Two things happened yesterday. First, I was tagged in a LinkedIn post, and following the link, I got to listen to a podcast where people were talking about me. And I realized that it was the first time that somebody was talking about me, and it was not an interview or a panel, I was not involved in this podcast in any way, but people talked about me like “the fact of life.” (If you are curious, you can listen starting from 27:05)
The second thing was that I was looking for my own videos about bitemporal framework, and I found that Google classifies me as a public figure 🤨. The good part is that Google does not show anything bad or horribly personal about me, mostly my talks on Postgres, some articles and interviews, including the very old ones… So I guess it’s OK 🙂
I didn’t know about it, but there is a way to request new bike racks at specific locations. I learned about it from the newsletter of our new, about-to-open coop, Wild Onion Market, and I requested a bike rack close to our about-to-be-open coop.
Another thing that is on the news: Chicago has had the largest increase in bikers for the past several years compared to any other US city, but bikers’ safety is among the worst. And those who are in Chicago do not need to be reminded about it!
As for other means of public transportation, the Metra line, which I use for my commute (UP-North), has launched a new schedule. First, there is now one extra stop between mine and the next one towards the city. That’s more bad than good news for me because it now takes longer to get to the final destination. There is also some good news, though: several trains were added to the weekday schedule. The one which I really wanted departs Rogers Park Station at 6-30. I took it on Monday, the first day of the new schedule in effect, and there were only four people except for me who got on this train at Rogers Park. I think that there will be more, and I hope that it will offload some people from the 7 AM train.
Speaking of which, I took a 7-15 AM today because I wanted to have a longer bike ride before work and also because I thought that 7-15 would be less crowded. But alas, I still had to stand all the way to the final stop! Tuesdays are impossible! I don’t know who is “not in the office” these days.
There is one more extra morning train (8-10), which I believe should ease the morning commute for the second morning wave, and also an outbound 4-50PM. And also, Kenosha finally becomes reachable during the day, which means that we can drop-off/pick-up my granddaughters there. The only remaining issue is how to get to work on Tuesday and have a bike ride before that 🙂
The week before last was quite challenging on the “mom’s front.” She forgot again that since the start of the war, we haven’t congratulated her on V-Day. And to be honest, no matter how many times I tell myself that it does not really matter, that she is where she is mentally and can’t reason straight, I still can’t create a version of the “Goodbye Lenin” movie. I can’t make myself think that “it doesn’t matter.” I can’t make myself to say anything celebratory. We talked about this two years ago. A year ago. She kept bringing it up again this year, and I ended up raising my voice and being upset, and the latter one was completely unnecessary.
The WWII Veterans’ organization organized a concert and a celebration at a restaurant, and my mom was invited to both. Later, she told me that at one of the events, another veteran asked her whether she had a social worker. When my mom replied that she didn’t have one, they kept asking who did shopping for her and who cooked and cleaned. She proudly replied that she was doing all of it by herself.
I remember how excited I was when I learned that I could get a social worker for her and offload some of my responsibilities. And I remember how upset she became when I told her that this could be an option. I see at least two different aspects here.
Even in May, you can still see that Fort Sheridan is further to the North than Rogers Park – although everything is green, the prairie flowers are just starting to bloom, and in most cases, I can only guess what is about to bloom in a couple of weeks.
May 15 Reset (WBEZ newsletter) started with the following paragraph:
As a Chicagoan, taking a summer vacation is risky. You might enjoy yourself in Michigan or California or somewhere else, but is it worth missing a time when Chicago shines?
I can do long bike rides on weekdays before work!Blooming peonies by the train stationSweet Home Gelato is open!The fountains on the River Walk are operatingNothing to do with summer I just wanted to brag. We had Chef’s avocado toasts last Wednesday, and we could choose as many toppings as we wanted (yes, including caviar)
Of course, I mean going to the beach for the first time!
It was beach weather last weekend, but I didn’t have time to go, and today, although I had many different things on my list, I found an hour to spend lying down on the beach and listening to the waves.
