Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Locust Winter

For the past several years I've been watching the cold spells to see if they really do match up with redbud, dogwood, locust and blackberries blooming and amazingly enough they do. I think it was the week before last when there was frost on my windshield and the dogwoods were in full bloom.

It didn't warm up much, but this cold, rainy spell going on right now hit when the locust trees were blooming. If it keeps holding true there is only Blackberry winter left to go. Last year there was frost on my car just after the blackberries bloomed.

Amazingly enough I had 16 hits on my blog a couple days ago using the search term Locust Winter.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

I Love Chicago

Most of the time I like my quiet, little place in the country, but it is nice to be able to get out and see other places on occasion. Thanks to work, I've been able to do a lot more of that in recent years and this week it's Chicago.

Since it's 3:30 am and I can't sleep I thought I would post some of the fun things we've done. I'll do conference things later.

I've been lucky enough to be downtown for both trips I've made to Chicago, so the first thing I always do is walk on the Lakefront Trail. The first day we walked the trail down to Bilboa and then across to the loop. We were looking at the menu of a pizza place, when someone walked by and said "If you want pizza, Lou Malnati's is better." Since I haven't had both I can't say which was better, but "The Lou" was great.

Next stop was Loopy Yarn to pet yarn. I picked up a skein of Lorna's Laces, Shepherd Sock off the sale rack. It was the Pioneer colorway, which is blues and browns. Enough for a scarf or maybe a pair of anklet socks. They had a great selection and friendly staff.

Since Thursday night is their free night, we walked back down to the Art Institute after the conference reception at the Afterwords bookstore and a stop at the world's largest Jazz Store. The last time we went Edward Hopper's Nighthawks was on loan, but this time we got to see it. The rest of the time we spent in the Thorne Miniature Gallery. Amazing details in these tiny rooms completely furnished in period style.

Today, well I guess it's really yesterday, I started off the day with a walk to Ohio Beach to walk along the shore and pick up some interesting glass, shells and rocks. There is something about standing on the shore with your eyes closed listening to the waves coming in that makes everything drain out of you.

At lunch we took the Blue Line out to Division and ate at a really great Polish restaurant, Podhalanka. The owner made recommendations and fed us very well. Fresh, homemade fruit juice, cabbage soup (zupy), potato pancakes, pierogies, stuffed cabbage and bread. The soup itself would have been a meal. Fantastic recommendation from Laura.

The next stop was another yarn shop to pet more yarn at Nina's, just a couple blocks from the L. I didn't buy anything this time, but I loved all the samples and displays. It's nice to actually be able to feel and see the yarns you read about on Ravelry.

Last stop for the night was Atlas Galleries on Michigan for the opening night reception for the French artist Jaline Pol. Her work is bold, bright flowers with vivid colors and great texture created with a palette knife.

No wonder I can't sleep. My brain is on overload from trying to cram to much into a two day trip. This doesn't even include conference sessions.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Random Thoughts

A friend let me borrow his canoe last night and took me to Owsley Fork for the first canoe trip this summer. It was beautiful. The lake was calm and peaceful. The trees are starting to turn green and the redbuds are in full bloom. There just wasn't enough time to enjoy it fully. Someday I have to get a canoe, so I can go out whenever I need to.

Last day of the cold spell was March 30, redbuds started blooming April 5; I guess that was Redbud winter. Dogwood winter is right on the money though, with the cold spell starting today and the dogwoods just starting to bloom. Two winters down, locust and blackberry left to go.

Proof that cats can get down from trees without fire department assistance. I'm trying to wean Hurley from the house and he climbed this very tall tree to get away from the dogs. I couldn't coax him down, so I went inside. Melissa, texting from Florida, said call the fire department and get my cat out of the tree. The next time I went out he had gotten down and climbed another tree. At least he was not so far up and looked content. The third trip out to rescue him he was on a log and finally reachable.