The Holders were away on a travel vacation over Christmas proper, but flew back in to Chicago yesterday. And so we made plans to hang out, and to have a late birthday dinner/celebration for Kirt.
After showing folks around our house (and our newly updated floors)… we decided on something for our afternoon: mini-golf.
A travel day for us, heading back to the States after an incredible 17 days revisiting and exploring Scotland. We’re in Edinburgh, but need to head back to drop off our car rental, and catch a flight from Glasgow Airport.
Chicago had its first Dust Storm in over 90 years. Liz and I noticed the strong winds, and sat out on our front steps to watch the sky and the weather unfold.
I was out this morning running errands, and there was a haze outside that I initially assumed was fog. I’d been hearing about the “air quality” in Chicago for a day or so before today, but didn’t really put two and two together.
Each time that shuttle bus would come by, it would likely hit this dangling branch… increasing the chance that it’d come down (either on the shuttle, or on some of the parked cars nearby).
The sky started to get a really odd color, and there was a storm supposedly headed our way. But instead of the big downpour of rain I was expecting, I looked outside to see this enormous rainbow filling the sky.
In terms of what I think is reasonable, I feel like a -20 (with wind chill) is a cold Chicago day. It’s on the far edge of acceptable, but you bundle up and you still do your thing. Because it’s winter. And you decided to live in Chicago.
On Sunday, we had an unexpected knock on the door from a young guy who was a location scout for the TV show “Chicago PD.”
Apparently, they were in the area and looking for a house to do an exterior and interior shot. The director had not been happy with any of the location choices to date, and they were still looking (and hoping to get a location settled in the next few days).
Arrival areas are awesome, and that goes double for an international arrival area. So many people and languages, so much happiness.
“The beests have evolved dramatically over the years. They first learned to walk, and now have many mechanisms to keep them safe in storms and away from the rising tide. In time each beest outlives its evolutionary role and becomes part of Theo’s fossil record.”
Prior to her leaving Chicago, Meryl Williams decided to document her last 100 days in the city using short video snippets. After gathering all the short videos together, she combined them together and created #100DaysOfChicago.
It’s interesting to see spots I recognize from a different point of view (the slow shot over Adler is really one of my favorites, with the vent coming out of the top). It’s amazing to me the kind of footage/views that one can get nowadays with drones, that seemed to previously be only available to people with helicopters.
Last week, I happened to walk a slightly different way to work and stumbled across a very new-looking stand at the corner of Randolph and Wabash. As it turned out, this was an old newsstand that had been converted over to a e.a.t. spot – serving up healthy snacks and food.
In looking back over my prior visits, I realized I actually have a good number of photos. I wasn’t a die-hard regular, but I loved the place and it holds a special place in my heart (and stomach). Since I won’t be going there ever again, I figured posting up some photos would be as close as I could get.
When I touched him on the shoulder he seemed to perk up a bit. I asked if he had anywhere he could go and crash, if I could call him a cab. Part of me wanted to help and part of me was thinking that maybe I could move him away from the cop, maybe avoid him being arrested.