The water was still cold, and although I walked into it, I did not want to immerse myself in it. It was after 6 PM, and the warmest part of the day was already over. Still, I was at the beach, by the lake. And as it always happens when I am at the beach, I was doing absolutely nothing. I didn’t bring anything to read with me. I didn’t even look at my phone. I was there at that moment, and that was the best thing.
On the way home, I looked at the weather forecast on my phone. I already knew that Sunday’s weather was going to be cooler, but I saw that it would be in the eighties again on Monday. I thought that if I went to work a little bit earlier and returned a little bit earlier, I would be able to spend an hour on the beach (and still visit Mom and do yoga). OMG, how blessed I am to live ten minutes from the Lake! And I have the whole summer ahead of me!
I returned home and smelled the smell of warm weather on my body, the smell of skin touched by the sun. The sweet fatigue of being out in the warm weather and finally coming back inside. The cool floor under my bare feet. All of it distinctly and unmistakably joined in one happy cord: it’s summer! Summer! Summer!
I know it’s not summer yet, and no matter what your views on that subject are, the earliest you can think about the start of summer is the Memorial Day weekend. Still, I tend to think that Mother’s Day marks the turn of the seasons. Before Mother’s Day, the 50s feel “warm,” and after Mother’s Day, the 50s feel “cold.”
It was beach weather on Mother’s Day, and after that, a couple of days of cooler weather felt like “give me my summer back!”
It was the busiest Mother’s Day weekend I ever had, and I worried that it would be too hectic, but it was great! On Saturday, Nadia and I went to the CSO matinee concert “for big kids.”
It was great as always. The concert was called “The Sound Waves,” and all the pieces that were performed had something to do with water and its symbolism. The program included music by Saint-Saens, Wagner, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, and Mendelssohn, and at the end, the orchestra played Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird.
After the concert, there was a kid-friendly reception at Forte. Anna was skeptical about how “kids-friendly” it was going to be, but it was amazing! They had both adult’s and kids’ food (even peanut butter/jelly sandwiches :)) and lots of fruits and vegetables.
Then, we all went to Milwaukee because Nadia had a recital later the same day. That was the part I was unsure about: obviously, we didn’t plan on the concert and recital on the same day! However, everything went perfectly, Nadia was the first to perform at the recital, and she did great. Anna accompanied her, which was especially enjoyable.
In the evening, we had one more adventure. Somehow, we all missed the news about the Northern Lights (and even if we knew, there was no time to go anywhere after the Field Museum Night). Then, we became jealous of all the people posting amazing photos, and since there were more chances for the Northern Lights to reappear the next night, Anna suggested we go away from the city lights pollution and try to catch them.
We didn’t get a chance to see them; as it turned out, they appeared after 11:30PM, and we left at about 10:30, but we didn’t regret that we went on this adventure. I can’t recall when was the last time I saw a clear night sky away from the city. All the constellations, and the Milky Way, and a shiny half-moon – everything was up there above us! The parking lot of the forest preserve was full of cars: many people had an idea similar to ours. We asked for the way to the beach and followed the stone steps down to the lake. We stood there together with other people, staring into the sky. Then, we saw the lights of the police car. We were sure they would kick us out: the park closing time was 10 PM, but the officer got out of the car, approached us, and asked sympathetically: nothing yet?
He said that the night before, there was a huge crowd at the beach, but the police didn’t kick the people out: it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event; how could we! We were just making sure everybody’s fine.
We stayed there for a little bit longer, but since we were unsure whether anything was going to happen, we left. It was still amazing :).
Then, there was an actual Mother’s Day, and Anna cooked the most delicious breakfast (and I didn’t take pictures!), and then I went back to Chicago. The weather was gorgeous, I could actually go to the beach, but I decided in favor of biking – I didn’t have a chance to go biking for several days. Then I went to see my mom, and there was a little bit of disaster, but that’s a separate story. The most important thing is that my Mother’s Day was amazing, and I also got a new Dunes t-shirt from Igor and also my friend mailed me this very special gift:
Hettie's Reflections 