L’s touristy day

Andy drive L and W downtown Thursday morning so they could hit the touristy sites. First stop was the fun faces fountain in Millennium Park.

Nice picture by the lake. They walked from Andy's office to the museum campus.

They went to the Shedd Aquarium and she took some great pictures of dolphins jumping. They had an upclose encounter with a turtle.

They got into the Field Museum on our Founders Council passes ...

and we were able to get them into the Pokemon exhibit.

We took them to Lou Malnati's for dinner but stayed in Oak Park since we were expecting more severe thunderstorms (and because Andy had just driven them from downtown and we weren't going back).

There we are.

With our girl.

L is home

L flew home Tuesday night with W. Andy picked them up from Midway and took them to Allison's condo. Wednesday morning L texted wanting to know if they could have my car for the day. She drove me to work and then she and W went to Yorktown where he bought a really nice suit jacket to wear to Cousin C's wedding. We took them to Fitzgerald's for $5 burger night.

They had quite an interesting day when a severe thunderstorm hit the area and caused a lot of trees to break, many blocking streets. W said it storms in Florida but the palm trees are so flexible they rarely break so this was something for him to see. They picked me up from work and W met me at the door with an umbrella because it was raining. Aw!

This and the other tree were within blocks of our house.

Heel spurs

I went to a podiatrist yesterday because I noticed a small bump on the back of my left heel. Google told me it was a heel spur, and the doctor told me I have them on both heels but more of one on the left, a bit of arthritis, extra bones in my feet (apparently hereditary and pretty common) and bone loss too. So fun getting old lol. There's not a lot they can do for the heel spurs. She gave me some calf stretches to do and said she'll monitor it. It only hurts when I walk a lot. I can use ice when it hurts and try to wear open-back shoes (easy summer solution).

And she gave me these to wear inside stiff boots.

Mahjong accessories and a win

On a whim I ordered a set of six pairs of mahjong earrings. Andy joked that I'd be the talk of Allison's church mahjong nights ... and, of course, I forgot to wear them to mahjong last night. They're quirky and larger than what I usually wear so they're difintely not for everyday use.

I gave Allison the two colorful pairs as an early birthday present - the eight bam and the eight dots. The others I'll rotate through - if I remember to wear them! Bird bam is my favorite. Cheers! (ifkyk).

Andy was the odd man out so he sat out the first two games and I let him play my seat for the third game. On the drive over, I said I had a feeling he was going to get mahjong ...

And he did!

He chose a blue duck for the win.

Bears T-shirt

I've been looking for a Bears shirt for a while.Our friends like having people over to watch the games and the Bears had a really good season last year that's expected to continue this year, so when I found this on a yard sale for $1, I decided to buy it. There is a bit of irony that I find the shirt days after the Bears announce they're seriously considering a move to Indiana and a possibility that they'll rename the team to reflect the move.

Retirement party

Andy and I walked over to our friend N's retirement party last night. Her oldest daughter is the same as age as E and I knew her since before they started kindergarten ... and Andy went to high school with her husband ... and her BIL by marriage is my boss at the museum. Small world we have here.

They had a taco truck serve dinner and it was very good. I tried all three - beef, chicken and pork.

N gave a speech detailing her career path, the last 15 years teaching math at the local middle school.

My boss with a very well-behaved dog in a backpack. I'm assuming it's one of his daughter's dogs.

Scavengers

Allison and I went to Western Springs last night to drive around and see what, if anything, we could salvage from the village's junk away days. She had gone before with L but this was my first time. It was something.

There were a lot of junk trucks like this, looking for metal items, and residents looking through the things their neighbors had set out.

God bless America. This wooden flag was interesting and huge. There were lots of mattresses, basketball hoops, plastic flower pots, old car seats and worn out patio furniture.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular (too bad B doesn't want a coffee table for his apartment) but I thought it would be nice to find a card table. I didn't find one. I did find two huge candy canes for the back outdoor porch that will go with my Christmas theme this year, birch branches for my winter flower boxes on the garage, a crockpot cookbook, a huge Christmas wreath for the front of the house (if I can convince Andy to hang it) and a few puzzles.

Hello, pretty lady

I love when the cardinals stop by.

Not cool, Goodwill

Asking over $6 for something donated that was priced new at $3.99? That doesn't seem right.

Quilt block puzzle

This puzzle made me think of our quilter, E. It fit on my puzzle board so all of the pieces were there ... and I didn't take one cat photo during the entire time I put it together. Maybe they've decided my puzzles aren't interesting.

I loved how the puzzle named every quilt block. I even recognized a few. This was a fun puzzle.