We got postcards to send to the grandchildren’s parents. We wrote messages, added stamps, and took them down to the mailbox in front of our building.
“That’s a mailbox?” Grandchild Two asked.
“Yes, of course,” I replied.
“I’ve only seen those in movies,” she said.
This trip has been quite the learning experience for her.
I saw the John Hancock building going up when I was a little kid.
I dreamed that one day I would live there. Alas, that was not to be. But I can still visit as a tourist, and we took the grandchildren there today. Here we are looking out toward the building that I did end up living in.
I even bought one of the tourist trap photo portraits:
The grandchildren came to visit this week and we took them to the zoo.
We saw the bird house, the lizard house, camels, seals, etc, but they were particularly smitten by the pink flamingos.
The State of Illinois still has not opened up all the driver’s license bureaus. There are only two for the entire city of Chicago. To get a license you have to show up early in the morning (before they cut off the line for the day) and stand outside for four hours. We are too old for that, especially since we don’t even drive. But you do still occasionally need a government issued photo id. Fortunately, the City of Chicago issues their own ids. You have to get on a waiting list for those, but at least you don’t stand outside. We waited two months for our appointment and then yesterday went downtown to get our ids. These ids were originally designed for people who might have trouble getting driver’s licenses, so the office is in an “another chance” center, and it’s an interesting crowd you find yourself in. Like with those ankle bracelet things the courts hand out, for instance. But nobody bothered us and we are now official Chicagoans.
After we were issued our new cards, we left the “another chance” center, and walked over to the recently restored Union Station. Very nice, and we saw the staircase where untouchables Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia blow away Al Capone’s gang and save the baby.
Then we walked down the street and saw where Mrs O’Leary’s cow was on the night of the big fire one hundred and fifty years ago. The location is now the Chicago Fire Department’s training center. I found that quite fitting, but CVH thought it was just weird.
Finally, we had lunch at Manny’s, Chicago’s premiere Jewish cafeteria (since 1942). CVH really likes the food at Manny’s, so this pleased her, which was a good thing, because it’s hotter this weekend here than in Houston and our building’s air conditioner is on the fritz, which is not pleasing her.
At the height of the Cold War, the US Army maintained NIKE anti-aircraft missiles at Montrose Harbor.
When the Army left, the remnants of the launch structures were taken over by sand and flora, including the famed honeysuckle hedges. This Magic Hedge is now one of the premiere urban bird sanctuaries in the country. It’s an amazing oasis in the city.
In addition to hundreds, if not thousands, of other birds, it’s the home of Chicago’s most famous fowl couple, Monty and Rose. The two are raising yet another clutch here after flying up from the South. Monty came up from Galveston, and Rose from Florida.
They must have missed each other very much. We saw them hop around their new nest from a safe distance.
News item:
An out-of-control Chinese rocket plunged out of orbit and reentered Earth’s atmosphere. The rocket, which is about 108 feet tall and weighs nearly 40,000 pounds, had launched a piece of a new Chinese space station into orbit on April 29. After its fuel was spent, the rocket had been left to hurtle through space uncontrolled until Earth’s gravity dragged it back to the ground.
Most rockets used to lift satellites and other objects into space conduct more controlled reentries that aim for the ocean, or they’re left in so-called “graveyard” orbits that keep them in space for decades or centuries. But the Long March rocket is designed in a way that leaves these big stages in low orbit. In this case, it was impossible to be certain exactly when or where the booster would land. The European Space Agency had predicted a “risk zone” that encompassed “any portion of Earth’s surface between about 41.5N and 41.5S latitude”.
We’re at 41.9N.
Downtown Chicago, 1911.
There are way too many bakeries and sweet shops in Chicago, and even way too many in our very own neighborhood. That does not stop me from patronizing them, though.
Lickety Split makes a killer Black Cow, using the best root beer I have ever tasted.
Oddly, though, the soda jerk working that day didn’t even know what a Black Cow was.
Moving to a new city means you have to find new doctors.
I picked one, pretty much at random, from the insurance company list. He seemed like a nice guy at our first visit.
However – when I called today to get a prescription renewed, I was placed on hold. At first this did not bother me; I know the staff has to spend all day working insurance issues (what a country!), and I just had to wait while they finished taking care of someone else.
The hold music was an eight-bit version of Für Elise. Over and over again for several minutes. If I didn’t need drugs when I called, I sure needed something afterward.
I’ve noticed that women have started letting me get on and off the bus before them.
How decrepit do I look, anyway?
