Random summer #1

It has been awhile.  I am now refreshed.  

There are many advantages to a vacation in Chicago.  Weather is not one of them.  (I AM NOT tropical. I AM NOT a toucan.  And I did not pray for warm weather during the winter.)

The in-laws rode our sorry lazy selves into exhaustion.  A play:  The Book of Mormon.  Another play: Second City and the Lyric Opera do opera.  A pop-up dinner by a professional chef in his home.  (He served alligator.  No, it doesn't taste like chicken.  And it spent the next day trying to crawl out.)  A chocolate tour of Chicago.  

The tour was booked in April, long before hockey finals.  My Red Sox hat (brought on the trip to protect face and head from sun) was an unfortunate choice.  At the beginning of the week, the denizens of the city voiced their rivalry.  At the end of the week, their uninvited sentiments bordered on pity.  (Chicago, don't you understand?  It is a RED SOX hat, not a Bruins hat.  It has nothing to do with hockey.  And no, you aren't clever calling the sports section Hawkytown every single day.  Once is cute.  Every day = lack of imagination.)

On the day of the parade, the venerable Art Institute of Chicago celebrated the Blackhawk victory.  Their lions sported new headgear.

A visit to one of the new hotspots:  Found Kitchen and Restaurant.  Yum!  I had a cocktail named The Bitter Sophisticate Goes to Spain.  The mix contained red wine, maurin de quina, cola, and lime.  I may have ordered a second one.  

The Architectural Foundation of Chicago took us on a tour of Loop architecture via the L (which is Chicago-speak for the elevated part of the subway).  

We worked out (TWICE) with Mr. E's parents and their personal trainer.  I also found a new torment exercise method:  take a walk, use a jumprope.  Walk, skip rope, stop, do doublefooted fast for fifteen jumps, skip one foot at a time, skip running, it all works.  Very aerobic.  Do not do this in excess heat or humidity, or you will die. 

We need a vacation to recover from our vacation.  

We left the deck plants watering, fertilized with 5-10-5 just as we left.  The second picture is 13 days later.

 Planned and perfected, I brought lots of knitting.  I worked on the second of the Wollmeise sock, and the body of Way From Brighton, in Judy's Willoughby yarn (merino/cashmere/silk).

More on that in the next post.

 

Comments

[margene]

You've packed a summers worth of eating, sightseeing, fun and exercise into one trip! No wonder you need a vacation! Humidity does wonders for a garden. I'm envious of your beautiful floral garden.

[claudia]

Great to hear from you! How wonderful that you had such a fun trip.

[gayle]

Glad you're back!
My youngest daughter took up jumping rope (rope jumping?) when she needed some regular exercise and it was the only thing she could fit into her schedule. Since she has a very long commute, the only time available to her was pre-dawn in the parking lot of her apartment complex. Picture it - small woman jumping rope at 4am by the light of the parking lot lights. She figured she got a reputation as the complex crazy lady...

[Carole]

You've been on my mind all this week, knowing your lack of love for summer. I'll admit, this humidity is not fun. I'll still take it over being cold but I'd sure enjoy a stretch of dry sunny weather.

[Caroline M]

I often feel like I need another weekend to recover from the weekend so you can imagine what I feel about holidays. I'm lucky in that our summers are often grim and so the garden can usually be left in the expectation of rain.

[MelissaG]

Your vacation sounds like quite the urban adventure. In two weeks we're heading out for the family overnighter--we round up the kids and the dog, head for the hills with what family and friend (Darin) we can find, hike a mile or two, set up camp for the night, then home the next day. The tough part is finding a place where we can light a fire to grill our dinner (NY strip and salmon have graced our plates in the past).

[June]

I'm a fan of the staycation, myself, although your trip sounds like super fun (jumprope notwithstanding).