Author: Hettie D.

My name is Henrietta (Hettie) Dombrovskaya. I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russian (actually, back then – Leningrad, USSR) in 1963, and immigrated to the United States in 1996. I love Saint Petersburg, the city I was born and raised in, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Similarly (but differently) I love Chicago, and can’t imagine myself moving somewhere else in the observable future. I have three children, Igor, Vlad and Anna, all adults living on their own, and one (so far) granddaughter Nadia. I also believe that my children are the best thing that happened in my life. As for my professional life, I am working in the field of Information Technologies. When I was twenty, I’ve declared that the databases are the coolest thing invented and that I want to do them for the rest of my life. Thirty plus years later, I still believe it’s true, and still, believe that the databases are the best. These two statements together imply that I think a person can have it all, and indeed, I think so! Keep reading my journals to find out how I did it.

Going (almost) All The Way South

Today, Boris and I did what I wanted to do for a very long time: biked from our house all the way south, almost to the end of the Lake Front Trail. “Almost” was because of imperfect planning and our local problem of the absence of public bathrooms everywhere, especially in city parks, and specifically on the Lake Front Trail. Moreover, there were several portables sitting around during summer, but someone decided that summer was already over 🤷🏻‍♀️.

We planned for the worst-case bathroom scenario, so it was not a complete showstopper, but another thing I didn’t know was how many interesting things we would discover along the way. We should have planned a day trip to have time to stop by each overpass and look down, or cross the Lake Shore Drive and look at the small pond with swans, or stop at the wildlife sanctuary.

Also, for some reason, I thought that the Lake Front Trail ends by the Museum of Science and Industry, but it turns out that it doesn’t. I was determined to reach the very end, but there was a big traffic crossing very close to the abovementioned end, and I knew it was just a mile and a half left, so I made an executive decision to turn back.

In total, we covered 39.6 miles, and I was planning for 41 miles, but I decided not to focus on these small details 🙂

I took way fewer pictures than I planned, but it is definitely not the last time. Next time, we will plan for at least six hours on the road.

Continue reading “Going (almost) All The Way South” →

Tenant Lounge

There was construction going on on the second floor of our office building, and a couple of weeks ago, a new tenant lounge was finally opened.

Just showing off 🙂

Ukraine Independence Day Mega March

I didn’t post the photos and videos from the Ukraine Independence Day march because I was very upset about how it was handled this year. Also, everything was happening amid the talks, and what’s not. There was obviously no hope for any positive outcome, but there was still an uncertainty in the air.

I am finally sharing these photos today, on the day of yet another deadly Russian attack.

My overall impression of the August 24 march was that the event was muted in public opinion, even with the “peace” talks being in the news headlines. When I walked to the Jarvis CTA and looked at the people sitting at the cafes, I knew that exactly zero people cared about what day it was and what it meant.

Also, I was unpleasantly surprised to see that the march took place on the State Street rather than Michigan Avenue, and on a sidewalk rather than the street itself (which might be not such a bad idea giving multiple road closures this year, but still).

The crowd was massive, but I believe the overwhelming majority of it were Ukraininas and people of Ukrainian decent. The new chant of this year’s march was “Ukraine is not for sale!”

My overall feelings about the war at the moment are at the rock bottom with pretty much no hope for any acceptable outcome.

Past Birthdays

August 23 was Vlad’s and Anna’s 34th birthday, and I had plans to publish a historical post about this actual date (I already have one on my timeline, but without many details). However, I had too much life for a lengthy historical post (it might come at some point in the future, maybe next year when they will be 35 :)).

For the past month, I tried to arrange Vlad’s visit to Chicago, which is as challenging as you could imagine, given his work schedule and his ambitions. I am very thankful that he was able to make it, even though it was for less than 24 hours. Boris and I haven’t seen him for over a year, so I tried to make it happen when Boris is here. When we were discussing the schedule, I said that any day except for Tuesday would work, and of course, the only day Vlad could make was Tuesday!

Anyway, we met for an early dinner at the Gage to celebrate Boris’ 75th and their 34th birthdays, and I presented the T-shirts designed by Boris for the occasion:

Summer Dance At Loyola Park

They should have advertised more!

Last Day of Summer (sort of)

Last Saturday, I went for the longest non-stop bike ride I have ever done (28.1 miles), and then I went to the beach. I knew that a sharp temperature drop was in the forecast (and it happened, on the clock!), so I wanted to seize the moment. I know that’s not the “real” end of summer, and there will be more warm days, but it was definitely the end of an unconditional, abundant warmth – the default warmth with not a thought of an extra layer. So I soaked in the lake, saying numerous thanks to him, and then sat in my beach chair, and then lay down on the sand, and then sat in the chair a little bit more. As long as time allowed. And a little bit more 🙂

Abortion Clinics Under Attack

For the past several weeks, the early morning shifts have been added to the Washington location where I volunteer. That’s because antis started to show up very early in the morning every day of the week.

Since this location is less than tw blocks away from my office, it is relatively easy for me to come out and help; the only problem is that my early mornings are busy because I need to catch up with what had happened in the UK office by that time, and our “sync” meeting overlaps with that one, and also sometimes, I use this time to call Boris, not mentioning that I need to have breakfast at some point:). That all being said, covering this morning shift requires planning, but I am figuring this out and committing to coming at least once a week.

Last Thursday, right before I arrived, the city streets’ services painted the yellow lines by both entrances to the clinic, identifying the border of the bubble zone. I do not know how much this will help, but at least we feel supported by the local authorities

My Neighborhood

On the one-before-last day when my guests were still in Chicago, I made a bad decision regarding taking a bus instead of the L-train, and after an extensive waste of time, we ended up walking to the nearest Red Line station, which happened to be Fullerton.

I tried to make lemonade of the lemons life gave us, and said that at least they have a chance to see one more neighborhood, more upscale than mine, with beautiful houses. They immediately replied: Yes, the houses are beautiful, but there is not a single sign “Black Lives Matter”, or “Love is Love”, or “Hate has no home here!”

Love my neighborhood! Love my friends!

Jennifer

Several weeks have passed since I met Jennifer, a CTA employee who walked with me to the Metra Station when the Red Line was stopped. On the day we walked to the train, she mentioned that she works every weeknight, and that “we may see each other.” Since then, I was looking for her, but I never saw her again, until a week ago. It was Wednesday again, and I was running late. Actually, I was hoping to catch the previous CTA train, not realizing that it had already left. And it was when I ran into the station that I heard Jennifer’s voice from the corner. I yelled Hi, and rushed to the platform, but when I got up, I realized that I was late and had to wait for the next train. I thought of going back down, but then I saw Jennifer walking toward me on the platform.

We hugged, and Jenifer said: I was just telling my co-worker that you were like a ghost – I saw you once, and then you disappeared! We got on a train, sat across from each other, and kept chatting all the way. Jennifer even decided to switch to the Brown line at Fullerton instead of at Belmont. I can only imagine what other passengers could think of us, but we really enjoyed our conversation. At some point, I mentioned my mom and how we try to keep her living independently as long as possible, and I asked her how old her mom was, to which she replied that her mom died when she was nine. “But that’s ok, I had other women in my life,” she added.

I cursed myself for being an idiot and asking such questions, while she continued, “Still, nobody I know lived as long as your mom. All the people around me would pass away in their sixties or seventies.” I won’t describe everything I thought and felt during this conversation; it’s not something new or unknown to me. You just never know when it strikes.

Glenwood Art Fest

More pictures from the Glenwood Art Fest, shared by my friends.

And the very last pictures: saying good-bye to our Great Sea: