On the Riverwalk

Andy needed to go to his office yesterday to get some printer paper so we took the opportunity to stroll along Chicago’s Riverwalk. Temps were a high of 80 so it was a beautiful day.

We saw lots of kayakers.

And a sign of the times:

Reminders for everyone to wear masks and maintain a six-foot distance.

What’s wrong here?

Andy comes into the living room, turns on a golf tournament and promptly falls asleep.

Doorbell relocation

With the porch done Andy thought he needed to move the doorbell and raise it higher so it’s easier for visitors to find. He finished the project without shocking or cutting himself. He did put a staple through a wire but we’re considering it a project well done.

We did get some funny images on our Ring camera while he was relocating the doorbell. This is an interesting view of the inside of our front porch.

That’s better

The carpenter came and redid the railing today on our front stairs. Much better than how it looked before.

A sunflower

I planted a lot of sunflower seeds this spring and have two flowers growing. The first one is blooming! It’s not as tall as ones I had last year. Maybe it will get taller?

Reaching out

I had a lot of free time while I was visiting E in Seattle and one of the things I've done during the quarantine is reach out to some old friends. I took a chance and Googled my olf Effingham roommate and fellow reporter Polly. She left the newspaper a few months before I did to chase her dream of moving to Seattle. Surprisingly, I tracked her down and found her address. She's a detective with the sheriff's department. That's quite a career change. I copied a few pictures from our Effingham days and sent them along with a letter. We'll see if she writes back. I figure it's worth a try.

Sad cats

I took this picture of Muffles and think he looks kind of sad. He must be missing L.

August has started hanging out in L’s room. He must like that all her clothes are off the floor.

U of I testing

It was nice to see U of I get some coverage on CNN last weekend for the saliva test they developed this summer to detect the virus. They’ve been giving free tests to students, staff and faculty since July 8. B and L (and everyone on campus) need to be tested twice a week. If they’re positive, they’ll be told to quarantine. We’re hoping early detection of positives will keep the virus in check.

Nice try, DI

L is at school already but this Daily Illini newspaper came in the mail. Lots of good that will do her. At least there was nothing important in it.

Empty-nester outing

Andy and I gad nothing on our agenda for Sunday so we drove to St. Charles and walked around a bit.

We stopped at Pollyanna Brewing to grab lunch (mostly because they had some outdoor seats in the shade) then to find out their kitchen was closed.

However, we were allowed to carry in food and there was a restaurant next door, Flagship on the Fox. We ordered cheese curds and chicken tenders and Andy went over to pick it up.

First-day fun

Every year at U of I they set up a photo booth on the Quad so kids can have their first day of school pictures taken. It’s goofy but funny and my kids have never done it.

But then comes 2020 and the school decides to do “virtual” pictures today. Again, my kids didn’t do it so I did it myself.

This entertained me for quite a while!

I finally have my first day of college pictures!!

Illini spirit

It's always exciting to drop the kids off at college and I love seeing all the "welcoming" things the university does. Today is the first day of classes - all online though.

This is the lobby area of Snyder Hall.

This bulletin board is in Snyder too. We saw a video that they put masks on all the statues around campus but we didn't any masks on any statues. Must have just done it for the safety video. I was kind of hoping to see that.

Here’s L on Saturday with some new friends. She’s showing off her school spirit wearing the shirt her college sent her and one friend is wearing a U if I mask. I-L-L...

My two Illini. It's nice to have two kids at the same college.

Cleaning and organizing

I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing since L went to college. I told her I wouldn’t throw her things out, just find a place for everything. It’s been quite the undertaking.

I must have washed seven loads of laundry. Even with what she took to college she still has a lot of clothes. Every drawer is packed full.

She had been sleeping in B’s room since he has a window air-conditioner so I straightened his room too.

And I found time to hem curtains for E’s room. I’d like to paint it ... someday.

