Neighborhood celebrity

Everyone in the neighborhood knows Schubert. These girls stopped on their way to middle school to say hi and pet him.

Noooo!

This is going to put a damper on Andy's margarita-making. I had to ask if they had more limes in the back, they did and I waited a ridiculous amount of time for them to bring them out before deciding to check out and go to another store. While I was checking out they brought them up to me. Nice, but geesh.

Dressed to sell

L is ready for work.

Patriotic puzzle

Back to a nice, challenging, but not impossible, 1,000-piece puzzle.

Marigolds

Early this summer I out some marigold seeds along the side of our front sidewalk. I didn't expect them to grow, but they did and now they're blooming. They're much taller than I had anticipated.

The bees like them.

Rough ‘work’ day

The firm had some clients in town so they took them to the Cubs vs. Cardinals game yesterday afternoon.

His partner caught a ball a Cardinal player threw into the stands after the first inning. Cardinals won 8-3.

After the game they had dinner right by the ballpark.

First day of school

Yeaterday was the first day of school for the elementary school students. Parents did some sidewalk chalk drawings along the school route with a few right by our house.

This was by our garage.

In the nearby crosswalk. A few more:

Work in progress

This will be the view from Andy's office when his firm moves into its new location in October.

This will be his office.

This is the office's open area where most of the employees will have their work stations. Less than two months to get it finished.

Sunflower farm and candy

Allison, Julie and I took a drive to Indiana today. Our first stop was the Albanese candy outlet. I bought a 5-pound bag of gummi "cubs" (smaller than gummi bears) and chocolate-covered pecan pieces.

Then we went to the main attraction - Fair Oaks Farm. Allison rented a golf cart so it was easier for us to get to the flowers.

Lots of sunflowers, and some cosmos and some zinnias. We split a $25 bucket we could fill with as many stems as possible.

A passer-by took our picture.

These lighter sunflowers were really pretty. We picked some dark ones too but the petals fell off in transport.

This golf cart gave Allison lots of problems. Really hard to start and we only had an hour rental. Late fee for returning it would have been $50. Good thing we got it back within the hour.

Allison and Julie also picked some vegetables and apples. We saw green bean plants but no beans. Never found zucchini or sweet corn. They did get some peppers and tomatoes. This is my artistic picture of Julie picking apples.

We sorted and divided all the flowers up in Allison's driveway. They were a bit wilted but we're hoping they recover once we get them in water.

My bouquet.

Immersive Prince exhibit

Allison and I went downtown yesterday afternoon for the immersive Prince exhibit on Michigan Avenue.

Get ready to party like it's 1999.

These are the two Prince albums I'm most familiar with, "1999" and "Purple Rain." I heard those songs a lot my freshman year of college.

The tub scene from the "When Doves Cry" video.

The motorcycle from "Purple Rain" ...

and the guitar he used.

Photo opp.

And another in front of a wall of purple lights.

We liked the exhibit but agreed the music should have been louder. I would have liked to see a little more "Purple Rain" things, especially the purple suit.

The exhibit ended with a gift shop. Again, not a lot of "Purple Rain" things.

We grabbed a drink at the Starbucks Roastery on Michigan Avenue then headed home.

Family outing

Andy, Allison and I drove to Geneva yesterday afternoon to meet up with Julie and Kevin at Art History Brewing. We heard all about Julie's recent trip to France and saw her pictures.

We had some tortilla chips and tacos before driving to the next brewery ...

Riverlands Brewing Co. in St. Charles. Allison is showing off her little bitty beer while Julie takes a pic of her beer flight.

On the way home we treated ourselves to Dairy Queen.

Seahawks vs. Bears

E and D went to the Seahawks vs. Bears pre-season game Thursday night. She said she thinks she understood what was happening. I'm not sure how you go to a Big Ten school and never watch a football game.

Bears won 27-11.

Trivia night

Andy and I met a group of church friends at Fitzgerald's last night for a trivia game to support the local organization that helps the homeless. For our entry fee, we got one drink coupon and barbecue sliders.

Let's get the games started!

Debating answers. We called our team the Donut Friars, a play on fryers. There were 30 teams competing.

Our friend, C, knocked over her drink. We were hoping to get extra points turning in a beer-scented answer sheet. No such luck.

How about that? We finished in 12th place. We were all happy with that.