Spicy cropping gift

This year's gift for my scrapbooking girlies doesn't even include candy. What? I filled a bag with three Penzey's Spices sample bags and two assorted tea bags. The spices encourage people to vote but that's a good, nonpartisan thing, right?

Can't see the spices in the bags, but here they are. I'm excited to try the taco one.

I'm packed and ready to go. These are my scrapbooking supplies. I tried to pack only the essentials. We'll see how that works. I also have my weekend bag and a bag of puzzles to give to Cindy and Darla.

Aunts visit L

Julie has a conference in Orlando and Allison went along for the trip so that means L gets a visit from the aunts! Here theybate Saturday night at Frontera Cucina in Downtown Disney.

They took W too.

Here's L and Allison somewhere in Magic Kingdom on Tuesday.

Today, Julie joined them at Epcot.

They spent a few hours with L and she took them to Cast Connections to search for deals.

Residential Chicago

An added bonus of Open House Chicago is walking through neighborhoods and seeing the houses, murals, oddities and Halloween decorations. It helped that we had a perfect fall day on Saturday.

This is (the backside) od the Clarke House, considered the oldest house in Chicago. It's a museum but wasn't on the Open House tour.

It's not every day (and never in the suburbs) you see a city-owned street sweeper decorated for the White Sox. I wonder if there are Cubs street sweepers on the North Side?

This is a neat mural. I'm not sure where this was - Oakley and maybe Division Street? We ended up walking over six miles that day.

Sign supporting Ukraine.

Our afternoon goal was to tour the Ukranian Village neighborhood. I kept asking if we were in the neighborhood since there are no real border distinctions, but then we saw a sign. We were on the far edge of the neighborhood at this point. Such cute houses and lots of Ukranian flags.

Another pretty mural.

I liked these "fish" door handles at St. Helen Roman Catholic Church. Details impress me.

Even the skeletons are rooting for the Bears.

Skeletons were all over this house ... and what a cute house.

This was a bit too realistic. I thought there was a real person on the porch until I got closer. Creepy.

A skeleton and a political sign.

Football and tombstones

We had a busy, fun Sunday. Our first stop was golfer John's house for a Bears football game potluck lunch with the other golfers and their spouses. Here I am with the golf wives. I made an apple salad.

Andy and I had to leave after the first quarter to go to the cemetery and take pictures of the Historical Society's 35th annual Cemetery Walk. I could have taken pictures myself but, I guess it's time to admit, Andy's are better ... usually.

It's always interesting to hear the actors' stories. We raced around getting pictures and videos of the six actors and made it back to the golf party during halftime for burgers and brats. Bears won!

After a few rainy days, the weather was perfect for the Cemetery Walk and watching the game outside. Even the geese enjoyed the nice weather at the Cemetery Walk.

Open House Chicago afternoon

Our friend Betsy had a family emergency and had to leave town but Tim met us for lunch at D'Agostino's and to continue our Open House Chicago tour with an itinerary Betsy put together for us. Slice of pizza and a beer for $9. That's a deal these days. Now, let's explore Ukranian Village.

Stop No. 5 - Intuit Art Museum, 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. - Intuit Art Museum (IAM) champions the diverse voices of self-taught art.

Have to say I wasn't impressed with this stop.

Stop No. 6 - Kenar Studio, 1007 N. Wolcott - Kenar Studio is the private studio of renowned artist Jerzy S. Kenar, who specializes in interactive installations and sculpture. The studio, established in 1980, serves as a showroom for many of Kenar's unique pieces. His work appears locally at Harold Washington Library and O'Hare International Airport, as well as in many locations and private collections around the world.

Well, unique is a word for it.

It was interesting to hear from Kenar (at right) discuss the art that was on the patio and the meaning behind it.

Stop No. 7 - Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, 1121 N. Leavitt St. - Holy Trinity is one of just two churches designed by Louis Sullivan. It is the oldest Orthodox parish in Chicago, founded in 1892, and the Cathedral for the Orthodox Church in America: Diocese of the Midwest. Holy Trinity was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and named a Chicago Landmark in 1979.

Pretty church but I had to agree with Tim - we didn't see much Louis Sullivan.

I love when churches have candles for parishioners to light.

Stop No. 8 - St. Nicholas Ukranian Catholic Cathedral - 835 N. Oakley Blvd. - The parish, founded in 1906, quickly outgrew a small wooden church. The current building was modeled after the 11th-century St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine. The edifice has 13 green cupolas topped with gold crosses rising 167 feet into the sky, representing Christ and his 12 apostles. St. Nicholas is recognized for its magnificent icons, mosaics and stained-glass windows designed by Munich Studio of Chicago. Hanging from the highest dome in the center of the cathedral is a brilliant nine-tiered golden chandelier from Greece equipped with 480 lights.

Wow.

Beautiful window.

More candles.

Stop No. 9 - Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Ukranian Catholic Church - The Church of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha in Chicago is built in a pure Byzantine style. It was the only eastern rite church chosen for WTTW "Most Beautiful Places in Chicago" special. Its shape, its emphasis is on rounded arches and domes, and even the fact that it faces East has meaning.

So pretty. Just one vlock from themother Catholic Ukranian church we visited.

The dome was amazing...

as were the windows.

Stop No. 10 - Ukranian National Museum, 2249 W. Superior - The Museum was founded in 1952 and stands as one of the finest achievements of the Ukrainian American community. Its exceptional collection of folk art, fine art, and extensive archival materials bring broad appeal for diverse audiences.

This was another unexpected stop but when we walked out of the church, it was right across the street. These tools, used to make pysanku, the Ukranian eggs, was donated by a woman, Vera Samycia, who I interviewed when I worked in Pioneer Press' Park Ridge office. She gave me an egg at the end of the interview, which I keep in my little china cabinet. It's one of my favorite feature stories.

A collection of Vera's eggs.

Stop No. 11 - St. Helen Roman Catholic Church, 2315 W. Augusta - This Polish parish was formed in 1913, and in the early 1960s commissioned the present church building which blends Art Deco, Modernism and traditional styles with a Biblical fish motif. The spacious interior and ceiling are designed to draw all eyes to the altar, which is illuminated by light coming through slits in the walls. The stained glass contains mostly geometric patterns in small fragments of bright, unfiltered colors.

Very modern for a Catholic church. Those triangles on the ceiling represent the 12 disciples.

Interesting to see stained glass windows that don't depict Bible scenes.

More candles.

The baptismal area had its own little chapel. The font is shell-shaped and the water theme carries into the floor with fish depicted in the tile.

We did so much walking and took a few wrong turns along the way. There was another stop on the itinerary Betsy made for us but we were tired. We had a drink at Fatpour and called it a day.