Stairs done ... almost

The worker completed the porch and stairs today. We talked yo him in time yo have him not install lattice around the bottom. I think lattice looks cheap.

Wish we would have known the plan for this handrail. He’s going to redo it and install a round one like we have on the back porch. Seems like the two entrances should match, right?

Settling in

I told her it would be nice if she could send me some pics of what she’s been doing on and around campus. She sent me a picture of a soybean field. I wonder if she knew it was a bean field or someone told her. Her roommate is an agriculture major from Southern Illinois. How about pics with people?

This is better. L with new friends on the city bus headed to Walmart on Friday. And they’re all wearing their masks ... and the right way too.

And she made it to the bookstore. This could be dangerous for her bank account. I’m sure she didn’t leave empty-handed but she was picking up a couple of Amazon packages sent to lockers there for safe-keeping.

L has maintained her mask business since moving to college. She took a sewing machine, fabric, elastic, vinyl, the Cricut press, etc. She texted me this picture of a mask and scrunching she sewed at 12:30 a.m.

Stairs and sidewalk

We’ve seen a lot of progress in five days. On Monday, Aug. 17, when we moved L to college the workers started on our front porch.

They're tearing up the sidewalk from the front of the house to the basement stairs ...

and rebuilding the front stairs with a bit of a landing area. It's always been so awkward to open the screen door from the outside. You pull on the handle then have to step back a few stairs to fully get it open. About took out a few trick-or-treaters that way several times. This company also rebuilt and reconfigured our back stairs five years ago and we like how that turned out. This was all done Monday before we left to drive to Champaign.

This was the progress Tuesday morning, Aug. 18, before work started. See that green bag hanging in the bushes? Allison set that up Monday (she stayed at the house while we drove to Champaign) so we could still receive mail. It worked!

The forms are ready for concrete for our new gangway sidewalk.

Here’s the progress as of Wednesday morning, Aug. 19. All of the concrete was poured yesterday and dried without incident. A cat walked across one piece of the concrete on the side but we’re hoping what we’re seeing is just dirt and not indentations.

Progress as of Thursday morning, Aug. 20. The workers started on the stairs yesterday afternoon.

Workers were busy a Thursday and worked until it was dark. The village inspects the progress early tomorrow.

We gave stairs! Friday morning, Aug. 21.

Quitting time late Friday and the side rails are in place.

Accidental farmer

I planted wildflower seeds in this pot and ended up with sorghum growing. Apparently the sorghum seeds were in the bird seed that I put in the feeder right next to the pot. I blame the squirrels.

Bohemian National Cemetery

It was a beautiful sunny, not too hot, day in Chicago so Allison and I went to the historic Bohemian National Cemetery on Chicago's north side.

We were on the search for a family mausoleum (Like this one for former Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak) we've heard about over the years. The office gave us a list of family gravesites but we never came across a mausoleum. I feel a bit misled. We did find five family tombstones though.

This statue is "Mother." According to the cemetery's web site, Renowned Czech-American sculptor Albin Polasek was commissioned by the cemetery association to produce the statue for the cemetery's 50th anniversary in 1927.

This is the Civil War Veterans Memorial.

This is the Chicago Cubs Columbarium added to the cemetery in 2009.

This statue is called The Pilgrim and it's pretty creepy. It has a face but you can't really see it, even up close. From Roadside America: "This sinister bronze by Albin Polasek is one of the highlights of Bohemian National Cemetery. Larger than life, 'The Pilgrim' is caught mid-stride, headed toward the Stejskal Mausoleum. If you dare to peek beneath the hood, the statue is clearly a depiction of a woman. Legend has it that if she ever reaches her destination and enters the mausoleum doors, Doomsday has arrived."

This is the Eastland Disaster memorial. We were a little disappointed that it wasn't more elaborate. The section the memorial is in opened just before the boat tipped over in the Chicago River on July 24, 1915, and apparently sold out to bury the victims.