House day today – Liz was working in the yard, and I was inside helping Bob (who was working on our AC/HVAC).
I started the day with a run to Lowe’s to pick up several bags of mulch. But after that, I mostly shot between inside/outside, trying to help out where I could. In both places, Liz and Bob were the primary folks doing the work… and I just tried to assist as best I could.
Liz and I were on a walk to pick up some dinner, tonight. Along the way, we spotted some Wisteria that had stretched out from a nearby yard over the sidewalk.
After work today, Liz and I spent a bit of time out in the backyard. The temps aren’t great (it’s still a bit chilly), but we wanted to get a start on some overdue work in back.
I’m not great with heights, but I was mostly ok the whole time were on the summit. As I was looking out, I saw all this green… and it registered like a wide swath of rolling meadows and fields.
After staring a bit, it would slowly dawn on me that the green I was seeing was not grass… but in fact the actual tops of trees. And on suddenly realizing how high up we were, my knees then immediately turned to jelly.
Despite the late night illness last night, Liz was up fairly early. We had looked into a nearby distillery, and discussed going on one of their tours (11AM)… but I figured this was out, given how Liz was sick overnight.
But come 9:30 AM, she was up and ready. And we started to scramble, to try to get breakfast and make our way to the distillery (which was around 30 minutes away).
The Dark Hollow Falls. Though there were a few other folks here also enjoying the view… Liz nad I were able to scramble up some rocks, and found ourselves a nice little nook alongside the waterfall.
We were close enough to enjoy things directly, but also enough out of the way that we didn’t feel like we were blocking others from photos, or from enjoying the view of the falls. It was as ideal spot.
On arriving, we checked out the main building/area. It slowly dawned on us that we were the only people at the hotel.
Liz was doing some backyard prep work. The weather has been warmer than usual, earlier than usual… and she felt that putting some mulch down in back seemed appropriate. But incredibly early, compared to prior years.
In the waiting area. I don’t know what’s funnier – the cover of “Modern Cat,” or the fact that the dog magazine is called “drool.”
Caught this moment where Hugo hopped on top of the hut, and was content to just sit there while getting pets.
My brain has great difficulty understanding that my niece, Jasmine, is looking at colleges. But more than that… that she’s considering which college to attend, and that Loyola is on the list.
It’s been a while since Liz and I were out and about. Tonight, I was participating in 20×2 Chicago. I’m usually too nervous to eat much before getting on stage (even if it’s just for two minutes), so we ended up going out afterwards for a late dinner.
For my birthday this year, Liz took me around to a few spots downtown. Before heading out, I got to open a few gifts… and one of them really took the cake.
A long while back, Liz purchased a vintage/restored chemistry/lab table. Her goal was to use this as her sewing desk, with an eye to have it in our upstairs office area.
Liz started to take out some of the pieces, for cleaning. And then realized someone had cut out part of the door to insert some fittings, and then patched it up again (a small square of wood). She got a few things cleaned up, but ultimately stepped back from taking the whole thing apart.