Yesterday I drove from Chicago to Minneapolis, where my parents will be moving in July. They live out east now, but, with the move to the Twin Cities, they will be nearer my younger sister and her family. I’m worried about their move–they’re elderly–so I’m here mainly to inform myself about where they’ll be living…
Sedgwick Stop
On Plymouth Court
One of the funny things about the Loop is that it contains lots of streets that have an “out-of-the-way” feel. The northernmost block of Plymouth Court, off Jackson, is this way. It’s a backwater that the main currents of the city sweep past, unfrequented except for a valet loitering in the doorway of the Standard…
Chicago’s stone age
Chicago architecture can be divided into two periods: the period of glass and steel we live in now, and the ‘stone age’ preceding it, which lasted from the Great Fire of 1871 (when Chicago swore off New England clapboard) until the 1930s. During the stone age, commercial buildings grew taller (‘scraping the sky’) but were…
Cloudburst
We were at the Mart shopping for a kitchen sink when I noticed that the showroom we were in had a marvelous view. We continued looking at sinks. I looked up, and suddenly the sky looked like this: Five minutes later: As I watched, I saw the train that I take to work running through…
Fourth Presbyterian ivy
While I wait for my bus, the ivy on the Fourth Presbyterian church turns green.
Thank you for visiting
Thank you, readers, for all your visits, and for taking the time that you do to comment. Hearing from you has made the month of May fun and interesting. I appreciate your contributions. Cheers, Celia
Yellow Lady’s Slipper
Getting out of the city presents some thrilling opportunities to see amazing plants that grow in the Midwest’s relatively unfrequented woodlands and swamps. One such is the yellow lady’s slipper orchid, a showy native perennial which I saw recently for the first time. The inflated, balloonlike petal that gives the plant its name nests at…
Honest clapboard
I like to see those things remaining built in the old style, with wood. This house may need paint, but it doesn’t want for character.
Perfect devotion
The dog was so still that at first I thought it was a lawn ornament, put there by the owners of the shop. As I got closer, I saw that the dog was real, but that it was utterly intent on its owner’s return. I always feel apprehensive when I see a nice dog like…
A table for Lori
Lori, when you are able to visit Chicago again, its many Italian restaurants and delis will be waiting for you! (A special post for a homesick Chicagoan) Cheers, Celia
The el stairs
Many thousand people clamber daily up and down el stairs like these; how many thousand, Celia couldn’t begin to say. The stairs’ steel treads are noisy and unforgiving, sanded in winter to keep patrons from falling. Much life is lived in the shadow of the el, or right next to it, unflappably. Even scholars read…
