in the afternoon.  Pouring so ridiculously that it forced me to cut off a couple hours early.  Looking over the photos, the colors seemed to get more muted as I went.  And then the raindrops streaking across the image.  And even though I was protecting the camera as best as I could from the rain inside the van, there was still rain bouncing off the door and onto the lens.  Better luck tomorrow.

Time for today’s daily dose of signs.  The Rantoul Motel — in Rantoul of course:

This little sign in Urbana was so high up on the brick wall that I’m sure it goes unnoticed by most people.

At the Pines Shopping Center in Decatur.  It seems a bit strange (and dangerous) to have both Exit and Entrance on the same pole, using the same driveway.

This sign is also from Decatur.  I don’t think you can tell from the photo but the sign is actually a screen (not solid) — pretty neat and appropriate for a steel fabricating company.

Another Decatur sign.  This business is now a gun shop — though you’d never know it from anything on the outside.

From Lincoln, in between downpours.  I don’t know if this was the original painted wall sign that’s been restored or if it’s just a general nostalgia piece.

I fell in love with this little shop.  The full sign photo I posted over at Flickr tonight.  But I also felt the need to document the other signs…

… and the terrazzo floor and display windows.  There’s also an unintentional self-portrait here.  Which I would normally crop out but here you’d miss the great shoe display.

Some more art glass block — this was at an apartment building in Decatur:

Not much slips by Grippie.  Here she makes it clear that cows should NOT be on roofs.  She had less to say about chicken cars (see background).

Surrounded by cornfields all day, I broke down and bought some at Curtis Farms in Champaign.  It’s a great snack raw right off the cob.  Good mom that I am, I sawed down an ear for the kids with my steak knife.  Fix ate hers I’m sure just so no one else could have it.  Nik genuinely enjoyed it.  Grippie wanted nothing to do with it.  It took Grem awhile to get into it — and then, like everything else with her, she became obsessed.

I couldn’t resist this little bear in someone’s front yard in Decatur:

I guess I’ll be seeing a lot of these statues now that I’m in the Land of Lincoln.  I like this young, barefoot version from Decatur:

This is pretty much when I called it a day.  I sure don’t remember an August like this one.