Camera or no camera, today’s Chicago Sunday is what Edwin Land made his camera for. His 1948 Polaroid Camera took a while to morph into the instantmatic my parents bought in the 1960s, but he made it possible to SEE an image immediately after taking the photo.

Today was instant-image-worthy. I saw:

1. A cherub child, allowed out of her stroller to waltz the sidewalk, sang “Happy Mother’s Day” to a tune only she, and possible her Mum, ever heard. It is not Mother’s Day.

2. A man of distinguished years asked directions at the paranoid intersection where Clark, Halsted and Barry streets collide. He was not a man accustomed to asking directions. He was a self-contained sort. But he gave in and seemed okay with it, proud even.

3. A lady of years sat with all her things on a bench along the walk-bike-exercise path that skirts Diversey Harbor. Neither sad, nor lonely, but poor. Every puppy stopped its master to talk to her. She handled celebrity with grace and gave quite a lot of good advice, based on the nods and smiles she was getting.

4. Balloons have assumed some new shapes since I last noticed. At the Diversey driving range, rented by careful parents so the youngers could hoot and cavort, balloons in ameoba shapes celebrated a windy, sunny day the way only balloons can do.