Last week, on the way home from work, Liz and I decided to pop in for a quick drink at The Promontory. There’s been a lot of buzz about this place, as it’s by the same folks that run Longman & Eagle in Logan Square.
The pessimist in me thinks that this is foolishness, and that people would simply walk away with items. Or that people would simply take money from the box (when we looked, here was nothing inside).
It’s been several years now, and there’s just a twinge of sadness each time I step foot into the museum. As amazing and awesome as the displays are, I do always find myself imagining the crowds having gone, and the lights dimming. I found myself looking around at various locations, wondering what it would be like to try to sleep at this exhibit, or over under this display.
A few days ago, we got a knock on our door and a surprise. It was one of our next door neighbors, Dawn, who had with her a gift of some home-made cookies. Since we haven’t had any kind of oven or stove for some time now, receiving baked goods was a special treat.
As I was browsing around, a woman said behind me “I’ve got another box.” I turned, and saw she had set out yet more books to go through. I learned a lot of them were Philosophy books (she and her husband were both professors, I think). I learned that they’re moving, and that these books are a small sample of what they had inside the house.
On our way home on Friday, Liz and I stopped by the Hyde Park Garden Fair that was going on. We passed it earlier in the day, and by the time we swung by they were starting to close up shop.
Since the weather was so nice on Friday, Liz decided on a whim that we should try out Divvy bikes and ride home along the Lakefront Trail.
From time to time, I’d see the holes in the fingers and became a little proud at their wear. I was reminded of an old fairy-tale: East of the Sun, West of the Moon. In the story, the main character goes in search of a prince in a far away land, somewhere “east of the sun, west of the moon.” In order to get there, one of the things she must do is to wear out seven pairs of iron shoes.
Both stations are about the same distance from our new house, and though we walked home from here yesterday… neither one of us realized how truly close we were to the Museum of Science and Industry!
For those not familiar with Everyblock, the site lets you follow a certain block, neighborhood, or ward. By customizing the different areas you want to focus on and watch, the site then fills your timeline with all sorts of information: crime reports, local events, business reviews.
Back at our place, we installed some new locks on the doors (something new to both me and Liz since we’ve always been homeowners). And now our place is even more officially ours. Funny to think of it, but these locks are the first thing we’ve done to the place – the first of many changes to come.
It’s official! After a little over 90 minutes of sitting at a table with two layers and signing papers… Liz and I are new homeowners! Officially, legally, for-real homeowners.
So this is the big news: Liz and I have bought a house, and we’re going to be moving to Hyde Park! We’ve kept things pretty quiet up until now, but we are in the final, final stages – we close on October 30th, in a week’s time.
Today, Liz and I decided to trek out to Hyde Park. Most of the types of places we’ve been checking out have been single family homes or multi-units, as condos were initially off our list. But in our planned trip, we happened to find a few condos that had open houses… so we decided to check out a few, during our walk around the area.