Month: July 2024

Lena In Chicago

Lena arrived an hour after my friends from Helsinki left for the airport (and I am happy to report that despite the World-Wide-IT Crisis, they safely made it home). I barely finished washing the sheets and towels.

Lena brought lots of cherry-flavored goodies, some fresh pickles from her garden, and lots of enthusiasm for doing touristy things in Chicago. And if you ask me – I am always in!

Georgis O’keefee for the third time 🙂

The World IT Crisis And Departure

Of course, it had to be on my friend’s departure day! On Thursday evening, their return flight was canceled, and new tickets were issued. We wondered why, and then, in the morning, I heard the news! Only then we realized how lucky they were to get an alternative flight!

Other than that, it was a perfect last vacation day for them. The weather was ideal; they went to the beach in the morning while I worked my half-day, then I went on a bike ride with Roma, and then we all went for ice cream across the street at Charmer’s.

And at the last moment, I remembered to make some hot chocolate for them to sample before departure!

This Week

I barely saw my friends this week! On Tuesday, I hosted a Chicago PUG meetup, which meant a thirteen-hour workday. On Wednesday, we went to the Grant Park concert, but it was with only two of them and today, I have a Howard/Evanston Community Board meeting (and I had to stop to see my mom between my work and this meeting!). Everything is important, and I knew that week was going to be like that, but still…

My friends are leaving tomorrow, and I have a feeling that we didn’t have time to do at least a half of the things I wanted to do with them!

Not related – today’s breakfast at work:

Other Things To Do In Chicago

This week, I didn’t take any time off, and moreover, I had something after work almost every day, so my guests were mostly on their own. I am glad that they finally realized that biking is a way to get around, that they were at the beach pretty much every day, and that they could explore the city on their own.

Today, the interested parties went to the Grant Park Music Festival concert. The highlight of today’s show was Rachmaninov’s “Rapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” with Clayton Stephenson as a piano soloist. That was an outstanding performance, and the audience was ecstatic. I bet my friends never heard Rachmaninov that way! Clayton Stephenson said that he thinks of this piece as American music (and he has good reasons for that if you ask me). And the way this piece was performed today – OMG, it was something! And definitely American 🙂

Before the concert, I took my friend to the Riverwalk, and then they finally had a chance to taste Chicago Hot Dog, so two more boxes were checked!

After The Storm

We had severe weather for two days in a row, or I should say, for two nights in a row, because the most spectacular part happened at night both times. I made videos during both nights; here is the second one:

And that’s what I saw yesterday’s morning when biking:

Is It Just Me?

I couldn’t stop laughing!

Elpha Spotlight: 24 hours a day

I wrote one more blog post for Elpha community, and I believe that’s the first time ever I blogged about my timesaving strategies in English :). Honestly, I was shocked to see how long it ended up being!

We’ll see whether there will be any reactions!

Link to post

Morning Biking

Saturday Early Morning – it’s foggy!

What Are Saturdays For?

Yesterday was very hot, but today’s weather was going to be wild, so I tried to squeeze in as many out-of-the-house activities as possible. Some of my house guests objected, saying that they wouldn’t survive and that it would be even worse, so whatever I wanted to do with my guests this weekend had to be done on Saturday. It was great to spend Saturday doing fun stuff in the city instead of catching up with life as I do too often these days.

Here is how it went. As always, I started the day with a bike ride (a relatively short one, just an hour). Then I made breakfast: a baked apple pancake, scrambled eggs, and breakfast patties.
Then we went on the Architectural cruise. It was already burning hot by 10 AM, and Sonia could not possibly sit on the top deck for the whole duration of the tour, so I spent most of it sitting with her downstairs:). The rest of the party was entirely exhausted by the heat, but they still loved the views.

After the cruise, we cooled down in the Architectural Center

And then walked to the Art Institute because the Rayan Center was closed last week, and Sonia didn’t get a chance to do art.

As it often happens, parents do not mind doing the art either 🙂
Sonia drew Rogest Park Beach
Adults took turn to see the actual art exhibits.
Taking the bridge to Maggie Daley Park


And after that came Maggie Daley Park, and no matter how hot it was, those who wanted to do the climbing wall climbed, and those who wanted to explore Ship did so, and those who wanted to splash in the fountain, did so as well.

We finished the day at Acanto, and my highlight was a new dessert called lemoni. From the first glance, it looked like a lemon:

But then you crack it open, and…

In the end, everyone agreed it was a great day!

Continue reading “What Are Saturdays For?” →

Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil

Yesterday, I took my friends to see “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” at the Goodman Theater. Goodman rarely stages musicals, and when it does, they are priced way more reasonably than Broadway shows. I had four tickets left on my “Whenever Goodman” subscription, which gave me very good mezzanine seats – I do not think you can have the stage view as good as that in any of the Broadway theaters!

The show was spectacular! I always enjoy seeing the reaction of people experiencing an American musical live for the first time! I remember my own experience of feeling never-ending happiness following the perfect movements of the dances and enjoying every bit of music.

The pictures below are official photos of the show from the Goodman Theater website- enjoy!