Happy 4th from Chicago

Usually we had north for the fourth, but this year we traded the calm and quiet of a bay fireworks show and cooler climes for the bustle of the big city and a vast horizon display from the rooftop. We got up early on the holiday to head west and cruised into an actually traffic-free Chicago around noon, passing all the poor jokers stuck in stop and go traffic headed in the other direction. I felt very sorry for them, but there may have been a bit of gloating going on as well.

I was surprised by how quiet the city was. Obviously a lot of people headed north, but still the west loop was almost a ghost town. We met up with family and enjoyed lunch at bustling Wishbone, bustling not only because of the stellar food, but possibly also because not much else was open. The rest of the afternoon we spent playing at the park while listening to the live band at the nearby Jamaican Festival, but the best part of this holiday is of course reserved for the post-dinner hour, when we sing happy birthday to my dad. That and the fireworks, of course.

Curtis and Julie, the resident Chicagoans, had sold us on this holiday trip based on the grand display of fireworks to be enjoyed from the rooftop. I'd prepared myself for the reality to fall short, because it's easy to accidentally over sell an event based on rosy memories but the reality was actually staggering. Being right on the western edge of the city, night falls behind the skyline while the western sprawl remains lit a while longer, and even with the sun still hanging on the show started. Standing on the roof, viewing the entire western horizon, there was almost no small corner that was not alight with colorful explosions. Excepting toward the city itself, everywhere, all around us fireworks were exploding. It was beautiful, but more notable is the fact that so many of us, from all walks of life and in so many different situations, were doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same moment. It was a powerful, uniting feeling. It was amazing. Second only, possibly, to my dad's birthday, of course.

Fathers Day

Per Jon's request we got up early yesterday to spend his day at Indpendence Lake, munching on pancakes and sausage and traipsing through the pond looking for wildlife before playing in the splash zone. The weather even cooperated. It was a great morning.

Love is in the air

Candy hearts, Red Hots, roses, chocolates in heart-shaped boxes, wearing red, wearing purple, s.w.a.k., ribbons and lace...what does Valentines Day mean to you?

From my own school days, I remember sitting at our kitchen table with a class list and a pen or pencil, painstakingly writing out the names of classmates on cards carefully selected for their innocuous messages (don't want that guy in the third seat back to think you actually love him). I remember being devastated the year that school was cancelled on the 14th due to winter weather. I remember spending hours designing the perfect card collecting device, which was inevitably made with a paper bag that would taped to the back of one's chair in the classroom.

Now, though, one can't pass out a card without attaching some additional token, usually in the form of candy. And nobody brings a paper bag for collecting their cards anymore. That would be blasphemy. We are part of two homeschooling groups this year; we still attend the same one that we joined last year at which Calvin takes a couple classes a week, and this year we've also started joining our little local group that meets in our library to visit and play games. The first one is more structured, the second more relaxed, but both did Valentines parties this year, which found Calvin designing, assembling, and addressing over eighty Valentines in all, and enjoying every minute of it. I refused to jump on the Second-Coming-of-Halloween bandwagon, so to speak, though. We handed out glittery pencils attached to downloaded and printed cards, as the shaft of Cupid's arrow to one group, and as an owl's tree branch to the other. Pinterest, again, was my friend.

Up north for new years

Coming north for new years is a beloved tradition of ours. This year's trip was full of all the usual goodness, like great company, fattening foods, hilarious gifts, and even plenty of snow. We visited all of our favorite haunts and cooked our favorite dishes. We laughed, we had fun, we got some rest, and we came home ready to tackle the new year.

I didn't take the camera out as often this year, and several of these shots are actually from my phone. I think reinvigorating the camera hobby will be on my list of resolutions.

Noggin Room

New Year's Eve

"Duck, duck, MOOSE!"

English party poppers

English party popper hat

Dessert with Chambord infused whipped cream for adults...

...and possibly a couple of kids as well

Key Hole

December 01

December came on with a blast today. Strangely enough, neither the post-Thanksgiving dates, nor the cold weather, had helped bring on a sense of Christmas, but today's festivities moved things along a bit.  I've been working a lot over the past two weeks, with Calvin's help, to prepare for a special holiday book sale at the library, and Calvin's been looking forward to Santa for a week. Today was the culmination of both our hard work and our hard wishing. The book sale at the library, which was a great success, had me busy all day, while Calvin and Jon started decorating at home and located a Victorian Santa at the manor house in our little village. Following the sale the boys cheered me on in a holiday charity 5k.

So it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here, but today's balmy, foggy weather still doesn't look like the white holiday we're hoping for. Thankfully we have a few more weeks to wish and hope. All I want for Christmas? Snowflakes.

Photography by Calvin

Photography by Calvin

Photography by Calvin

Photography by Calvin