35 posts tagged “chicagoland”
Remember when I posted the photos of the tree that broke in our front yard after a severe storm? The management company finally had the broken branches cut off. It makes for an extremely bright and sunny morning in the apartment, because the tree did a great job of shielding the sun. The only one that seems to be happy with the missing branches is our friendly black squirrel friend. (If the squirrel picture is not showing up click the "black squirrel" link to see it. Not sure why it is not showing up).
We had some more rain today and after the showers, we had this nice rainbow.
If you thought about entering my charity raffle, but figured you would not win, you should give it a try because I have only had one person enter so far!
Am I the only one in the Chicagoland area who is disappointed that I don't have cicadas in the trees outside my apartment? Other suburbs have them! I saw it on the news. Maybe we picked the wrong suburb to move to. I know that most people think they are loud annoying pests, but it is historic! They won't return to these parts until I am nearly 47 years old! I don't want to wait that long to see them! I also want to see how the cats freak out at their presence! And imagine the photographic opportunities!
To all the cicadas: We have a nice, pretty tree right outside our window. Why don't you come on over??
Prince E and I went to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. In addition to being able to view hundreds of beautiful trains, you can actually ride on certain trains. Today they only had the electric train running, but other days you can ride the diesel train, an old Chicago transit train, and others.
Here is the train that we rode today and our conductor:
Prince E and I enjoyed the sunshine and upper 50s today with a trip to the Brookfield Zoo. It is pretty pricey for two adults with parking, so we decided to become members. If we go to the zoo just once more in the next year, it will have been worth the money. We already have plans to go after Memorial Day when the new stingray exhibit debuts.
Here are some photos. The lounging camel is probably my favorite. There a couple family/friend photos so log in to see those.
Prince E and I participated in our first running race together yesterday. My mom and sister also came to town to run with us. It is was also my first race under my new name, so technically I set a personal record because I (with the new name) never ran this race before.
The race was the 8k Shamrock Shuffle, which goes throughout downtown. This year they increased the number of runners to 30,000! It was unseasonably warm yesterday (at least 75 by race end, high of 80 at some point that day) and I really wish they would have added another water stop.
Since our training kind of fell off toward the end there, Prince E and I decided to run as much as we could and take long walking breaks. We just wanted to finish. We were quite discouraged by the Chicago Police Officer that came up behind those of near the back and kept repeating "if you are going to be walking and not running, you have to get on the sidewalk, because the course will be closed soon." She was mean and not friendly and not encouraging. In reality, the course was not being closed as she passed, she was just being pesky.
We really were going as fast as we could and we were by no means the last of the group, so I don't know why she kept yelling at all of us. Someone yelled "when was the last time you ran 5 miles!" Then another women went up to the car and was yelling and gesticulating, although I couldn't make out what she said. I did hear the woman yell out the police car number. I guess she threatened to report her for being a bully.
Despite the heat, our poor training, and Prince E's asthma acting up (thankfully he had brought his inhaler), we did manage to finish about 10 minutes faster that I had predicted. We were tired and crabby afterward, made more so by the fact that my mom and sister failed to stick to the AFTER RACE PLAN, we had so carefully devised, and we had to end up waiting for them to get to the parking garage. It would not have been such a big deal if we hadn't just run nearly five miles in the hot sun and were tired and crabby (did I say that already?)
After we got back to the burbs and went to lunch, we were all in much better spirits. I think the people coming in to the restaurant in their Sunday best got a kick out of the four of us still in our running clothes.
I was glad that my mom and sister came to town for the race. This was the longest race either of them had completed and I was proud of them both for beating me. Next year though, they better stick to the plan, or we might leave them in the city!
As the weather has turned warmer over the last week or so, the trees in front of our balcony have been hosting a series of interesting bird friends for the cats to stalk.
Have you ever heard the blogging adage, "never write anything about someone you wouldn't say to their face"? Well, I now realize how important that is. Remember when I lodged some complaints about the PA announcer at the Shamrox game? Well, last night I received an e-mail from a man who said he was that announcer!
He admitted that the catcalls to the dancers were a little cheesy, but stated that he is not in charge of the music. He is working on getting a better method of communication with the scorers so he can properly announce the penalties. Also, when he referenced the Chicago Wolves during the "fan cam," it was because on the "fan cam" at that point were front office personnel from the Wolves, not because he forgot he was at a Shamrox game. Sort of an inside joke that was lost on me.
I appreciate his taking the time to respond to my blog and hope that I didn't offend him (although he did zing me back in a second e-mail where he said he would have the music guy put some Celine Dion on for me if I came to another game, so I guess we're even). For the record, though, I didn't say anything in the entry I wouldn't have told him personally.
